<p>You’re obviously a strong candidate; to claim otherwise DOES reek of false modesty, but honestly, I’m used to seeing it on CC. Your reaction to others’ negative comments could also have been much better.</p>
<p>^ Does Penn give merit aid? I didn’t apply, so I never looked it up, but I thought no Ivies gave merit aid?</p>
<p>I agree with everyone else about your ECs. Some of them are very impressive, but they are buried in a bunch of random activities. Here’s something that really helped me when I was communicating my extracurricular involvement to the University: Focus on tangible achievements. Your awards are a good start, but for example, as Historian for DECA, what did you personally do? Why should colleges care? What does this show about you? For example, don’t simply put down “Intern at XYZ Nonprofit”. Also write about what you did, like “I managed all advertising for the nonprofit for 2010, including an online marketing campaign. In total, I was in charge of allocating $120,000 in marketing funds.”</p>