Should i have applied?

would have applied to wharton early decision. from California and able to pay full tuition. European and middle eastern descent.
both parents went to penn dental
My GPA is 3.65 UW (9 AP’s through senior year). Grades also have an upward trend. My first semester freshman year i had a 3.33 and i ended junior year with a 4.67 (weighted)
SAT:2180
680 CR
770 M
730 WR
9 essay
SAT 2: 710 math2
690 us history
Extracurricular: Varsity Wrestling (9th,11th,12th grade. missed 10 with injury)
Football (9th, 10th, 11th. varsity 11th)
track and field (varsity 11th and 12th grade. started last year)
VP investment club (relates to my major) created a website for the club and brought in a CFO as a guest speaker
CSF
Volunteer wrestling coach at the middle school
a couple honor role awards and some other minor things
chess club

You GPA is lower than the average (3.94) and your SATs slightly lower (2200), subject tests are also kinda low. ECs are ok but nothing too spectacular. I think you would have had a lowish chance just based on these scores and your ECs. Now if you factor in the fact that you are a double legacy, if you had applied ED your chances would have increased significantly, given the great preference Penn gives to legacies during ED (40-50% acceptance rate).

would it have been a waste of money to apply? i thought that i for sure had no shot.

@andrewmcdona You lost your chance to use your double legacy. But your SAT’s are low, your class rank should be in the top 5% to make up for the GPA. Also, extra curriculars are bland. Plus, you’re applying to Wharton, AND you’re “white”.

I’d give you a 20-30% chance of acceptance.

even after early decision?

Never trust a poster who is willing to give you a percentage chance of admission. That’s simply bollocks.

Am I understanding this correctly - you suggest you could attend Penn on full pay and presumably are the child of two dentists, based on your stated parents’ majors at Penn. Your reason for not applying was the application fee?

As it is too late to apply early decision, its also too late to beat yourself up on should I have applied… bc the point is moot… Obviously with a double legacy if you really wanted to go to Penn and thought it would be a good fit for you, you would have applied. No one knows the answer your looking for to “should I have”?.. There must have been something in your gut that made it feel like you were not comfortable committing at this point to Penn… and that is perfectly ok!!! Trust yourself.

Use this time instead of torturing yourself with “what ifs?” to figure out what you want and where you want to pursue it. It may still be Penn and you can apply RD, but I would do some searching to figure out which schools might give you the fit that you are really looking for.

you could take a gap year lol and apply early decision next year!

i dont want to put all of my eggs in one basket by taking gap year. I’m sure ill be happy wherever i end up.

and no my reason for not applying was i thought i had no shot and even with upper class parents there’s no point in wasting the application fee money.