My chances at getting in?

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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<p>ACT Composite: 34
English: 33
Math: 32
Reading: 35
Science: 35</p>

<p>SAT: 1980
CR: 620
Math: 740
Writing: 620
(I'll be taking the SAT again in the fall, but I'll probably submit my ACT scores to colleges)</p>

<p>SAT II's:
Math 2: 680
Chemistry: 690</p>

<p>AP Tests:
AP European History: 4
AP Chemistry: Waiting
AP English Language: Waiting
AP US History: Waiting
(I'm pretty confident that I'll get at least 4 on the 'waiting' ones)</p>

<p>GPA (weighted): 4.38-ish
(unweighted): 3.88-ish
Tons of honors/AP classes</p>

<p>Marching Band 4 years
-Flute Section Leader 2 years
Band Council 3 years
-Drum Major of the band my senior year (Highest leadership position)
County Honor Band 3 years (hopefully 4)
First Chair Flute 3 years (hopefully 4)
Chemistry Club 2 years (will be three)
California Scholarship Federation
School Renaissance Program- 6 semesters (so far)</p>

<p>2nd place in the school art fair
Jessica Martinez Memorial Award for Most Outstanding Rookie Wind Player- '07-08
Christopher Meeks Memorial Award for Most Outstanding Sophomore Wind Player- '08-09
Most Outstanding Junior Wind Player- '09-10
Most Outstanding Marching Band or Color Guard Member- '09-10</p>

<p>What do you guys think? I'm debating on applying Early Decision to the College of Arts and Sciences. If I don't, then I'll definitely apply regular.</p>

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<p>I am afraid I did this chance threads thing last year and it was a totally useless thing. No one except the adcom can tell you whether you will get in. So dont bother…if anyone says yes you will get in, dont flatter yourself and if anyone says no dont get demoralized. Nobody knows a clue and anyone who thinks they do are kidding themselves. :slight_smile: My top two choices were Stanford and Penn (Wharton). There was this instance on CC where I had people convinced that I was in at Stanford and on the Penn thread people were frankly discouraging about my chances at Wharton. (Even though they are both equal schools in their own fields) Want to know what happened? I got rejected straight by Stanford and accepted with flying colours at Wharton (Got into a scholar society). Take my advice, relax and stop creating chance threads. Put more effort into your application or if you are a CC fan, then use this forum to obtain knowledge on more important things.</p>

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<p>sarvarox12: IMHO, chance threads aren’t totally useless and can in fact give you some idea of where you stand and what you can do to improve your position, but, as anything else on this site, you have to sift the wisdom from the nonsense and decide which advice is reasonable and which is not. I think the main purpose of chance threads is to pinpoint areas of weakness for the applicant and give her a sense of what she can be doing to better position herself for admission.</p>

<p>OP: I wouldn’t waste time taking the SATs again, especially considering your ACT scores are so high and that you’re planning to send those ones anyway. That being said, your SAT IIs are weak and it may be beneficial to retake those if you are willing to step it up and put the time in without compromising your grades.</p>

<p>Your ECs are decent, but not stellar. As a musician, I can tell you that regional honor ensembles and local bands are a dime a dozen and that any high school music awards are virtually meaningless given the lack of qualified competition in most public schools. (All-State can be a big deal depending on the state, but only if you’re principal.) Unless you’re talking about say a concerto competition where you solo with an orchestra (better yet, a professional one), most music competitions in high school are pretty lame. If you’re particularly good at flute, send in a recording of your playing, and it will speak for itself. Though Penn isn’t known for caring too much (if at all) about music performance, you may be able to leverage an exceptional recording there and at other schools.</p>

<p>As you stand now, I would say keep focusing on grades and retake your SAT IIs. You stand a solid chance of admission and clearly have numbers well within in the ballpark, but frankly, there’s not much that separates you from the pack qualitatively. (That being said, your legacy status will give you a slight advantage and may in fact tip the scales in your favor.) Use your essays to make your application stand out and wow the adcoms. With stellar essays and recs, I think you’d maximize your chances. </p>

<p>Sorry for the novella, but I was reading a book on law school admissions and found a very interesting and relevant quote from a former dean of UChicago Law School that I’ll paraphrase:</p>

<p>“Around 15% of applicants have numbers and credentials so impressive that they’re shoo-ins. Around the same percentage have such low numbers that they’re automatic rejects. That leaves 70% of the applicant pool up in the air and worthy of my consideration, and they have a great deal of control over what kind of envelope they receive come decision time.” </p>

<p>Law admissions is a different ball game, but the essentials are the same: Too many qualified applicants for too few spots trying to convince adcoms that they are intellectually and emotionally good fits for their prospective schools.</p>

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<p>Dont think I havent heard this opinion before. But my experience suggests the contrary. But of course if people offer advice, AND only advice, and that too as comprehensively as you have chance threads may have some value. Unfortunately this is a rare occurence.</p>