<p>Hi I’m a senior at my school and I am first in my class, I have a lot of activities like everyday with leaderships positions and everything, a bit of a story behind me, and I have a recommendation from Governor Rendell of PA who is a Penn alumni, but the only thing worrying me is that I got a 1820 on my SAT, do I still have a good chance???</p>
<p>An 1820 SAT score has very little chance without a huge hook.</p>
<p>I do kind of have a hook, Governor Rendell of PA wrote me a letter of recommendation which is kind of huge cause he is still heavily involved at Penn and even teaches classes so?</p>
<p>The Gov. better be willing to lobby the admissions board on your behalf.His letter might help if he actually wrote it(not his secretary) and he supervised you in someway.Good Luck.</p>
<p>academics are the foundation - unfortunately, you can’t really replace that with a rec letter. But, best of luck anyways!</p>
<p>What does your letter from Ed Rendell say? Did the Governor supervise your work, so that he can address your dedication and perseverance? Did he teach you in a class, so he can say something about your intellect?</p>
<p>Or is it just some letter from a politician (admittedly, a pretty famous one) for the son or daughter of a constituent? Because that really won’t do anything for you.</p>