<p>A friend of my daughters has had the University of Pennsylvania on the top of her list for the past two years. I think it would be a terrific fit for her in many ways and I personally think she'd have a good chance, especially because she is applying ED.</p>
<p>However, when she met with her guidance counselor, he was very negative. He told her "it would be a waste of your time to apply there." Apparently, our school has never had anyone accepted at UPenn, although we regularly send 10 or so kids to other ivy schools each year.</p>
<p>So, I thought I'd ask the "experts" here what you think. This girl is ranked 10 in a class of 350. She has taken honors math, science, History and English classes. Will be taking 3-4 APs next year (but has not yet taken any). She has an unweighted perfect 4.0 average, her weighted is, of course, somewhat higher. No SAT results yet but she scored 780M, 750V, and 730W on the PSATs last fall and I expect she will easily score within that range on the SATs. She has many, many hours of community service, including working on annual church missions in Appalachia and weekly hours working at a children's hospital locally. She has also held down a part time job of 20 hours a week during the school year (full time during the summer) for the past two and a half years. She hasn't held any leadership positions (yet) in school EC's but has belonged to some clubs. She will have taken a full 4 years of science (including AP Physics and honors Anatomy), 4 years of math (through AP Calc), 4 years of language and 4 years of English (including AP).</p>
<p>Any thoughts on her chances at U of Penn ED?</p>
<p>I would think she has at least a shot and it is certainly not a waste of her time. I have to say that at my children's high school, which usually sends about 6 to 9 kids a year to Penn out of a graduating class of about 120 (a few are in usually in the top 10 percent, but Penn does not attract the very top most years), the ED acceptees are almost always eitiher athletes or meaningful (connected and/or rich) legacies. Each year perhaps two get in to Penn on regular academic and EC-nonathletic credentials. We are about 100 miles from Philadelphia, not really a feeder school, just familiar. There are usually at least as many non-accepts as accepts, and often the candidates are comparable. If one comes from a school that issn't so legacy-heavy, and/or from a part of the country that isn't flooding Penn with applicants, I think the chances are not bad at all. The job and the mission work might help set her apart, and her numbers are more than competitive. Good luck to her.</p>
<p>You may not think you are in a feeder school, but we are lucky to get one student into Penn out of a class of over 700 each year, and we are about 20 miles from center city Philadelphia (closer to the actual city borders).<br>
I agree that being geographically distant from Penn would be an advantage. Also, Penn heavily favors ED aplicants over RD (they only give legacy preference for ED, for example) so if Carolyn's friend is enamored with Penn, it would definitely be advantageous for her chances of admission to apply ED.</p>
<p>She looks like a good candidate to me. If it is truly her first choice school, why shouldn't she apply? If she doesn't apply, she'll never know.</p>
<p>And doesn't Penn have the reputation for heavily favoring ED applicants (think I read that in Harvard Shmarvard or one of those "college books")?</p>
<p>If Penn is what she wants she should go for it. I wouldn't consider a "wasted ED" much of a waste. My daughter never settled on a favorite and so didn't apply ED anywhere. The ED app would demonstrate interest. So from her standpoint she should apply.
Is there something "personal" going on here between the GC and the Penn Adcommittee? Or a bad treck record with previous alums? Some of this may not be known to you.
She should have a good shot.</p>
<p>If her SAT scores confirm the PSAT scores, she should be in the HIGHEST spheres at Penn, especially in the ED round. </p>
<p>How does her small card look like: 4.0-UW, 1530 SAT, a top 3% rank at a CATHOLIC school. Her AP's are very reasonable, once you factor the difficulty of her HS. She should not lose any points for EC -she is working part/full time and still finds the time to earn a perfect GPA and volunteer many, many hours. </p>
<p>Penn might be a very selective school but TONS of students get accepted with r</p>
<p>Crapshoot as always. Isn't a legacy. Isn't an athlete. Isn't an English horn player. Isn't a URM. Isn't a "developmental admit". Nothing that suggests her parents are connected. Is there a special reason why Penn would want to take her ED rather than wait for the RD round? Some students with her stats will get accepted and some rejected, and its no reflection on her.</p>
<p>Still, if that's what she wants, and her parents can afford it, she should go for it!</p>
<p>She should make sure she has safety schools she really likes - that's much more important!</p>
<p>I think she should go for it too, some GCs just aren't up on college admissions.
F'r instance, a girl in my D graduating class wanted to go to Smith, great girl good grades not bad SAT scores, but GC told her not even to apply, that she wouldn't get aid, and she probably wouldn't even be admitted.
She was very disappointed but her mother convinced her to apply anyway, and she was not only admitted but she received full aid for 4 years and is now in Brazil working for a program supporting street kids that she began while she did study abroad at Smith.</p>
<p>carolyn, since this school has sent kids to other ivies, but not to Penn, I wonder if a previous poster was on to something when they suggested maybe the problem was with the GC. Perhaps there was an issue with a questionable application / GC recommendation, or an ED application went sour ? </p>
<p>If that were the case, it seems the best thing she could do would be to do a strong interview, and try to establish some kind of communication with UPenn that might allow her to shine through previous problems that weren't related to her. If UPenn is truly her first choice, and a good fit in the eyes of third parties, I think she really has to be true to her feelings, go ahead and apply ED, and let life run its course.</p>
<p>I wonder if a previous poster was on to something when they suggested maybe the problem was with the GC. Perhaps there was an issue with a questionable application / GC recommendation, or an ED application went sour ? </p>
<br>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br>
<p>I wonder also. I just went through the list of colleges that the school has sent kids to for the last five years and Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Cornell are on the list (some with several kids in a single year) but no U Penn or Brown (Brown doesn't seem to be on the radar of many Calif. kids for some reason). I suspect there may be more to the story as you guys have pointed out. </p>
<p>I think I will support this girl in her idea to apply to UPenn ED - she will be applying to several UC's and should have a good shot there so I think she will be "Safe" financially and in terms of admissions. But it is odd that the GC was so adament that she shouldn't apply to UPenn. Then again, after my daughter met with HER GC today, I'm feeling pretty much the same way about what she was told. They are definitely pushing "safety" schools, so it is probably no wonder their 4 year college rate is so high. :)</p>
<p>you are correct that Brown and Penn are not high on Cal kids' radar, but this girl should go for it. Based on these stats, she will also have to choose between UCB and UCLA, or any other UC, possibly with Chancellor' $$.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think she should go for it too, some GCs just aren't up on college admissions.<<</p>
</blockquote>
<br>
<p>Sad, very sad, but unfortunately too often true.</p>
<p>I think she should certainly apply, especially ED. Athough there is a phenomenon of some high schools just not being able to get anyone into certain schools. D's HS sends the top kid or two to HPSM every year. But no one (including D) has ever gotten into Yale within the living memory of the school.</p>