<p>Hey Guys,
Like many of you, I am looking to apply early decision to the University of Pennslyvania's class of 2012. Currently, I am a white male junior (16yrs old) attending a fairly competitive public school in Massachusetts. There are about 250 kids in my grade, and I know that I am at least in the top 10%. To keep it short, here are a few basic facts:</p>
<pre><code> School
</code></pre>
<p>-Cumulative GPA so far: 3.9UW
- Total AP Courses by senior year: 9 (1 already taken, 4 being taken, 4 planned)
- Total College Courses by senior year (at Smith College): 3 (1 being taken, 2 planned)
-4 on the Spanish AP Exam </p>
<pre><code> Sports
</code></pre>
<ul>
<li>E rated sabre fencer (going for a D!)</li>
<li>3 years varisty fencing team (so far)</li>
<li><p>Qualified for the Junior Olympics in Fenicng twice, went once (its damned expensive!)
-"A Strip" Men's sabre fencer</p>
<pre><code> Extracirriculars
</code></pre>
<p>-Paid contributor to the teen section of the Republican, a regional newspaper (2 articles published so far)</p></li>
<li><p>Student Representative on the Town School Council</p></li>
<li><p>2nd place in the regional Kids in Print essay contest</p></li>
<li><p>50+ hours of volunteer work at a hospital so far, still volunteering
-Attended the presitgous Great Books Summer Program at Amherst College
-Chess Club
-Club Witty
-Peer Spanish Tutor
So I guess that's where I stand so far, any recommendations (besides the obvious take the SAT, no I was just going to skip that) for boosting my transcript? Thank you so much for your time, and good luck on all of your appilications!</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Kevin</p>
<p>There really isn’t a glaring area where I could say “you need to do this”, since your record is pretty impressive thus far.</p>
<p>I would start researching Penn and mentally preparing for college app essays, since they seem to be the make-or-break aspect of competitive applications. Generally, Penn asks a questions about why you want to pursue University of Pennsylvania, so become very familiar with the strong points of the school.</p>
<p>Other than that, stay the course and make sure your grades are top-notch. Nothing else you can really do other than scholarship hunting.</p>
<p>Thank you for the reply so far, does anyone else have any suggestions?</p>
<p>Colleges prefer to see you deeply involved in a few extracurriculars rather than dipping into many. They can easily tell the difference between something you’re committed to versus something you’re doing purely to pad your college app. That being said, all extracurriculars are a bonus, but on the common app + supplement it would a much better idea to draw attention to say your fencing rather than chess club</p>
<p>hey i just wanna know what my chances are, I wanna apply for the BS in economics programme to Wharton undergrad.
I’m an international student from India.Till 10th grade I was doing an indian board (ICSE) and scored a 95.4% ,always came 2 or 3rd in my class out of 45 students. currently I’m doing the IB international baccalaureate programme with the following subjects
Economics HL
Maths HL
Chemistry HL
English HL
Biology SL
Hindi SL
I’m doing very well in my school (mostly 7’s) but I don’t have a lot of extra curriculurs only guitar(grade 3) and elocution and speech and drama (grade 5) because we don’t have clubs and things like that in Indian schools
my SAT 1 score was 2140 (720 math/740CR/680writing) I’m going to retake it in October and my SAT 2 scores are 790 in chemistry and 770 in math level 2.
i will be applying to Wharton for early decision without financial aid. what chances do u think i have?
the schools im thinking of are NYU,UCberkely,cornell and wharton in addition to UK universities.</p>