<p>Hey guys, I was wondering if there was a way to talk to alumni's even if you don't get an interview. I made a thread about a month ago asking about my chances of getting into top schools with a 3.7 gpa and a really bad illness. You guys reassured me, and I felt pretty good... until the school gave us our ranks. Out of 392 kids, Im 39 (at a pretty competitive high school). While this is still a great rank considering how many people are behind me, I cant help but doubt my chances for Penn (my dream school). I have the brains and the study skills but my stupid illness wrecked my freshman year and the beginning of sophomore year. I got help from a new doctor and got the treatment I needed. I got all A's and a B sophomore year, despite the bad start. I even got a 4.0 junior year. All that work, trying to pull myself up from something that's out of my control, and still I'm way below what penn wants. The last thing Penn is going to do is accept a #39 student. Thats why I want SOMEBODY to talk to. Sure I can write about it in my essay, but I only get 500 words. I need 5000. I really want to believe that my hard work these past couple years will get me to where I want to go, but I can't. What can I do?</p>
<p>Many people who have gotten into Ivies and other top schools have had a weaker freshman year compared to the rest of their high school careers. This includes myself. I went to a highly competitive high school where I received the highest grades up to that point my second semester of junior year. In my case it seemed to have made up for a few not so great grades in my freshman year (although this happened to a lot of top students at my high school, there was no grade inflation like I hear about at other schools. Many of these kids got into schools like Brown and Duke for example). I was admitted to Penn in December of 2009.
So although I cannot tell you if you will get into Penn, I will say that it is great that you did so well junior year, it’s much better to have an upward trend than a downward trend.</p>
<p>Why don’t you apply ED? A parent on CC posted his son was accepted ED to Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology at the University of Pennsylvania with 3.6 uw GPA.</p>
<p>Since the bad grades are the result of an illness, all you really need to do is to have your school counselor or teacher add into your recommendation letter that you had a serious illness in that particular year. Also, you can write out the details of your illness in the “Additional Information” section of the Common Application. This should be adequate, and as long as you did well when you were/are not ill, the admissions people should take that into consideration.</p>
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<li><p>Being around the 90th percentile at a competitive high school with a sharply rising trend will not disqualify you for Penn. Especially if there was an illness issue that has been resolved.</p></li>
<li><p>But even if you were #1 or #2, you wouldn’t be assured of admission. You really have to put yourself in the mindset that there are lots of colleges that can be great for you – because there are – not just one, and start focusing on some of those others that accept a higher proportion of applicants than Penn does.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I had a severe, handicapping illness in high school. I was tutored at home (back in the 80’s when this wasn’t so great) My grades were good, test scores good, but I used this in my essay to say, “look, this stinks, but at I did the best with what I had, and did darn well” (got into every school I applied, including 2 Ivies and my grades weren’t close to yours)</p>
<p>Your academics are good considering and now you have an essay that is incredibly personal and can be one of triumph. Be proud of your accomplishments. You will ultimately, I’m sure, end up being a force at whatever school you choose.</p>
<p>As said by JHS, even #1s aren’t guaranteed. At my S school, number 1 didn’t get into our state flagship, Harvard or Penn. Went to MIT instead. Very happy.</p>
<p>Penn loves highly ranked students, but your circumstances are exceptional. A positive trend in grades will usually make up for mishaps in the earlier years, but make sure you let your counselor know and make them implement it somehow in their recommendations. If your essays are strong the other parts of your application should make up for the problems in your earlier years.</p>
<p>39 / 392 still puts you in the top decile, so your chances aren’t shot, especially if you let them know that you were hit with illness.</p>
<p>But even if you were in the top 5%, you still can’t guarantee anything. Focusing everything on one school will make you go nutty, haha. There are many great schools out there that you’ll enjoy. Just apply to many places, do the best you can, hope for the best, and enjoy the next four years.</p>