How did I get in?

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>My friend told me to post my stats on this site. Apparently he doesn't think I should have gotten in; he told me to post them on this website to see what others think...</p>

<p>Decision: Accepted SEAS</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): Not Sent
[</em>] ACT: 33 Composite
[<em>] SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Chem, 760 US History
[</em>] Unweighted GPA: 94% out of 100%
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 3-5%
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Psychology (5), Environmental Science (5), Biology (5), Chem (5), US History (5), English Language (5), Human Geography (5), Calc BC (5/5)
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load: Multivariable Calculus, AP Spanish Language, AP English Literature, AP Art History, AP Physics C
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): School Newspaper (Editor 1 Year, Editor in Chief 2 Years), Yearbook (Editor 2 Years, Editor in Chief 1 Year), Cross Country (3 Varsity Letters), Tennis (2 Varsity Letters), Forensics Public Speaking and Debate (President 1 Year), and SADD (Vice President 1 Year, President 2 Years).
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Local Hospital (3 Years, 250+ Hours), Local Animal Shelter (200+ Hours), Local Library (200+ Hours)
[<em>] Summer Activities: Biomedical Internships, CTY, NYLF, Volunteering, Shadowing Doctors.
[</em>] Essays: Had help from teachers, both seemed good.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Both good.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Good.
[<em>] Interview: Good.
[/ul] Other[ul]
[</em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: No.
[<em>] Intended Major: Biomedical Science
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): NJ
[<em>] Country (if international applicant): US
[</em>] School Type: Private (Fairly Challenging)
[<em>] Ethnicity: Asian American
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Income Bracket: 150,000 ish
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Legacy?
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Course Rigor, Grades/Scores, ECs?
[</em>] Weaknesses: Ethnicity, Lack of Single Passion, Income?, Lack of Awards</p>

<p>[/ul]General Comments: Any thoughts? Why do you think I was accepted?</p>

2

<p>I think you deserved to get in, and what is more important is that UPenn thinks you’re good enough. Might be time to improve the quality of your freinds or at least to stop letting them tell you what to do. Congratulations on your acceptance!</p>

3

<p>Some say I got in because of “legacy.” My dad went to the engineering school for graduate study. If I didn’t indicate I was a legacy, would I still deserve my acceptance?</p>

4

<p>Yes, you do. I don’t see why not. Relax.</p>

5

<p>Your stats are excellent. To me your test scores are high end of things.</p>

6

<p>Your friend is completely wrong. Your stats are amazing, hypms level without a doubt, and more than that they are international level (oxford, etc.).</p>

<p>Assuming that all of your essays were well written and had interesting takes I see no reason why you should not have been admitted to almost any college of your choice. At least in my opinion I feel that you entirely deserve your acceptance.</p>

7

<p>You might be surprised to know that Penn’s median SAT scores (at least for SAS+SEAS+Wharton) are not much different than those of HYP… and Penn is not a refuge for those who cannot otherwise get into HYP.</p>

<p>Just a quick survey of websites for middle 50% of SAT scores:
Penn (all schools): math 690-780, verbal 660-750, writing 670-760
Princeton: math 700-790, verbal 690-780, writing 700-780
Yale: math 700-780, verbal 700-800, writing 700-790</p>

8

<p>Do you think I should have held out for Princeton? It was either Princeton or UPenn, and I decided to just go for UPenn.</p>

9

<p>you prob wouldn’t have gotten into pton but you deserve penn, definitely.</p>

10

<p>the problem with ED is the “what if.” You’ll never know! </p>

<p>Maybe you would have gone to princeton, gotten a better education / better connections, built some information technology empire and become the world’s richest man. But you’re now at Penn, where you will slave away at problem sets in DRL, a place so detestable even rats avoid it.</p>

<p>lol kidding. Penn is great- I think you made a good call with hedging your bets. you really can’t go wrong with an engineering degree from an Ivy league school.</p>

11

<p>I wouldn’t have gotten into Princeton? Are there any reasons?</p>

12

<p>Magnito doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You could easily have gotten into Princeton with those stats. Then again, you could easily have been rejected, as you could have if you had applied to Penn RD. The whole thing is a crap shoot.</p>

<p>Yes, Princeton is better known than Penn, but not significantly, they’re barely separated in the rankings, Penn is also highly sought after, has similar grad placement, and arguably affords the same education - better in some areas and worse in others.</p>

<p>Don’t second guess yourself.</p>

<p>Having met and chilled with many people from every Ivy League school, I would say that while the top 10% of HYP is definitely a special group of people, the middle 80% of each of these schools is largely the same. The average Princetonian/Yalie is NOT more impressive than the average Columbia/Penn student, in my experience. And the top deciles at Penn/Columbia could easily take on the average kids at any of these schools. There’s a huge amount of admissions turnover.</p>

13

<p>

</p>

<p>Princeton RD is much harder than Penn SEAS ED. If you have to ask how you got in to Penn SEAS ED(with legacy, no less) then Princeton probably isn’t realistic. And for an unhooked ORM, 33/top5% isn’t great. Think 35/val.</p>

14

<p>I totally disagree with ChoklitRain. While it’s true that Penn SEAS ED+Legacy is not as selective, you STILL did have a great chance at Princeton. ACT and SAT IIs are definitely upper half of successful applicants at either school.</p>

<p>Yes, you want a sure thing - you need 35+val. But that’s not what you were asking. I think you would have had a great shot at any school you applied to - no sure things, since you aren’t URM, math olympiad finalist, or Yo Yo Ma, but still a great chance.</p>

<p>ChoklitRain may be too shell-shocked by admissions to realize this, but it’s people like the OP who make up 80% of every Ivy League school.</p>

15

<p>^ I’m not shell-shocked at all. I applied Chicago EA and Wharton ED, got in to both with no worries. For an unhooked ORM from an over-represented region, 35/val is the sort of profile you need to even have a decent shot at Princeton. I think you may be too proud of your school to admit that Princeton admissions are on a different level than Penn SEAS ED admissions.</p>

<p>Former adcoms like hmom5 will corroborate the views put forth in this post.</p>

16

<p>What are my chances to get in UPenn RD?</p>

<p>I am a legacy - my grandmother attended the Wharton School; however, I applied to the SEAS</p>

<p>Gender: Female
Prospective Major: Undeclared Engineering
Ethnicity: White</p>

<p>I have a 4.0 and have taken every demanding course my high school offers…
(Class rank 11/326)</p>

<p>Junior Year-
AP Calc (A+, A)
AP US History(A, A+)
AP English (A, A)</p>

<p>Senior Year-
AP Chemistry (A+)
AP English (A)
Honors Physics (A+) and next semester I am switching into AP Physics (without taking the entire course…I want to show college admissions staff that I am looking to challenge myself)</p>

<p>I play Girls Varsity Lacrosse
I have received many Faculty Awards in Math and Science
I am in Interact Club, Student Council, Humanitarian Club, Debate Club, and in the Student Leadership Organization</p>

<p>I am not an excellent standardized test taker; however,
SATs-
630 Math
620 Writing (10 on my essay)
560 Critical Reading</p>

<p>ACTs-
31 Math
29 English
22 Reading
22 Science
(10 on my essay)</p>

<p>What do you think my chances for admission will be for RD?</p>

<p>*I was selected to be a teacher’s assistant in my Physics class.</p>

17

<p>You see, a 35/val combination would be ideal - I don’t disagree. But where you’re wrong is the whole “val” thing. I go to a boarding school. If I chose to go to the local public school, I’d easily be sal/val. We don’t report exact rank… we only report top 5%.</p>

<p>*And are you even allowed to apply ED and EA?</p>

18

<p>What? I don’t understand what your talking about. Who said their applying EA and ED… that’s not possible.</p>

19

<p>ChoklitRain - I was one of the top 5 students at a very well known private school in New England.</p>

<p>Of these 5, 2 got into Princeton and Harvard, and the other three got into Penn (1 to M&T, the other two of us to CAS). The Princeton had a 2280, the Harvard had a 2230. I had a 2250. </p>

<p>I know of at least 10 other HYP students, none of whom had a 35 or above a 2340, none of whom were valedictorian… in fact, the val from MY school goes to Penn!</p>

<p>So I think it’s safe to say that 1) you do not need to be a val to have a “decent” shot at ANY Ivy League school and 2) HYP etc. is not even necessarily shopping for vals.</p>

20

<p>What are my chancessssss?</p>