**Decision: Accepted **
Wharton
Objective:
SAT I {best single sitting) (breakdown): 2210 (790CR, 760M, 660M)
SAT I (superscore) (breakdown): 2280 (790CR, 760W, 730M) 2 attempts
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 770 English Lit 710 Math 2 (Oops!) 550 Spanish (lol)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (in my school anything 90 & above in an H or AP course is a 4.0)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/349
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5AP classes, Psych (5), English Lang (5), Calc BC (3, but didn’t send)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stat, AP Gov, AP Econ, AP English Lit, 5AP Spanish, AP Studio Art, Journalism 2H, Marketing Mgmt 2H
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended, New Jersey Scholars Program (NJSP), DECA International finalist and top 10 test scores in the world
Subjective:
Extracurricular (place leadership in parenthesis):
- Health and Wellness Club (founder and president), organized school’s first ever Health and Wellness Fair. Attended by 16+ businesses/vendors/clubs and 1300+ students.
- Health and Wellness Campaign (founder, 1yr prior to club)
- DECA (Vice President)
- School Newspaper (Editor in chief)
- Member of state ranked Mock Trial team
- Competed in Empire Mock Trial World Championships
- Volleyball JV/V
- Track and field
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer at Local Library 3.5 hr/wk, 8 wk/yr, Volunteer for Genetics study at UPenn 4 hr/wk, 5 wk/yr
Summer Activities: NJSP
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
A) Common App, 9.5, wrote about specific problem in creating an art piece. Showed perseverance/creativity/problem solving. Included pic. of piece in art portfolio submission. Unique, but not emotionally moving, and no real dialogue.
B) Wharton Essay, 9, Wrote about Health Fair I planned. Also included part of a correspondence with a UPenn professor. Specific about business concentrations and classes. Tried to not be generic.
C) Huntsman essay, 7, Wrote about interest in reducing obesity in Latin America. Discussed interest in learning from ‘Huntsmanites’. Essay could have been better if I had more experience in Latin America beyond a trip to Puerto Rico.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 9, Psych teacher, wrote about how I could quickly synthesize info, Penn specific rec. Didn’t say “I was the best student he’s ever had”, or anything that impressive, but talked about me well.
Teacher Rec #2: 9, English teacher, liked me, thought I was a great writer
Counselor Rec: 10, Loved me, won a national award for best rec’s
Additional Rec: 9 Health and Wellness Club adviser, teaches Bio, but I never had her as a teacher. Probably talked about leadership qualities.
Interview: 6, INSANITY. 90 min interrogation, tough questions, answered the best I could. He told me he was not going to write a neg. letter. Abnormal.
Other: Speak 4 languages w/ varying fluency (English, Marathi, Spanish, Hindi). Huntsman target lang. was Spanish.
Applied for Financial Aid?: No, got discount b/c of parent’s employment.
Intended Major: Econ, took a Social Entrepreneur angle in Wharton essay by mentioning specific biz concentrations.
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public about 1450 students total. send 2-5 people to Ivy’s/comparable each year
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: 150k+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Legacy, Parent works at UPenn Hospital, Sibling goes to UPenn engineering school
Reflection
Strengths: GPA, Rank, Unique activities, Hooks, NJSP (it’s considered to be an Ivy feeder)
Weaknesses: Math level 2 score, did not submit Calc BC score, did not take multi calc even though offered, extracurriculars too spread out, interview
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I was a unique applicant. I sent in an art portfolio with my culturally inspired sculptures, and sent an ‘applicant update’ with a pdf of a school newspaper article I wrote on how schools kill student creativity. Good hooks. Solid essays (spent a lot of time on those).
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Applied ED.
General Comments : Applying through Huntsman, even though I didn’t get in, may have assisted me with admission to Wharton with below avg math scores. Also, when picking my senior yr course load, I did not want to take multi variable calculus. My counselor contacted Penn and met with Penn admissions people on my behalf to see whether this would be acceptable (I know he’s amazing). This showed interest early on. Know that it is possible to get in with sucky math scores, even as an Asian Female. I’m super thrilled.
Tips for other people? Do unique activities. Penn wants to see initiative. They also take into account environment. If you come from a humble background, they want to see you do everything you can with the resources you have. But this also means that if you’re a rich white male you have to really do something impressive to stand out b/c you have more resources. Be genuine in your essays, and know that there is no one ‘right’ essay. My sibling’s UPenn essay was completely different than mine. If you have some artistic ability send a portfolio. Don’t let CC posters scare you; the art doesn’t have to be world class amazing. Good Luck to all RD! Anyone else who got accepted to Wharton hmu 
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