Hi! I`m currently a junior who will be applying in 2016, and my question was what is probably the most important factor for admission in UPenn (Wharton)? What do they give most importance to?
Good for you for starting thinking about this early. Grades are the first thing. If you don’t have a near perfect GPA (and class rank), you’re not even getting a first look; SATs are a close second. If those things aren’t in line with what Wharton expects - ECs etc don’t even come into play (assuming you’re not an Olympic gold medalist or something).
@aj725 So I`m from India where we dont get GPA but till now my percentages have been 10th boards 97.4%, 11th 95% and 12th will be starting now, but you can expect around 94-94%. My SAT superscore is 2330 (CR 760 M 800 WS 770). So would these be good for Penn?
And my Class Rank is Class 10: 3(out of 150 ish), 11th:1st (out of 75), 12th 1st or 2nd (again 75), lets see how it goes
@shaunakk98 – you’re definitely in the right range for Wharton in terms of grades/rank/SATs. I’m not sure when your school yr ends in India, but make sure you continue to stay as high as possible for your grades and rank. Also if you decide Wharton is really what you want – make sure you apply early decision. Penn has been taking approximately 1/2 (or a bit more) of its class early – at a time when they only have about 1/2 (or less) of the applications that they’ll get in regular decision – so it is much much easier to get in ED.
I think you’re in a good position to get a first look from them – now it’s about extra curriculars, essays, and packaging your application in such a way that they know that you really want to be at Penn and Wharton (which is a big factor for Penn’s admissions committee).
Definitely don’t listen to what @aj725 said about grades. Yes grades are extremely important, but if you don’t have a nearly perfect gpa they will not throw away your applications(just pray your strong in other parts). For Wharton, i hope that you have very strong business EC’s and strong sat/act scores. If you truly want to go to penn over all schools apply ED. Not a guaranteed shot, especially for Wharton, for a better than usual one. Basically just be a strong applicant alltogether, but I’m mainly just commenting so that you don’t believe the myth that if your gpa isn’t perfect you won’t get in.
You’re free to disagree, but having been involved with Wharton undergrad admissions for over 10 yrs – trust me, there are LOTS of applicants every single year who submit without near perfect grades but “praying for strong other parts” and I’m not suggesting the application goes in the garbage – BUT the application does not get the same amount of consideration as the ones that stand out academically. The poster asked what Wharton looks for – I stand by my answer – grades come first, the higher the better, and everything else comes next.
@aj725 @Gatortristan thanks alot for your inputs 
So I was wondering if you could read through my ECs to give you a better idea of where I stand? You already have my academic credentials…so here goes!
Thanks alot in advance
Sports:
– Have been playing tennis for the past 7 years. Have reached top 150 of country, have played for Pune Zone once.
– Soccer,Basketball, Cricket at inter and intra school level.
Public Speaking:
– Have taken part and won inter and intra school debate competitions in both Hindi and English
– Taken part and won intra school extempore events
– Founded a debate club in my present school
– MUNning Career: Will have completed around 15 MUNs by the time I apply. Till now i have won 3 out of 4. I have also worked for the biggest MUN in my city, Pune Model United Nations as an Assistant Director
– Have won prizes for best debator in English and best debator in Hindi in my previous school
Social Work:
– Worked for a few weeks for ‘Project Buniyaad’, a project to improve the lifes of children in underpriveliged communities in Pune
– Founder of President of an NPO ‘Utopia Pune’, which aims at tackling problems society faces. This was founded 3 months ago and has completed 4 projects on cleanliness, recycling paper, saving petrol etc. We will be doing several more projects in time to come (Please check our page ‘Utopia Pune’ on facebook )
Others:
–Interned at a software company ‘Calsoft’ where I worked on Open ERP development
–Chief Financial Officer at a web design company ‘Lycan Bot’ founded by my friend
–Served as House Prefect in 10th grade and led my house to a victory
–Will be going for a 20 day exchange project to Sweden where we will be working on a module to tackle superstitions and environmental problems
–Took part in FTC robotics championship in 8th grade where my school won the nationals and went on to participate India at St Louis.
Hobbies and Skills:
– Adept at English, Hindi, Marathi
– Skillful at playing the ‘Harmonium’ an Indian Musical Instrument(Have been playing it since 9 years, just as a hobby)
those EC’s are weak
just kidding those are mad good bro
haha @thegrant 
Thanks!! 
Don’t include the CFO position on your application. Its pretty grandiose for a high school student who also has a lot of other interests; it might cause someone to question the validity of other parts of the app.
@CHD2013 Are you sure I shouldnt include it? Because the company is sort of picking up and with it Im also self studying java script, css, html, python and i thought that displaying such exposure to programming languages may help me in colleges where Im applying for a CS major. Plus I thought that company/business experience wouls bolster my chances to Wharton.
So then what would be a better way to word it?
…Don’t include an impressive EC related to his/her future major? Isn’t that counterintuitive?
OP, I’m not an expert, but I would not hide any of your (frankly, amazing) extracurriculars for fear of them seeming fake.
@bodangles thats exactly what i was wondering 
I suppose it all depends on what the title of CFO actually means - if the OP wants to present it in his application, he should be able to ‘justify’ the position to some degree.
It’s not a question of the OP not actually having the position, but more of a question as to what it indicates, a situation no different from the individuals who hold 12 club presidencies (if you do all these things, what do you do for each one, individually?).
Unless there are actually some funds to manage, and the OP has been able to contribute to this in some meaningful way, it might be better off omitted. I’m sure that Stanford and Wharton are inundated by tons of people who claim that they are the Executive Chairman of a ‘company’ that has released one app on Google Play (or people of this nature).
@Tiberium what you said does make sense
So what I do in that company is manage all the financial aspects. I set prices for the different services after doing research, I set deals with the clients, and handle all incoming money and check where it is to be spent. We just started a month ago and have got just a few clients. According to you would this be worth putting? And how do I justify this position? In the common app isnt there place only for stating the activity and not describing it?
Wharton does value business experience more than many other schools so this EC may be most relevant there. Nevertheless, I’d think long and hard about how/if you include the CFO role. Here are some issues to consider:
If you’ve only been at it 1 month, does it justify inclusion on a size limited app, over other strong ECs.
If its 1 month, I think the answer is likely to be no.
What are you selling? If its the computer skills then definitely change the title to reflect that.
Keep in mind, the CFOs best known to the admissions staff are experienced financial professionals who spend more than 50 hours per week managing a company’s financials. If your role is different than that it may be prudent to use a different (or no) title and emphasize a description of your role.
Good luck.
@CHD2013 what title should i use? And in the common app there are 10 EC spaces right, so could I just note this down as one of the last, showing that I dont consider it as my greatest asset?
^I don’t have enough info to help you with title. If your an owner you might want to use Owner or Co-Owner.
If you don’t have 10 better ECs then yes definitely list it and keep it behind others which are more meaningful.
Okay then
Thanks alot for your advice!