A Few Questions and Also...Chances

Colleges & Universities University of Pennsylvania
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<p>Sorry, I know I’ve posted my stats a long time ago on another thread, but hopefully, you guys haven’t seen this and are willing to give me your imput. Sorry, but this post will be unbearably long.</p>

<p>Questions first:</p>

<p>1) Is CAS easier than SEAS to get into? – I know you guys have said that the high quality of SEAS applicants makes it harder to gain admissions, but does this make up for the almost 20% difference in admit rates between the two schools? Also, how do you think the surge of 42% in ED apps for SEAS will affect RD applicants?</p>

<p>2) How important is geographical location? – It seems a bunch of insanely strong applicants from California got flat out rejected, but I know a friend (here in Alabama) who was deferred with a 29 ACT, around a 3.66 UW GPA, who did not take the strongest courseload, and also does not have major involvement other than volleyball (captain and area MVP, but not recruited).</p>

<p>Chances:</p>

<p>ME:
–Asian female from a competitive public school in Alabama. </p>

<p>STATS:
–GPA: 3.67 UW/3.98 W (This does not include first semester grades, my GPA will have improved)
–Rank: Definitely top 10%, probably top 7th or 6th %
–SATs: 2240 (800 CR, 720 M, 720 W)
–SAT IIs: 760 Math IIC, 740 USH, 720 Chem</p>

<p>ACTIVITIES: Heavy involvement in student government, cultural activities, and in science/trivia related things. I’m going to create a activities chart to further list accomplishments in these areas.</p>

<p>–Student Council—9, 10, 11, 12
Parliamentarian 12
–Junior Class President
–French Club—9, 10, 11, 12
Vice President—11
–Concert Band/Honors Band/Marching Band–9, 10, 11
–Auburn University Summer Campus Band–9, 10, 11, 12
–Government Club—9, 10, 11, 12
Auburn Junior HS Government Club coordinator—11
Treasurer—12
YMCA Youth Legislature—10, 11
Elected Statewide Secretary of State—11
–Multicultural Club—9, 10, 11, 12
Secretary—11
President—12
–Auburn High School Tiger Ambassador—12
–Judicial Club—9, 10, 11, 12
President—12
YMCA Judicial Mock Trial—9, 10, 11, 12
Top Five Defense Team—11, 12
Hugh Maddox Award for Best Overall Team—12
–Boosting Engineering Science and Technology (B.E.S.T.)—9, 10, 11, 12
Numerous regional and state team awards for robotics
–Scholar’s Bowl—11, 12
Founded and Initiated—11
–Knowledge Masters—9, 10, 11, 12
Coordinated and initiated this at High School—10, 11, 12
Top Five in State—9, 10, 11, 12</p>

<p>HONORS:
–National Honor Society–11, 12
–English Honor Society–11, 12
–Mu Alpha Theta–11, 12
–French Honor Society–11, 12
President, 12</p>

<p>AWARDS:
–Telluride Scholar Finalist and Alternate
–Voted “Best All-Around Leader” in Senior Class Poll
–AP Scholar with Distinction
–“Operation Career” statewide essay winner
won a $1,000 and a chance to shadow the director of a major art museum
–French National Contest
2nd in state, 9, 10
6th in state, 11
4th in nation, 10</p>

<p>RECS:
–Teacher recs: one is incredibly good the other is really good as well (though that teacher didn’t understand the continous spectrum of the checkmark list–so he put all my checkmarks right in the middle of each of the columns he was checking off)
–Counselor: should be good
–Essays: Huh, haven’t really written them yet, but they’ll be good.</p>

<p>So, how do I look for Penn CAS? I was seriously contemplating SEAS, but that would’ve been stupid considering the fact that my grades for math and sciences are my lowest and I planned on writing about art in my essays.</p>

<p>I’m hoping a huge thing for me will be my geographic location–I met my regional director when she came to a local college fair and she said that they had around 5 or 7 less people come to Penn from AL in the past two years, so they really want Alabamians. </p>

<p>Though this would make me feel a little more confident, there are four people applying from my school, an insane amount considering the fact that in the past three years, only one person has applied to Penn from my school. Also, I’m scared in light of the fact that a well-qualified URM is appyling from my school. (Her stats can be found here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=78831[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=78831&lt;/a&gt; – she’s a great candidate, right?). Do you think Penn could take both of us?</p>

<p>Thanks, and sorry for the looong post.</p>

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<p>1) go with your passion, regardless. which applicant pool will be easier for you will depend on the type of student you are, and profile you bring, and depends on how you market yourself. two equal candidates with entirely different “types” of apps will have different odds of admission at the two schools. </p>

<p>2) Extremely important. Alaskans, Dakotans, 'Bamans, and Mississipins will have much more lax standards. California and NYC is much harder to get in from. Local philly is a boost, PA in general hurts a little. Many places are about even.</p>

<hr>

<p>Attn, EVERYONE: i hate it when people say “competitive public school”, “competitive top private school”, etc. it really doesn’t make a big difference, unless you have a REAL crappy rank</p>

<hr>

<p>SEAS: you’re right. middle of the pack
CAS: slightly better</p>

<p>its a crapshoot…but 'bama looks good for you. you have much better than average chances at CAS (what major?)</p>

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<p>Yeah, my rank is crappy–that’s why I said “competitive public school.” :-)</p>

<p>Thanks for your imput-- my only worry comes from my grades and from the fact that a girl has applied ED (deferred Wharton, but the admissions staff might still think she’s shown more interest in doing ED) and from the URM applicant from my school. I’m also worried by the fact that RD apps might see a huge surge, seeing as ED apps increased by so much.</p>

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<p>Oh, and I’m thinking of putting “History of Art” as my prospective major. I think I’m going to talk about the Institute for Contemporary Art in my “Why Penn” because my “Pg 217” is probably going to be about how Jackson Pollock changed my worldview–something like that. </p>

<p>Does this mean I should restrict myself to talking about a professor from this field for my “Which Penn Professor” or could I talk about a neuroengineer whose research interests me?</p>

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<p>go with what you can write best about</p>