Shooting for the Stars

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>But I don't think I'll even hit the sky. </p>

<p>I REALLY want to go to uPenn; I thought that I'd have a shot at the Ivies, but...after taking the SAT, SATII, ACT, and looking at some of the people's accomplishments, I doubt HIGHLY that I'd even have a chance.</p>

<p>My school is one of the best in the nation (especially for a public school), and all my courses are advanced, but I get straight A's, but those SAT's reeeealy threw me for a loop.</p>

<p>Critical Reading: 610
Math: 520
Writing: 560
Essay: 6
Total of 1690</p>

<p>And for my SATII's, I got a 630 on Chem, a 640 on Math1, and a 560 on Math2.</p>

<p>I got a 29 on the ACT.</p>

<p>With these scores, I know that my essays are going to have to be immaculate . </p>

<p>Do I stand a ghost of a chance getting in?</p>

<p>I also posted my resume, but compared to some of the ECs that I've seen on here, i'm having some SERIOUS doubts.</p>

<p>Steven
Address: Basically the ghetto
Home #:
Cell #:
Age: 17, Male, African American
E-mail:</p>

<p>Education
• J.R. Masterman Public High School, Grade 11, GPA 4.0
Accomplishments
• Participated in the George Washington Science Fair 2006, winning the Gold Medal
• Participated in the Center City Regional Science Fair 2006, winning First Prize and the Certificate for Outstanding Presentation
• Participated in the Delaware Valley Science Fair 2006, winning the Second Place GlaxoSmithKline Award, $100 prize
• Inducted into the National Honor Society (February 2007)
• Won a $1,000 Award of Distinction in the Multi-Media category of the My Philadelphia contest for my song “My Philadelphia – A 3-Part Ode” (July 2007)
• Received the Pillar of Service award for overcoming personal hardships and demonstrating outstanding public service by making it my mission to attend to the seniors in my community (November 2006)
• Received the Pillar of Service award for overcoming personal hardships and demonstrating outstanding public service by making it my mission to attend to the seniors in my community (November 2006)
• Distinguished Honor Roll from grade 9 to 11 (all terms)
Extra-Curricular Activities
• Conducted research at the University of Pennsylvania on Brodmann Area 10 (October 2006-February 2006). This research was used to create the project “‘Your Nose Knows’ – An Investigation of Brodmann Area 10: Its Function and Relation to Memory Retrieval” that was entered in the George Washington, Center City Regional, and Delaware Valley Science Fairs
• Participated in a week long program for the instruction of AP Biology Teachers at Edison/Fareira High School(Summer 2004)
• Participated in the Fellowship Farm Program, an overnight retreat for honor roll students to cultivate leadership skills (Spring 2005)
• Participated in the 8th Annual High School Jazz Fest (Spring 2006)
• Participated in the Classic Festivals 2006 Festival of Music, Annapolis, Maryland (Spring 2006)
• Masterman Voices, The J.R. Masterman High School Newspaper (Fall 2005)
• Masterman High School Jazz Combo (Alto Saxophone)
• The Philadelphia Student Union (Winter 2004)
• Computer Operating Systems (Winter 2004)
• A small karate course, which focused on self-discipline and self-control (Spring 2005)
• Masterman High School Jazz Band (Alto Saxophone) (Fall 2005-Present)
Work Experience
• Intern at the School District of Philadelphia, Office of Secondary Education (July 2005 – Present)
• Philadelphia Young Playwrights Assistant Judge (Summer 2004)
• Assisted in the organization of a week-long program for the instruction of AP Biology teachers at Edision/Fareira High School (Summer 2004)
Religious Involvement
• Unbaptized Publisher in the Strawberry Mansion Congregation of Jehovah’s Witenesses
• Member of the Theocratic Ministry School
• Active Participant in the Kingdom Ministry
• Attendant to the elderly of the congregation</p>

2

<p>Well, your weak point is definitely your test scores, and I think you know that. </p>

<p>Study really hard for the ACT and try and get your score up to at least a 32ish, and you stand a good chance. I would forget about the SAT at this point, unless you think you can retest and do much much better on it.</p>

3

<p>ya, dont send your SAT's, just the ACT, especially if you can raise it a couple points. If you do this I think you'll have a great chance.</p>

4

<p>the problem is....upenn requires SAT 2s</p>

<p>and when you send them, collegeboard sends everything at once......so upenn will see ur SAT no matter what</p>

<p>so if you can boost ur SAT, that would help a lot</p>

5

<p>I hate the SATs with a passion even greater than my desire to enter uPenn. As I open up that test booklet, running my fingers across the soft, synthetic paper from which the booklet is made, I can feel my IQ points dropping at a rate inversely proportional to the amount of time spent at the test center.</p>

<p>I felt that the ACTs were better - if I had studied more diligently for them, I'm almost certain that I would have scored 32+; I was expecting about a 24 or 25, so the 29 surprised me, but imagine the dismay that I felt when I discovered that 31 was the MINIMUM for most uPenn students!</p>

<p>I sincerely hope that I can just do the ACT over, without submitting my SATII scores</p>

6

<p>SAT 2s are required for Penn so everything has to be sent</p>

7

<p>I was just at Penn and I'm similar to you in that my SAT scores are much worse than my ACT scores. If you take the act with writing you DO NOT have to send SAT II scores. I REPEAT do NOT have to send SAT II scores. See for yourself: <a href="http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/testing.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/testing.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

8

<p>being from philly will end up really helping you. try to get 600s on your sats and apply ed. play up your community involvement or something in your essays and i bet you will at least get deferred if not accepted. penn really loves taking people from philly (not the suburbs/main line) who went to public schools because it makes them feel like they are helping the city. there are a lot of masterman people here so that means they are familiar with your school. just work on those scores and you have a great chance.</p>

9

<p>Nobody in my immediate family has a credit card (that's any good, anyway) so I can't register online for the ACT. I have no way to get an application in order to apply, nor do I have access to any type of fee wavier, since it's summer vacation and my connection at my job at the school district hasn't received them yet. </p>

<p>The deadline for the September 15 ACT is in two days, and the reason that I've waited so long was because I NEVER received my original ACT score report. After waiting and waiting, I looked online, entered my Social Security #, and lo and behold, there it is! (This was a last resort; I didn't expect them to have my scores online, especially considering the fact that I hadn't registered online)</p>

<p>I can do my SAT over again, but what about my SATII's? I can't take them BOTH on the same test day in October...and they already HAVE all my SAT and SATII scores....I selected for them to be sent upon registration... <em>cries</em></p>

<p>I just hope that they look at my ACT instead of my SAT + SATII's.</p>

<p>What I'm saying is that I'm basically screwed out of early decision unless I REEEEALY want to risk sending in my current ACT.</p>

<p>So, I'm gonna apply to uPenn, early decision, with a 29 ACT, some (hopefully) stellar essays, and my listed extra-curriculars/achievements, and 4.0 gpa (I only recently was appointed to be on the leadership team of the African American Cultural Committee, but that starts Senior year and I haven't had a chance to really do anything yet, so I excluded it from my resume).</p>

<p>Now, I know that I can be deferred from early decision and have another shot at regular decision, but is there a chance I can just be outright rejected early decision?</p>

<p>I'm going to take the October 27 ACT for all my other regular decision applications, and if I do better on that (I KNOW I will, I'll get at least a 32-33), but get rejected from Penn ED, and then don't have an opportunity to send in my better scores for RD (if I get deferred), I'll be crushed!</p>