Please please chance me!!!

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>Applying Regular Decision</p>

<p>School: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)</p>

<p>Objective:</p>

<p>ACT: 23 (Yeah I know) This does NOT represent my ability at ALL!! Family problems is one of the causes for this horrendous, abysmal, and disgusting score. However, read below to see why!</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.45
<strong><em>I'm taking 10 classes this year to bring this Unweighted GPA up, Weighted GPA up, and Class Rank</em></strong></p>

<p>Weighted GPA: 4.019</p>

<p>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 22%</p>

<p>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Highest achievement in English,</p>

<p>Highest achievement in Social Studies, Highest ascertained score on FCAT, Highest achievement in Math, eCybermission Regional Winner, Adobe Certification Dreamweaver (Pefect Score)</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities(place leadership in parenthesis):</p>

<p>Defensive Team Captain for Varsity football team, in charge of calling plays and making sure everyone is lined up correctly prior to the snap, and audibling out of plays depending on how other offense is lined up. I play LB/OLB.</p>

<p>Varsity Basketball Team Captain: I play small forward/power forward, depending on if we're playing big or small lineup.</p>

<p>President of National English Honor Society: Raise money to help donate books and other reading materials to Salvation Army.</p>

<p>Social Studies Honor Society- Built care-packages to send oversees to troops.</p>

<p>Spanish Honor Society: Tutor kids who have difficulty in Spanish every Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for 90 minutes.</p>

<p>Key Club: Coordinator, was in charge of scheduling events for us to attend such as Ronald McDonald house, Salvation Army, Goodwill, Retirement homes, and homeless shelters.</p>

<p>American Red Cross: Helped collect money to help send to Japan in order to help with the relief effort in Japan. I was in charge of phone-calls, and we even went door-to-door.</p>

<p>Native American Rights Fund: Help raise money to make lives for Native Americans much better. We built care-packages containing basic necessities such as toothbrushes, toothpastes, non-perishable food items, and board games for kids and adults to enjoy. We then shipped them off to reservations across the U.S.</p>

<p>National Association for the Advancement of Colored People- Helped minorities such as Hispanics, Native Americans, assassin homes and jobs. For a better life. I also worked on the clemency case for Troy Davis, who was an inmate on death row for the past 20 years in Georgia, we got over 1000000 signatures. Troy did not commit the crime, because many of the original witnesses in his case recanted their statements, and said police coerced them. But, went to now avail and he was executed.</p>

<p>Race for the Cure: I was able to collect $1750 for Susan G Komen's Race for the Cure, because in late 2010, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, so the Race for the Cure is a special event my mom and I partake in annually.</p>

<p>Adobe Imaging Seminars - Since I received a perfect score on the certification test, I've been invited to and attended many of Adobe's Seminars</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: Cashier (Universal Studios)</p>

<p>So, in late 2010, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and she had to undergo intense therapy and was out of work. So, I had to get a job in order to help out my dad. So, everyday I came home for 20 minutes, and then went to work until 11PM, then I came home, Tutored my brother until 1AM, and then I completed my own homework, then went to bed at around 4:00AM, then woke up at 6AM for rinse-wash-repeat. This is one of the reasons for my horrendous ACT score, because I had ZERO time to prepare myself for the ACT test!</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service: 161 hours at a MASSIVE hospital in Florida</p>

<p>Summer Activities: NARF, NAACP, American Red Cross, Fundraisers</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation: Should be VERY good, both teachers told me they wrote good rec letters.</p>

<p>Counselor Rec: Should be good, GC also said he wrote good rec letter. But, GC is NEW and I have only known him for 5 weeks.</p>

<p>Other:</p>

<p>Applying for Financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>State (if domestic applicant): Florida (OOS)</p>

<p>Country (if international applicant): United States</p>

<p>School Type: Public and VERY competitive</p>

<p>Ethnicity: NATIVE AMERICAN, I know this will help me during the admissions process.</p>

<p>Gender: MALE</p>

<p>Income Bracket: $53,000 (Directly off last year's 1040)</p>

<p>Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM and First Generation (Nobody in my family has even graduated high school, and when I mean no one I mean no one)</p>

<p>Please let me know of my chances for Penn 2012!</p>

<p>My intended major is Computer Science. </p>

<p>My common app essays are REALLY good, IMO.</p>

2

<p>Um not to be mean or anything but I have a 3.7 and 33 ACT and I don’t think I have much of a chance…
But your extracurriculars are very outstanding.
I hope they take a good look at your situation and that it makes a big difference, as those are tremendously tough circumstances.</p>

3

<p>Native America should help (though to what degree, I don’t know). If you wrote some really good essays and explained yourself well enough, I think you should be okay. Anyway, good luck and Penn, I believe, looks at each individual case rather than comparing people.</p>

4

<p>Your stats are not the best, but the rest of your community work very well makes up for it. Make sure to write phenomenol essays that explains what you did and how it led to your personal growth. EPLOIT WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE FROM THE REST. The essays are the most important thing. Good luck!</p>

5

<p>0% chance, a 23 ACT is just way too low for even consideration</p>

6

<p>I know someone with a 1610 got into UPenn but yeh, the ACT score doesn’t help much. Have you considered taking SAT?</p>

7

<p>Use the extra info section on the Common App to explain your predicament, and make sure the counselor writing your SSR knows.</p>

8

<p>Your GPA is solid, and the one thing you can’t really change this late in the game. If you are serious about wanting to get into Penn… Sign up for a Kaplan course for the SAT or ACT or get a really expensive tutor. What city do you live in? Even with a 4.0, unless you are from Trinity and have a family member named Perelman… it’s impossible without a higher ACT. If you didn’t use a prep course, the good news is, you can significantly increase your score, if you are in a big city… anyone in grad school that tutors would be good, depending on your budget. Message me if you have anymore questions, but I was on the admissions committee for undergrad a few years ago as the student rep… and you have to realize, you are competing with prep schools who have “coaches” that help them write essays and get everything perfect… so if you don’t have your scores at least above the bottom 10% of what is accepted, it is VERY difficult. Other options… go to school in Philadelphia (Drexel/Temple are probably the best choices in the city)… get involved with Penn… transferring is a LOT easier if you show a solid GPA in your first year of college. You need to retake the ACT though… or take the SAT… if not, look into Penn for grad school and just make sure you get a solid undergrad GPA and test scores. Penn curves pretty hardcore, so if you are already at the bottom of the barrel scores wise… it’s going to be hard to get the GPA you need to go to grad school if that is what you are wanting to do… and in this economy, you have to think long term (sorry I know you are in high school)… but this goes for every other college student too. Also… look up the “little ivys” … they are REALLY great schools that get a TON of respect. The sad truth is that the lower scores and GPA’s you see on their are people who had LORs from people you probably see in magazines or on TV. Your ability to succeed is very important to them, and I’ve seen people with 4.0’s and 32s get a C- average here. So think hard, it may not be the dream school for you if you aren’t willing to put in the work to up your score.</p>

9

<p>@Jacobo2880: He must of been one hell of an athlete or extremely qualified in some other way lol</p>

10

<p>Even without preparation, an intelligent kid should be able to get 28+…I don’t understand your excuse…</p>

11

<p>@OP: I agree with the above, especially PhilaPenn. Remember, the admissions committee wants to make sure you’d be able to succeed in their academic environment and their social environment (extra-curriculars, etc.). But, academics need to come first (after all, Penn and other top schools are research and academic driven). I’m not saying that you wouldn’t be able to do the work; I’m just saying that it’d be hard. Standardized tests are a way that they can compare students from one school in Florida to another in Illinois to another in Alaska. That’s why they are in place–they are a “standard”. While I don’t want to get into a huge debate on the value of this testing, etc., it will always be around, and be a factor in admissions. While your guidance counselor may write/speak to your mother’s situation, your GPA does not reflect a student of high academic caliber, either. 95-97% of Penn’s admitted students were in the top 10% of the class. </p>

<p>To be quite honest, I hope you and I both are admitted to Penn ED, and that we can meet up and laugh about this issue one day. I truly wish you the best of luck.</p>

12

<p>Your special case and hardworking attitude truly makes the biggest difference!
If your teacher recs are good, then there is definitely hope.</p>

<p>From a fellow candidate (but ED), good luck!</p>

13

<p>Your ethnicity will help because colleges will take a Native American with a 2.5 GPA. Your ECs are solid enough, and I think that the very sad situation with your mother will help explain some shortfalls as well.</p>

14

<p>I agree with AccountX recomm. You will get in.</p>

15

<p>I disagree with the above two. Your grades just won’t cut it. They don’t want to accept someone who will struggle with the work, and your grades and scores just make it seem like you will struggle. I’m only being this harsh because I think the two above posers give an unrealistic amount of hope for your situation. Sure, you may get in, but it’s not likely.</p>