UPenn Class of 2021 RD Results

[asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted[/color][/size]

SAT I (breakdown):
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Didn’t Take
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Didn’t Take
ACT (breakdown): 32 (33 Superscore)
ACT superscore (breakdown): 34 English, 28 Math, 35 Reading, 36 Science
SAT II (subject, score): 720 Bio-M, 750 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.00
Weighted GPA: 4.60
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 7/455
AP (place score in parentheses): APES (4), AP Human Geography(4), AP Bio (5), AP World History (2, didn’t send), AP Chem (5), AP US History (4), AP Calculus AB, AP Literature, AP Language(didn’t take exam), AP Physics C E&M
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Band,Organic Chem, Microbiology, AP Physics, AP Calc AB, AP Lit, Internship,
Number of other applicants in your school: At least 4, maybe more
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Intel Finalist (sent in an an update after submitting applicaiton)
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
-Research (9-12)- I was very invovled in research thorughout high school, competed in a variety of science fairs and selected to attend ISEF this May

-Color Guard (10-12)- Captain of the colorguard at my school, it is a year round team activity and we train and compete around Georgia, very time consuming

-Band(9-12)- Play flute in the concert band, no leadership

-Campus Ambassador (9-12)- President of school’s tour guide organization, we give tours to prospective students and other community groups

Job/Work Experience:Interning at a local animal hospital since August
Volunteer/Community Service: very minimal over the course of high school, currently volunteering with a therapy dog service and helping to train/care for the dogs (since August)
Summer Experience: Jackson Laboratory summer program this past summer (2016) completed independent research for two months last summer.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays: Common App (7/10??) Wrote about a unique experience at a summer program last summer, talked about finding my identity in a new environment and related it back to my experiences at home

Supplement (7/10): My Penn supplement was strong but definitely now my best writing. I discussed why I chose my major and what research opportunities I would pursue at Penn. I also talked about dance and how I would use what I have learned in my ECs in Penn’s dance community
Teacher Recommendation #1: From 10th grade bio teacher, didn’t read but should be really good 8/10
Teacher Recommendation #2: From 11th grade research teacher, didn’t read but probably good 6/10
Counselor Rec: Probably Generic
Additional Info/Rec: None
Interview: None
Art Supplement: None

Other

U.S. State/Territory or Country: GA
School Type: Public Magnet
Ethnicity: Black/ Carribean
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: ~75,000/ year
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): URM, Female in STEM (maybe?)

Reflection

Strengths: Grades, test scores, strong commitment to ECs (at least 3 years for all of them), URM
Weaknesses: Lack of community service?
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I feel as though I presented a really good “package” to the admissions office, I had the grades but I also showed strong commitment and passion towards a few activities and could thoroughly explain why I liked them, what they taught me, and how I would use those lessons at Penn to better there campus.
What would you have done differently?: I got accepted so not much
Where else did you apply?: Accepted- Johns Hopkins, Northeastern, Columbia (LL), GA Tech, University of Georgia Rejected: Yale

Other Factors: I did receive the letter about missing fin aid materials about a week before decisions

General Comments & Advice:I am thankful to have been accepted, I’m not sure if Penn is the school for me but only time will tell!

**Decision: Waitlisted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1580 (790 Reading and Writing, 790 Math, 22 Essay)
ACT (breakdown): 35 Composite (36 English, 35 Math, 33 Reading, 36 Science, 33 Writing)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Biology M
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 W, 4.85 UW
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology (5), US History (5), BC Calc (5), Lang and Comp (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): none
Senior Year Course Load: AP Chem, AP Lit, AP Gov, AP French, AP Stats
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nothing extremely major… National Merit Commended, AP Scholar with Distinction, Harvard Book Award, French Honor Society, National Honor Society, and a bunch of school academic awards.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • Varsity Tennis (Captain)
  • National Honor Society (Officer)
  • Asian Culture Club (President)
  • Math Team
  • Biology lab aide

Job/Work Experience:

  • Intern at biomedical company
  • Teacher assistant at local language school (won award for best teacher assistant)

Volunteer/Community service:

  • Invention/Science Camp (Camp Counselor)
  • Volunteer at local hospital
  • Volunteer at town library

Summer Activities:

  • Internship at biomedical company
  • Summer program at Brown
  • Invention/Science Camp (Camp Counselor)
  • Hiking/traveling with family

Essays (rating 1-10, details):

  • Common App: 9/10, Wrote about finding balance between being an individual and contributing to a community
  • Supplements: 8/10, Worked hard on it, but was kinda average I guess

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: AP Bio teacher 9/10, did well in class, work as lab aide
Teacher Rec #2: AP Lang teacher 9/10, did well in class, connected with teacher
Counselor Rec: 8/10 didn’t know super well, but she definitely likes me a lot
Additional Rec: none
Interview: 8/10 My interviewer turned out to have gone to Penn for graduate school, not for undergrad, so I couldnt ask many of the questions I had prepared. As a result, the interview was pretty short (like 25 mins)

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Health and Societies
State (if domestic applicant): MA
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Public, small but high-ranking in Massachusetts, competitive atmosphere
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: Upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): lol

Reflection:
Strengths: Grades, test scores, teacher recs
Weaknesses: Interview, Asian, interested in biology (very popular major), many strong legacy applicants from my school
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Average essays and see above
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted at Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Duke, Vanderbilt, UVA, and McGill; wait listed at Harvard, UPenn, and Cornell; Rejected at Columbia and Princeton

General Comments: Congrats to all those accepted! You have worked so hard for this - enjoy yourself now!! For all those who didn’t receive the good news you were hoping for, please remember that college admissions is such a crapshoot and that some random admissions officer’s decision does not reflect who you are as a person.

Decision: ACCEPTED CAS MLS program

Stats:

Grades/Coursework: 3.95 UW, 4.25 W (every AP class taken at school along with classes at Community College)
I had taken Calculus BC in freshman year, and Vector Calculus/Linear Algebra in sophomore year, getting a B in the last one

Class Rank: Top 10%

Testing:

ACT: 35 (36 E 35 M 36 R 34 S)
SAT II: Physics (800), Math II (800)

I am currently a Reed Young Scholar (taking Physics 101/102) and am at the top of my class, and have finished my high school curriculum effectively in two years and am taking exclusively college classes (Computer Science 161, Creative Writing 241, History In Film, and the Reed Nuclear Reactor) after taking such courses concurrent to my high school curriculum my first two years. Will be taking Macroeconomics, Computer Science 162, Introduction To Analysis and auditing a Quantum Mechanics course from Reed this second semester, and in general will be finishing my “secondary” education a year early.

ECs/Activities/Awards:

Leader/Founder of Music Club at school
Co-President of Cryptography Club at school
Reed Young Scholar
Co-Founder of Pathlabs (company based around drones, engineering, and hosting educational engineering programs at local schools)
Independent musician with >1000 person fanbase and merchandise
Independent research (currently under review at Reed) in quantum cryptography, submitted as supplement
Beaverton Science Expo Honorable Mention in physics in freshman year
National Merit Commended Student (took test in freshman year, could have done better tbh)
40 hours of engineering-based Mercy Corp volunteering and 20 hours library volunteering
Voracious reader and writer, getting two pieces published in Portland Community College journal

Miscellany:

Ethnicity: Turkish/American
Gender: Male
Intended area of study: Physics, especially with concentrations in quantum computing

Recommendations:

Glowing recommendation from English/Spanish Teacher
Similar recommendation from Math teacher
Great counselor rec
Additional recommendation from physics teacher at Reed, administrator of the Young Scholars program, and my mentor at Reed (emeritus professor). All were incredibly favorable.

Weaknesses: Shoddy AP Test scores and one B on transcript

Great job to everyone who got in, and best wishes for those that didn’t!

Decision: Accepted (Wharton)

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): M:690 W:600 CR:800
ACT (breakdown): 33 R: 36 S: 30 E:33 M: 32
SAT II: Bio:800 US History:760 Math II:700
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):3.85 UW
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): mid 30’s/ ~350
AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH: 5 Human Geo: 5 Psych: 5 Lang:5 Calc:4 World: 4 Bio:3
Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP Stats, AP Micro and Macro, Calc 2 @ local college, AP Lit, Spanish IV, American Film (Independent Research Course I designed), and some filler classes (we’re on trimesters)
Major Awards: AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): STAND human rights campaign (w/ leadership role) Model UN (w/ lr), FIRST Robotics (w/ lr), Academic Bowl (for fine arts and spelling,) Link Crew, acted in the school’s musical, NHS, and a few other things
Job/Work Experience: Research my summer of Sophomore year, and I was an intern at a not for profit organization over summer of junior year
Volunteer/Community service: Dog Walker for humane shelter, graded math contests for the local middle school, volunteered at local holocaust museum,
Summer Activities: Conservation Leadership Conference and a Law summer program

Rate out of 10
Essays:
Common App Essay: It was about my social anxiety and was pretty personal, it was reviewed by a lot of people and was pretty solid 8/10
UPenn Essay: About my interest in Statistics and I tied it into childhood experiences and then into Penn’s programs. I didn’t have anyone check it and when I looked over it after it was submitted there was a typo or two, so like a 7/10
Teacher Recommendation: Didn’t read, but my 10th grade English teacher is also an academic team coach and club sponsor and I know her really well, so I would be bold to say 9.5/10. My other rec was my Calc teacher liked me but admittedly doesn’t know me all that well so most likely 6/10
Counselor Rec: She sponsored a club I was in, but still hardly knew my name somehow? Undoubtedly not too good 4/10
Additional Rec: My bosses from the not for profit co-wrote a rec. They really liked me, and I still volunteer so I think a solid 8/10
Interview: It was oddly formal, and I don’t think we really clicked but she was really nice and had a lot of answers to my questions 5/10

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Statistics
State (if domestic applicant):IN
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: Black and Hispanic
Gender: M
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, LGBT+, Statistics is a pretty uncommon major, especially for business school

Reflection

Strengths: ECs; Essays?, GPA had really strong upward trend, rigorous work laod
Weaknesses: GPA; and, to be honest I wasn’t extraordinarily invested in Penn at first and it may have come across…
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: idk honestly, I really wasn’t expecting very much. If I had to guess it’s probably the personality I put into my essays

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: UPenn, Cornell, UChicago, URochester, UWisconsin, IU
Waitlisted: Harvard
Rejected: Brown, Princeton, Yale

General Comments: I wasn’t in love with Penn when I applied, and the fact that I applied to Wharton left me 95% sure I was going to get rejected. U Chicago was my dream school, but now that I’m accepted and I visited both they’ve swapped places. Just be sure to give every school a fair chance; prestige isn’t more important that fit!

Everyone is saying do what you love, and that’s true! However, don’t be afraid to make the most of the opportunities around you. Colleges want to see passion, but making the most of a situation is never a bad thing.

ALSO: You can’t hear this enough. If you are applying to reach schools, please please please make sure you have a solid safety/targets to which you actually are OK with going!!! It’s really traumatizing to see people go to schools they hate because they didn’t plan out the “what if’s”.