ED to Penn?will chance back

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I am from a public high school in NJ that is very competitive and has about 1800 kids. For my sophomore year, I moved out of state to a school that only had one weighted course for sophomores so my weighted GPA is lower than other kids in my grade because they were able to take a completely weighted schedule. </p>

<p>I want to go into business, probably finance, and I am not sure where to ED. Wharton would be ideal but I doubt I have a chance. Do you think I have a chance at Penn for economics or would another undergraduate business program be a better choice for my interests?
My reaches are:
Penn
Duke
Cornell AEM
Ross
Stern
BC Carroll</p>

<p>GPA: 3.93 unweighted, 4.37 weighted
Class Rank: School does not rank
ACT: 35 (36 math, 35 english, 35 science, 33 reading, 8 essay)
SAT IIs: Math II 800, Chemistry 750
APs: US 5, Stat 5
PSAT: 224</p>

<p>Work experience:
-Managed drop store at family dry cleaning business for 2 summers: maintained inventory, handled customer service, managed cash register
-Financial assistant at pharmaceutical company for 1 month: archived 40 years of company data into excel and into boxes
-Tutor for a summer </p>

<p>Internships and Volunteering:
-Internship with Congressional candidate: Worked on political campaign with State Republican Party Vice-Chairmen and multinational political consultant firms, registered voters at cocktail dinners, malls, beaches.
-Volunteer at Princeton University Medical Center: organized hospital data, recorded employee efficiency, made instructional powerpoints and handouts for nurses
-Relay for Life Captain: organized team and participated in fundraisers</p>

<p>Other Activities:
-Varsity Basketball Team Manager
-Tae Kwon Do Black Belt
-Piano for 7 years
-Leadership Conference at Columbia University</p>

<p>Awards and Recognition:
National Merit Semifinalist
National Honor Society
Math Honor Society
Award for excellence in accounting (highest grade in school)
Award for excellence in computers(highest grade in school)
Award for excellence in algebra II(highest grade in school)</p>

<p>That's about it. Essays will be strong, recs will be great etc. Will chance back.</p>

2

<p>You have good ECs with an obvious focus on business. Your GPA is fine, your ACT is very good. I think you would be among the more competitive applicants, and stand a good chance of getting in. </p>

<p>Duke and Cornell are reaches for me according to my counsellor, so they should be high matches for you</p>

3

<p>great shot at Penn especially with the ED. For Wharton its realllllly competitive so make yourself standout. good luck</p>

<p>chance back please?</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/970329-chance-upenn-cornell-northwestern-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/970329-chance-upenn-cornell-northwestern-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Wharton looks for kids who have generally demonstrated a lot of exposure in business/finance. Besides your involvement with the family business (which is good because it shows maturity, commitment, and responsibility), you don’t have a lot of business experience. Sure, you were the “financial assistant” at a company for one summer, but from what you wrote, archiving data into Excel does not sound like a lot of finance going on.</p>

<p>That being said, you’ve demonstrated a lot of experience with organizing data and general office work. If you can sell yourself as someone who is capable of information management and has lots of potential in the finance sector, you certainly stand a competitive chance. However, I do not see any direct experience with finance in your ECs or summer activities. If you want to go into a “locked” business program (you can’t switch out), without exposure to actual finance, this will be a tough sell to Wharton.</p>

<p>Good stats and some EC involvement alone will probably get you into all the other schools you listed, save for Cornell AEM and Duke. You haven’t mentioned your socioeconomic background or ethnicity, which could play a significant role in decisions. An affluent Asian kid from suburban New Jersey is considered with very differet context than the disadvantaged Bosnian refugee who came to the US at age thirteen and had to learn the English language.</p>

<p>If you can market yourself as a high-potential, high-impact candidate for Wharton, you are in. Otherwise, get crackin’ with some safety school applications.</p>

5

<p>

</p>

<p>False. All of the schools that the OP listed are need-blind in calculating admissions. His/her family income will neither help nor hinder his/her chances of admission.</p>

6

<p>^ Family income <em>will</em> make an indirect difference in admission, but not in the way you think so.</p>

<p>The student from a poor family who has to work a part-time job to support his family income will not have as many opportunities as the rich kid who’s had everything handed to him on a silver platter. Obviously the first applicant would have fewer ECs and maybe lower SAT scores, because he can’t afford the plush SAT boot camps and whatnot.</p>

<p>At the end of the day, everything will be considered in context.</p>

7

<p>I am in the upper middle class and I am Asian.</p>

8

<p>I will be honest.</p>

<p>I think in the EC field you are lacking, especially in the Leadership area.
Great test scores though, as competitive as any.
And a few internships look good.</p>

<p>But I think UPENN is a reach, only because your EC’s do not seem to set you apart, and you mostly did data input in those jobs; not really significant.
Everyone will say the same thing; write good essays.</p>

9

<p>Thanks for the responses everyone. I understand that Penn is a big reach but will it still be one if I early decision? Also how would my chances for Ross and Cornell AEM be?</p>

10

<p>Internships seem a bit too diverse…what are you really interested in? Medicine? Politics?</p>

11

<p>I think you have a pretty good chance if you do ED, otherwise, as others have mentioned, your ECs might hold you back a bit</p>