UPENN Chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

State: Massachusetts
School Type: Public, suburban, Class size of 450, competitive
Ethnicity: Asian American
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Academic:

SAT I (breakdown): 700 CR, 770 M, 780 W, hopefully will get at least 770 CR next time
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 780 Chem, 740 Math II, 790 Chinese
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.68/4, 4.62/5
Rank: School doesn’t rank
AP: APUSH 4, BC Calculus 5, Chinese 5, Chemistry 5
Senior Year Course Load: AP Comp Gov, AP Stat, AP Physics Mechanics, Honors English, Regular Spanish
Awards:
AP Scholar with Honor (2015)
2nd Place in State Speech Tournament for event (2015)
2nd Place in the State Chess Team Tournament (2014)
3rd Place in State Science Team Olympiad 2013
4th Place in State Science Team Olympiad 2014

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (leadership in parentheses):
Quiz Bowl Team 2 years (Captain, Founder)
Mock Trial Team 2 years (Captain)
Table Tennis Club 4 years (Captain)
Speech Team 3 years (Leadership Board)
Chess Team 3 years (Captain, Founder)
School Online Publication 3 years (No leadership…)
Science Team 4 years (On State Olympiad Team 2013, 2014, no leadership…)
Class Office 3 years
Class President 1 year (Only one year, does that count?)
Varsity Nordic Ski Team 4 years (Captain)
Volleyball 1 year

Job/Work Experience:
Medical Laboratory Research Assistant (Summer 2015)
Started Private Tutoring Company for high school level STEM and SAT (2014,2015)
Administrative Intern at city Chamber of Commerce (2014,2015)
School International Exchange Program intern (2014)
Paid Chinese School Teaching Assistant (2014)
Paid Marketing Assistant at Local Educational Enrichment Company (2014)
Mayor’s Public Service Internship (2012,2013)

Volunteer/Community Service:
~45 hours at local hospital, ~40 at local Chinese school, 85 total

Teacher Recommendations: 7/10, 8/10
Counselor Rec: 9.5/10
Additional Rec: Ski Coach, 9/10

2

-Your academics are really good (nothing bad)
-Your EC’s are also good BUT since you’re applying to UPenn, they will look the same as other applicants’ profiles. However, since you’re doing a wide variety of ECs, you should be in good hands. Remember that UPenn has a very low acceptance rate, so keep some safety schools in mind (Northeastern, BC, BU since you mentioned you’re from MA).
Just in case, keep the local CC in mind just in case if things don’t work out

Hope this helps and good luck applying!

3

Your GPA is low for this school: high reach

4

@JMS357 I disagree that there’s nothing wrong with his academics. His 3.68 will really kill most chances at Ivies, especially when most of his ECs are stereotypical of other applicants in his region. However, I don’t think he needs to resort to community college. That’s really for kids who don’t know where they’re going or who can’t manage a full four-year school. OP could do well at a lot of really good mid-tier schools, but Penn will be a reach.

5

Hey, thanks for the advice guys!

6

Yeah, I think BU is a good fit for you, maybe one of the UC’s (besides Berkeley).

7

With that GPA, it might be best to attend a school where you can get some merit money, allowing you to apply to top schools for your graduate studies (hopefully with a 3.6+ college GPA) and remain debt-free until that point.