What are my chances of getting into Wellesley, Barnard, and/or UPenn?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Okay, so here’s what I know so far:

I’m starting my senior year in less than a month, and while I haven’t gotten any grade lower than a B since middle school gym, I’m worried that I will not be able to get into any of my reach schools.

My current GPA is 3.97
I have four years of literature, sciences, and history, two years of academic writing classes, two years of Spanish, various electives because of my major, and three years of mathematics because there is not enough room in any of the math classes for me to take a math class this coming year - it is also only a requirement for my school district that I take 3 years of math.

I took the new SAT in March and got a crappy score of 1240 because I did not have the time to prepare. I’m retaking it in both October and probably November to apply Regular Admission to all three schools, as well as the rest of my target/safeties.
I will also be taking two SAT subject tests in December, since we can’t take the Reasoning test on the same morning as Subject tests - since I’m best in Literature and US History, I will be taking those exams.
I will be taking the ACT in late October.

ECs:
I run the school literary magazine with a group of friends.
I was on the school newspaper for two years
I am in a women’s group/feminist club as well
My school does not offer many sports as it is an arts high school.

I also plan on taking a pre-college class at UPenn in the spring semester, which is tuition free because I attend a public school in Philadelphia.

While I know that Wellesley (especially) has a reputation of looking at the whole person rather than just the numbers, I feel as though I will not improve as much as I need to on the SAT to get into any of these schools.

Any thoughts?

2

Any school with an acceptance rate of under 20% would be a reach for anyone with even higher scores and more ECs. Wellesley seems more reasonable than the other two. It seems that your focus should be on improving your scores, working on creative essays and getting feedback on them from language arts teachers, and making sure you have some match and safety schools with which you are happy. Maybe look for some reaches that aren’t quite as selective as UPenn.

3

UPenn RD is an absolute nightmare. If you look at past threads on CC you’ll see double legacies with amazing stats who don’t get in. Your SAT is low for both of those Sisters. Worry less about the classes and activities you couldn’t partake in, and more about your contribution to those that you are passionate about.