Please chance for Penn ED?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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<p>Please let me know how good you think my chances are for being admitted to Penn ED!</p>

<p>I'm currently a high school senior in Pennsylvania at a decent public school that sends 2-3 to ivies every year. Also a white boy</p>

<p>UW GPA- 3.79, upward trend,--- 3.65 freshman -3.875 sophomore- 3.875 junior
Class Rank 23/497, top 5%</p>

<p>SAT scores: 2380- 800cr 800m 780w (8 essay) -- this was my third time taking the test, first two were 2090 and 2280</p>

<p>Will take US History, Bio M, Math 2 subject tests (hopefully 700+ on them)</p>

<p>AP:
10th: Psychology (5)
11th: AP Calc AB (4), AP US Gov. (4), AP Lang. and Comp.
12th: AP Calc BC, AP Biology, AP Lit. and Comp.</p>

<p>Senior year courseload: AP Calc BC, AP Lit., AP Bio., Honors Statistics, Honors Senior Social Sciences (required course), Spanish 5, half-year business course</p>

<p>Awards: National Merit Semifinalist, county spelling bee semifinalist 10th and 11th, 1st place in school for AMC 10</p>

<p>Extra Curriculars:
Boy Scouts (Senior Patrol Leader, soon to be Eagle Scout) 9,10,11,12
Scholastic Scrimmage (academic quiz bowl) 11,12
NHS 11,12
FBLA (2nd in regionals for Business Calculations) 10,11,12
Peer Tutor 12
Track (pole vaulting, not varsity) 11,12
Fencing (at local YMCA, not really that official) 9,10,11,12</p>

<p>Community Service: I've been on two week-long mission trips to a homeless shelter in Maryland. Other than that just some random stuff through boy scouts, church, and NHS.</p>

<p>My essays will probably be okay but nothing outstanding. Likewise with the recommendations as I have failed to form personal bonds with any of my teachers.</p>

<p>I have demonstrated interest in Penn (which I hear counts! ) by requesting information and attending an information session/tour.</p>

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<p>bumpbumpbump</p>

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<p>Nothing outstanding on your app…but I think applying ED helps make up for that. I think that you’ll get in. But don’t consign yourself to mediocre essays!! Especially your “Why Penn” essay; you’re applying ED…you should be able to find a compelling reason to want to go there!</p>

<p>P.S. WOW! From a 2090 SAT to a 2380?!? That’s impressive! Any tips? I’m stuck at a 2220…</p>

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<p>YellowDaisies:</p>

<p>Thanks! And I can actually give a bunch of tips-
-Do as many BLUE BOOK (Collegeboard’s official test guide) practice tests as you can (I did 6 the month before this latest test, definitely the biggest factor in my improvement). I feel that only practice tests from collegeboard are worth taking; tests from Barron’s and others have subtle differences from the real SAT and will not help you as much.
-Learn as much vocab as you possibly can. Google it, get a book, whatever it takes.
-Read a prep book. Before the first test I had no prep except PSAT, before the second test I read Princeton Review’s “Cracking the SAT”, and before the third test I read Barron’s SAT 2400. Barron’s SAT 2400 was a decent prep book (although sorely lacking in vocab), you might try that. It made me aware of a specific type of writing question that crops up very rarely, which is diction error (one appeared on the October test).
-Bring earplugs. They cost around $4-5, and are invaluable while taking the test. Get the highest noise protection rating you can (mine were 30dB I think) The proctor will say “no earplugs are allowed”, but I asked my proctor if I could wear them after the second section, and told her that I had concentration problems. She felt bad for me and let me wear them. You may or my not be allowed to wear them, but it’s worth a shot.
-Bring really good food to eat during breaks.</p>

<p>Basically my schedule was:
March- did PSAT and school-administered practice test. Read a few math tips on SparkNotes. Studied the night before and approached test with arrogant attitude. Got 2090.</p>

<p>June- Started prep a week before test. Read Princeton Review’s “Cracking the SAT”. Learned all vocab inside. Did online practice test and problems from collegeboard. Got 2280.</p>

<p>October- Started prep in early September. Bought Blue Book and Barron’s SAT 2400. Read Barron’s, did 6 practice tests in blue book. Learned around 300 difficult vocab words from various online sources. Read various online tips for essay writing.</p>

<p>Hope this helps!</p>

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<p>Thank you!!! That’s actually a huge help! Did you find Barron’s 2400 to be helpful with math? That’s my problem area…right now I have a 800CR/730W/690M. </p>

<p>Also, check your messages :)</p>

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<p>your SAT scores and class rank are both up there, but your GPA may need to go up a bit. You have a much better chance than I do IMO. I guess what matters now are those SAT 2 tests! Good luck! (:</p>

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<p>bump bump</p>

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<p>great scores, average everything else, i wish u luck Mv</p>

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<p>bumpbump
bump</p>

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<p>do not settle for decent essays. If you look it up, PENN values essays and teacher recs more than grades and SATs. Especially as previously said, you must hit a homerun with the why penn essay - if you don’t others will.</p>

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<p>Incredible SAT (is the 2380 superscored or single session?), but I’ll sadly have to agree with mjx on the part that the rest is not outstanding.</p>

<p>Have you submitted already? You probably know that the deadline was pushed back to Friday, so if you haven’t, I would get to work on the essays!</p>

<p>Any ways, given your apparently spectacular test taking skills, I would bet on very high Subject tests (definitely an 800 on M2, and over 720 on the others).</p>

<p>Given that, I would give you at least a 30-35% chance of acceptance (which school is it btw?) which is quite good.
While applying ED does earn you some brownie points, a blah why Penn essay would mellow that out.
Good luck!</p>

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<p>It was single sitting, but the old ones will probably make it look bad =(</p>

<p>And no I haven’t submitted- I still have to rewrite my commonapp essay and Why Penn, and write both short essays. And cram 150 years of US History and all of math up til pre-calc before thursday =( No penn for me I fear</p>