Do I have what it takes?

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Or am I a typical applicant?</p>

<p>I'm a junior at a competitive school in the middleeast. (does that make me an URM? idk just wondering...) I'm planning to apply to Penn a year from now...so any advice would be great! Tell me if you think I'm on the right track...</p>

<p>Rank: 15/120 (ya, I suck)
GPA: (avg of 4 yrs) 16/20 </p>

<p>Thats an A. I messed up freshman year and got a 14/B- so that got my average down a bit. Now I'm getting 17s (A+). Also, our school dosent weigh GPA so taking a rigorous courseload brings my grades down...colleges would take that into account.</p>

<p>SAT: 1850 June (I'm re-taking it in Dec. right now I'm getting 2000-2100 in practice tests. I'm aiming at 2200+)
SAT II: taking next year Maths IIC, Bio M and either world history or french</p>

<p>APs: Biology, European history, Macroeconomics, English language and composition
A-levels: English language and litreture, Economics, Buisness, Arabic, Maths.</p>

<p>I'm taking the 4 APs and 4 ASs and Arabic A2 this year. Next year, I'll be taking 4A2s (the second module of the A-level) and a couple more APs. Thats a total of 6 APs and 5 A-levels by graduation.</p>

<p>ECs:
-Head of biomonthly 50page school newspaper (10hs/ wk)
-University support prefect (this probably wont count so much)
-I interned at a publishing office in the summer where I translated childrens books from Arabic to English. I liked it so much that I'm still doing it. The office is a long drive from home tho so with school and all I mostly work from home.
- I volunteer every weekend at the local autism center. I just started a couple of months ago so I doubt by the time I apply I WONT be one of those people with 1000+ volunteer hours lol. But I guess it will still look good...right?
- I organized a couple of events in school including an international culture day, a Talent show, a "Brain Scratch" contest and a couple more events for the elementary grades.</p>

<p>So what do you think?
I feel like I'm a bit behind...
what more can I do to get in?</p>

2

<p>u probably have more chance than I do :))</p>

3

<p>You aren’t an underrepresented minority. However, you have a good shot at Huntsman if you apply. They mostly accept international students that are fluent in another language. It appears as though you’re fluent in Arabic.</p>

4

<p>as of now…no. your SAT is too low. git it up son</p>

5

<p>Not really; Penn accepts based on two big factors: class rank (you need to be in the top 10%, 96% of each class is) and SATs (should be at least 720-s across the board, but to be sure about your acceptance, at least 750s).
Both of those for you are low. Raise them, and you might have a chance.</p>