Hello,
I’m currently a senior who is thinking about UPenn School of Engineering. However there is someone in my class who is also applying to UPenn School of Engineering. I want to study cs, he wants mechanical engineering. However, he has a legacy status. In terms of experience in our fields, I highly surpass him as I did an internship with doctorate level students at Microsoft and much more. However, in school we have cofounded the same robotics club. His grades are very slightly higher than mine. Although, our school uses an unweighted system and throughout high school I will have taken 4 more APs than he did(I will have taken 10, him 6). Also, neither of our SAT scores are out yet. I’m confident in my essays and all, but do I really stand a chance against him?
You have bigger fish to fry – you’re both competing more with the 39,000 other applicants than with each other.
Don’t worry about what he’s doing, and he shouldn’t worry about what you’re doing.
@ThatCSguy1 I wouldn’t worry about it – people seem to overthink legacy status, but it really only matters for identical applications or for huge donors.
If your experience/schoolwork is better and you can craft a better story, you’ll be fine.
There are no quotas by school so it isn’t like you are competing against your one classmate for that single spot. Close to 39,000 people applied to Penn in the last year and under 10% were admitted. The school is a reach for most everyone. So just worry about yourself, prepare the best application you can, and let things play out.
As I tell everyone be sure to find reach (such as Penn), match, and safety schools that you would be happy to attend and that appear affordable.