I’m a rising senior at a large public high school, and I was wondering what my chances would look like for ED at Penn for Materials Science and Engineering or Chemistry. I’m well aware that it’s kind of a reach, especially since I don’t have any extraordinary EC accomplishments, but I know that Penn’s ED acceptance rate is a lot higher because it’s binding (close to 20% i think).
I’m also applying thinking of applying to UMich, Berkeley, UWash in Seattle (safety), and Johns Hopkins (RD if I don’t get into Penn, so if you have any thoughts on that please share them.
Basics:
Female, Asian (Indian), not applying for Financial Aid, in-state for UMich
Stats:
-GPA: UW 3.96 W 4.21 (kind of an upwards trend since I only got A minuses in 9th and 10th grade and 4/5 of my APs were junior year) school does not rank, but my course load is the most rigorous you can take if you’re not in double advanced math
-SAT: 1540 (790 Math 380 R 370 W) 21 essay
-ACT: 34 C (35 English 33 Reading 33 Math 34 Science) 10 essay
-SAT Subjects: Math 2 (800) Chemistry (800)
-APs: Chem (5) USH (5) US Govt (5) Microecon (5) Lang (5)
Senior Year Classes: (all AP) Calc BC, Physics C, Biology, Lit, Spanish 5, HuG, Macroecon
ECs:
-President of ChemClub
-Treasurer/PR for MUN (a couple awards)
-PR for HOSA (qualified for states 3 yrs in a row)
-NHS Officer (I know I’ll be an officer, but I don’t know what position, like for ex, president or treasurer or just 1 of 4 officers)
-Spanish Honor Society (we tutor spanish-speaking students at elementary schools)
-JV Cross Country (2 yrs, just to get out of gym)
-volunteer at local soup kitchen, tutor middle school kids in detroit for math and science, official volunteer for county parks and recreation office
-Art Portfolio, its like a B+ portfolio i’d say
Honors:
-Nat Merit Commended
-AP Scholar w/ Distinction
-Nat Spanish Exam Gold (99th Percentile)
-Runner-up to National Nominee for Chem Olympiad (I’m in a really competitive section but don’t go to an as competitive school, so this was the best we’ve done in a decade I think)
Ok, so I know my teacher recommendations (AP Chem and Microecon teachers, had a 100 in both classes) and essays should be pretty good since my teachers like me pretty well and I’m a pretty good narrative writer, but don’t know my counselor at all, hopefully I can make her like me enough to write a non-mediocre recommendation before apps are due. And, I know U of M is a match, since basically everyone at my school with above a 1400 gets in, but my sister applied EA 2 years ago to LSA with better stats than me and was waitlisted, so I’m kind on edge.
Also, do you think that the 33 math weakens my application significantly, since I want to go into engineering? I was hoping the 800 on math 2 and 790 sat math would be enough to make up for it. Additionally, a 34 is slightly less than a 1540 so I don’t really need to send both, but I paid like 70 dollars to take it and that would a waste, and if I don’t send it might look like I did way worse on the ACT than I actually did. Still, I don’t want them to think I’m bad at math if I apply for engineering applicant.