I’m a rising senior and I’m thinking about applying to Ivies such as UPenn and Brown.
Major: Business (Finance/Economics)
Ethnicity: Asian (oops)
Unweighted GPA: 3.92
Weighted GPA: 5.26
Class Rank: 4/512
New SAT Score: (Out of 1600): 1440, CRW: 730 M: 710
SAT II Score: Not out yet but hopefully in the 700s
ACT: 32 (E:33 M:31 R:32 S:29)
APs: Taken 5 so far, (5,5,4,5,5) Waiting for six more to come out in July & taking six APs senior year (Lit, Calc BC, Physics C, Macro, etc.)
My extracurriculars are solid. I’m in leadership positions for many clubs and student government. I just want to know if my academic stats are good enough to even be considered for admission to UPenn or Brown. Also, should I send my ACT or SAT score to colleges?
I think your race also will play against you here. There are so many Asians with amazing score snd ECs applying to ivies every year. I think you have a shot but don’t bet on it, make sure you apply to other less selective schools too.
I think you have a pretty good shot, in fact I’m happy we’re not in the same class most of the applicants I know have wighted GPAs in the 4s so you’re pretty strong with your GPA. The only thing I’d say is trying playing a varsity sport and focus on community service your senior year. good luck bro beans
I’m thinking of applying too and our stnadardized testing/GPAs are very similar so hopefully both of us have a shot haha. Your extracurriculars and class rank definitely give you an advantage. Best of luck in the fall!
Your GPA’s fine. Consider retaking the SAT/ACT. It’s an awkward score but I think there’s something to be gained. More importantly, think about why you did each EC and how each of them fits into the overall picture of what you’re trying to present to the admissions committee.
@PennCas2014@penn95@jpls23 I’m going to be brutally honest, OP looks like cookie cutter over-achieving Asian. unless OP’s essays are good, i dont see anything that will make him stand out from the rest of the “ivy worthy” Asian applicants. His scores are not outstanding when compared to many other Penn and Brown applicants (a 32 ACT is not good enough if you are an Asian applicant who does not have spectacular ECs). I’m not saying he won’t have a chance of getting into Penn or Brown, but it’s highly unlikely (unless his high school is highly ranked and regularly sends students to Ivy leagues or he has amazing ECs he hasn’t told us about). If he wants to get into Wharton, which I presume he might apply to since he’s interested in finance and economics, he will need some business-related ECs to have good shot at it. There are tons of Asians applying to ivy leagues with top-tier ranks and scores, and I just hope OP has some ECs that can distinguish himself from the rest of the over-achieving Asian applicants.
@yohohi I wasn’t disagreeing that it will be difficult for this applicant to get into an Ivy. I don’t make chance predictions. I’m saying to ignore you because there’s no reason to assume he would have a small chance at Penn but no chance at Brown. The difference in admit rates between Penn and Brown is .02 of a percent. If an applicant can’t get into Brown they very likely cannot get into Penn either.
@yoyohi Eactly what @PennCAS2014 is saying. in fact Penn s SAT/ACT averages are a little bit higher despite Penn having a much bigger class. also the percent of the class that was in the top 10% in their high school is 95% for Penn vs 91% at Brown. Acceptance rate is not the same thing as selectivity (especially when the acceptance rates are so close to each other and Penn has a much bigger class than Brown).
From what I heard when I toured, it is very, very hard to switch between schools once inside Penn (especially from a less selective school to a more selective school - Ex. CAS to Wharton). I would recommend applying to Wharton and hoping for the best, but if you don’t make it in, there are plenty of other schools that would be lucky to have such a strong student like you!
It is a competitive process but it is not very very hard. It is not like a huge number of people get into CAS with the intention to transfer later to Wharton or that so many people end up wanting to transfer. Surprising to many I know, but many Penn people actually choose to study what they are interested in instead of being prestige obsessed types with no academic interests. I agree though, if you want to study business (finance, marketing, accounting , etc etc) just apply straight to wharton. If you could also be happy with an econ degree then you could consider applying to CAS (and then trying to transfer to wharton), but transfer is not guaranteed that is why you would need to know you d be ok with the econ instead of business degree. I think the criteria should be mainly academics because resources are spread out across the Penn undergraduate body in all schools. If you get in and do well you can easily get a good business-related job whether you are in wharton, or CAS or SEAS.