<p>My S applied ED last year - desperately wanted Penn but also looking at Carnegie Mellon, Rice, USC with Lehigh and GaTech as "confidence schools". He had:
3.7 uw gpa
ok SAT's (740v, 700m, 700wr)
5 AP's w/ all 5's
All honors/accelerated courses with some pretty spectacular flame-outs along the way (no d's but a couple of c's in courses he wasn't interested in, like english!)
10 varsity letters (but not state ranked in anything - just a solid athlete)
School honor panel
really no other EC's</p>
<p>I think what really worked for him is that he "layered" everything - his passion is computers and all of his summer programs reflected this.</p>
<p>He was deferred ED and was accepted in April (also in @ CMU, Rice and USC and flat-out rejected @ his safeties - go figure!) - we just returned from parents weekend and it is amazing to see how well he is doing! taking lots of challenging classes (with A's!), joining every club, applying for internships and HAPPY!</p>
<p>Bottom line: everyone on this site would have told you that he had no chance of getting in given his stats but he did and he is thriving so if you really believe Penn (or any school) is "the one" for you - GO FOR IT! Don't be intimidated by the amazing stats that people post and good luck!</p>
<p>Wow, very interesting. I wouldn’t have thought given the resume you present, that your son would have been admitted, but then Penn does like [love] to know that a student wants them specifically. Your son’s enthusiasm clearly could have shined through, so they look at the total picture, and forgave what would have been perceived as a shortcoming. So glad that your son is doing well.
Best regards,
Fellow ‘Proud Penn Parent’
ps: my son was waitlisted at one of his safeties too, and we believe it was because they felt he would not attend if accepted, given he would have so many other higher level choices. They needed, with good reason, to try and build a student body that would actually come, not one that might come, but very doubtful. We kind of chuckle about that waitlisting.</p>
<p>We almost fell over when GAtech and Lehigh posted - Penn had not posted yet. You can imagine how freaked out we all were! I think some kids aren’t ready to excel academically until they are in the right environment for them. Our S has friends that started last month with what would appear to be a MUCH stronger background (actually, he was feeling a little intimidated by the extent of what many kids have already accomplished) but they are not doing as well in the same classes. I also really believe that the distance between a strong ivy applicant and a strong applicant to another <em>good</em> school is probably pretty narrow…</p>
<p>but i just want to point out…his SATs aren’t bad at all!!! it is my strong belief that anything above 700 will basically cut it… i feel like he might have gotten deferred because of the Cs. </p>