Good IB, Average ACT/SAT

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hey guys,

Just wanted to know whether I have a fair chance for Economics at CAS, U Penn. U Penn is the most competitive university I’m applying to, so I don’t have very high hopes on it.

In IB, I have one of the strongest upward trends on my transcript: from getting 3s and 4s to 6s and 7s currently. I would like to know whether this is a positive thing?
My predicted grades:
HL Math: 6
HL Economics: 7
HL Physics: 6
SL Chemistry: 7
SL English Lang/Lit: 6
Spanish ab initio: 6
Extended Essay in Economics: A
TOK: 2 points
Total: 40/45

I have leadership in the stock exchange club and the peer tutoring program at school. Besides, I’ve started my own non-profit tutoring business, and also did an internship in econometrics and marketing with a professor at Rice University. I’ve been part of 4-5 other clubs like Model United Nations, World Scholars Club, etc. but they aren’t very economics focused. Lastly, I’m halfway through a certified course on Macroeconomics on Coursera, from The University of California, Irvine.

My recommendation letter is from my Economics teacher, who told me I’m him favorite student. I can guarantee the letter is going to be atleast a 9/10.

However, my ACT is gravitating towards a 29-30 (E29 M33 R24 S31). Is this a big downside? Do I have a fair chance if I can write a pretty good essay?

WIll appreciate any response.
Thank you.

2

You probably won’t get in with those scores, so you would need more than just a pretty good essay to make up for that.

3

Don’t worry - give it a shot. (and yea, improvement looks good, but straight perfect scores do look better)

A couple anecdotal things that may give you some perspective.

  1. I have three friends at Yale that I can think of off of the top of my head with scores in the 28-30 range with other test scores that were not exceptional. They wrote essays they were proud of, and they each did not think they'd get in and were just kinda submitting the application for the hell of it.
  2. I have a 35 act and generally pretty good scores/essays/recs, and I was declined/wait-listed from all of the top-tier schools to which I applied, but I am actually pretty damn happy where I ended up. Standing out in slightly less competitive schools can be a big advantage.
  3. So far, I have a universal consensus from every student that I've talked to face-to-face that their best essays/applications were the ones that they didn't stress about. Staying calm helps you stay creative.

Moral of the story: Give it a shot, sell yourself, and don’t worry if you’re not accepted.

If there’s anything else I can help with, feel free send me a PM