<p>Hey Everyone,</p>
<p>With three months to apply and decisions coming out in five months, feel free to use this forum as an outlet to vent your frustrations, share your stress, and discuss things you are unsure of! Also feel free to share your stats so we can get an idea of what the competition may be like this year!</p>
<p>Good luck to us, and lets all help each other through the next few months of anxiety and torture :)</p>
<p>I’ve been lurking on CC for awhile now, but this is my first post! I am a rising senior, and will be applying to UPenn Wharton ED. I have a 2350 sat score, and am generally strong score/grades wise. However, I don’t really have a lot of leadership in the clubs I’m involved in :/</p>
<p>Has anyone started the CommonApp yet? I’m really confused with the activities section since it gives you so less room to describe your extracurriculars</p>
<p>Hey @Frostie123 Can you give me tips on how to improve my SAT score. I got an 1820 with no studying first try. (660 CR, 550 M 
, 610 W). Also im applying on luck due to my 3.2 gpa (health issue) and almost no APs, But everything else is greattttt!</p>
<p>Hi everyone! I am applying ED to CAS. I truly love Penn and am very excited about applying.
@frostie123 I too am a little confused on how to fully explain my ECs since not much room is given. I have the opposite problem though when it comes to strengths! I’m barely in the middle 50% range for Penn when it comes to ACT scores, but I have a lot of leadership within my ECs.
Anyway, I am so happy someone started this thread! I read CC often and I can’t believe it is finally our turn to apply!</p>
<p>Hi! I’m planning to apply ED to Wharton. Plenty scared but I guess that’s just the nature of things. Wish all of you the best of luck in both admissions and getting over the stress barrage of getting all these college applications done… YEAH!</p>
<p>Hey Guys!</p>
<p>Glad to see that the discussion is starting to pick up!</p>
<p>In terms of SATs, a lot of it is pure practice. For example, the writing section really just contains repetitive grammar rules – you can get your score up from a 550 to a 740 with little difficulty if you memorize the rules and do practice. The essay part is a little trickier, since most people tend to be within the 7-9 range. The only advice I have for that is also to just create a sort of template you can use every time, remember to fill the two pages, use 5 “big” vocabs, and give good examples (you can make them up if necessary). </p>
<p>Math is usually the easier section for most people, since it really only covers very basic content. However, the SAT math has tricky questions that may cause some people (even those who are really good at math) to make careless errors. It’s very easy to waver between 700 and 800. For those who are scoring in the 500 or 600 range, it really just comes down to do more practice questions and understanding why you got them wrong. I recommend the Barron’s math workbook, the Blue Book Official Tests, and Dr. Chung’s SAT Math workbook.</p>
<p>Critical reading is the notoriously hard section of the SATs. To be honest, I have seen kids who score 800s in math and writing, but struggle to get their critical reading mark up to 700. This section is definitely hard to improve on, and a lot of people plateau at 650-680. However, you can minimize the mistakes you make by ensuring that you get all the vocabulary questions right. The rest really just comes down to doing more practice tests (try them untimed).</p>
<p>All in all, the SAT isn’t a hard test, by all means. As long as you have the determination and resolve to expend a large time of time and effort into prepping for it, I see no reason why anyone can’t get above 2200. </p>
<p>And, even though scores are really important, I believe the most important part of an application are the extracurriculars and essays.</p>
<p>A lot of people say, “Hey well I have a lot of leadership – I have the founder/president of 5 clubs at my school and the president of NHS!” But seriously, an admissions officer has to be able to glance at your ecs and be able to easily identify your passion. For example, if you are planning to enter the medical field, your extracurriculars should not include “being the President of the South Asian club at school” but rather “assistant researcher at so-and-so university” or “founder of a medical conference that strives to familiarize young people to different career paths in the field”. If you were entering international relations, you should be involved with humanitarian work, politics, and things like Mock Trial or Model UN. When I read chance threads, I really hate it when kids just have laundry list of activities. Admissions officers would rather you do something for 4 year and have a leadership role in it than just doing a bunch of useless things. Also, if you are the President of Student Council, you get a huge plus.</p>
<p>Also, a lot of times (Harrovian as an example), I see people who seem to be competitive rejected from UPenn. Since Wharton is kind of the star of UPenn, so many people try to sneak into Wharton by applying for a less competitive faculty like CAS. However, admissions officers can see through these tricks if you have business ECs and awards while applying as a Political Science major. It’s just too obvious and incongruent.</p>
<p>Okay, these are my advice for the day! Let’s all help each other in the next few months and remember, even if we all get rejected, life only goes on. Give time time, and everything will heal :)</p>
<p>@Frostie123 wow, that was really good advice haha! I especially like what you said about using CAS as a back door to Wharton. That really bothers me.
You also made a good point about ECs. I used to want to major in something very different than I do now, but once I evaluated my strengths and ECs I was able to choose something I truly like and have experience with rather than trying to fit myself into a major that clearly wouldn’t have worked out in the long
run.
I’m really looking forward to all of us helping each other out! This is going to be stressful for sure.
Has anyone started the writing supplement?</p>
<p>what if admissions officer is able to easily identify my passion by looking at my ecs, but my passion is not related to my intended major?
As far as I know, no college in US has a major on what I am really passionate about.
So I want to apply to a major that seems quite interesting, but it is not something that I want the most.
Since I gained interest recently, I have almost no ecs on my intended major.</p>
<p>@Aguileon A lot of people put “undecided” instead of indicating a specific major, so it should be alright. However, your extracurriculars still have to involve leadership, extensive participation etc etc. This will allow admissions officers to see that you are focused and motivated, and will likely do very well in the future as well.</p>
<p>@tngirl01 I’m glad you found my advice is useful! I have started on the Commonapp essays already, but not the writing supplement. You?</p>
<p>@Frostie123 I’ve done both, but both still need work. I wrote them early so I would have time to obsess over them because sometimes I look back and think why did I say that… Anyway, I am having difficulty with the writing prompt because I don’t want it to sound like I’m reciting facts about myself and Penn, you know?</p>
<p>Hey, I am applying for Early Decision to Penn too. Does living in Philadelphia help me get in a bit? </p>
<p>@ThePariah I’ve heard several times that Philadelphia’s applicants have an advantage. If that’s true, then I’m incredibly jealous of you right now haha.</p>
<p>Yes, being a Philadelphia resident is a bit of a hook for Penn admissions, and I’d imagine especially during the ED round. But of course, it’s not a guarantee.</p>
<p>[Sorry, tngirl01 ;)]</p>
<p>Yea it’s not definitely not a guarantee, my class is extremely competitive but there are kids that get in every year with SAT scores just right under 2000. </p>
<p>I’m a first generation college and low income student. Does that help?</p>
<p>^ Yes. Again, not easily quantifiable and certainly not a guarantee, but being the first generation in your family to attend college, and being from a low-income background, are both attributes that attract the attention of selective college and university admissions offices (especially when your academic and EC achievement is comparable to that of applicants with more “advantages” in their backgrounds).</p>
<p>Hey guys future international applicant here! ;)</p>
<p>Anyone know why the common app still says that the ED deadline is fall 2013?
Also, the only option for the preferred start term is still Fall 2014… I know that the UPenn essay is all up-to-date but in terms of the listed common app deadlines…?</p>
<p>Supposedly common app opens August 1?</p>