University of Chicago and University of Pennsylvania

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

My top two choices are UChicago and UPenn (In UPenn, I’m specifically applying to the Wharton School of Business)
What are my chances of getting in to either one with my stats? (I plan to do early decision for Upenn and regular for Chicago)

GPA: Unweighted 4.0, Weighted 4.77 (5.0 for A in AP Class, 4.5 for A in honors, and 4.0 for A in regular class)
Class Rank: Third (Will be 2nd by the end of the semester)
Coursework:
Freshman Year: Honors World History, Honors Biology, Honors English, Art Foundations (to fulfill fine art graduation requirement), Honors Spanish II, Math Analysis (Honors course) No APs available to freshmen
Sophomore Year: AP Economics, AP Euro, AP Human Geo, AP Calc BC, Chemistry Honors, Sophomore English Honors, SPanish III Honors
Junior Year: AP Environmental Science, AP US, AP Statistics, AP Physics I, AP Psychology, AP Lang, Spanish IV Honors
Senior Year: AP Chem, AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Comparative Gov, AP Spanish, Project Lead the Way Intro to Engineering (to fulfill applied arts credit for graduation)

Standardized Testing Scores:
ACT: 34
SAT: Expecting a 2300+
SAT Subject Test Math II: 800
SAT Subject Test Physics: Expecting 800
For AP Exams, 5s on: Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Statistics, Psychology, Lang, Human Geo, Calc BC, AB Subscore
4s on: Physics I, Environmental Science, US History, Euro

Honors: AP Scholar with Distinction, Honor Roll all 4 years, Student Athlete Award, Most likely a National Merit Scholarship Qualifier

ECs:
Treasurer for Spanish Club
Vice president for National Honors Society
School District Board Student Representative for One Year
Mathematics Teaching Assistant
Academic Literacy Tutor
Varsity Tennis
Most importantly, I’m very interested in every EC that I have committed my time to
LINK Crew (Organization that assists freshmen with acclimating themselves into high school)

Recommendations: Excellent.

What do you guys think? Just want to get an idea of where I stand.

2

Wharton: Reach, additional business related EC’s or a compelling story on how you became interested in business will help a lot as it will help differentiate you from the crowd.

Chicago: Reach, just very selective.

Your stats are very, very strong especially with 11 AP’s at the end of junior year. EC’s, nothing too special on paper, but obviously your commitment and how you portray that commitment to adcoms is much more important.

You are definitely a very competitive applicant , but schools that reject 9 out of 10 applicants should be considered a reach for basically everyone.

3

Congratulations on picking 2 of my favorite schools as your top choices! Both are outstanding, and you will be in great shape if you get in to either. But aside from Wharton, what is it in particular that appeals to you about these 2 great schools?

Also, where are you from and what is your demographic background?

Your academic qualifications are fine, assuming you meet your “expected” test scores, but that is only a small part of being a successful applicant. RD at Penn will help a little. Your ECs are a bit light, and as @rdeng2614 notes, you lack a strong business-specific focus for Wharton. Chicago is hard to predict. I would suggest you look at some of their supplemental essay choices.

4

I feel like a student who lists both of these as top choices hasn’t looked very closely, as they are quite different when you look beneath the surface. Wharton is training for a professional environment – consulting, finance, marketing, etc. Chicago is “life of the mind” – Core, intellectual intensity, a great place for eggheads (and I say this with affection, as the parent of an egghead who was recently admitted to U of C). You can likely still get to some of the same professional jobs from U of C, but the whole focus and experience are different.

Both are reaches, just given the high level of selectivity, and both will be looking for essays that show you are their “type”. Which I personally think is hard to do (be both types).

5

You can apply both ED to Wharton and EA to Chicago fyi. Wharton is a reach because I don’t see anything related to business or finance or entrepreneurship. They want leadership as well so if you start a club or a non profit that would countl (just don’t do it now otherwise it’s obviously pandering to admissions). UChicago is all based on your essays. You are qualified for both, however.

6

You definitely have a solid application, no need for confirmation there. Wharton and UChicago are extremely competitive schools with acceptance rates below 10% so at this point it almost becomes a crapshoot. You meet the “prerequisites” so now what matters is how you spin your application and stand apart from the crowd. Good luck!

7

Well, if you write a good essay and don’t get in with stats and ECs like yours, then there isn’t any hope for the rest of us

8

The OP has strong stats, but their ECs do not have much “pop”. In their case, essays that demonstrate an understanding of the school and strong fit could help.