What Are My Chances of Getting Into Wharton?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

Hey everyone,
I am going to be a senior this upcoming year and I’m planning on applying to Penn. I was wondering if you guys could kinda chance me on my likelihood of getting accepted. My ACT is a 33 and my school doesn’t weight GPAs, and so now currently after junior year my overall GPA is a 92. I also left out electives from my class lists, as I did well in them and they were simply for grade boosting purposes, and don’t really count for much in the grand scheme of things. I go to a large public high school in upstate New York, and I’m also Indian if that counts for anything. As you can tell from the title, I’m looking to apply to Wharton for Economics with concentrations in Behavioral Economics and Marketing.

9th grade:
Biology Honors
English Honors
Geometry Honors
Spanish II Honors
Global History Honors

10th grade:
AP World History (4 on exam)
Chemistry Honors
Algebra 2/Trigonometry Honors
Spanish III Honors
English Honors
NASA Space Research: a super involved class where we essentially worked for NASA, we had to engineer a solution to clear the ISS of Bacillus subtilis, a bacteria. We met with NASA employees, created an abstract, built our solution, presented to workers, and the seniors went and tested our creation in the “vomit comet,” a zero-gravity plane ride simulating the conditions on the ISS. It was an extremely involved course and will look great on the resume, as my name is now printed on an official scientific paper.

11th grade:
This year had some rough patches, family-wise, and it reflected in my grades a bit. However, overall I’m still hanging in there with a 92 overall.
AP Statistics (3 on exam, not proud of that)
AP American History (4 on exam)
AP Language & Composition (5 on exam)
Physics Honors (Physics was a class I struggled in, but I’m getting a letter of recommendation from my physics teacher so hopefully that helps a little bit, because I worked my butt off in that class but somehow it just didn’t seem to click.)
Pre-Calculus Honors
Spanish IV Honors

12th grade:
This is what I will be taking this upcoming year.
AP Biology
AP Spanish
AP Literature & Composition
AP Calculus-BC
SUPA (Dual credit through Syracuse University, essentially an intro college course) Economics

Work Experience:
Jun 16 - Sep 16: Tennis Coach
Sep 15 - Jun 16: Kumon Tutor
Sep 14 - Jun 15: NASA HUNCH
Sep 14 - Present: Swim Instructor

Volunteer Service:
Jul 15 - Jul 15: Shadowed Pediatrician
Jun 15 - Sep 15: Kumon Tutor
Dec 14 - Present: Golisano Hospital Magazine Editor (Me and a friend put together a magazine for kids going through cancer treatments in our local children’s hospital filled with activities, articles, movie reviews, et cetera to help them pass the time)
Aug 14 - Present: Rochester Museum and Science Center Volunteer
Jul 14 - Aug 14: Physical Therapy Volunteer at Strong Hospital
Jan 14 - Dec 14: Volunteer Swimming Instructor

Extracurricular Activities:
Jan 16 - Present: National Honor Society
Dec 14 - Present: Spanish National Honor Society
Sep 15 - Present: Math Team
Sep 14 - Present: Model United Nations
Nov 12 - Mar 14: CYO Basketball
Sep 13 - Jun 14: Asset Leaders
Sep 13 - Present: Peer Tutoring
Sep 13 - Jun 14: Peer Ambassadors
Mar 15 - Present: Varsity Tennis Team
Sep 05 - Sep 10: Piano
Sep 10 - Present: Guitar

Leadership:
Vice President of Model United Nations Club
Secretary for Spanish National Honor Society
Captain of the Math Team

So, there you have it. What are my chances looking like? Penn is definitely one of my top choices, if not my top choice, and I would love to get in here!

2

Your academics are good enough to pass the filters, it will come down to the subjectives: EC, essays and recommendations. I would recommend that you take the SAT Subject test in Math II, especially for Wharton, even though it is not required. And being Indian won’t count for anything because it is an ORM.

3

I think my essays and recommendations will be pretty strong, I’m a good writer and the teachers I’ve asked for recommedations are fond of me (I’d like to at least hope lol). And I should have put this in there, but I am taking the October SAT II for math, and if I can secure an 800 on that, that should definitely help my case. Thanks for your input!

4

Man, Wharton is tough. It doesn’t help that Indians like us are ORM. Regardless, your academics seem fine, if not spectacular. Like the comment above said, take the Math II (Wharton recommends that). Your ECs are great but they are a tad bit generic. Your chance comes through the essays. Bring out your dreams, passions, personality (intangibles that you cannot put in your app)… You have a good shot. Wharton’s tough but I hope you get in. (Don’t worry too much about the ECs/Test Scores, my profile is similar to yours)

5

Class rank?

You sound like a good candidate. Go for early decision if you are really serious about Penn.

6

Yeah I’m definitely going to be taking the Math II in October, and I’ve heard that the essays can be the make or break in these situations… I’m a good writer and I’m going to enlist the help of my English teachers to put together the best essays I can. Thank you so much guys!