Penn (CAS) ED

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm applying Penn ED, to the CAS, because of the increased chances (28% admissions rate), and because that's the school I want to go to. What are my chances of getting in?</p>

<p>BACKGROUND + ACADEMIC</p>

<p>First-generation college student
Caucasian and in Los Angeles CA
French, Corsican, Persian ethnicities; fluent in French</p>

<p>Family income = $20,000/year. Single parent household (Mom is a widow, my father took his life before my mom discovered that she was pregnant with me.)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.06 Weighted, 3.6 Unweighted; Top 10% of high school class
SAT: 2230 (750 M, 730 CR, 750 W)
SAT Subject Tests: 800 French, 750 Math 1, 730 US History. Expecting 800 Math2 in November.</p>

<p>Urban High School, 9% white. Very few Ivy applicants.
Most rigorous course load</p>

<p>GPA year-by-year:
9th - 3.8
10th - 3.0 (had no regular home)
11th - 4.6
12th - 5.0</p>

<p>Total AP courses to be completed by graduation: 9</p>

<p>AP Psychology: 5
AP French: 5
AP US History: 4
AP European History: 3 (Sophomore year)</p>

<p>Senior year schedule:
AP Physics
AP Calculus BC
AP Macroeconomics
AP Govt/Politics
AP English Literature.</p>

<p>Really outstanding counselor and teacher recommendations, and amazing essays.</p>

<p>EXTRA CURRICULAR</p>

<p>Track (4 years) 1600m, 800m, long jump; "Most Improved", Varsity</p>

<p>Cross Country (3 years) "MVP", Varsity</p>

<p>French club (3 years) (President, Treasurer) Organized events; in charge of coordinating dates, finances, trips...</p>

<p>Service Club (2 years) "Respect Campaign Organizer", raised awareness for drunk driving, raised funds for leukemia, held raffles, assemblies, invited guest speakers. We raised over $15,000 for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.</p>

<p>Church youth leader (5 years) Organized camping events, movie nights, service opportunities...</p>

<p>Debate Team (2 years) Oratory speeches; head defense attorney for Mock Trial. </p>

<p>FBLA club (1 years) 3rd Place in State competitions</p>

<p>Internship at Zion's Bank (2 weeks) Shadowed one of the top credit administrators in the bank. I might not include this.</p>

<p>Jr Scholar's Academy (3 months) Was selected among 50 students in our school district for two courses from the Gilder Lehrman Institute: "A Historical Perspective on Lincoln" and "Founding Fathers, The Revolutionary Generation".</p>

<p>AWARDS / HONORS</p>

<p>Questbridge "CollegePrep Award" Recipient
Questbridge Finalist (anticipating this fall)
Cross Country: "MVP"
Track: "Most Improved"
3rd place in FBLA State competitions. Team event: "Business Decision Making"
High School Academic Letter I; and consistent Honor Roll.
AP Scholar with Honor
Nominated by high school teacher for "Keys to Success"</p>

<p>WORK</p>

<p>Educated an autistic boy for a family (1 year) I educated a 9 year old autistic child, Spencer during all of 10th grade on my own time twice a week. I taught him how to speak correctly, write, think and express himself. I write my essay about this.</p>

<p>Neighborhood project I started: Digitized thousands slides during summer of 2009: scanned over 1000 old picture slides for people in the community.</p>

<p>Designed, created, and maintain the e-commerce website located at earthcrossroads.com for someone else's company. (ongoing)</p>

<p>Drew vector computer graphics for a small Los Angeles real-estate company. (2 months)</p>

<p>MISC</p>

<p>I understand that stories don't get people into top Universities, and that stats do. I'm still going to explain the following to put things into context.</p>

<p>All of my bad grades were from Sophomore year, we didn't have a place to live and were living in family friends' houses, motels, and our car.</p>

<p>I write about that year in my essay, along with my experiences tutoring an autistic child during the same year. I also juxtapose this with how my father helped an autistic child when he was a teenager, but how I didn't know about this until afterwards.</p>

<p>My entire Junior year is filled with straight As in 8 courses including 3 AP courses. We had moved to suburban Utah for this year.</p>

<p>My Senior year I am back in Los Angeles and have a place to sleep. I'm taking all APs and have straight As, like Junior year.</p>

2

<p>I think you will get into Penn ED.</p>

3

<p>thanks. bump…</p>

4

<p>no chances?</p>

5

<p>i think you will have a very good chance of getting in, your test scores are really great and you have so many ec’s</p>

6

<p>Your test scores are great, as are your ECs. You have a story around your grades and even so you are still in the top 10%. Be sure that your essays are excellent. I think your chances are very good, be sure to apply ED and I am very optimistic for you!</p>

7

<p>flyingllama, i thought you wanted to do Wharton? i’ll say go with what you heart desires and apply to wharton. CAS probably will think that you wants a backdoor into penn because you show a big interest in business.</p>

<p>BTW, what major are you applying to?</p>

8

<p>^ Well I decided that CAS matches my other schools better. I’m applying as an Economics major. Wharton would be an outlier because I am not applying to any other undergraduate business schools. However… I will admit that Wharton is still in the back of my head and I am still not completely sure about which school to apply to.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone else for the replies.</p>

<p>Also, my GPA is now 3.7 and my ranking will be closer to top 5% than not. Just had a meeting with my counselor and he’s going to write a really amazing recommendation.</p>

9

<p>you are a very strong applicant for CAS ED. you have a unique background that will set you apart from coddled suburbanites, and that should lead to strong essays, but do take care in preparing the newly revised “Why Penn?” essay. </p>

<p>we all make cost/benefit type decisions in college admissions. part of the reason Penn ED is more appealing to me than Yale SCEA is the increased chance of success. but you can’t let Penn think you’re settling. write about it like it’s your one and only dream. </p>

<p>and as someone who needs a lot of aid, think carefully about doing ED, because what you actually need and what basically every college thinks you need may be very different.</p>

10

<p>Did you actually increase your SAT score to 2230? If so, congratulations. I think you have much better chances now. Still tough, but much better.</p>