<p>Although it's now summertime but I'm worrying about college next year. This is my situation but I don't know which way I should go :
I'm Asian just came to US last Sep. My GPA is 4.1 weighted based on the report card I just received last Fri. I didn't participate in any group at school last year. I didn't take the SAT yet. I will take one in Oct to apply for ED. I will have the SAT II score in a few days.
For the ED next year, I really want go get into UPenn- Wharton but my friend told me not to waste the ED because UPenn is really tough. So now I'm considering UPenn,NYU,UMich,U Chicago- one of which will be for my ED. Could you guys give me some advice and how to get into those schools ???
For the summer I plan to do some community service and study for SAT. Should I do anything more ???</p>
<p>ED isn't a tool to be used to get into one school. It's serious, and I don't recommend it to 90% of students. Early Decision is only to be used for your top-choice number one school that you are certain you a) really want to attend, no strings attached and b) will have very little trouble financing no matter what kind of aid package you get from the school. If you have to decide and debate about which one you want to apply to for Early Decision, it isn't the right option for you.</p>
<p>However, if Wharton is where you REALLY want to go - I mean REALLY - then go ahead and apply to it ED! It's not a waste. Any of the schools that you want to apply to are a crapshoot to get into anyway, and you might as well try.</p>
<p>My advice:</p>
<p>-Study really hard for the SAT over the summer. Although the top colleges always say that the SAT score is only a small part of the package, you very rarely see anyone with less than 600s in each section (or total scores of 1800+) getting into these schools.</p>
<p>-I assume your next year schedule is already settled, but make sure you are taking challenging classes including AP/IB/college level class.</p>
<p>-Also over the summer start working on, or at least thinking about, your essays. (Especially U-Chicago's -- theirs are always weird, and fun.)</p>
<p>Could you give more detailed stats, like your class rank and UW GPA? </p>
<p>No offense, but you're a weak ED Wharton applicant because since it's so ridiculously competitive, the pool of those who apply consists of highly qualified students who have been building their resumes since middle school. You have no extracurriculars (which is really bad for all colleges, not just Penn) and a low weighted GPA for a Wharton applicant. </p>
<p>What's your prospective major? What are you looking for in a school? Those are a couple of questions that will help you decide where to apply ED. </p>
<p>For the summer, that sounds like a good plan. Maybe you should get a job-- I'm pretty sure that the Common App, for example, asks for work experience, etc.</p>
<p>As a side note, make sure you add safeties to your college list-- the 4 schools you mentioned are all fairly-highly selective.</p>
<p>:-? my GPA I think is in top 10%, last year valedictorian in my school earned 4.6 weighted GPA. There are only a few kids who have GPA >4.1 in my junior year. Next year I'll take 2 AP classes(hopefully I may take AP His). My school is Catholic High School and relatively small (400 hundred students totally I think).
I don't think I can get a job in US cuz I'm international. Working illegally is tough and time -consuming. Volunteer is good for me.
My major is business-finance. That's why I chose those schools. Are there any schools that have more chances for me ???
of course I will have some safeties. :)</p>