Hi! I applied to the College as a Politics, Philosophy, and Economics major. I am a white female and my mother also attended Penn.
Can someone chance me?
Strengths: GPA, Common App essay (very personal story of personal growth–talks about growing up with an abusive father and how it led me from isolation/loneliness b/c I hid it from friends to being a compassionate and empathetic person who is open about my imperfect life), Why Penn? essay (talks about my interest in socioeconomic equality and how government policies differ from social ideals, how I can learn about all of these thru PPE), unique ECs, heavy courseload, decent SAT score, legacy
Weaknesses: SAT Math 2 score/AP Calc score, no major awards (kinda difficult considering my primary extracurriculars are service-based)
**My AP Calc teacher was TERRIBLE–the average AP Calc BC score at my school is a 2, while nationwide over 40% of people get a 5… Was great at math until I took calc Junior year, should have taken calc AB because I basically had to teach myself math for the entire year, and will probably have to take a remedial calc class this year. At least I’m not applying to a more math heavy school like Engineering or Wharton.
SAT: 1520 (760 math, 760 English)
ACT: 33 (34 reading, 34 math, 34 writing, 31 science)
GPA (unweighted): 3.92/4
GPA: (weighted): 4.54/5
SAT II: Lit 720, Math 2 710
I know it doesn’t count for much, but my interview also went really well. It lasted for over an hour, he didn’t flip through the list of questions until about a half hour through and told me I had already answered all of them. We covered lots of stuff about Penn and about our own interests, and we turned out to have a lot in common. We stayed in touch after the interview.
Extracurriculars:
Captain of XC team, 4-year state qualifier, 3x All-Star in my local news
English tutor for adult immigrants (outside of school) grades 10–12
President of Earth Club–got recycling bins installed in the lunch room, petitioned to install refillable water filters in our school (we got them last year)
Vice President of Community United to Educate Youth Club (Diversity advocate in elementary schools, teaching kids about other cultures/accepting one another’s differences)
Member of intersectional feminism club–organized an individuality and feminism themed art show last year; raised money for a women’s shelter
Camp counselor for individuals with special needs
Mandarin lessons every weekend in Chinatown
Piano player for 13 years
Worked 40 hrs/week as a sales associate this past summer
I’ve taken all honors, 11 total APs. and am in 5 APs this year (AP Bio, AP Lit, AP Comp Sci, AP Spanish, and AP Psych)
Scores–
Calc BC: 3 (definitely my weakest but oh well, it was the best I could do)
Stats: 4
AP Environmental: 4
Lang: 5
Macroeconomics: 5
Microeconomics: 5
Awards:
AP Scholar Award with Distinction, National Merit Letter of Commendation, National Spanish Award Bronze Medalist, Junior Book Award from Columbia University, National Honors Society, High Honor Roll for every term grades 9–12
Other schools I’m applying to:
Cornell
UChicago
Boston University
Tulane
UMiami
George Washington
Temple
UMass Amherst
UC Boulder