<p>Hey CC,
In my senior year of high school, I got rejected from Penn. I blame the international status and being part of an over-represented race. Now, I am enrolling in a computer science and finance double degree program at Waterloo and Laurier in Canada. I have been thinking about transferring to Penn, and I want to transfer into the Computer Science Program at Penn since I am interested in trading. I don't want to apply to Wharton because that's a 3% transfer acceptance rate. On Penn's engineering transfer admissions website, it says that they expect students to take a chemistry course and a physics course before applying for transfer admission. In order to meet this requirement, I would have to take an extra physics course in first semester and an extra chemistry course in second semester. That means I would have to take six courses for each of the first two semesters in my freshman year. Do you think it's worth the effort for the 10% shot at Penn's engineering school? How good is Penn's engineering school in the eyes of finance recruiters?
Even though, I got 5's on AP physics B and chemistry, Penn's website still recommends taking the courses.</p>
<p>I would blame it on the fact that you applied to Penn, an Ivy League. In fact, I wouldn’t blame anything. It’s too late and useless to blame.<br>
And even if you want to, there are plenty of people at Penn who are international and are of an “over-represented” ethnicity (It’s 24.5% Asian and 11% international for its last class). Why weren’t they rejected? Blaming makes it sound as if you were merely “crowded out by the others” in which case you should have gotten at least waitlisted. If you do engineering, you will have an array of options, especially if from an Ivy league. </p>
<p>If you so desperately want to be at Penn, applying couldn’t hurt. Just do their recommendations (take chem and physics at upcoming institution) and cross your fingers. You would have to do something pretty impressive to gain admission when the admit rate ranges from 3-10% in your areas of interest. It’s not likely nor easy, so I won’t advise.</p>