Penn CAS RD chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

Hi everyone

I don’t normally like doing these threads but since I just got deferred from Georgetown EA I figured I’d find out the chances for my other top choices before I take any further steps.

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2230
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take
SAT II: 800 Math I, 790 Mandarin, 720 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 92%
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): Psych (5), APUSH (5), Macro (5), Micro (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature, AP Calculus AB, AP Euro History, AP Comp. Gov/Pol, Law 12, Concert Band 12
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Honour Roll, Various MUN awards, AP Scholar with Honor

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Model UN (Head Delegate, Director at largest HS-run MUN in the country), Varsity Ultimate Frisbee, Service Club, Yearbook, Studio Painting, Concert Band, University Ambassador
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered with Chinese summer camp in summer of Grade 8, YMCA for about a year during my junior year, helped mayor run for re-election in junior year, local church summer camp during summer of sophomore year, various other jobs for my school
Summer Activities: Oxbridge Cambridge Prep summer program (Grade 9), Physics 11 and Club League Ultimate (Grade 10), Penn Law Summer Academy (Grade 11)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9-ish. I’m pretty satisfied with them. I don’t think they’re perfect but they’re definitely good.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Also ~9. English AP and APUSH/Social Studies 11 teacher. Both know me pretty well

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: PPE (Politics, Philosophy, Economics)
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): Canada
School Type: Private (700 students, graduating class of about 160)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: >$150k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): nothing special.

I did the summer program at Penn earlier this year and I really like the atmosphere and the philosophy of the school. If I were a more competitive applicant I would have applied ED, but I know I don’t particularly stand out for Penn and I’m reaching quite a bit but I’d really appreciate if my chances were broken down so I understand exactly what I’m dealing with. I want to study law sometime in the future in graduate school, so if anyone can recommend a better program/school that is less of a reach that would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

2

Hi! Since you wanted a break down, I’ll try my best to give you a comprehensive opinion of your chances.
Your SAT score is decent (average), but it might be a tad bit low for Asians. I had the exact same score and I was extremely worried about it because I thought they would expect higher scores from Asians. But I got into Penn anyways, so no need to worry.
Nice SAT IIs GPA and rigor of courses.
I think your ECs are a bit weak since you only have one leadership position. But it does seem like you’re well rounded.
Overall I think your chances are pretty decent, especially if you wrote excellent essays. We have similar stats, but since you’re applying RD as an international student it might be tougher for you. Best of luck!

3

@SylvRsr

Hey thanks for your reply, that was very helpful. I’m glad you could reassure me a little bit because I’m having a bit of a crisis right now having been deferred from my first choice. As for the EC bit, I know I am lacking in leadership (mostly because I didn’t get involved in many of them until sophomore/junior year) but the Model UN portion does really eat up a large amount of time for me. And for the others like concert band and ultimate, I guess I’m just not talented/athletic enough to take the positions of captain/section leader haha. Would it help at all to briefly mention this in an essay somewhere? Or would an admissions officer see it as an excuse?

Thanks!

4

Welcome! I know you might feel like a less competitive applicant due to your deferral but remember one college decision does not indicate anything about you! You’re still the great, accomplished person you are! I’m sure you’ll end up at a great college, whether it be your first choice Georgetown, Penn or somewhere else.

In my opinion, you probably don’t want to talk about the fact that your lack of phenomenal talent stopped you from being a leader. Not only would it be mostly likely seen as an excuse, it will show your weaker side. I mean let’s be honest, nobody excels at everything. But you want to show them your good side. So I would instead focus on Model UN. Talk about your passion for it, how dedicated you are to it, how it helps you grow academically, and LINK IT TO PENN. For example in my supplement, I wrote about my passion for becoming a surgeon, and linked it to Penn by talking about their strong pre med program. You get the idea. Basically your ECs are weak but if you emphasize on your strongest EC, you can still impress the admission officers! It is good as long as you have passion and dedication, and you obviously still hold a leadership position in Model UN.

One last note: I’ve gathered from personal experience that Chinese international applicants tend to have high scores but really bad ECs. I’m assuming you’re Chinese because of that 790 on Mandarin. Although you’re from Canada, you’re still an international applicant. I wonder if they will view you as one of those high score bad EC Chinese applicants… But again, I would still say your ECs are decent and you can make it better by writing about it

5

Yes I am Chinese haha but I have been living in Canada since I was 3 years old and my family speaks Cantonese at home so Mandarin was kind of a second language for me (obviously not as much as for most others but it wasn’t easy either). I know exactly the type of applicant you’re talking about, and really I just hope to avoid coming across as that guy by producing some really good essays.

Thanks for your help

6

I think you might want to note that your first language is not Mandarin? Idk I can only speak Mandarin and Cantonese is like a foreign language to me.
You’re welcome! Best of luck!