mmarilyn11

So I'm a rising senior planning on applying to Penn early decision in the fall. Any chance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated because this truly is where I want to be! Thanks in advance!

ACT: took twice, second time on my birthday, so grades obviously lower:/ can I only submit my first set?
COMPOSITE - 33
English - 33
Math - 35
Reading - 35
Science - 28
Essay - 10

GPA: School does not rank or grade on the 4.0 scale
Weighted GPA only on website: 100.06

Courseload: highest possible
AP's Junior Year (Scores Pending): Spanish Lang, Lang and Comp, U.S. History, Bio
AP's Senior Year (not started yet): Lit and Comp, Calculus BC, Physics C, Chem, Comp Gov

Awards: Principal's Honor Roll 9-11 (99%+ Average)
Illinois High School Association Scholar Award
Honorable Mention on National Spanish Exams Levels 3 and 5, soph and jr year

Now's the fun stuff!
Sports: High School JV Swimming 9-12 Captain for the 2012 Season
Water Polo 11-12 Likely to be on Varsity Next Year
Extra: HUUGE NBA fan

Extracurriculars:
- School Literary Mag: Sales Editor Soph; Editor-in-Chief Jr-Sr
- Sports Writer for School Newspaper Jr-Sr
- Student Ambassador 9-12 (help with recruitment as I go to a Catholic college prep school)
- National Spanish Honor Society
- National Honor Society

Service:
- raised $609 for Women In Need Growing Stronger (WINGS) by leading a summer block party event (plans for 2012 are in progress!)
- member of my parish's youth ministry leadership team
- usher at Church on Sundays
- teacher assistant at my brother's Montessori school during the summers of my freshman and soph years

Experiences:
- attended the 2012 Future Women in Business Leadership Conference at the University of Illinois
- attended a journalism workshop/conference (unsure of title) at the College of DuPage
- attended the Science Careers in Search of Women Conference at Argon National Lab
- attending the summer quarter at Stanford University (taking Calculus and Mechanics/Heat w Lab)
- summer of 2011 went on my first vacation to Europe..maybe college essay topic?
- random, but I skipped second grade so I'm also considering an essay about the pros and cons of being a year younger than most of my peers

WHOEVER GOT THROUGH THAT I JUST WANT TO THANK YOU NOW(:
Again, any suggestions on how to improve my application would be extremely helpful because Penn is definitely where I want to spend those 4 years of college life! THANKS!!

iiClickSend

I think you'll have a chance if you apply early decision! And really express your passion in the essays cuz it'll mean a lot. GOOD LUCK

mmarilyn11

bumpity bumpity bump

knight2011

I would advise showing a clear passion in your ECs/service (for instance if you want pre-med it would look good if your were an EMT, volunteerd at a nursing home or hospital, etc). Your ECs/service do not show a clear passion but rather just a wide array of extra stuff you did.

Your potential topic essay is a little weak. Its not too uncommon for kids at penn to be a year younger than their grade level, I for one am. If you did something that ties in to your Ecs while in europe, for instance like a journalism seminar or something, then you can demonsrate a passion for journalistic writing in your essay. If you just mention how it was a family trip I dont think the admissions committee will care too much.

all in all you are on the right track, but Penn is for the most part a crap shoot and your ECs dont stick out too much. You should work on those if you want to stand a good shot.

mmarilyn11

I volunteered my doctor last summer and shadowed for the latter part of my time there. Would that be something more notable?

And for the Europe thing I wanted to focus on the cultural differences with a health perspective, but only if the prompt asked something of the sort.

Thanks for the advice, maybe I'll seek more med-related opportunities.

Hockeydude664

I wouldn't write about the skipping a grade idea for your essay... it's too general and popular. Your grades are good and the 33 ACT is good. Your EC's are decent. Overall, I would say you've got an ehh chance applying RD but a good chance applying ED. Apply ED since you seem so adamant about studying at Penn.
Best of luck and thanks for the chance!

Poeme

How you write your essay matters a lot more than what you write it about.

mmarilyn11

Good point, I guess when I was writing out the resume I just wrote what came to mind haha I have already started working on my common app/UChi essays so hopefully the extra time helps! Thank you