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Replies to: UPenn Class of 2023 RD
There are a few top colleges off which getting into from a WL is realistic and expectable, but for the Ivies and MIT/Stanford.... its a close to 0% chance.
Be on the list if those are your top few choices, but otherwise dont sweat the decision. Let them give the decision in may. If you get in, its safe to say its a miracle, but if not, be ready with your 1-2 best choices in hand; ready to by enrolled/accepted into from ur end.
Im not targeting any1 when i say you or ur, its just a general phrase in this case.
Seems like it was Tuesday for the University and then Friday for the College of Arts and Sciences.
@paranoidmom101 May I PM u if u want? I have quite some W's, some WL's and a decent number of L's too.
I applied to many colleges 15+. I joined the CC threads for the ones I was concerned about.
First things first: All candidates here (even those who were denied) are way better than I am but here we are! So dear parent/student, don't lose hope.
P.S I'm an international student from Pakistan.
Decision: Accepted (after getting waitlisted)
Objective:
SAT I: Superscored: Maths=700 English=710 Essay=20/24
ACT: Not Taken
SAT II: English literature=720
U.S History=560 (Never studied a word of US history, took the test based on general knowledge)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank: 1/60
AP/IB: Not taken.
OLevel: 9A*s 1A
A Level: Predicted grades: Economics= A*, Law=A*, IT=A, Accounting=A*.
Major Awards: First Position all over Pakistan in National Poetey Writing Competition, First all over Pakistan in Turkish Language assessments, TSA Writing Competition (Oxford Union) Pakistan finalist, GOI Writing Competion Japanese Embassy in Pakistan Winner.
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Coucil(Head girl 2017-19), Welfare Club (President+Founder), Publications Club (President), School magazine (Editor-in-Chief), MUNs+debating(couple of awards+ English Speaking Union certified speaker and national finalist twice), Wrote op-eds in national newspapers in Pakistan on current affairs and int'l relations.
Job/Work Experience: Helped my father with his side business, summer volunteer at my city's only cancer research hospital (marketing department, radiology and as a play therapist for young patients.
Volunteer/Community service: Cancer hospital, internship and project with WWF-Pakistan, volunteered at an orphanage and conducted a food drive.
Summer Activities: I won a national scholarship to Georgetown University's summer immersion. It was fully funded by Pakistani govt and US department of state.
Essays: Wrote my essay on the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India: A risky and controversial move but I made it clear in the essay that no amount of controversy can preclude me from writing about what I am truly passionate about.
Teacher Recommendations: A very generous professor at Georgetown offered to write a rec for me. Haven't read it but we had a good rapport and she (thankfully) regarded my passion with admiration.
Economics Sir wrote an exceptional rec for me. I had written a research paper with him on political economy and he mentioned my proposals to combat economic crises in Pakistan to in the letter.
Accounting teacher wrote the last one. We were very close and she knew me well and believed that I would do well at UPenn.
Counselor Rec: My Vice Principal was my counselor and wrote a flattering rec.
City/Country: Lahore, Pakistan.
School Type: Private. International but not renowned.
Ethnicity: Asian (South Asian).
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Not sure about the parameters in US.
Received a full ride though. (100% aid since Pakistani rupee is badly depreciated and even the well-to-do here would be considered financially weak in US).
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I speak four languages with fluency (Urdu-mother tongue- English, Turkish and Punjabi-regional), I can read and understand a bit of Arabic and Japanese and I am learning Spanish. I think being multilingual helped a bit.
Why you think you were accepted/not accepted and general comments: Test scores were really poor but I justified it since I'm an international student and know nothing about US history. Couldn't take multiple attempts because SATs here are expensive.
I think my essays were good although the Penn supplement was mediocre at best. My recs probably saved me and my American professor was too generous in her praise!
Finally, I used to spend hours through these threads like you guys trust me we get through it. To all international students and esp Pakistani ones, you can do this. I did it on my own you don't have to pay heaps of money to get into an ivy league.
And finally, to the US students: I see most of your parents are very much involved in the admissions process. Please cherish that and love them for it. Parents from Pakistan and I'm sure other Asian countries (mostly) are completely reliant on their kids, not well acquainted with international admissions systems and we do everything on our own (and failure isn't an option lol!). To all the parents, you're doing a great job!