<p>1st generation South east asian american
GPA: 4.0
W GPA:4.30
ACT: 31 (M33 E32 S30 R30)
SAT II: 800 US History 790 Chemistry, 760 math ii
Ohio</p>
<p>APs (hardest course load):
AP Chemistry
AP Environmental Science
AP US History
AP Physics
AP English
AP Biology
AP Calculus AB</p>
<p>Extra Curriculars:</p>
<p>Internship at Grameen Bank in Bangladesh- they won the noble prize back in 2006 for their microfinance work and it was definitely a memorable experience</p>
<p>Spent two weeks observing a factory in Bangladesh-basically analyzed the dynamics of a major sweat shop. Kept a journal and wrote a critique.</p>
<p>-VP of NHS 2 years
-Tresurer of Key Club 4 years (lots of activities)
-Rec Basketball for 4 years
-Academic Team 4 years captain senior year
-over 400 hours volunteering at a summer camp for mentally disabled kids
-spent summer researching turtles at a major nature center</p>
<p>Jobs:
-Graeters Ice Cream 4 months so far
-Riverbend Music Center -summer of '10</p>
<p>Schools:
UPenn Wharton(ED and sibling legacy)
UMich Ross Pre Admit
UChicago
Northwestern
Vanderbilt
Emory
WashU
Duke</p>
<p>20-30% chance. Nothing special in the way of standardized testing. The biggest thing is that observing is not an EC. If you have not published some kind of work, it means nothing. I like observing birds outside my window, but I can’t put it in my app. Also, you are an ORM, which will hurt. That being said, excellent GPA and good amount of volunteering. You might get into a couple of those schools. Good luck</p>
<p>^I would say that his chances are much lower than 20-30%. Being the ORM that he is, a 4.3 and a 31 ACT are really going to hurt him for admissions. Unless he has an excellent class rank, his raw, objective stats are going to get him rejected. </p>
<p>That, coupled with how he has relatively weak extracurriculars, will make Wharton and Duke close to out-of-reach. Everything else is a bit more likely.</p>
<p>And remember that siblings do not count towards legacy.</p>
<p>It’s definetly worth a shot. I would normally agree with the two people above me, but an internship at a Nobel Prize winning bank and your work with the sweat shop changed my opinions. If you published articles about your observations in the sweat shop, published your journal, spoke at conventions about labor conditions or something along those lines, then that makes you interesting. If you didn’t, then maybe you could try to do some of these things. Your sibling legacy isn’t really a legacy, but you’re first generation. Improve your ACT, but even if you don’t still apply. Remember great teacher recs and essays, plus present your ECs well to make them sound not average. If you really have an interest in business, go for it and maybe get involved in business ECs in whatever years you have left. You don’t have a guarantee, but you can definetly do it.</p>
<p>So you’re telling me that unless i publish a work, the EC is worthless. Tell me, do people who shadow docs publish research? And observing is not all i did. The experience was more like an internship where i actually helped out and did some work</p>
<p>Take what you hear on here lightly man. There’s always going to people criticizing you for your “weak ECs” because you haven’t had national achievements, etc etc. They don’t know the extent of what you’ve done, only you do.</p>
<p>Shadowing a doctor is not the same thing. you learn from a doctor; and it is understood that you are being taught. But by saying observing turtles, you give a vague EC. I “observe” the fishies in the aquarium while I wait for my dentist appointment, but it’s not an EC. You can’t learn from a turtle. You need to publish and write what it was that you observed and argue a point. At least for a top tier school.</p>
<p>^Yes, I agree. Internships have a great capacity for being BSed and exaggerated, so you need some verifiable work (i.e. published documents, letters of recommendation, etc.) if you want to make them count.</p>
<p>Lol ok. CC has officially become rediculous. My brother got into Ivy League Med School without any publications but im sure you need some for college.</p>
<p>O and how is it understood that you will learn from a doctor? If you can learn from a doctor then why cant it be understood that you can learn from a 3rd world CEO</p>
<p>Undergrad and grad school are not the same. I wasn’t comparing the doctor to the CEO, I was comparing the doctor to the turtles. Still, you need some kind of publication or proof for almost everything you do. Especially because your test scores are not that strong, you are ORM, and you have virtually no leadership whatsover.</p>
<p>CollegeConfidential is not “rediculous” because people are telling you things you don’t want to hear. So if you’re just going to consistently disagree with all of the advice that is posted in this thread, you might as have never posted in the first place.</p>
<p>Now, you need to remember that the biggest deficiency in your application is not just the weak ECs, but in fact your GPA and test scores. Besides, if you want to search this part of the forum for other people applying to Wharton, you will see that their extracurriculars are far superior to yours, and not tantamount to two negligible internships.</p>
<p>unweighted gpa is 4.0 but weighted gpa is 4.3
if your school is like mine and does not allow you to take AP’s until junior year, that would be acceptable. Therefore, in this case, it is your rank that matters. billabongboy is just saying that your gpa is low because there are people on CC who have 4.7 gpa etc because their school’s system may be different. I would pay little attention to that and more to your rank.</p>
<p>Davidoga is being ridiculous. Observing turtles in a scientific establishment IS something. You don’t HAVE to publish for it to mean something although that would be good. And not publishing anything does not mean nothing. However, you would have to show them you did something for the factory thing so maybe send in your critique as supplemental material.</p>
<p>While on the subject of EC’s, what do you mean by recreational basketball? Were you in a competitive team that competed in a league in your community?</p>
<p>You stand an okay chance. It’s not so high as 50/50 but that’s fine. Give it a shot. maybe you should raise your ACT score a bit.</p>
<p>Observing, in itself, is not an EC. Would the OP actually write “Observed 3rd world factory” on an application. No, he wouldn’t because that would just look ridiculous. I could do that over a long weekend. Sending in the critique would be the equivalent of publishing, yes. That being said, it has to be insightful and argue a point. Nonetheless, it remains to be a weak EC because it took no commitment or dedication on behalf of the OP. It could have been done in a week. Also, I would appreciate it if you watched calling my advice “ridiculous.” Seeing as you have a not-too-astounding chance thread just like this one, I could hardly deem you an expert on the subject.</p>
<p>Maybe you’re underestimating the OP’s achievements. For one, just simply observing factory and analyzing the dynamics of how the factory works and writing a critique about it is different. And besides, how would you know what the critique argues etc.? I wouldn’t call an EC weak or worthless because you think the activity requires no dedication. How do you know?And there’s a reason I called your post ridiculous. Because it is. You should read a little bit more carefully. The OP DID learn something, hence he/she analyzed the experience and wrote a critique. You just stopped at “observed” and didn’t read “analyzed and wrote a critique.” Thus, this is comparable to shadowing a doctor. Anyways, you’re not going to shadow a doctor for weeks on end. What more would you learn after weeks of following a doctor on his.her daily routine?</p>
<p>If I were YOU, I would watch calling other people’s achievements ‘worthless’ or ‘not-too-astounding.’ You say you have many publications in history research. How long did each of those take? For me, my research spans a little over 3 years and it is significant progress in in vivo vaccine development, allowing me to actually develop a vaccine with my research team. You call yourself an expert? For one, you don’t have to be an expert to give your opinion. Two, you have a not-too-great chance thread and many other threads asking about your low gpa etc. as well. So it’s hardly acceptable for you to call me out on that.</p>
<p>No offense, but it just sounds like you’re bringing down other people’s esteems to raise your own. I may be insecure with my own problems as well but at least I don’t go around hating on others’ achievements.</p>
<p>Frankly, none of us are experts on the subject of college admissions. So don’t go around pretending like what you have to say weighs more than others’ thoughts. Again, I apologize if I hurt your feelings or something. I’ve had enough of insecure people on CC going around tearing down others’ works because they somehow deem that they can accurately evaluate another anonymous person’s works. Don’t get me wrong. I agree with the 20%-30% possibility because that’s the usual for Ivies. But it’s too far to go and say that someone’s work is absolutely worthless and then proceed to use condescending words such as ‘fishies’ in an illogical analogy, as well as call my own achievements not-too-astounding. As if you are so much better than all of us.</p>
<p>I called your thread “not too astounding” in response to you calling my advice ridiculous. I never used the word “worthless” when describing the OP. I did say “weak EC” because, while learning is good, you need to demonstrate it. Adcoms will not take your word for anything, you have to SHOW them. Therefore, if you don’t give them some kind of work, then for all they know you could be lying. Also, I mentioned that if he gave in his critique, that would be the equivalent of publishing because it shows proof. You say that you and your team made a vaccine of some sort. How do adcoms know that your team didn’t do all the work and all you did was bring them coffee? You need to show PROOF, whether it be in a paper that you (not your team) wrote, or some kind of publication. Also, seeing as you seem to have targeted my chances, I’ll give you a couple of reasons as to why I may have a leg up over you. One, I am not an ORM, meaning that I am not as compared to other flawless Asians as you are. Second, I got straight A’s taking 5 AP classes junior year (most important year), while you got Bs and Cs. I never called myself an expert, and all of my advice is sincere. As for hurting my feelings, don’t worry about it would take a lot to make me sad over the Internet.</p>
<p>Sorry about the spelling and grammatical mistakes. My iPod likes to fix up absolutely fine words into other words for some reason. Just thought I should make it clear before someone starts to attack my “ability to write coherently.”</p>