<p>Exactly how awesome do you need to be to get into that? I mean only FIFTY kids get in among thousands of applicants. How should I stand out - this is the summer after my junior year and I'd like to make myself shine. I'm strong academically and in the top three of my grade.</p>
<p>Thank You!</p>
<p>bump
<p>some national recognition in science would help. Starting something concerning business technology would be a good way to go.</p>
<p>so these are my stats, it might help
Decision: Accepted to M&T, BFS, JWS</p>
<p>Objective:</p>
<ul>
<li>SAT I (breakdown):2330 (CR-760, M-770, W-800)</li>
<li>ACT:35</li>
<li>SAT II: Math II- 800, Spanish-800, Physics- 780</li>
<li>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.08</li>
<li>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):</li>
<li>AP (place score in parenthesis): 5s on all: AP (Physics B, Eng Lang, Span, Bio)</li>
<li>IB (place score in parenthesis):</li>
<li>Senior Year Course Load:AP BC Calc, AP Chem, AP Eng Lit, AP Physics C, AP USH</li>
<li>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Largest school scholarship, Cum Laude, NHS, Spanish Honor Society, Latin Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, Eagle Scout, Soccer State Champions for 5 consecutive years, 3 debate tournament victories, All-State Soccer Team 2 years</li>
</ul>
<p>Subjective:</p>
<ul>
<li>Extracurriculars: Eagle Scout, President and founder of 2 Clubs, Captain of science and soccer teams, science bowl, science olympiad, TEAMS Engineering Captain, Debate</li>
<li>Job/Work Experience:</li>
<li>Volunteer/Community service: Boy scout, volunteering at church</li>
<li>Summer Activities: Classes at other major Ivy Leagues, research, interning at engineering companies, study abroad</li>
<li>Essays: They were very highly edited and polished, and I think that they were very personal and represented myself well; this is definitely a strength of mine</li>
<li>Teacher Recommendation: I think that they went really well- I sent 3 instead of 2 so that colleges could get a varied perspective on me; one math, one physics, and one english teacher sent the recommendations</li>
<li>Counselor Rec: I think that this went very well- I have a good relationship with my college counselor</li>
<li>Additional Rec:</li>
<li>Interview: n/a</li>
</ul>
<p>Other</p>
<ul>
<li>State: Mississippi</li>
<li>School Type:Rural Private</li>
<li>Ethnicity: White</li>
<li>Gender: M</li>
<li>Income Bracket: ~150k</li>
<li>Hooks: Spanish fluent, under-represented state</li>
</ul>
<p>***For privacy purposes, because I am the only M&T from such a rural state and we are such a small group, I have slightly modified the data, but in ways that parallel my actual statistics and achievements, so that you should be able to see a reasonable candidate for M&T</p>
<p>^ what is BFS, JWS?
Amazing stats though, but HOW did you did 4.08 UNWEIGHTED??!</p>
<p>Thank you, StarsAligned.
so I think this is a southeastern thing, but an A+ is 4.33 and it’s still “unweighted.”
Sorry about that statistic, I forgot that it can be a bit misleading at times, and I’m not really sure about the best way to re-calculate my grades in the most common way, so I estimate it to be like 3.95 or something along those lines using the conventional system. </p>
<p>As for BFS, it stands for Benjamin Franklin Scholars, which is kind of a mini-community on campus. About 5%, or 100-125 of students are invited to it. It allows you take make your college experience more liberal arts college-esque, by giving you access to some exclusive seminar classes that let in maybe 5-25 people, a more personal advising experience, and basically a resume boost. It’s pretty much regular decision incentive to get you to turn down other competing schools. The main premise of the experience is “undergraduate students committed to the power of ideas.” Here is the link to the site: [Center</a> for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships](<a href=“Penn CURF”>Penn CURF)</p>
<p>JWS is Joseph Wharton Scholars, which is the Wharton component of BFS. Perhaps 5-10% of Wharton students are invited to be JWS. You can be a Wharton student not in JWS, and be in BFS, but you can’t do JWS without being in BFS. JWS offers a lot of the same thing as BFS, but they are more business focused. For example, freshman JWS take FNCE 103- Business Economics, instead of Econ 10. FNCE 103 is limited to something like 28 students, and you get a top-notch professor. This continues in that you can take honors sections of nearly all required basic business courses, like Honors FNCE, ACCT, MGMT, etc. Once again, this is incentive for the kids that are debating between HYPSM or equivalent schools and Wharton. here is the link for JWS: [url=<a href=“http://spike.wharton.upenn.edu/ugrprogram/research/jws.cfm]JWS[/url”>http://spike.wharton.upenn.edu/ugrprogram/research/jws.cfm]JWS[/url</a>]</p>
<p>I hope that is helpful, because not a lot of people know about these Scholars programs. I highly suggest M&T because of the rigorous nature of the program, the great reputation it has in business and engineering, and the perks you get around campus! I’m class of '14, so I’ll be able to tell you a whole lot more by next year, but this is a good bit of the information I’ve gotten through visiting, talking with students, faculty, and alumni, and doing research on the program. I found out about the program a couple of days before the application was due, and those were some seriously hectic days scrambling to get it done so I’m glad that you know about M&T before you start the whole college application process, and I really hope you apply. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Hmm, I’ll also throw this in about M&T. I think most Penn students would agree that M&T and Vagelos MLS are probably the two most rigorous special academic programs at Penn.</p>
<p>The thing with M&T is that it requires so many courses to be completed mainly due to the Engineering component. All of the majors in the Engineering School usually have significantly more requirements for completion than College/Wharton/Nursing mainly because many engineers can go off to work with only their Bachelors degree. Grad school could be nice, but it is not required as much for engineers.</p>
<p>Thus, I think M&T students require a minimum of 46 credits. If you take an extra class or two, it’ll average out to approximately 6 credits (classes) per semester. For comparison purposes, College students need to take at least 4 credits per semester, Engineers 5 credits, not sure about Wharton but I think either 4/5. Thats if you aren’t planning to do anything overly ambitious and throw something else in there.</p>
<p>I have friends in M&T and I think one of them actually took 7 credits/classes this past semester.</p>
<p>Thus, well, I’d guess I’m trying to say that M&T is an amazing program that’ll give you alot more opportunities than other students, but realize the amount of work that you will have to put into it.</p>
<p>Wow AltE!! That is INCREDIBLE 
You have added yet another tier to my dream school!
I will be applying ED to M&T/Wharton this fall, so I can only hope I will be invited to such a prestigious program. 
Thank you for such an inspiring and thorough explanation!</p>
<p>^ Yes, I’m sure it won’t be easy to finish dual-degree, but it will sure be worth it!
Tevash, do you think Huntsman is easier? Also, I’m curious: how much sleep do you get? And with so much work, is it possible to have a social life? thanks!</p>
<p>I guess to get into M&T you have to be awesome in your own way. I’m an M&T 2014. I don’t have nearly as amazing stats as AltE. In fact mine are probably mediocre in comparison to all the apps penn received. </p>
<p>As far as the workload, from my overnight stay with currently enrolled M&Ters, it seems manageable. There are always people on both sides of the spectrum: certainly your overachievers and others who still work hard, have a good social life, but don’t overly stress over school.</p>
<p>I think the biggest pro is the alumni network. Imma prefrosh, and I already have an internship with a local venture capital firm through M&T. This program opens lots of doors.</p>
<p>@AltE: have you received info on course registration and shtuff?</p>
<p>Okay well I’m really jealous that you have such a sweet summer job, at best, I’ll be selling knives or flipping burgers. Everyone down here thinks it’s Penn State, so the whole M&T thing doesn’t really do that much for me right now hahaha. But yeah, J.S. sent out the email this morning, you got it didn’t you?</p>
<p>And yeah, one major thing about M&Ts is they know when to take a break- we are not the group that studies non-stop every night, and I mean, Penn is the social ivy, so I think M&Ts kind of bridge the gap between social and academic prowess, because there were very few awkward people at the the meet-and-greet on M&T weekend.</p>
<p>^ that’s too cool
Emmers don’t ever say that you don’t have amazing stats … lol what about the rest of us ^.~</p>
<p>Perhaps you two could look over my Essays when the time comes :)</p>
<p>@StarsAligned</p>
<p>I don’t know how Huntsman is like because I don’t think I actually know anyone in it.</p>
<p>As for sleep…I’m not much of a sleeper so I maybe do like 5-6 hours on average. I usually end up sleeping 7-8 on weekends and sometimes I end up only doing 3-4…have a particularly bad memory of a hell week when I had Math 240 midterm and Phys 151 midterm on the same day right after Chem 242 midterm…I think I like slipped in and out of consciousness for ~2 hours that night… I run on coffee though so I’m definitely not the norm.</p>
<p>As for the work, it depends on how much you push yourself. There are shades of gray even if you are in M&T or Vagelos MLS…you can make your life hell (like taking 8 sciences if you are suicidal) or make it pretty chill. It really depends on your time management skills, how productive you are when you do study, how much you need to study, etc…</p>
<p>@stars aligned - sure! when I was applying i always wanted people to look over mine so I’ll return the favor… you might want to check out essayforum.com - i had an account on there, you may find my old essays haha!</p>
<p>@altE - do you have a “cutco” in your area? they harass me all the time to sell knives! haha. As for the summer ops, just e-mail JS or your interviewer (if you still remember who that is - I’m pretty close with mine) they gave me local contacts super quick. </p>
<p>Yeah, I got the class info, it’s all electronic with no phsyical literature, so I was kinda worried. But then again, it’s summer, so my eyes were averted at all the words… haha! maybe i should take a closer look. Also, what kinda comp are oyu getting? penn doesn’t have a nice and comprehensive checklist. Everything just drives me up the wall with PennCards, banking crap, dining plans, pre-progs… :/</p>
<p>emmers can you post up your stats?</p>
<p>@Emmers- Hahaha seriously, I was so bummed when I didn’t get the handbook in the mail, and I have the attention span of a goldfish right now, so it’s really hard to get through everything electronically! I got my PennCard and dining plan and stuff, but all the useless “Choose PNC” or “Choose SFCU” they are throwing at us is ridiculous. Oh, and maybe I’m giving away to much information about where I live, but basically, they couldn’t find anyone anywhere near me to interview, so there are basically no local contacts 
what a bummer to live in the middle of nowhere… But you know what? I’ll ask J and see if anything has changed. And yeah. Cutco has been bugging me non-stop.</p>
<p>cursory stats… you must understand this is the summer before frosh year. sorry in advance if this is not “in depth enough”</p>
<p>ACT - 34
GPA - 4.0 (deff shot after 2nd sem sr. yr)
Sr. courseload - heavy, but not back breaking.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars
volunteer: hospital, dog shelter - totaled to a couple of hours a week
activism: greenpeace, PETA, LGBT, obama & democrats intern
school: NHS prez, varsity LAX capt 4 yrs, MUN, newspaper
sports: LAX, boxing, running, snowboarding
random: graffiti + paint artist, screenprinting startup</p>
<p>Work Experience: summer job - urban outfitters, hollister, Ben & Jerry’s, Jewel Osco pharmacy tech.
(tip: never work in retail)</p>