<p>Okay, I am down to my last application, and my parents say that I can either apply to UPenn or Brown (due to money constraints). My stats are as follows:</p>
<p>Ethnicity: Mexican/White
High School: 134th in United States (about 10% of us get into Ivy Leagues/equivalent or better)
Major: Neuroscience/biology
GPA (lower numbers explained later, but they still are here): 3.4 UW, 4.03 W, slight downward trend, but leap in Senior year, about 12% rank, but school does not rank. By the end of second semester, I will likely move up a percentage point, but again, it is not indicated on the transcript.
SATs: 2210 superscored (680 CR, 750 M, 790 (12 essay) W), 2190 (650 CR, 750 M, 790 (12 essay) W) for highest single taking. Note how the Writing section likely skews the results.
ACT: 31 (33 reading, 30 math, 31 reading, 28 science)
SAT 2: Biology: 720, Math I: 760, Lit: 620
AP: Psychology: 5, European History: 4, Macroeconomics: 4, Government: 4, Physics: 3, Calculus: 3, Language: 5</p>
<p>Courses (One of the heaviest loads available):
Freshman year: H English, H World History, H Algebra 2, H Bio, Latin 2, Intro to law, Comp Graphics
Sophomore: H English, H Am History, H Latin 3, H Analysis, H Chem, AP Psych
Junior: AP Language, AP Economics/Government, AP Physics, AP European History, AP Calculus, Latin 4
Senior: AP Literature, AP Latin (Literature), AP Environmental Science, AP Statistics, AP American History, Law Seminar, Ceramics (required art course)</p>
<p>EC:
-Key Club (Officer - in charge of website creation/management and organizing events)
-Latin Club (Officer - help with all Latin club projects)
-Tennis Team (Captain - Senior Year, our team is #6 in state)
-Table Tennis Club (Founder/President)
-Latin Honors Society (tutoring)
-National Latin Exam Gold Medalist for 4 straight years
-REPP (Ridge Encouragement for Political Participation)
-Participated in state-wide math contests
-Science club all four years (biology, chem, physics state competitions - no significant awards)
-Minor independent research on neuroscience (read books/attended seminars, nothing submitted/published)
-Economics Club
-Serve dinner at a retirement home (summer job/300 hours over 2 years)
-Worked at the town pool (75 hours over 1 year)
-Volunteer at the VA Hospital (320 hours over 4 years)
-Volunteer at homeless shelter (160 hours over 3 years)
-Various volunteer activities from Key Club outside of school, including Homeless Shelters, creating a prom dance for senior citizens, setting up various fundraisers (estimating about 120 hours over 4 years)
-National AP Scholar with distinction</p>
<p>Letters: GC- amazing, me and her share a connection with our interests, she always talks about how much I have matured and think in a logical manner; Teachers- 1 awesome, 1 okay (my two favorite teachers chose randomly since so many students asked, of course I did not get chosen.)
Essay: Good (unique, to me at least, it has to do with my philosophy about life, and my central focus of helping the elderly and it somehow relates to my major, not going to say it is one of the best essays ever written, but I still feel it is unique), supplements are probably average for their standards.
Hook: Half-URM, somewhat unusual circumstances.
Issue: My parents got a divorce that affected my Sophomore and Junior gpa a lot, which devastated me for a while. My guidance counselor is explaining in her letter how the divorce hit me really hard economically/socially at first, but ultimately led to my more mature and logical approach to life (which it really did).</p>
<p>So, for the people who didn't want to look through that, my gpa is very low, my sats are decent for their standards, my recommendations/essays are decent, I am a half-minority, and my ECs are good. Which of these two do you feel I have a better chance at? I have heard that Brown is more subjective in their review, so I was leaning towards them, but I loved both campuses equally. So basically, which university do I have a better chance of getting into given my somewhat unusual application? Thanks a lot.</p>