<p>Ok so im starting this thread partly to find out if there is anything in particular I should check out when I head over to the campus next week (I want to check out that button that every1 is raving about)...but I also started it to make sure that my visit wont be completly in vain, so I would really like to know if I have at least a fighting chance next year ED. Ill try and keep this short so heres a glimpse of my stats:</p>
<p>PSAT: 770 M 690 V 630 W=209
SAT: I havent taken it yet but ive been prepping a considerable amount and have been getting around a 2250 on the practice tests...I also wont stop preping/retaking the test until I get at least a 2250 because I know that that is well within my grasp, so please consider my SAT score to be: 780 M 730 V 740 W (please don't think I'm crazy for assuming my score, I am rediculously competitive with myself if that makes sense...im trying to say that I don't stop until I achieve what I set out to achieve)</p>
<p>SAT II:
Math 1c: 740
Chem (soph year): 710
Bio (freshman year): 720
im going to take Physics, US and possibly 2c in May</p>
<p>APs:
Euro: (3)
Physics B (taking...A in the class)
US (taking...A+ in the class)
Calc AB (senior year)
Lit (senior year)
Micro/Macro econ (senior year)
Bio (senior year)
Stat (senior year)
Gov (seniour year)</p>
<p>GPA:
93 weighted/96 unweighted
My GPA will show a strong upward trend as I kind of slacked off in freshman year and then got slightly better sophmore year and now i have all A's/A+'s so that GPA should go up when Junior year is included.
Class Rank: My school doest rank (competitve school from LI, 5 people got in ED)</p>
<p>EC's: im not gonna elaborate too much but heres the list
Student government officer
Spanish club president
Deca (hope to win states this year)
Baseball 9/10
Track 11
officer of youth group = community service</p>
<p>I understand that this all seems kind of generic among the applicants but I feel like my interview/essays/recs will really help me and hopefully allow me to stand out a little more among all of the more then qualified applicants. Penn is my first choice and id really like to know if I should start looking else where/not get my hopes up too high after visting...thanks</p>
<p>I should also mention that I plan on ending up in the business field when I grow up. I have devoted a considerable amount of time to my deca work over the years and I have (in an almost sick way) enjoyed writing all of the business research papers I have written for the club. That said i plan on applying to the college to hopefully major in economics while being free to dabble into the other fields of studies available there (math, science etc...).</p>
<p>nope...The last paragraph was supposed to be me saying that I dont want wharton, I want the college but I forgot to even mention wharton lol...so no i want to apply to the CAS (i think thats the proper term for it)</p>
<p>Here's what you're faced with: Penn has become increasingly popular and therefore increasingly more difficult to get into these past four or five years. The number four ranking in USNWR plus well respected academics plus very positive reports from Penn students have made Penn a very hot Ivy. ED apps at Penn have increased every year since 2000. (Click this link for more info: <a href="http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/12/08/41b6b6060f931)%5B/url%5D">http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/12/08/41b6b6060f931)</a>. This means that lots of kids with very good stats have been applying to Penn. Last year, the median V+M for accepted applicants was 1440. Here's a scarier number - only 9% of the kids who had a class rank in the second half of the top decile (6 to 10%) were admitted. Even scarier, only 23% of the kids who had a class rank in the top 5% who were not the val or sal were admitted. This is one tough school to get into.</p>
<p>So, what's this all mean? I'd say the 2250 you're shooting for (with at least a 1450 M+V) is the minimum SAT score you can get and be a competitive applicant for Penn. You're also, I think, going to have to get your GPA up. Then you're going to have to write a dynamite essay, have an outstanding interview, and get super recs. And then, even with all this, you're going to have accept the fact that you've probably got, at best, a 20% chance of being accepted.</p>
<p>What should you take away from all this? Penn is a reach. Apply, sure, but don't get your hopes up. Look elsewhere. There's lots of good schools that would be happy to accept a kid with your stats, and you need to apply to matches and safeties anyway. Don't think Penn only. Think Penn and...And you're sure to get into a bunch of schools that will suit you fine.</p>
<p>Yep...you're a solid but unspectacular applicant. You have better chances than many applicants--but lots of people also have much better chances of getting in than do you.</p>
<p>Get some great recs and essays together. They are very important to Penn.</p>
<p>This is about what I expected to hear but I was a little more optimistic (thinking I had about a 30-35% chace)...I am looking into a few other schools (Gtown, Cornell, Emory are at the top of that list) yet I still plan on applying here ED...Any more opinions/anything I should check out while im in Penn?</p>
<p>any more opinions...Im a very headstrong person and your harsh criticism wont phase me, so please feel free to go all out on my as long as your either a. giving me an honest opinion/advice or b. giving me a little info about what i should look for at the campus...thanks</p>