Feel Free To Chance Me, PAAALEEEAAASE!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I just got my SAT score back today, very depressing, but here it goes:</p>

<p>BACKGROUND:
Male, live in NY, born in South Asia, moved to U.S. when almost three yrs old, English was my third language, household income is around 85,000 so about 55,000 net, I have two older siblings, both of whom went to college. Father is a pharmacist. Mother is a housekeeper.</p>

<p>STATS:
GPA: 103 weighted, 95 unweighted (weighting system: honors = +10, AP = +12)
Class Rank: 6/300
SAT Reasoning Test: M: 710 Cr: 670 W: 670 Total: 2050/2400 and 1380/1600
AP: Last year I took 3 APs, and got two 4s and one 3. This year I am taking 5 AP classes (6 if you count economics as macro and micro as separate since tests are separate) + engineering research class + phys ed + a graduation requirement class.
SAT II: Phys: 800 MathIIC: 800 Literature: 700
Essays: Good, meaning not super because I am not an extremely creative writer and I rarely use SAT words, but good in the sense that I feel I successfully expressed my personality
Letters of Recommendation: One of them was really good, and the other two were average good.</p>

<p>AWARDS/EXTRACURRICULARS/WORK EXPERIENCE:
--AP Scholar
--Varsity Tennis Team: 3yrs (I made counties once)
--Varsity Excellence Award (received twice)
--Two-time scholar athlete
--Distinguished High Honor Roll student
--Mathletes: 4yrs (county champion last year, captain this year)
--Science Olympiads: 2yrs, ever since it was offered (I entered all the physics and chemistry competitions)
--SWEEP (an environmental club): 2yrs
--Key Club: 20 hrs community service
--School Radio: 2yrs (journalist)
--Have been working hard at a convenient store 30hrs/week for 3yrs. I have been sales manager for 1.5 years. This is big for me since it took up a lot of my time on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (no dates, but I have a dream…)
--Even though I am an atheist, I have been helping every year, for five years, to help set up the food and dining preparations during the four weekend community feasts in the month of Ramadan. My counselor told me this is community service. So it took at least 3hrs/day<em>2days</em>4weekends<em>4yrs(high school yrs)=96 hours.
--I volunteered to tutor two students, on math and chemistry during junior year, after school every day, 1 hr each session, for 32 weeks. So 1</em>5<em>32 = 160 hours.
--I gave tennis lessons to a couple of persons at my tennis club during sophomore year, once a week, three hours a week, for six months. So 3</em>4*6= 72 hours. Afterwards, she became my girlfriend, which indeed was the ultimate payoff!</p>

<p>RESEARCH EXPERIENCE:
--I have completed original research on two projects, one involving chemistry at a state university, the other involving a bit of physics, environmental science, and biology—mixed—at a prominent national lab. I will be sending my abstracts for both research projects. Neither project was published, but I am entering the second one into ISEF. All this research stuff is perhaps my biggest “hook.”</p>

<p>MISCALLENOUS:
--I have been privately tutored for Arabic twice a week, for about 2 years now.
--I speak four languages fluently: Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, English; I know there are some conflicts about whether Urdu and/or Punjabi are languages or dialects, it’s acknowledged.
--I have taken part in civil protests against the war in Iraq as well as against the Patriot Act for twice a month, for two years.
--I trained at an international tennis academy in Texas for 1 month. (But please note, I do NOT wish to play college tennis)
--I regularly play tennis at a local club
--I love to play chess with my friends; I tried to create an official club, but my school’s board failed to pass it in time to make it official this year.
--My favorite album is War by U2
--As subtly mentioned above, I am taking an engineering research class. This year is the first year ever that my school is offering it, and it is very unique. I doubt many other schools have it, so this may catch a second glimpse.</p>

<p>PERSONAL QUALITIES:
--Mathematically and scientifically inclined
--Extremely politically active (I’m somewhere between liberal and libertarian)
--Very outgoing, I love my closest friends with all my heart, and I like most everyone else (except for the cocky jocks, for they are so annoying).
--Theologically open-minded
--I like to get personal with small groups of people, rather than lead a huge pack, as evident in my tutoring and tennis-lessons providing.</p>

<p>ACADEMIC INTERESTS:
--Economics
--Philosophy
--Mathematics
--Physics</p>

<p>Well, I gave it my all; looking back at my past four years, I feel happy, and satisfied—that’s what matters the most.</p>

2

<p>i'd say you're lacking in extracurriculars, i see a lot of clubs with no merit or positions.</p>

<p>your SAT2 scores are good but your SATs are low considering your race</p>

3

<p>^Yeah, I did the AI Ranking thing, and I had an AI ranking of 6 with score of 216. It came out as above average. But barely. So I agree, my scores are weak.</p>

<p>But won't they like my work experience? Really, to tell the truth, the problem was that my job took A LOT of my time away, so I really wasn't able to devote enough time to the other clubs, so obviously I couldn't lead in many of them.</p>

<p>Also, is the research a "hook?"</p>

4

<p>yes id say the research is and the fact that you speak alot of not very popular languages fluently. I think that your the kinds of kids there looking for. you have a good chance. plus dudeeee the weighting system at your school is crazy! for honors we only get multiplied by 1.03 which ends up being like +3 or 4 and for AP x1.06.</p>

5

<p>^Wow, you have no idea how much better you made me feel. Hopefully you're right!</p>

6

<p>Anymore opinions? I know it's very fuzzy out there in Ivy land, but if you can only give me your personal opinions, that would be rather appreciated.</p>

7

<p>? /<em>gawdfgasdfsafasfsad</em>/</p>

8

<p>CALM DOWN You're good to go</p>

9

<p>Good to go to community college, or UPenn? </p>

<p>Almost everyone tells me UPenn is a huge reach, and the rest tell me it is simply a reach. But nobody told me it is anything near a match or even a slight reach.</p>

<p>WHY ARE YOU SO NICE???!</p>

10

<p>Listen dude you need to chill out and just see what happens.</p>

<p>The fact is, you're no super applicant but remember that Penn weights GPA and Class rank more than SAT, and you are in the top 2%. If you look at decisions from last year, there are some kids that get in with 1800's and even more with low 2000's.</p>

<p>If you want me to analyze your stats even more, I can tell you that in general:</p>

<p>1) With your rank alone you'd have a 18% chance
2) With your Math SAT alone you'd have an 18% chance
3) With your CR SAT alone you'd have a 16% chance
4) With your Writing SAT alone you'd have a 15% chance
^Penn:</a> Undergraduate Admissions: Statistics for the Class of 2010</p>

<p>So there alone you have a 15-20% chance, doubled to 30-40% if you applied ED, and increased even further because you are applying to CAS and not Wharton</p>

<p>Then of course you have the fact that you speak about 70 different languages and have research, which further augments your chances for CAS.</p>

<p>If you take all that into account, you def have as good a shot as anyone else.</p>

11

<p>I love you.</p>