Hi all! I’m a rising senior >.< and college admissions are really starting to crack down. I would really appreciate it if I could be chanced for Upenn engineering (want to do cs), thank you so much in advance!
SAT: 2320 (780M, 740 CR, 800 W)
SAT II: Math II 790, Chemistry 790
ACT: N/A
Class Rank: Top 1% out of 1400+ (Highly competitive high school, multiple early Harvard, Princeton, Stanford acceptances)
Junior Course Load: AP Computer Science, AP Music Theory, AP Chemistry, AP statistics, AP English Lang, AP United States History
Projected Senior Course Load: AP Physics, AP Biology, AP English Lit, AP Macro/Micro Econ, AP Govt, CS 3 Honors,
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Awards: National Merit Semifinalist, National AP Scholar (probably), State Science Fair 1st place, USACO Silver, President’s Volunteer Service Award
Work Experience: Staff at recreation centers to work with special needs children since junior year
Summer internship at small software company
EC’s
National Honor Society
Science Fair Club - Officer: responsible coordinating meetings and assisting new members on projects
City Wide Volunteer Organization - Daily volunteer at recreational summer camp for special needs children since freshman year
Volunteer at local libraries: running library programs, shelving books
Volunteer at retirement homes and local hospitals (250+ hours)
Chinese Club: Vice President
Habitat For Humanity
Tutored students struggling in math
Orchestra - 2nd chair violin of top orchestra
I would call you a very solid candidate. Top 1% is good I guess…easier to envision if you gave your GPA. Great SAT. Great strength of course load. NMSF is great. ECs are good. A future Computer Science guy who can write well is a plus in my mind. Ivy League schools are a reach for everyone, and so UPenn is for you also. I will give you though a 60% chance of getting in because I do think you are a very strong candidate. Don’t falter in your first semester of your senior year. Good luck.
For the record, I think you are a very strong candidate - I’d say solidly in the top 25% rather than top 1%, but definitely a very strong candidate.
I just don’t happen to believe that ANYONE is really a better than 30% candidate at Penn (or any of the elite schools) based on the kind of qualifications shown here. Sure, if you write a perfect application essay, have some unbelievable recommendations, knock an interviewer’s socks off, etc…but only then.
Thank y’all for your replies, they were very helpful. However, I don’t want to be overly optimistic about my chances, since like Flynn and stepay said, elite schools are nobody’s good chances, and the fact that I’m Asian. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve the strength of my app? Thanks a lot!
No sports would be a red flag - do you pursue any sport recreationally or at a club level that you could play senior year?
And you are light on engineering ECs/work experience. If you did an internship last year, try to do another one this year. The internship before you enter senior year should be related to the job you want to pursue.
Anything that you have used computers to help out any of those volunteer organizations would be very important - if you were just “helping” physically or making phone calls, that just does not mean much to adcoms.
Unless Penn Engineering is different than the other Ivies I am very familiar with, not participating in sports is no big deal as long as you were using your time wisely in other activities. In general, unless you are recruitable, top schools treat your sports participation as just another activity.
@NickFlynn - My commenting on top 1% was due to the thread starter saying they were in the top 1% of their class. I wasn’t saying I thought they were in the top 1% of candidates.
Very nice! I’d put you at 99%. It’s almost unrealistically tough seeing people who volunteer at hospitals, have a software internship, and excel in the Orchestra simultaneously.