desperate to get into Upenn!

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I applied SCEA at Yale and got deferred. Now, I'm crossing my fingers for Penn (applied M&T but chose SEAS computer science as backup)
What do you think my chances are?</p>

<p>School(s) applied to: UPenn M&T, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Waterloo Double Degree CS/Business, UofT, Western, Queen's Commerce</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): W 660; CR 780; Math 800 (2240 superscore)
ACT: Didn't take
SAT II: Physics 800; Chem 800; Math II 800; French 760
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 94% which is 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/300
AP (place score in parenthesis): Nothing yet
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
1) AP Calculus and Vectors and Advanced Functions
2) AP chem
3) AP french
4) computer science (self-study AP) (school doesn't offer AP CS and physics)
5) physics (self-study AP)
6) English
7) Accounting
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): First Class Honours for Grade 9 piano, Live Green Toronto Youth Award, UofWaterloo Avogardro's chem exam</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
- Environment club (president)
- Students of Toronto for Environmental Progress (chair)
- 4-H provincial greenbelt youth forum
- Mentorship program at the University of Toronto, French program
- Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award (met Marc Keilburger at the awards ceremony, featured in the newspaper for this award)
- Leadership camp at my school (organizer)
- Piano (stopped after grade 9)
- Varsity soccer (made it to OFSAA last year)
- FIRST robotics
Job/Work Experience:
- Summerhill group, they're a national environmental organization (team lead, youngest employee)
Volunteer/Community service:
- Library, Senior home, March Break camp
Summer Activities:
- I did a French immersion program last summer and worked a job
- I went to summer school the summer before that
- I went to China to visit relatives the summer before that
Essays:
- The common app essay was about my work experience at Summerhill. I talked about how I can express my passion for protecting the environment by engaging in grassroots environmental campaigns. I also talked about how I learned to deal with customers and team members.
- For the Penn essay, I imagined a day in my life as a Penn student. I researched which frat I would join ("I discussed the upcoming Duck Walk for a Cure event with my brothers from Delta Upsilon"), my extracurricular activities ("I organized a movie night on behalf of Penn's eco reps"), research, academics etc. I hoped this showed interest in Penn
- For the M&T essay, I talked about the Robotics club. Obviously, this activity is very technical by nature. But we also had to raise $20,000 for each competition, and that was the business side. I also had a snow shoveling business back in middle school to raise money for the robotics competitions.
Teacher Recommendation: They were average.
Counselor Rec: She was new to my school and didn't know me well. Average.
Additional Rec: One of the facilitators of the Toronto youth environment council wrote a really nice letter about my environmental leadership.
Interview: My penn interview is scheduled for February.</p>

<p>Other
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): GTA, Canada
School Type: Large suburban public school
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Nothing at all in particular. I just noticed that nobody who applies is an environmentalist like me. Global warming is one of the most pressing issues of this century!
Weaknesses: Poor SAT writing score, not enough awards, asian, not enough APs,
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was deferred at Yale because nothing stood out. I was not rejected because nothing stood out.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
General Comments:
I don't think I can get into HYP. Right now I'm just hoping on UPenn as my top choice school! I want to work on Wall Street, for Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs, in sales trading (hence the computer science / finance programs)
What do you guys think? Thanks for your input! I'll chance you back.</p>

2

<p>I hope you end up at a school that makes you happy. It is discouraging to hear people speak of Penn as if it is a backup/safety school; it makes me think that you’d be unhappy at Penn. You clearly are a smart and active person, but so are all the other applicants. Penn is probably a better school for what you want than HYP through M&T. If your essays showed that you are passionate, you should be a decent candidate, even though your Asian status / SAT scores could be a downside.</p>

3

<p>I will say 30% chance for Penn because there’s nothing out of the norm, not to mention you’re in Canada (lol Canada) and I doubt that’ll help much. </p>

<p>That said… you’re going to a very very fine school no matter what will happen.</p>

4

<p>I am part of M&T '15, and I know 2-3 other kids who got in as well. Environmentalism is an issue that a lot of M&T applicants talk about, and one of my main selling points was that I worked at Penn developing an environmentally-sustainable product. </p>

<p>If you talk passionately about what you want to do at Penn during your interview and in your essays, your stats won’t keep you out (they’re in the middle 50% range of all Penn applicants). However, there is a potential red flag in your application - even though one of your main EC’s is environmental science, you want to do computer science as your back-up at SEAS and you say you plan to work at Goldman Sachs after you graduate. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of consistency in your career goals, and you don’t want to show that in your interview. </p>

<p>You have as good of a chance as many other applicants because of your stats, and if you want to show that you want to get into Penn, try to shine in your interview and contact your regional admissions officer about your interest. However, please don’t consider M&T or Penn as your safety school - the opportunities available here are on par and potentially better than what you can get at HYP. I passed up Oxford EEM to go to M&T after reading about how great the program is and visiting the campus, and I highly suggest you do the same as well.</p>

5

<p>@ as the moon bleeds: Penn isn’t my backup school. I’ll do a cartwheel and pop champagne bottles if I get into penn. I was just overconfident and applied to HYP (even though there’s no harm in applying).
@redandblue15: Congrats on your acceptance! I realized this inconsistency in my application. But I can’t choose environmental studies at Penn and say I’ll become the next david suzuki because that’s not the career path for me. So I just won’t mention Goldman Sachs or Wall street during my interviews. I also wrote in my M&T essay that I want to use technology to solve global warming through developping green technology, hence computer science.
Should I write a letter to the regional admissions officer, talking about how I dream about Penn at night? Or would that just bother and annoy them?</p>

6

<p>One more thing, I know that my chances at getting into M&T is slim, but I’m not too worried. If I can get into SEAS, I can apply for a Wharton/SEAS dual degree from there. I know that’s not as good as M&T, but it’s good enough. Do you think I can get into SEAS? So far, most of you have been evaluating me in terms of M&T. (Cause if I can’t get into SEAS, then I’ll be worried).</p>

7

<p>For the record, Wharton/SEAS dual degrees are not easy. To get a dual degree with Wharton you need a 3.8 GPA Freshman year, and SEAS, being a structured engineering course, has the lowest average GPA of all the schools.</p>

8

<p>3.4 GPA* I checked the website. 3.0 GPA for dual degree with any other school, and 3.4 for Wharton. Still, getting 3.4 GPA is easier than getting into M&T right now. Also, the 3.4 is only a requirement for freshman GPA.</p>

9

<p>No, 3.4 is the minimum to apply. Most likely you will not get in unless you have higher than a 3.7. When you apply to transfer to Wharton, they only consider applicants by GPA. That means if there are 20 spots and the top 20 GPAs are greater than 3.9, that is the cutoff. It varies every year. I know a sophomore who is doing a dual degree between Wharton and the college and she said the cutoff last year was around 3.8. It is probably the hardest to maintain this GPA in engineering. Engineers will usually take mostly if not all science or engineering credits in freshman year. On average these courses are curved to B-. If you have a strong high school background, you should be able to handle it, but if not it will really be a shock.
Also, there seems to be a false perception that because engineering has a higher overall acceptance rate that it is easier to get into. However, many of the most intelligent people and motivated people I have met at Penn are engineers. It’s a very self selective path.</p>

10

<p>Ok I’ll try my best and see what happens once I’m at Penn. Even if I don’t get into Wharton M&T or dual degree, or no Wharton degree at all, I remember reading somewhere that SEAS kids place as well in the financial services as Wharton kids. I know for a fact, from the alumni surveys, that 35% of SEAS grads go into financial services, and this is the most popular career option after graduation (even more than engineering surprisingly). I know Sales and Trading divisions like to hire engineering students, so I’m happy with just SEAS. Unrelated topic: Graduates of which school, Wharton or SEAS, get higher compensation and employment many years after graduation?</p>

11

<p>First off, I wish that a 94 would constitute having a class rank that high at my school. I have a 96.67 (UW) and I barely fall within the top 10%. :frowning: lucky!</p>

<p>The fact that you are asian and international from Canada won’t help you, I’m sorry to say. However, your SATs, GPA, and EC’s are spot on. I would say you have as good a chance as any - even a bit better, honestly.</p>

<p>Best of Luck to you - maybe even see you next year? </p>

<p>Chance me back?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/1079291-would-i-wasting-my-time-apply.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/1079291-would-i-wasting-my-time-apply.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>If you want to get a Wharton degree, you should apply to Wharton. Transfering or getting a second degree from Wharton after you are admitted is very very difficult, very few people make. </p>

<p>The GPA specified is minimum requirement. It is very very competitive.</p>

<p>You can always take courses at Wharton while being in SEAS or CAS or other schools. Some courses are difficult to get in because of demand from MBA students. My son had to take two Wharton courses in summer because he could not register for then during school year. That said, Penn’s financial aid for that summer was superb, pretty much a full ride for that summer.</p>

<p>Penn is a great school. Their recruiting is awesome. My son got 3 jobs through campus interviews even in the tough job market.</p>

<p>Good luck to you all.</p>

13

<p>That’s not true. I personally realized my interest in business after I applied. I applied CAS because of my previous indecision. Moreover, some people may want think they want a dual degree but care more about one topic than the other. As such, it makes more sense to start in CAS if your primary interest is CAS-related.</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>What the…</p>

15

<p>^^yes, please don’t.</p>