<p>Would you consider coming from a high-school that sends praticaly nobody to Ivy's/Top Schools a hook? (I saw an Official Decisions thread where an accepted student listed as one) </p>
<p>The most "prestegious" school I can recall a grad attending is PSU Honors 4 years ago. And according to a plaque in the lobby, very few students have broken 700 on an SAT section. Would applying from a school that has no Ivy Applicants help me, or would someone coming from a more competitive school with multiple applicants have a better shot?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t really considering that a hook if your school isn’t really good. I mean you go to a school that have few people break 700 on the SAT section. That could mean that your school isn’t very good.</p>
<p>Haha nothing confidence-boosting so far for me then =P Im from Central PA haha. And lets just put it this way…the avg SAT is mid 900/1400. <em>ouch</em> But, I mean I think any school where kids semi-regulary break 700 will probaly have a handful of kids apply to Penn, which from what Ive heard around here doesnt do anything to help you out. </p>
<p>Around here, “Penn State Main” is considered a prestegious school, and (just as the steryrotype goes) people always assume I mean PSU when I say I want to apply to Penn. =P I pretty confident I will be the only kid out of the school applying Ivy, and I guess the main question here is , will that help?</p>
<p>It allows you to stand out in your school and get great grades/recommendations. but living in PA will hurt you. they can only take so many PA students, and around Philadelphia there are plenty of legacies, faculty children, rich kids, and private schools.</p>
<p>^ yeah but they keep track of the number of in-state students. schools with a high proportion of in-state students are thought by some to be less prestigious, in that they’re not drawing all their students from Timbuktu or wherever, lol.</p>
<p>I know Central PA has a different Regional Admissions Officer than the rest of PA (Philly), so Im hoping this helps break me away from the Philly Applicants. (I guess my logic is that I will hopefully rise to the top of the Central PA stack rather than gettin piled under all the Philly ones). I dont know how much of a differnce this will make though, just speculation. :)</p>
<p>I think it’s helpful that you’re not from a great school, but I would encourage you to be sure that you want Penn. If they think that you’re just looking for distance, they won’t like that because it defeats the point of college, which is a very healthy maturing experience. But if you decide that you want Penn, perhaps in spite of distance, then it might help that your school isn’t so esteemed.</p>
<p>I believe that Central PA is not as competitive as Philly.</p>
<p>If you are applyig from a weak high school it will improve your chances of admission if you are competitive. I would guess that your SATIIs and AP scores will carry more weight in your application, because they will show if you got As because the school is easy or if you are truly very smart. If your school’s avereage AP scores are around a 2 and you score all 4s and 5s, it will look very good. If you score 750+ or 800 on your SATIIs then it shows that you can truly master the material and do well at Penn rather than getting As in an easy high school.</p>
<p>Central PA is not as competitive as the Philly suburbs (Philly actually IS a hook for applicants but works against those in the Philly suburbs), so it’ll surely help you.</p>
<p>PSU Main is pretty tough to get into, in fairness. If you’re out of state, it’s virtually just as tough as it is to get into any other competitive school. Plus all of my PSU friends have kickass internships this summer, so yeah haha</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help you guys! I definately wanna go to Penn. (not just for the distance) Im gonna try to rock the SAT II’s and APs this year… I only got a 3 on my English, never really was my strong point. PSU Honors is probaly my second choice, and I’d be pretty happy if I have to “fall back” on that lol. It seems like a great school too. I just gotta write awesome essays and pray a lttle haha.</p>
PSU Honors is probaly my second choice, and I’d be pretty happy if I have to “fall back” on that lol. It seems like a great school too. I just gotta write awesome essays and pray a lttle haha.</p>