UPenn ED LSM + others

Demographics: Male, Indian, Midwest(low population state), Public School, sibling legacy at UPenn(3 years together, but idk how much this is considered)

Intended Major(s): Chem, but this would change for lsm obviously

ACT/SAT/SAT II: 36 composite and superscore, I’m just submitting this

UW/W GPA and Rank: highschool has no rank, UW: 3.96, W: ~4.5

Coursework:

APHG: 5

AP Physics 1: 5

AP Physics 2: 5

AP Physics C mech(exam only): 5

AP Physics C elec and mag(exam only): 4

AP Biology: 4

AP Chemistry(Exam only): 5

AP Spanish: 4

AP World history: 4

AP Calc BC and AB subscore(exam only): 5

AP statistics: 5

IB courses: math analysis HL, english HL, chem HL, psych sl(scored 6), music sl(scored 5), spanish sl

Awards:

1] United States National Chemistry Olympiad honors(top 1% or top 175/16000)

2] 1st individual in state wide math contest taken by ~1000 competitors

3] 2x AIME qualifier(top 5% on national math exam)

4] Drake physics prize 4th place(200 competitors from 4 different states; written physics exam)

5] National Merit Semi-finalist or I might write gold in national spanish exam level 4 idk yet

Extracurriculars:

1] paid research intern at local college where I did original research in math. Published paper as first author. Professor was there for guidance; all work was done on my own.

2] Debate - Policy captain - teach novices and lower level varsity about policy and assist overall debate coach in meetings, state runner up individually, district champion, 2x NSDA National qualifier in 2 different debate events; helped judge middle school rounds

3] Orchestra/Violin

Orchestra - concertmaster at school, *** area youth orchestra, first violin section leader in school orchestra, part of private studio, played each year at christmas celebration as act on large performance by city’s actual symphony, all state orchestra first violinist senior year, volunteer at a city program where we teach violin to kids

4] Tennis

varsity 10th-12th grade, top 8 at state 12th grade, metro champion, team captain 12th grade, volunteer teaching disabled kids tennis through city program, got tennis academic award

5]

Mu alpha theta math club - co-president, help train team at weekly meetings for math competitions, my team of 3 placed first in the state competition

6]

Took college class at local university in algebraic number theory and received over a 100%; also was top finisher in college’s problem of the week

7] science bowl - president, team captain of my team, state semifinalists, I run all training practices at school and did summer practices

8]

Chemistry club/physics club - president and spent several hours training the students for the USNCO, creating school contest, and developing interest. Applies similarly to physics club as well.

9]

Finance club - Won school stock simulator competition, then ranked 1st place in state stock simulator competition. First place in multiple choice personal finance challenge contest, then got 4th in state at a case study personal finance challenge contest.

10]

spanish honors society - I help teach elementary schoolers spanish each week and set up day of the dead celebrations and assist in reading spanish books at the local library, got gold on national spanish exam

Essays: assume relatively strong, for LSM supplement I’m going to write about how policy debate(topic was about water pollution) combines with my passion for chem andthat I want to solve problems about environmental regulation or water safety. For common app, I was going to do something less academic and more interesting to show who I am, but i’m still working on it

LORs:

English Teacher: 7/10, He likes me and thinks I’m capable, but he also gives LORs to many people in my grade, but we have many personal experiences so I think that the LOR will probably be pretty decent

Chem teacher: 10/10 I’m probably the best student he’s ever had and he knows it. we work together in several clubs as well. Should I ask her something like “The LSM program is really competitive, if you could mention something like INSERT STUFF HERE, that would be really helpful.”

Research Professor: 10/10 He knows me quite well and asked me if I wanted a “strong letter of rec” from him, i’m quoting him.

Colleges:

ED: UPenn LSM first preference/college of arts and sciences as second preference

RD: Harvard, Caltech, Duke, MIT, Vanderbilt, Rice, Minnesota, etc.

I definitely think you have a good shot at top 10 schools. I would recommend you to take a more chemistry-centric focus on your application, espcially your extracurriculars. It’s a lot more unique than a math-focussed application and you have the recommendation letters, essays and honors to back up that interest in chemistry.

what about this application as is?

You have one great resource to answer your own question – How do you compare to your brother, who got into U Penn?
Unless you’ve won major national awards and recruited athletes, etc, nobody is guaranteed an Ivy admission. But your odds are better than the average applicant.

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