Got Rejected ED to Wharton, any ideas why?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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<p>I recently got rejected from Wharton, my dream school for the past 7+ years and it hurts badly. I’m thinking I’ll post my profile because I kind of thought I had a good shot, and want to see where I was weak. Here it is:</p>

<p>Middle Eastern Male from East Long Island…</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT 1: 800 V/780 M/710 W = 2290 Total
SAT 2: 740 American/720 World/690 Math 1c (Don’t know what happened)/680 Chemistry.
-No ACT.</p>

<p>AP’s/IB/College Course: 5’s on American/ European/Politics, 4 on Chemistry, 6 on Math SL, A- from Syracuse University in WRT105 and ETS143.</p>

<p>Course Load:
-Most rigorous course load available. I also was accelerated a year in advance so I came into 9th grade taking 10H English or Chem Honors, instead of standard 9H English or Biology Honors.
-I am in the Academy of Finance program within my school, take about 2 college level business courses through local SUNY schools a year.
-I opted to follow a passion for the Arts and take an Introductory Art class freshman year, and follow through on 3 years of Sculpture in the best Sculpture program offered in NY state.
-Taking BC Calc, AP English, AP Physics B, 5IB Spanish this year (mainly because there aren’t many other AP Classes for me to take).
-Pursued Japanese one year and study it independently with a tutor now.</p>

<p>Rec’s/Essays:
-My teacher recommendations were from my Business/History/Sculpture teachers, all stellar and very specific.
-I interned directly under the President of a multi-billion company, he wrote a great rec too.
-My autobiography essay dealt with myself in the future, in regards to my desire to work for the IMF/World Bank. Also I’ve actually traveled to every continent, except Antarctica, on my own, so when I write about poverty I’ve seen and how it affected me, I would hope it wouldn’t come out as standard ********/show that I had the desire to go to these places on my own. My “Why Penn?” essay dealt with my desire to go into the BPUB concentration and gave a lot of first-person detail, which I thought was looked highly upon. Also had essays proof-read by an English professor friend.</p>

<p>E.C.'s
-Vice President of DECA Business Club
-Business Honor Society
-Art Honor Society (only sophomore to be inducted).
-National Honor Society (chaired project to paint mural at local Diabetes research center).
-Varsity Winter/Spring track for all 4 years with several county titles and state qualifiers under my belt. Cross Country as well, but only to get into shape…I suck at distance running :frowning: If I was slightly better, I’d have tried to get recruited, blah.
-Over 1,000 hours spent volunteering at local Diabetes research center.
-One summer volunteered for Audubon Society, another summer went to NSLC International Diplomacy camp.
-Travel Soccer - Division 2 for basically my entire grade school life.</p>

<p>And my mommy went there too to boot! </p>

<p>Gah, I hate life right now. Are Ivies just not the thing for me? I may try and run for the D3 schools I’m applying to since I like running, just never thought I had a shot for a D1 Ivy. Can I get some of your opinions please? I’m probably going to forge on ahead with my Ivy/Near-Ivy applications. Finally, should I send in pictures of my sculpture pieces?</p>

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<p>well your EC's aren't too impressive</p>

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<p>^^^^ sarcasm?</p>

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<p>I think its a matter of distinction. Everyone who applies to Wharton has probably dreamt of going to Wharton for years. However, your ECs are all over the place. I don't see a common theme with which you considered when writing your application.</p>

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<p>I'm as stumped as you are. In my opinion, you seem more of a accepted/ deferred applicant rather than a rejected one.</p>

<p>You have great grades, ECs, and from what you said your recs and essays are awesome. Furthermore you are a legacy applicant.</p>

<p>But maybe, just maybe, your essays could have been more personal and showed more on why penn is really "the school for you" and how you could contribute. </p>

<p>Then again, no one can really figure out what these ivy league adcoms are looking for. </p>

<p>Nevertheless, i wish you the best of luck for your RD applications. There is no doubt in my mind you'll get into a school equally as prestigious as penn. Good luck</p>

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<p>What is your gpa? that 690 on math I can be really deadly. Otherwise, I'd expect at least a deferral. Oh yea, like everyone else said, the ec's aren't that spectacular, do you have any awards? To me it just seems like a lot of participation and not much accomplishment.</p>

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<p>Damn, threads like these really make me feel lucky to have gotten into Penn (not Wharton, OK, but at least my foot is in the door). With applicants like the OP applying, I really have no clue how I got in.</p>

<p>Sheesh.</p>

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<p>it's people like you that make me feel guilty. everything on your app looks awesome, minus the SAT II scores in science & math (which unfortunately are the most important). </p>

<p>on the otherhand, i had horrible SAT I scores, i had a combined of 1330, but my SAT ii's were 710 in chem and 780 in math iic. i guess my ecs set me apart cause i had alot of leadership positions and awards for fbla, but not many people have traveled to 6 continents on their own, so i really dont know why you were rejected and i was deferred.</p>

<p>if you look on the other thread, there are alot of people, specifically asians, who were rejected. their sat scores, ranks, ec, etc... were almost perfect. yet, they were rejected. </p>

<p>good luck in your other apps</p>

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<p>Well I have about 2-3 honors for each E.C. I listed =P. I listed it all on my application but I figured why make this a huge post and deter people from reading it. My essays might have been slightly impersonal because I didn't want to err on the side of coming off as flippant when I'm applying to the top business school in the nation...</p>

<p>I'm top 10%. The only thing that hurts me is that I wasn't Valedictorian (because my freshman/sophomore years were tough considering I was in the top sophomore/junior classes as a freshman...my GPA suffered slightly.) I also forgot to mention for my E.C.'s that I set up, own, operate a community website for my high school that has about 400 members and hundreds of posts a day. I was interviewed for the School and Local town newspaper!</p>

<p>I know my math/science scores kind of sucked, but I figured since I specified I wanted to study their Business and Public Policy curriciulum with a secondary concentration into Global Analysis and a dual major into Political Science...I would be kind of absolved of that sin. Now if I had been applying into Actuaries/Statistic Insurance Analysis or something like that, yeah I'd be a buffoon. </p>

<p>Do I have a shot at Columbia College's excellent Economics department and their Economics-Political Science major or...Princeton Economics Undergrad then ---> Woodrow Wilson school? These are really the top 3 specific programs I wanted to do and if I can't, I'd hate to have to re-align all my interests from scratch. I don't know why admissions offices think all there is to business is the ability to master multi-variable calculus by age 10 or some nonsense. There's an entire sociological component to it too which is what I'm trying to concentrate on.</p>

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<p>I'd also like to clarify to whomever said I have E.C.'s all over the place. I know that. It's not really E.C.'s all over the place I concentrated on a couple and went with them. I opted for the "interested in diverse areas" approach consciously, opposed to the "one thing and one thing only, but at a national level" approach. I was under the impression that being balanced (note: not subpar and balanced) wasn't really frowned upon.</p>

<p>Business interested me. Diabetes volunteering/research interested me. Art, specifically sculpture interested me. And being relatively decent at Track interested me.</p>

<p>1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4
4x1 = 4</p>

<p>Different approaches :).</p>

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<p>We are on the same boat. My Stat and EC is similar with yours and got deferred! May be my essay is too business like, not very personal.</p>

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<p>if anyone has any ideas for me too, i also got rejected ED. My stats are on this link:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=126624%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=126624&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>OP, I don't know what to tell you...you had a lot going for you. My guess would be GPA...you never really specified what that was. I had 3.74 UW w/ barely top 5% rank; I think that was low enough to do me in...it might've been for you too.</p>

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<p>Mine were a bit on the less personal side as well, but if they ran the risk of being "business-like"...well it is a business school, no? I mean why else would someone be applying to Wharton other than to make a lot or manage a lot of money at a certain point in the future.</p>

<p>It's not a school to go to in order to learn how to bake ****ing brownies and spread cheer amongst racially diverse people.</p>

<p>...Stamb, I know my only weakness was my GPA, I don't actually remember what it was, just that I was top 10% in my class, which was the major hurdle to pass. If they're going to reject based on an above average gpa when everything else is stellar...then maybe I really wouldn't have wanted to go there I guess.</p>

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<p>maybe they couldnt get a true sense of who you are based on you application. i know that admissions officers talk about how they want to feel like they know you after looking through the application. and you seem to have been involved in a lot of activities that weren't all related. those r the only "ideas" i can think of (dont know if they're neccessarily correct). from what you've posted, your stats and transcript seem really strong. and based on numbers only, you would have had a good shot of getting in.
you still have a chance at really competitive schools, even ivies, maybe you just want to give your application some direction. your essays talked a lot about what you want to be, maybe they didnt say who you actually are at the moment.
wow, sorry, kinda long. i hope it helped.
good luck with your other applications!</p>

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<p>My stat and EC is similar with Holy****, except that my GPA is 4.0 UW/4.35 UW, rank is top 1% in a public school. This year, I won the 1st place in state DECA competition. I also have many national awards. I just do not know what went wrong and got deferred. It really frustrating. Is it good idea to call Willis Stetson, who happens to be my regional rep. and try to find out what is the reason for my deferral? </p>

<p>I am only second guessing that my essay may not be very personal and did not interest them.</p>

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<p>Oh sorry, I type it wrong. 4.0 UW/4.35W</p>

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<p>hey holyspirit- you asked about your chances at either columbia or princeton. i'd say that both are extremely tough, but perhaps princeton would be a bit easier for you considering your ECs. columbia college is extremely selective, but you can apply to the fu foundation for engineering and then transfer (although that's always a bit risky). princeton on the otherhand has accepted many people who don't fit your "ivey standards" on the aspect of their ECs and experiences. but whatever college you get admitted into or get rejected from, just remember, the name can only open so many doors for you. and judging by what you've been writing, i'm guessing you're going to go for an mba? so perhaps all of this wont even matter, just your graduate school.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I'm going to go for an MBA. And I know technically, regardless where I go, I'll get a good education blah blah blah and be successfull...But the truth of the matter is having NYU + Ivy vs. Ivy + Ivy on your resume will net you your first job that much easier. Regardless, I don't know if this sounds egotistical or not, but I kind of feel I wouldn't be out of place in an Ivy League environment, and to not fulfill my potential would well, "suck balls".</p>

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<p>So you were legacy and rejected? I'd have your mom talk with someone in the alum office for some info and suggestion. Your legacy only counted in ED so I would investigate from that point right away.</p>

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<p>That's what was most confusing to me, why would they not at least defer me. They ask for a math based teacher, I used my economics/finance/accounting teacher for that. Was that like an auto reject move?</p>

<p>Also my mom has been an alumni volunteer for 19 years, doing interviews for prospective students, ever since she graduated. She also donates like a thousand dollars a year? And to boot, she was told to send a copy of my application on through the Admissions Director for Long Island or something similar to that, which should have helped supposedly I guess.</p>

<p>I was the first kid to do the sleep over/attend classes thing when they opened up sign ups for that. I had my alumni interview on campus. The kid who went in with another interviewer came out after 20 minutes of talking, I was in there for over an hour. </p>

<p>I'm not even in the angry/sad phase yet. More like shocked/confused because almost every single factor was in my favor. I don't really like any of the programs at any other schools except for other fellow ivy leagues/basically ivy leagues, so I'm out of luck.</p>

<p>Would I have better luck taking a year off and going to work for the family business in Europe and traveling around the world...and other deep meaningful personality expanding nonsensical crap and then reapply?</p>