Deferred by UPenn. Anything I can do?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I applied ED for Penn Engineering and was deferred yesterday. I'm an international student but currently go to high school in NJ</p>

<p>SAT 1: Math 790, CR 640 (it's hard for me), Writing 720
SAT 2: Math2 800, Physics 800, chemistry 790
AP: chemistry 5
TOEFL: 104 (I've only been in the States for one year, so this is a requirement)
GPA: 3.87 (ranked 7th in a class of 160 students)</p>

<p>Recommendation: from AP calculus and AP physics teachers, should be strong</p>

<p>Extracurricular activities: Includes everything required. Sports, music, leadership, community work, internship, patent, contests winners...</p>

<p>Essays: I'd say they're pretty good but wouldn't be an EC.</p>

<p>Interview: it was decent. We inevitably talked about politics because it was right after Obama's reelection and the interviewer was a democrat. I read books and news everyday so I didn't sound stupid.</p>

<p>Anyone can tell me what's not good enough for Penn? Is there anything I can do to maximize my chance?</p>

<p>BTW, anyone else deferred? accepted?</p>

2

<p>There’s nothing you can do about it now. Is your GPA weighted and unweighted? Your ECs are really random and UPenn can probably sense that, random crap to fill up the EC part of the application. Don’t worry too much, though. It won’t help anything.</p>

3

<p>Write back to UPenn. Say that UPenn is still your number one choice (if it is) and also say that you still have interest in UPenn. Elaborate on this, but not too much. You don’t want to send a huge, lengthy letter to admissions. They’ll think you’re shedding tears and begging them to accept you. You want to sound professional. Short, but explanatory. Doing this will separate yourself from the RD pool of applicants. Every deferred applicant will now be looked as a RD applicant. You want to use your deferral as a way to show that UPenn highly fascinates you. </p>

<p>This won’t guarantee an acceptance. I’m just saying that it’s defiantly worth a shot. Trust me.</p>