<p>Decision: Accepted - Vagelos LSM
(Likely-letter recipient)
(( Accepted at both Wharton and CAS ))</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I: 2400 (800/800/800/12) - One sitting.
ACT: Did not take.
SAT II: Math II (800), Chemistry (790)
Unweighted GPA: 3.99/4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.5/5
Rank: Top 3% (assume 15/512)
AP/IB: Chem, APUSH, Micro, Macro, USGov (5 all)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Bio, H Physics, Stats, AP Euro, BC Calc, Film&Literature
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): n/a
Common Awards: ABRSM level 8, 3 medals from ICMAC (kung fu), medals from SciOly</p>
<p>Extracurriculars: SciOly grade 11-12 (no leadership)
Job/Work Experience: 2 internships in Pharma companies (one abroad, one local)
Volunteer/Community Service: Teaching at local Chinese school / Math tutor for gifted math students
Summer Experience: See internships
Teacher Recommendation #1: AP Chem teacher (did not read. assuming generic)
Teacher Recommendation #2: English teacher (did not read. assuming poor)
Counselor Rec: did not read. assuming generic
Additional Info/Rec: n/a
Interview: Missed my first one (forgot to show up and she waited for me for 20 minutes).
The second one went surprisingly well. We connected and talked, but I knew little about
the school and its programs (having done little research beforehand), so all I could
comment on was how current students I’d talked to loved it there. It was very short (30min).</p>
<p>Writing: I wrote the Penn-specific essays the day before the deadline, having been put
off by having to write two essays on a school I hadn’t researched.</p>
<p>Why Penn: Poor, since it asked why I wanted to attend Wharton and I was more interested
in the LSM essay. I did talk about Penn’s interdisciplinary focus and also about my interest
in participating in Penn’s martial arts therapy program.
dual-degree program essays: Phenomenal. I drew from my internship experiences, noted how each company
I had worked for was run, and explored the potential of using outsourcing to cut drug-to-market costs.
CommonApp Essay: Hit-or-miss. Writing was good quality, voice was my own. Topic was iffy.
I chose the “environment you are most comfortable in” prompt and wrote about sitting in front of my
computer, trying to clean up my files but failing because I’m sentimental. It was a classic memories-
in-parts essay on a pretty trivial, superficial subject, so rather risky.</p>
<p>Other:
Date Submitted App: 12/30
U.S. State/Territory or Country: USA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Female
Hooks: n/A</p>
<p>Reflection: Before this year, I always thought of Penn as a safety school. After having applied and
while waiting anxiously for decisions, I began to think of admission into Penn as a reach for me.<br>
I was ecstatic to receive a likely - it was the first acceptance I got this year.
Strengths: Objective scores and self-studied APs (macro/micro/gov). Also: internships. Kung Fu makes me a slightly unique applicant. Great interview.
Weaknesses: No ECs, major awards, or leadership. Risky commonapp essay and poor recommendations (assumed). Missed my first interview.
Were else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: </p>
<p>Accepted: MIT (originally deferred)
Waitlisted: Harvard
Rejected: Cornell, Columbia</p>
<p>Waiting to hear from: Stanford, Duke, NYU (Stern)</p>
<p>What would you have done differently?:</p>
<ul>
<li>Joined SciOly earlier. I really liked participating and competing and I’m sad I’m leaving this year.</li>
<li>Quit playing piano earlier. I played for 11 years, hoping to use it for college resume padding,
but didn’t end up writing about it at all in my application. In hindsight, practicing and performing
made me pretty miserable, and made it hard for me to enjoy music until this past year.</li>
<li>Established better relationships with my teachers. Asking them for recommendations was
exceedingly awkward, and I’m not sure they made any difference in my app.</li>
<li>Spent more time on my essays earlier so I wasn’t frantically writing them during my winter break</li>
<li>Applied to more schools. 8 in total with NYU Stern as a safety made for some terrifying waiting
months.</li>
</ul>
<p>Final Comments: It looks like, for me, the choice will be between MIT and Penn’s LSM. Congrats
to everyone who got in, and good luck to those who weren’t. Looking at my list of rejections vs.
acceptances, I’m thinking that college decisions are a large part based on fit and luck. I’m sure we have bright futures ahead of us all. I wish the class of 2018 the best, and I’m glad to be nearing
the end of this whole college application process. =)</p>