Shooting for the Stars...

Chance Me / Match Me!
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
Esviel (aka SVL) is offline</p>

2

<p>UPenn: REJECT</p>

<p>Your unweighted GPA is 4.0, but your test scores are extremely low.</p>

<p>If your school is one of the best public ones in the nation, you should score well in the SAT subject tests because they test your knowledge of the subject. However, you do not. I'm guessing your school has lots of grade inflation, or you're really bad at taking standardized tests.</p>

<p>Also, your "education" looks like a laundry list of EVERYTHING you did.</p>

3

<p>Well, if you apply engineering ED.. you're science project may let them overlook your umprecendented scores. If you get in let me know.. I'll tell my grand children.</p>

4

<p>Just study hard and get those SATs up baby!</p>

5

<p>*UPenn: REJECT</p>

<p>Your unweighted GPA is 4.0, but your test scores are extremely low.</p>

<p>If your school is one of the best public ones in the nation, you should score well in the SAT subject tests because they test your knowledge of the subject. However, you do not. I'm guessing your school has lots of grade inflation, or you're really bad at taking standardized tests.</p>

<p>Also, your "education" looks like a laundry list of EVERYTHING you did.*</p>

<p>My school is pretty good, and I think its ranked in the top 70 in the nation.
Its just those SATs.....i REALLY SUCK at them, and I was extremely stressed while taking them for reasons that admissions officers probably don't even care about. You don't even want to know how badly I bombed the essay, and I'm a pretty good writer. :(</p>

<p>I took the ACT (29), so will they take that into account? They have my SAT scores but since my ACT translates to a 1900, will they only look at that? Even though ACT (with writing) can be taken IN PLACE of SATI and SATII's, I fear that they will STILL look at my abysmal SAT scores and consider them.</p>

<p>And as for my list of "EVERYTHING" I did....well that's just my resume, and I left alot of stuff out. Is there anything missing that I should have been doing?</p>

6

<p>If you still have time I'd say retake the SATs once more and study your butt off for them. If you get above 2200 you should be set for UPenn, or try to raise your SAT II's instead.</p>

<p>If those scores stay the same...then sorry but its a reject....its true the SATs dont measure true intelligence and your school may be one of the best in the nation (even though remember thise 'best in the nation' stuff is not really meaningful due to it being incredibly random) but the top schools usually have a cutoff point for the SAT........</p>

7

<p>OMG! you got to Masterman???!!! that was my dream high school ( unfortunately i live right outside of Philly, and the administrator said that you had to live IN philly to attend the school :( )........but anyway, about your chances.</p>

<p>i'm going to ignore your SAT score and look at your ACT, b/c a 29 isn't really that bad. With preparation and hard work, you could easily raise that to a 30+. Scoring a 32 on the ACT would definitely put you in the running for Upenn (since you're an URM).</p>

<p>However, if you fail to raise your ACT score, then you will most likely be rejected from Upenn. </p>

<p>Ps: maintaining a 4.0 gpa at Masterman is very impressive, were you in the mg program?</p>

<p>good luck :)</p>

8

<p>apply and write great essays. You have a shot...go for it. Apply ED obviously for the best shot</p>

9

<p>What is the OP's rank?</p>

<p>I highly doubt that he is going to be val/sal of his school.</p>

<p>If he brought every section up to at least 600 he'd have a shot. But otherwise: REJECT.</p>

10

<p>wow, thanks for all the replies!</p>

<p>To ses my rank is in the top decile, but Masterman is trying to get rid of class rank.</p>

<p>To you'llsee: yes, i'm in the MG program, and my major classes are all advanced (advanced physics/pre-calc/span4/eng3/american history) and when I start senior year, I'll be taking AP Calc and AP Spanish.</p>

<p>anyway, I want to apply ED but if I do, I'll have to rely on SAT scores (which I will take again October 6 and hopefully raise). </p>

<p>I can't re-take the ACT again and apply ED because I missed the september 15 test date. Applications aren't available cause its summer and i'm out of school and I can't apply online because no-one has a credit card. :(</p>

<p>So...If I take the SATI over again and apply ED and do better, will they still consider my 29 ACT in leiu of my SATII scores? I surely hope so.</p>

<p>OR I could just take the ACT over again and apply Regular Decision...what would be my chances then?</p>

11

<p>That is one of the longest, if not THE longest, resumes I've seen.</p>

12

<p>esviel, I think it would be in your best interest to retake the ACT and apply RD ( you would have a much better chance of scoring higher on the ACT). Although your SAT scores isn't horrible, it will still be hard to raise a 520 to a 700+. However, if you think you can do it ( i'm no judge of that), then you should definitely go for it. Consider using the College Board official SAT study guide, or if you can't afford it, pick up a study guide from your local library. Good luck :)</p>

13

<p>Actually next week i'm taking a summer SAT Prep course - reading/writing in the mornings and math in the afternoons. I'm gonna focus 100% on that right up until the test date - while there, I'm gonna try to get a fee wavier/application and apply for it. </p>

<p>im REALLY mad that i won't be able to take the september ACT but.....oh well, thats life. I guess I'm gonna have to go RD with my improved ACT and SAT and hope for the best. But the only way I'll even have a CHANCE at RD is if I do phenomenal to make up for my past blunder.</p>

<p>But even if I do improve my ACT/SAT, they STILL will see my SATII scores! I sincerely hope that they see the ACTs and decide to look at that IN PLACE OF my SATII scores because they might get suspicious, wondering why I did so badly on them, but better on everything else, even IF they claim to take the ACT in place of the SATII's.</p>

14

<p>Actually, his ACT score is 29. According to collegeboard, the 25-75 range for UPenn as far as ACT scores is 29-33.</p>

<p>Also the OP said that he was african american and he grew up in "basically the ghetto", which means that some AA will probably be going on.</p>

<p>I would say that UPenn is a reach, but the OP definitely has a chance.</p>

<p>My advice to you, Esviel, is to only send in your ACT scores, and not your SAT scores, because the ACT can fully replace the SAT and all colleges view the ACT with writing the same as the SAT.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

15

<p>Ignoring the fact that you're african american: Instant reject.
Including the fact that you're african american: Possible admit.</p>

16

<p>Ignoring the fact that you're african american: Instant reject.
Including the fact that you're african american: Possible admit.</p>

<p>Hmm, it seems weird to me that being an african american could have such an impact on whether I'd get in or not. I mean, I know that there's Affirmative Action and all that stuff, but I really don't want to get in only on the basis of my race.</p>

<p>It's not like I'm a dumb person, and everyone has always told me that I'd be able to get into any college I wanted and stuff (even at my school with mostly white teachers and classmates), and I've tried my best all the way up until this point; the SAT/ACTs were basically the first time in my life where i've completely ****ed up academically.</p>

17

<p>Then just try to get your scores up.
You have no other factor inhibiting you.</p>