UPenn SEAS ED Question

<p>Hey guys, Im planning to apply through ED to Upenn engineering</p>

<p>first off, do i need to state my major before i start at SEAS?</p>

<p>gpa: 3.67 (HUGE upward trend)</p>

<p>weighted gpa: 4.41 </p>

<p>SAT math: 790
SAT Reading: 720
SAT Writing: 700</p>

<p>ACT: 34</p>

<p>SAT Math: 800
SAT Physics: 800
SAT Chemistry: 800
SAT History: 710</p>

<p>My junior yr courseload involved 5 AP's and I got A's in all of them, and only B in junior year was in French</p>

<p>and im going to keep the EC's short </p>

<p>senior position in a bioresearch club (team published 2 clones)
president of volunteer club
2 medals in mathematics (one in state level and the other at regionals)
JV track
120+ volunteer hours
Physics award for being top 10% in NJ science league
and a few other activities and clubs</p>

<p>Biggest hook I guess would be that I worked on a physics project at a University abroad with people applying for PhD's</p>

<hr>

<p>So do I have a really good chance at Upenn?</p>

<p>where else do I have a good shot at?</p>

<p>Thanks everyone</p>

<p>your stats are prtty low compared to most ppl who apply to SEAS</p>

<p>How can you say his stats are low? UPenn would be lucky to have him!!</p>

<p>OHS1979, although there are people who are accepted to Penn with similar test scores, there are also many who aren’t. It’s very competitive and many applicants who apply have excellent test scores, so this is not a guarantee that Penn is “lucky to have” anyone. There are many other factors.</p>

<p>Pretty much what poeme said. The other 2 posters don’t really know what they’re talking about. You already know that a GPA like that isn’t fantastic but you have other stuff that helps like your test scores and ECs. Just apply and see, could go either way.</p>

<p>UPenn SEAS and Columbia SEAS (The two most comparable) are very self-selecting. You test scores are strong, however your GPA is too low to be considered competitive.</p>

<p>I think you can go in as an undeclared engineering major and just take the regular classes everyone takes the first semester, plus an Introduction to Engineering course. There, you’ll be exposed to different types of engineering at Penn to help you make your choice.</p>

<p>Your GPA is completely irrelevant without knowing more about your school. I went to a very competitive high school which happened to be a large public school and I know for sure that there has been at least two or more people accepted to Penn with a GPA in that range. Before you can consider whether or not you are competitive, you need to consider what types of people have gotten into Penn from your school, and guessing by where you are from (lots of people here are from NJ) there are probably at least a few examples.
Also, I think an upward trend really does have a higher significance than most people give it, especially if you go to a competitive high school where most of the top students have very high test scores.
Regarding your major, you can apply as “curriculum deferred” and decide after your first year. You can also apply as something and change when you get to Penn. I know someone who went from BE to CBE for example.</p>

<p>So say that i apply to upenn ED for SEAS</p>

<p>is there an area in the application where i tell them that i want to bio engineering? or do i just say that i want to engineering in general?</p>

<p>and yes, i come from a VERY competitive high school (rankings show it to be top 5 in state) . But the people are amazingly stuck up lol but anyway back to the topic</p>

<p>if you put my weighted and unweighted together im probably in top 5-7%</p>

<p>and yes, i think a upward trend is a good thing too. My courseload got harder and my grades got better.</p>

<p>And i know everyone says that their school is competitive, but just to give an idea…</p>

<p>for the class of 2011 here are the stats (just for my one school, not the whole district)</p>

<p>Upenn: 9
cornell: 9
columbia: 2
princeton: 10
yale:2
MIT:6</p>

<p>my grade has around 400 kids</p>

<hr>

<p>also how good is UC berkeley for BME? and do my stats compare well for it?</p>

<p>Well if you really think Penn is your first choice, I would apply early then. You put engineering as the school you are applying to and you can choose BE as your major on the supplement. Engineers can come in declared.
Berkeley is great for engineering in general but I have heard that the UC system has really been suffering from the economy. Many can’t graduate in time because of not being able to get the courses they need to complete their program.</p>

<p>lots of people have told me that bioengineering major at upenn has less than 10% acceptance rate</p>

<p>im confused now because i thought i could just go into SEAS and then decide to do bioengineering</p>

<p>or is it true that if i want to do bioengineering at upenn, i have to specifically state that in my application?</p>

<p>No, you can decide to do it once you get to Penn if you are curriculum deferred. The benefit of putting a major is that you can show them what you are interested in and it probably has a big effect on which advisor you are assigned to. They also have you declare right away in SEAS because you have a lot more requirements than in the college (where most people come in undecided and putting down a major has little weight).</p>