Should I apply ED or RD to Penn?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I would greatly appreciate some advice here. I really love Penn, especially Wharton programs of management/marketing. However, I feel like I might be wasting my ED card if I use it on Wharton, for several reasons:

  1. I’ve heard showing very strong math skills is critical for Wharton, but I haven’t shown that kind of skill. I’m gotten As in math and am taking AP calc this year (expecting a B, which I don’t think they’ll see), but my SAT math score isn’t amazing (730) and I don’t know how the math 2 subject test will turn out.
  2. My extracurriculars have nothing to do with business. However, I’ve had a lot of accomplishments with film, so maybe I could tie that in somehow with marketing.

I considered just applying to CAS and trying to transfer in later, but that seems unethical and also very tough to do. My stats are 2330 SAT (730 math), 4.2 GPA, top 2% of class, film awards, varsity sport, community service work with museum (including serving on youth advisory board and curating exhibits), couple great film internships. I’m also expecting some awesome recs and love writing, so essays should be strong (fingers crossed). So in conclusion, is Wharton too far a stretch? I could just apply there regular decision and use ED for another great school.

Thanks!

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What school and major is your clear first choice?

3

You can’t transfer into Wharton from CAS

4

@ucbalumnus I’m still deciding on my major, but leaning towards business/film combination. I’m also not sure about which school is my clear first choice (although penn is near the very top). Of course I won’t apply ED to Penn if I decide it’s not my absolute favorite, but I’d like to know if it’s even worth doing ED if I do decide it’s my top choice.

@ClarinetDad16 Thanks for clarifying, I didn’t realize that. I’d heard Wharton automatically admits internal transfers if they make the GPA cutoff (approx 3.8). My parents think Penn by itself isn’t prestigious or worthwhile enough for the investment (hahaha), so they’d only be willing to pay tuition for a Wharton degree. Since you say I can’t switch into Wharton from CAS, I suppose applying to CAS is out.