UPenn CAS Transfer

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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I’m a current freshman at Drexel and majoring in International Business and Marketing but am looking to transfer to either Penn’s CAS program for International Relations. I did not do as well as I could have in high school grade-wise, I actually failed 2 math classes (Algebra and Calc), but I have been definitely doing well at Drexel.

HS GPA: 3.4W/2.9UW
Rank: 60/205
Old SAT: 1820 (660M, 590W, 570R)
New SAT: 1500 (770M, 730RWR)
ACT: 28
APs: Statistics, Human Geography, Chemistry, English Lang & Comp, Psychology

ECs: Student Council/Government (4 years, Secretary)
Varsity Track(4 years)
Club Swim (3 years, Captain)
TEAMS engineering competition (3 years)
DECA (2 years, 2nd overall in BORE manual at States, competed at ICDC)
Community Service Club (2 years)
Girls State Delegate

Volunteer Service: Worked with Global Leadership Adventures and completed 100 hours of work between summer of 2014 and spring of 2016. Worked in Thailand (40 hours), Ghana (40 hours), and the Dominican Republic (20 hours). Was named a Global Ambassador in the Fall of 2015. Also worked at community soup kitchens (~10 hours).

Honors & Awards: Student of the Month, Honor Roll, NSHSS, Caring Award, Various scholarships

Languages: French (near fluent), between basic and intermediate understanding of Spanish & Portuguese
Instruments: Piano, Ukulele

Jobs: Camp/After-School Counselor from June 2014-February 2016, 40 hours in summer, 15 hours during school year
Intern at big travel agency in NYC, Summer of 2016, 40 hours, worked primarily with travel agents from Latin America who primarily spoke Spanish/Portuguese
Looking for on-campus job for Winter Term

College GPA: 3.86
Classes: University 101 (A+), Business 101 (A), International Business 200 (A), Civics 101 (A), Math 101(A-), English 101 (A-)
Next Term Classes: Business 102, Math 102 (Calculus), Management Information Systems 200, English 102, Chemistry 151, and Piano

ECs: Business Learning Community
French Club
Club Swim Team
Club Track
DECA

Projects: 6-Minute Pitch Competition, a university-wide competition to submit a new and innovative idea to your class, my team moved onto the Finalist round in February

Honors & Awards: Drexel Scholarship, Dean’s List, asked to apply for STARS summer program and Honors College
Strong Recommendation Letters

I’m looking to get at least a 3.9 GPA, if not a 4.0 this term at Drexel, we have a quarter system and this term ends in March about a week after the applications are due for Penn, so they will have 2 full terms for reference.

Will they even consider me if my high school grades are so bad, or will college grades give me a chance? Thanks!

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You will never know if you do not apply. Every application is unique. Just work hard on your application, show the best of you, and wish for the best. Good Luck!

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I would say your 2.9 UW hurts your chances. Given you’re applying as a sophomore, UPenn’s more likely to take your highschool grades into consideration as one semester of college isn’t enough to gauge on. If your focus is on IR, feel free to PM me I’m currently on that track.

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ACT score and high school GPA are definitely well below the penn average. To give you a sense of the GPA distribution of the incoming class at Penn, only 3% of the incoming class had a GPA below 3.5(UW) and these are usually athletes and/or children of a gazillionaire donor.

Obviously you have done well at Drexel but Penn usually looks at the rigor of the college as well. A 3.86 at Drexel, while very good, does not necessarily mean a super competitive college performance by Penn standards so that your low ACT,HS GPA would be counterbalanced. I had a friend who transferred from Drexel to Penn and he always said that while he was always top/near the top in his classes at Drexel, he could barely make the average cut at Penn.

Just go for it if you really want it. You never know what can happen.