<p>I wanted to see what you guys think about my application to penn in the fall as an early decision candidate. I know there are some really great people surfing this subforum so i decided to stick the thread here instead of the normal chances forum.</p>
<p>Anyway here it goes:</p>
<p>Applying ED for LSM (CAS second choice)
(Also applying to ucla, uc berkeley, uc davis, cornell, dartmouth, harvard, yale, princeton (throwing my hat in the ring for the last 3))</p>
<p>Public HS (sent 2 to penn this year)
California
White Male
Financial Aid: No</p>
<p>*GPA: 3.8/4.6 by the time I apply
*Rank: 2% (10-12) 5% overall (bad freshman grades)
*SAT: 680 CR 710 M 720 W = 2110 (retaking in 2 weeks)
*SAT II: 760 chem 740 us history (taking Math II next fall)
*Taken the absolute hardest schedule. </p>
<p>ECs:</p>
<p>School related:</p>
<p>*Baseball 2 years (then got injured, had surgery, couldn’t recover)
*Student gvt Treasurer 1 year
*student gvt Fundraiser 1 year (established school store. huge pain in the ass. Spend an amazing amount of time here and really care about my school)
*Math Tutor 3 years
*Math Honors Society</p>
<p>Work Experience:</p>
<p>*Hedge Fund
*Orthopedic Practice
*Working in a Penn Lab (Lynch Labs) this summer with the post docs who run it and some undergrads who are also working</p>
<p>Misc.:</p>
<p>*Penn summer science biomedical research program (where i met the guy in the lab for the job this summer. Have great rec)
*Doing research with malaria and other parasites at same penn lab
*Taking Econ this summer at penn
*Publishing paper in national skin disease magazine in september. Not sure how many issues there are, but the institution is comperable to the American Cancer Society
*started playing around in the stock market at 12, now manage money for family friends</p>
<p>Well, I could really use any tips you guys have. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Forgive my statement of the obvious, but you need higher SATs. Your ECs seem pretty balanced and your GPA is solid, but not amazing. Really focus on writing excellent essays and getting as strong of recommendations as possible.</p>
<p>Hey bud, dont worry youve got a great resume. You seem to have done alot of work at Penn reseach wise (I did the biomed program last yr too). SATs need to go up. You will do fine on Math 2C given that the curve is really easy and that you seem to be good at math. You only really need 2 SAT2’S…</p>
<p>Um…rank will hurt you a bit b/c if you look on the site it basically shows that if your school gives a rank you better be in the top 3 (under top 3% = bad chances) not fair, but what can we do. </p>
<p>Write good essays too. This is important. Dont write about how you worked at Penn and loved it and stuff b/c thats too cliche (everyones gonna write about stuff like that). Write about something INTERESTING or DIFFERENT that will catch their attention and make then look at your application twice.</p>
<p>Good luck. I’m EDing at Penn too so well see in Dec. Really, its a crapshoot so you have as good of a chance as anyone.</p>
<p>I’m ED’ing it at Penn too next fall (go figure).
I think good chances, and I hope mine are as good.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, your SAT’s and SATII’s are the same as mine. Choices of which to take, scores, and all. However, your GPA kills mine.</p>
<p>Being a white male from California, you’re definitely going to need to pull that SAT up… I would aim for 2300+ to be honest.</p>
<p>Your SAT IIs are good though.
Your GPA is decent – The average class rank for admitted students is 4%, and yours is 5%, so you’re definitely going to need to compensate (by scoring very well on the SAT), especially considering your ECs are good but sort of mediocre (for Penn).</p>
<p>of course, like aformentioned, the SAT’s need to go up. I got in with a 2280, but a 2250 would be pretty safe i’d say. sat2’s will fly. </p>
<p>Now, I really think that if you convey your application the right way, the adcoms will really get a good feeling from your application. Play up all your research, establishing the school store, and the money management. Yet at the same time try to keep these things out of the essays. Maybe choose one of the accomplishments and really give it a lot of effort in one of the essays.
Another option would be to do the hardest essay prompt (a page out of your autobiography) and put a lot of planning time into it. </p>
<p>If you emphasize the right things in your application and balance it, I think you’ll be ok provided you keep up your grades and bring up your SAT.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, neviar. In order to play those things up I would have to write about at least one of the topics right? Otherwise I would just have them listed… (I’m planning on writing about them with the LSM supplement that talks about interest in management and science). Other than that supplement, I have(started) written the autobiography one you are referring to that has absolutely nothing to do with my ECs, but really conveys what kind of person I am. so, how can i play them up more?</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>