Honestly. Do I have a chance here?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Penn is my absolute number one choice. But I’ve been predicted to be rejected.</p>

<p>I’m applying Regular decision because we can’t afford the price if they wouldn’t give us enough money for early decision. I am a white female from South Jersey public school (my antihook). Here are my stats so far.</p>

<p>GPA = 101.14. So I guess a 4.0. (weighted. I don’t know unweighted. I have a +5 points on the end of year grade for honors classes and +8 for AP classes, which apparently penn HATES)
My unweighted average is still a high A.</p>

<p>Rank = 1/360</p>

<p>SAT I = 2240 (760 W 750 CR 730 M)
SAT II -
Math IIC - 660 (yeah I know. I retook them last week)
Chem - should be at least a 700 with my retake (was 660).
Spanish - 670 </p>

<p>APs (will kill me)
3 this year, that’s it (Calc, Chem, English) I would have taken two last year. Thank you, schedule problems. I would have taken another this year too. MORE SCHEDULE PROBLEMS. We have about 7 or 8 AP classes in total and a few just popped up this year.</p>

<p>Constant and Pseudo-constant EC:
Student Council, NHS webmaster/historian, math league, NJ science league, key club, president of spanish club, clarinet lessons and piano lessons, 1st clarinet in an orchestra, varsity soccer, lots of summer soccer things, pit player in high school musical (which is an extremely good production), on and off dance lessons (salsa, swing)</p>

<p>Honorable things and inconstant ECs:
AMC 10, AMC 12, top scorer in school for bio and chem test, straight As (93 and above) since birth (except this year, first mp), all those scammy “outstanding student of america” things, Edward J. Bloustein Scholar, 1st clarinet in Rowan side by side honors band, 1st clarinet in HS wind ensemble, soloist/leadership stuff with all of that, annual piano recital - I played my own piano composition at my 10th grade one, presidential physical fitness award (haha), soloist with orchestra (professional) and choir, All South Jersey symphonic band 3rd Section Leader, our high school wind ensemble is one of the best in the state, Knowledge Master, Women in Technology fair…</p>

<p>Volunteering:
With beginner band (4th grader), Relay for Life, Talent show, stuff for key club/nhs/student council which are all these little things, Church Liturgy band member</p>

<p>Work:
Summer: work on the family farm (produce)
Work on the family farm market as well, often alone.
Pianist at local church</p>

<p>Does Penn have a Philly-area quota? I heard that somewhere. We are close to philly…about 20 minutes away. </p>

<p>In spite of my lack of whatever, I am an extremely hard worker. Besides doing this, the only break I take from homework is dinner and to practice music, and on average I have stayed up each night to 2 AM on homework and studying. This year has been absolutely crazy. My first marking period grades aren’t horrible - the lowest is a 90. But I usually average a 97 on report cards.</p>

<p>I also brought my SAT math/verbal up from a 1230 to a 1480. </p>

<p>Recs:</p>

<p>One from band director - talks about my musical accomplishment as well as my personality and likens me to how he would want his daughter to be.
One from Calc/geometry teacher - talks about how I got a 35 on my first geometry quiz and then ended up being one of the best honors geometry students he has had in his career. Mentions family, my sense of humor, my aforementioned study habits.
One from English teacher, pending
One from (yes I know 4 is quite a lot) my uncle’s brother, a former adjunct professor at Penn (whom they want back) who is a published author.</p>

<p>Essay:</p>

<p>Haven’t done them, but I have a pretty good music essay that can be tearworthy, and a soccer essay that talks about my commitment to something that has tested me to the extremes (I wasn’t awesome at soccer).</p>

<p>APPLYING TO:

  1. DIGITAL MEDIA DESIGN
    OR
    COMPUTER SCIENCE
    Music minor.</p>

<p>Yes, passion computer science is not evident in this description, but it’s a spare time thing because my school no longer offers the C++ class I signed up for.</p>

2

<p>i'm doing computer science also.</p>

<p>this year is harder so it will be tough but you certainly have a shot. I don't like predictions because they are stupid but go into the application thinking it all comes down to your essays. make them sparkle. you'll have a shot.</p>

3

<p>Penn does not have a philadelphia quota. they do, however, really really like to have kids from inside the city. That advantage doesn't hold true if you live outside the city line though. There are people who live 1 mile away from me (across the border) who don't have the same advantage. Though living in PA definately is a plus, it's debated how much they like the suburbs (they really want people to move into the city). Other than that, definately apply if you're genuinely interested in the school. Nobody on this board can tell you with any degree of acuracy if you will get in or not. Valedictorians and 2300+'ers (or their equivalents) routinely get rejected, people with much much lower scores frequently get admitted. Being in the middle 50% (which you definately are) helps, but it's not a ticket in.</p>

4

<p>There were the same number of Philadelphia kids enrolled at Penn for the last two years in a row, though (185)!! Coincidence?</p>

5

<p>Lol, yeah, they have no "quota" aka the more Philly kids they have the better...but they will make some strecthes to get a certain number of Philly kids in Penn, so being in Philly is always a plus despite how many Philly kids apply</p>

6

<p>are you positive about that? that sounds closer to the # of mayor's scholarship recipients, which is a fixed number. the admissions officer that came to my school said that there was no quota. Is that ED only? If not, then it is a coincidence because Penn does not have 100% yield. If only 185 philadelphians get accepted every year then that means that my school represented roughly 15% of those accepted!</p>

7

<p>btw you guys should all be jealous of the mayor's scholarship for Phila residents, it makes your aid package comprised of 100% grants.</p>

8

<p>xian - that's 185 enrolled total ED and RD, not accepted. I'm sure I read that, and I'll check again when I have more time.</p>

<p>You're right about yield not being 100% in that case, but schools have lots of ways to manage enrollment, including making good use of wait lists, for one thing!</p>

9

<p>I think you've got a pretty good shot.... you've got an awesome resume and you seem unique... but then again I'm no expert.... just by reading your stuff, sounds really impressive! Good Luck!!!!</p>

10

<p>thank you all</p>

11

<p><a href="http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/4253917236871?in_archive=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/4253917236871?in_archive=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>xian - Here's the link I was telling you about - last line. Seems to mean 185 accepted, (not enrolled) for the last two years in a row!</p>

12

<p>hmm...185 seems sorta low, considering Penn's fuss about their dedication to the area. Honestly, it seems like everybody i know has some sort of connection to the place. It's considered a backup school for about 10% of my class (well, maybe not after this year). My science teacher described it this way:</p>

<p>"Walk around in center city sometime. Throw a rock into the crowd. You'll probably hit someone who either works for Penn at studies there."</p>

<p>Some kids I know are actually not even applying in order to avoid their parents who work there. Seems kinda rediculous to me to give up going to such a good school for the price of a community college just because you run the slight risk (it's a big campus) of seeing your mom or dad once every other week.</p>