<p>Hello everybody. I'm a junior, and I've visited UPenn and Wharton recently and I absolutely loved it. City life was thrilling after spending my entire life in the suburbs. I feel like that's the place I want to be, and I'm not just saying that even though it does sound corny. Anyways, unfortunately we all know how difficult it is to get into Wharton. I always hear how you need something to distinguish yourself from other applicants, a passion or whatnot that sets you apart. </p>
<p>Anyways, I just wanted to see if there would be a chance of me being admitted into Wharton, or am I just completely in over my head on this one. As of now I wanted to apply their early decision senior year. </p>
<p>Oh, also, I am Asian-American. I've been hearing all the time how it's a lot harder for Asians to get into colleges, so that's been intimidating too, I guess.</p>
<p>ACADEMICS</p>
<p>I go to a private school in New Jersey, which is one of the best in the country (according to USNews from a while ago, not sure where it stands now but I'd guess still pretty high). Competition within each grade is pretty strong, but especially strong in my year (which scares me). For example, my grades in the senior year class would be top 3 people, but this year I'm probably just in the top 5-10% in a class of 130.</p>
<p>Anyways, here is my academic information:</p>
<p>1)
GPA (weird scaling system: it's out of 12.0 where classes are weighted by AP, normal class, term classes, etc. An A+ is a 12, an A is an 11, and so on)</p>
<p>Freshman Year: 11.22
Sophomore Year: 11.55
Junior Year (so far): 11.85
Senior Year: Our school inflates senior year grades - they tell teachers to boost grades or make grades easier to get for seniors so it looks good for colleges. Generally, students' GPA's for the first term of senior year far exceeds their junior year GPA.</p>
<p>2)
Classes</p>
<p>Sophomore Year: AP Calc ab (5), AP European History (5)
Junior Year: AP US History, AP Calc bc, AP Physics b, AP English Language + Independent Study (AP Stat)
Senior Year (Schedule): Linear Algebra (last math course in our school), AP Latin (Vergil), AP English Literature, AP Economics Macro, AP Music Theory</p>
<p>3)
Standardized Tests</p>
<p>SAT: I took them twice within 2 months. I got a 2290 both times, and my super score is a 2310.</p>
<p>SAT II: I've only taken Math II (800), but am planning on taking Physics and a History this summer.</p>
<p>EXTRACURRICULARS:
1)
Swimming:
For me, this is probably my biggest passion, my second life almost. I've been competitively swimming ever since I was 5 years old. It's a year round thing, there are pretty much no breaks throughout the year for me. Every day I put in a good 3 hours for practice. On typical Saturdays, while my friends are sleeping in I'm in the pool as early as 6 am and swimming until 10. Many weekends of my time are away from home competing. People always ask me if they feel I could get better grades by focusing solely on schoolwork, as I'd get an additional 3 hours daily to study and more on the weekends, but I always tell them that I could never quit. It's something I love to do, it has taught me many of my core values like determination and hard work, and I will probably further pursue it in college.</p>
<p>2)
Speech and Debate:
I've always had a passion for arguing. I think that's just human nature, to want to know that you're sticking up for a side you believe in. However, until high school, I never had the chance to seriously pursue debating (no organized programs in middle school). Whether it's arguing about NATO's effects in Afghanistan or about Wikileaks, I always find that being in the heat of an argument excites me. While I'm a lot less decorated in debate than in swimming, I also have spent a lot of time doing the activity. Writing cases and prepping evidence outside of school for tournaments, attending after school practices that last for 2 hours almost daily.</p>
<p>3)
Math Club
Kind of the stereotypical extracurricular activity that colleges would expect from an Asian, but I genuinely enjoy math. I find that it has typically been my "refuge" subject, even as early as middle school. I always felt like I could excel in math, and it's the subject I find the most interest in too. By senior year, I'll have completed every math course offered at our school - AP Calc ab and bc, AP Statistics, Linear algebra. I definitely want to pursue a future career that involves math.</p>
<p>4)
Leadership in general
Captain of my club swim team, captain of the school swim team, and during the summer I'm a swim coach for a summer league team. President of the math club. By the end of this year, I'm running for secretary of the debate team, which I may or may not be elected for.</p>
<p>~~
To sum up my high school career: I've recently been having my own fair share of worries. As you can kind of see, throughout high school, extracurriculars didn't leave me with too much room to focus a lot on schoolwork. Everyday I would have about 6 fewer hours to work on school than my classmates between swimming and debating, so my grades aren't perfect, which I've heard can be a big thing for these kind of schools. I'm also not that type of kid who doesn't sleep until like 4am, so this impact really hit me hard. But in the end, I decided that I'd rather live high school for the moment and pursue what I have passions for.</p>
<p>Also, compared to some other typical kids in our grades who try to spread out their extracurriculars as much as possible (joining like 100 clubs), I genuinely have a passion for the ones that I do. I spend and invest a huge amount of time into all of my extracurriculars, which is why I'm not involved in an abundance of different clubs. I also want to try to show the colleges that aspect, but I'm having doubts about that too.</p>
<p>I'm very anxious about senior year and college applications. My parents break the bill paying my tuition, and annually our school sends 10+ kids to the Ivies, but again, with this year's class being incredibly strong, and people reminding me that I've got the race card against me, I just don't know anymore.</p>