I am currently a Junior - Indian male, high income, large competitive public school (2000 students) in California
Intended major: Chemical and biomolecular engineering
SAT: 1560 (790 math - I’m really pissed about that- and 770 reading/writing)
SAT Subject tests: 760 Spanish and 800 Chemistry so far (will take Physics and Math II in June, Biology in August)
PSAT: 1500 (750 math and 750 reading, with a 225 selection index)
GPA: Cumulative = 4.21/4.00, Freshman year = 4.00/4.00, Sophomore Year = 4.14/4.00, Junior Year = 4.75/4.00 (for first semester at least)
A note about GPA: while I have never gotten a B, I have gotten 3 A-'s, but I didn’t factor a +/- in the calculation.
AP’s:
None freshman year (freshmen are not allowed to take AP courses)
AP Spanish sophomore year (only 2 AP’s available to sophomores, can only take a language if you skipped a grade, which I did)
AP Stats/AP Chem/APUSH junior year
**Senior year I will most likely take AP Calc BC/AP Macro/AP Bio/AP Physics
EC’s (Not including clubs):
Captain and founding member of a community FRC robotics team (plan for all 4 years)
Piano since 2nd grade (Have passed the MTAC level 10 exams with honors)
Varsity tennis (2 years)
Volunteered at a local community center the summer after 9th grade (over 125 hours) (not super important, but it is something)
Intern at a local peptide synthesis/biotech startup in the manufacturing sector
Self studying a lot of higher level chemistry (just for fun, not really an extracurricular)
Future Plans:
Apply for an Apple engineering internship/SIMR over the summer (whichever I get into)
Currently am preparing for the Chemistry Olympiad (if I am lucky, I will get honors/high honors)
Essays/LoR’s:
Haven’t really thought about essays yet, but will definitely ask my AP Chemistry teacher for an LoR. (Please assume a 7/10)
I will gladly provide any additional information you will need.
Dude, your stuff looks pretty solid. If you could get something published before you apply next year, that would make you stand out more, especially as a dude in stem. My GC said admissions really gets off on that. Can I ask what the A- grades were in? Also, If you could maybe step it up one more level in math and science, and perhaps take some even more advanced classes at a community college over the summer, that would probably get their attention too. I’d just go for it. If you want this dude, you gotta go all out. This s@&! is hard! That’s what my GC told me to do, so we’ll see how that goes. I’ve had pretty much no life to get to this point. Hope it pays off. One thing I know for sure, when I reach my dream school, I’m gonna party hard the first few weeks. Moses knows, I deserve it…
@IvyCarib I just did a lot of actual practice tests, which can be found online, and used Khan Academy. They have a great tool!
DISCLAIMER: This is specifically for the SAT, I never have taken the ACT. However, I’m sure most of this applies to the ACT as well.
The main thing is to religiously look over your practice tests, see what you did wrong, and go over similar types of problems. Reading was the main problem for me, and really practice just helps me know what types of questions to expect.
On the reading section, annotating the articles is REALLY helpful! It helps you ensure that you actually understand the article. Read once and annotate, read again, then go ahead and answer questions.
On the writing section, when you flip the page, read the passage first, then look at what the question is asking (Choosing a word? Adding/deleting a sentence?). Just relax and take your time, but don’t go too slow!
On math, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure to check your answers and make sure you’ve bubbled in the correct thing - especially on the free response grid-in answers. I lost 10 points on the PSAT because I bubbled in an answer as 1.2, even though I had correctly calculated the answer to be 1/2.
it looks great but you never know with ivies, honestly, my advice would be apply for chemistry ot bio at CAS and then once you get in, take classes at seas and transfer from cas to seas–because your background in stem is impressive, you shouldn’t have problems transferring
Your record looks really impressive. Since Penn receives so many impressive applications, I recommend you try to obtain an ongoing internship in your field of interest. Work with someone at a university or a lab where they can write you a glowing letter of recommendation. I believe this would make you stand out more than another difficult science class. By doing an internship or somehow working or volunteering in your field, you’re showing a level of commitment and passion that a lot of other applicants won’t have. It seems that everyone applying to the ivies has a long list of impressive stats but few applicants demonstrate a true passion for something. A student in our school applied to a similar program at University of Chicago and the admissions committee gave the feedback that the student’s letter of recommendation made him stand out. The UW-Madison professor he interned for wrote the recommendation which confirmed the student’s commitment to his field. The student was accepted into the program. Good luck!
And for the essay, you need to literally nail it - hit it out of the park and get the admissions committee’s attention with your first sentence. Don’t underestimate the importance of the essay. This is another area where you can really shine.
@UrbanMum Thank you very much for your feedback and for the kind words. I’m feeling encouraged as I begin summer and the application process.
I’ve lined up an internship at a local startup contract research firm, where I’ll be able to learn a lot about biochemistry. I will be able to do some work in the lab such as different types of chromatography and creating gold nanoparticles. I don’t think I’ll be able to get a “glowing” rec letter (the people I am going to be working with don’t have the best English skills or a lot of time), however.
In your opinion, how important is something like an outside rec letter?
