Penn 2015 ED Chances!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>White Female, South Carolina, Large Public School, Junior</p>

<p>GPA 3.9 UW, 5.4 W
Class Rank 3/600
APs-Will have taken 16 AP's total
Senior Schedule-AP Calc, AP Chem, AP Statistics, AP Gov, AP English, AP Psych, Research Methods Honors
SAT's-740 Math 710 CR 730 W (1450/2180) First time, will take twice more if needed
ACT (first time as well) 32 Composite
SAT II's-US History 720 will also be taking Spanish and possibly a math (I'm awful at math)</p>

<p>EC's
-Class Council (9-12) President all 4 years (MAIN ACTIVITY-VERY TIME CONSUMING)
-Key Club (10, 11 Treasurer, 12 Treasurer)
-Student/Teacher Advisory Council (10-12) 1 of 5 student representatives for a school of 3000
-USY-United Synagogue Youth (9-12)
Jewish youth group, we do many mitzvah projects, a lot of community service, do temple services every week, and MUCH more.
-Debate (9-10)
-Had to stop because of scheduling conflicts, did reach the National Forensics League achievement of Superior Distinction in Varsity Student Congress, attended tournaments at Harvard, Emory, Yale etc.
-Math Competition Team/Honor Society (10-12)
-Science Honor Society (10, 11 Secretary, 12 Vice-President)
-Spanish Honor Society</p>

<p>Sports
Varsity Soccer (10-12 Captain) about 25 hours per week
-District champions in 11th and 12th grade
-Made it to regional finals
-Lettered all 3 years
Have played my entire life, but had to stop after 7th grade due to an unknown stomach disorder that pretty much took over my life, until it was diagnosed in 10th grade and I was able to play soccer again (ESSAY)</p>

<p>Varsity Swim (9-12)
-4 year letter winner</p>

<p>Community Service
-Youth Leadership Program all 4 years, went to different places to volunteer over 200 hours
-Key Club events 150+ hours
-Tutoring for honor societies 50+ hours
-USY projects (undocumented) but over 200 hours</p>

<p>Awards
-AP scholar w/ distinction
-Many Key Club service awards awarded at District Convention
-Presidential Service Award
-Many Math Competition and Debate regional level awards
-Advanced to Varsity Debate States in both 9th and 10th
-1st place County Literary Fair for Formal Essay Category
-Essay contest county runner-up
-Best student in: AP Psych, AP Spanish, AP English, AP Bio</p>

<p>Work Experience/Summers
-Have been going to a rigorous sports 7-week camp for 9 years where I"m now a counselor
-Worked at a law office filling papers in 9th grade</p>

<p>( i know my username is "dulebound" but I'm deciding between duke and penn =) )</p>

2

<p>Chance for someone who can’t spell her own username: 0%.
In all seriousness, you haven’t even gotten into any of them yet. Don’t act like you already have. You say ED for Penn but you are still deciding between Duke and Penn? Something’s not adding up right, don’t you think?</p>

<p>But you do seem like someone with a shot at getting in.</p>

3

<p>Haha, my apologies for the typo. “dukebound8”</p>

<p>I didn’t mean that I’m deciding between Duke and Penn, I meant that I was deciding where I wanted to apply early, but I guess I didn’t make that too clear. And yes, I’ve always been in love with Duke until I recently visited Penn and really liked it so I’m deciding which to apply ED to. I know that’s not too ED-like if you’re on the fence between 2 schools, but I feel like if I apply to one ED, I’d have a better shot than I would RD.</p>

4

<p>I don’t think that applying Early Decision should be used as an admissions strategy. It is binding, so if you have any doubts about applying early decision and you do happen to get accepted, you may have second thoughts once you are already bound to attend. I was absolutely sure that Penn was my first choice, so I knew that I should apply early. However one kid that I talked to chose to apply early decision to a school although he had three top choices. He was accepted, but in the end although he was happy that the process was over, he still had thoughts about one of the top choices which he hadn’t applied early to. I would do more research, but unless one of the schools becomes your clear first choice, I would just apply regular and apply early to a school that has early action.</p>

5

<p>Penn’15? lol</p>

6

<p>Get the SATs up a bit and you should be a shoo-in. They’re good, but not spectacular; I’m a Penn junior right now and I had about the same math and writing, but an 800 CR, and the other kids from my HS that got accepted had 800/800/760 scores.</p>

<p>Contrary to what you may think, ECs are less important than they seem; I spoke with an admissions officer and he says they’re somewhat discounted because there’s no way to verify what you really did, so kids can just lie about them (not saying that you are). Try finding something like a local/school news article about some ECs that you did and send that with your app. That’s what I did.</p>

<p>Righht now I’d say you have an excellent shot, but you’re not guaranteed. (Although Penn’s admit rate for ED is significantly higher than regular decision)</p>

7

<p>Also a junior (2011 grad)
ACT: (first time) 32
SAT: Not submitting… fail
No SAT2s yet
GPA: 97 (weighted)
Hook: Legacy</p>

<p>ECs:
Yearbook (10-Now) (Editor next year)
Varsity Tennis
Lacrosse
Ski Club Leader
Hospital Volunteer
Humane League Volunteer
NHS
(more that I cant think of right now)</p>

<p>Do you think even though it would be a reach normally that I could get in ED?
Thanks!</p>

8

<p>pennplease, please refrain from taking over my thread. =).</p>

<p>and what if I applied RD as opposed to ED? What would my chances be?</p>

<p>That’s why I really want to apply to Penn ED because it SIGNIFICANTLY increases my chances, much higher acceptance rate but I feel as if I got in, I’d have regrets about Duke.</p>

9

<p>Applying Early indicates interest, and this provides the context in which schools view you if you apply early and demonstrate your knowledge about their school. I would suggest that you read Eric Furda’s Q and A on the Choice Blog. It’s all your choice, but first you should first ask yourself if it is really worth it to be accepted early and then have doubts. Maybe it would be better if you applied regular decision to keep open the possibility of being able to choose from both schools. Even if you do apply early, it does not guarantee anything. There are still plenty of qualified applicants who are rejected or deferred in the early round. Most of what people say about college admissions and the probability of acceptance is really just speculation. While it could have a strong anecdotal basis, there may not be any concrete evidence.</p>

10

<p>sorry! :slight_smile:
(im new!)</p>

11

<p>Yah, Ppoeme I understand exactly what you’re saying. Just being an average Ivy applicant (or maybe even less than average) I feel like I need to apply early to have a chance at getting in.</p>

12

<p>Poeme, which school did you get into?</p>

<p>If you think applying ED significantly increases your chances of getting in, you’re wrong. All that higher acceptance rate is just a number on the first glance. There are factors involved in ED (in every school) underneath that significantly boosts the number of students accepted compared to RD. All that probability stuff is pure speculation with an inflated number backing it up.</p>

13

<p>Geekorathletic is exactly right. Early decision is the round in which you typically hear the most about legacies and athletes. It says explicitly on the alumni council on admissions’ website in bold that “Legacies receive maximum consideration when they apply to Penn under the Early Decision Plan”. There is also some information about the admissions process for athletes on the Penn admissions page. Now, I am not saying that these two groups are not just as deserving as everyone else, but nevertheless they make the process even more unpredictable. Numbers need context, they rarely tell the whole story alone. But again, a lot of this is speculation. Just do what’s right for you.</p>

14

<p>Thanks Poeme. I think I"ll end up just applying RD because of financial reasons and not being 100% sure about going to Penn. </p>

<p>Sorry for all the questions, but you seem like a knowledgeable source-will the fact that someone from my school -who has a higher rank, and sat scores (worse EC’s) but is a legacy-is applying ED…if i apply RD?</p>

15

<p>That last sentence made no sense whatsoever.</p>

16

<p>I know, woops it was a tad bit wordy. (By a tad bit I mean extremely and made no sense)</p>

<p>Someone from my school is applying ED to Penn. She is a legacy, has a slightly higher class rank than me, better SAT scores but worse EC’s. Will her applying ED affect my chances at getting in RD?</p>

17

<p>Why in the world would it matter… She has to apply ED otherwise she’s throwing her legacy status out the window. Besides, ED stuff is all done and finished when your application even gets read.</p>

18

<p>I think what you are referring to is the speculation that Penn may have a quota for accepting students from a certain school. All of the evidence that attempts to prove or refute this is anecdotal. Sometimes they accept several people from the same school, sometimes they accept one, or maybe they accept none. The college admission process unfortunately is not very transparent. I mean, they do claim to evaluate in the context of your school, but how can anyone who is not in admissions at that particular university really quantitatively judge what you’ve done inside the classroom, outside the classroom, in your writing etc. in the proper context? Maybe one admissions officer thinks that an essay is incredible, and another thinks it is good but not mind blowing. The things I have learned about college applications I have found on schools’ websites, from talking with school representatives, other students that I know from various places. But in the end you have to take everything with a grain of salt and know that you will end up where you belong. One thing that I do think that people may overlook are the essays. My school college counselor said that he was at a meeting with the admissions representatives as well as the dean of admissions at a very highly regarded university (rankings are not everything, but this school is in the top ten in US news), and at this meeting he was shown three essays of admitted students who would not have gotten in without the essay. Just before I found out I was accepted to Penn, I was walking home from school, facing the reality that my dream could be completely over in just a few minutes. And it occurred to me then that though I would be sad, I would be able to face a rejection and grow from it, knowing that I would end up at another great place. Then I saw my mom with balloons. I hope this story makes you feel less anxious.</p>

19

<p>oh god i am going to use this so bad!!</p>

<p>dukebound, you SURe you want to go to Penn15? Like, really, Penn15?</p>

20

<p>Penn15 ED chances? </p>

<p>***** erectile dysfunction effects every 1 in 10 males. So you have have a 10% chance of getting it. Good luck!</p>