Chance me regular decision to UPenn?

Colleges & Universities University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>SAT I: 2210
670 CR/800 M/740 W (6/12 essay)
SAT IIs:
790 Math II, 760 Chem, 690 Spanish (not a native speaker)
ACT: 34
34 English/35 Math/34 Reading/31 Science/9/12 essay
QPA: 90.5 (as of beginning of Junior year, it’s improved dramatically each year and will be higher [roughly 92] when I apply)</p>

<p>ECs:
Unitarian Universalist Coming of Age (similar to confirmation, Freshman year)
Unitarian Universalist Youth Group (Sophomore-Senior year, probably going to get a leadership position for senior year)
Anime Club (not so involved & might not write, Freshman-Senior year)
Rowing (since elementary school, no local team, second place in Maine Rowing Association race)
Environmental Committee (Internet Services Manager [running the blog: mhstreehuggers.blogspot.com], Junior-Senior year [since inception])
NMSQT qualifier or semifinalist, I still haven’t been contacted about my standing
Math League (Junior-Senior year, I’m one of about two people who can find the roots of complex numbers which I learnt at Johns Hopkins CTY summer of 2008)
Multicultural Club (Junior-Senior year, ran a British room at the American Heritage Assembly, currently President)
Volunteer tutoring nearby (Junior-Senior year, it’s in a really beaten up neighborhood)</p>

<p>If I do have a 92 at the start of Senior year I’ll qualify for my schools National Honors Society (we have a different standard.)</p>

<p>Schedule for Junior year: Physics, English III, AP Calc AB, local county college tech class, Spanish IV, US History II, AP Chem, Fitness
All A’s
Senior year: AP Lit, AP Physics, AP Euro, AP US Gov, AP Spanish, Multivariable Calc, county college tech class, Fitness (studying AP Calc BC over the summer)</p>

<p>This summer I’m (hopefully) getting a job at an engineering firm, volunteering at local first aid squad, studying Calc BC & running another Maine Rowing Association race</p>

<p>I’m probably going to write in my essays about how I think gays could be more accepted on a societal level by being more socially conserved in public (I’m gay,) I’ll mention my own adversity & how I overcame it, I’ll probably throw in some Booker T. Washington & civil rights movement references in too for good measure.</p>

<p>Advice? Chances? Is there anything I’m forgetting to write here? I know my extracurriculars are all pretty late but I really began high school without any direction. It wasn’t until late Freshman year that I realized my potential and at that point my grades skyrocketed.</p>

2

<p>I am not going to chance you on this one. Just a couple words of advice.</p>

<p>For the essay you mentioned, I first urge you to be particularly judicious with your diction, for obvious reasons. Also, I have encountered several reports/documentaries regarding gay rights and themes of such nature in public media lately. Either the reports/documentaries blatantly plagiarize each other or I lack an eye for details, but after a couple of them things become rather predictable. (The “things” I am referring to here include the discrimination gay people typically face, the stereotypical disdain many people have towards gays, etc.) I think you are walking a pretty fine line here between the repetitiveness – I know this is fairly disrespectable, but, with this being a discussion purely on literary merit, kindly allow me to make this statement – of the information which people have been bombarded with (especially due to the coverage on California legislature and what not) and what is “politically correct.” In other, and hopefully less confusing, words, you would have to differentiate your personal experience from the generic reports that are known to many, but at the same time confine yourself to being politically and religiously neutral. I understand that you must have thought carefully, and felt passionately, about the contents of the essay, and I wish you the best in producing a touching masterpiece.</p>

<p>I think the fact that you found out something about yourself during your late freshman year should be worth devoting one of the essays (perhaps the commonapp one) to it. Do not limit yourself to, say, a particular academic field or career (i.e. engineering, business, etc.), but focus on the qualities and values that you have since developed.</p>

<p>Any more questions, feel free to ask here or drop me a PM.</p>

3

<p>Like above, I don’t think you need to be “overly passionate” with your essay and take the risk of having someone not like it. Your stats are decent enough not to take any large risks. The essay topic, if done well, should compensate enough for relatively weak ECs. Get your thoughts out there but be careful not to come out too strong, this is a sensitive topic after all. ECs could be improved on but then again I’m not sure how big this unitarian thing is. Your comment about finding roots of complex numbers raises some eyebrows though. Not a big thing but don’t include it (I think most ap/ib math students know how).</p>

4

<p>Yep, finding roots of complex numbers are well known to those who take IB Math HL, that I am certain of. And do not include Anime Club, it will most likely be taken as a gimmick.</p>

<p>Good luck on that essay!</p>

5

<p>…I go to a math and sciences school and there’s only one other student who can find the roots of complex numbers. I may mention it if I get an essay to just write about my own improvement.</p>

6

<p>Umm I have not touched math for the past several months. In fact, I did not do a single homework question regarding maths even throughout my senior year. (I took IB Math HL, but our teacher has taught at universities, namely UBC and SFU for those familar with British Columbia, Canada, and he basically spent the entire year on calculus. It is very fun sitting in the classroom from 7 AM to 8:30 AM listening to him rant about how students nowadays do not know jack.)</p>

<p>Anyway, I just wanted to make it clear that my math has rusted completely by now (oxidation process? haha), so don’t hate if my question is completely off the mark. To find the roots of a complex number doesn’t one first let, say, z^n = a + bi, and by changing the complex number to its polar form, apply De Moivre’s Theorem to find the roots? (After changing the roots from polar form back to a + bi form, one finds the roots always appear in complex conjugates, and if one plots the roots on a complex plane, one gets a n-sided polygon.)</p>

<p>Edit: Fixed grammar. Changed “To find the roots of a complex number don’t one…” to “To find the roots of a complex number doesn’t one…” (last paragraph).</p>

7

<p>Please don’t apply to Penn. NO one who is straight will want a gay roommate lol.</p>

8

<p>@DSI Yeah that’s right. Boo you haha.</p>

<p>@mario9999 Uhh… that would rule out a lot of schools.</p>

9

<p>Woohoo gotta feel proud of myself haha</p>

<p>Anyway, it is fine mentioning finding roots of complex numbers in your essay, but just do not make it sound like a be-all-and-end-all experience of your high school mathematics education. Perhaps, using this new knowledge as a spring broad, you can mention how it allows you to appreciate the connection between algebra, trigonometry, geometry, etc. or something to that effect, provided that it suits the overall theme of your essay.</p>

<p>That concludes my rant on maths.</p>

<p>Edit: Added the second and third paragraphs</p>