Non traditional International prospective with many "anomalies". Any chance at all?

Colleges & Universities University of Pennsylvania
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<p>Hi :)</p>

<p>I am international prospective student, looking to join UPenn. I’ve skimmed through the website, looked at the Youtube videos, and I’m mighty impressed with the school and the attitude and the outlook of Upenn.</p>

<p>I admit I have not completely ‘dug in’ and gained the maximum amount of detail on the University, but I am anxious to get the answer to my question and have a hard time waiting to completely finish researching.</p>

<p>I am 21 years old (will be 22 in July, i.e., before I apply). I had to stop education after high school 5 years ago due to financial issues. I’ve been freelancing as a web developer since then.</p>

<p>My grades are not good: 80% in my 10th and 80% in my 12th grades (which I believe translates to about 3.2 GPA) in Andhra Pradesh state boards in India (not the more well known CBSE). I had never participated any ECs, nor do I have any awards/accomplishments to list.</p>

<p>My chances from that data, as far as I can surmise, are non-existent.</p>

<p>However, I am well prepared for the SAT. I will take it soon, and I’m sure of a 2300+ score in both SAT1 and a couple or more of SAT2s. I am also good with English, and I’m confident of a great score in TOEFL.</p>

<p>I have had a “different” life experience. I have experienced homelessness, and complete financial breakdown along with my family. We have since risen from the ashes. Over these years, I have gained a lot of experience and knowledge in programming and designing. I am planning to release an open source ad server written in PHP soon.</p>

<p>I was in small time private high schools in small towns (in fact, I had to change schools 5 times in 7 years), where staff and faculty are in constant flux, so I am fairly certain none of the teachers I was familiar with are around any longer. Getting recommendation letters from them is quite impossible. However, I can get great recommendation letters from clients I had worked with, for whom I built software and websites. I can count Doctors, developers from the US and Australia amongst them.</p>

<p>I am not looking for financial aid.</p>

<p>Looking at the above, do I have any chance of being enrolled if I apply to UPenn? Do the redeeming qualities I mentioned have any hope of balancing out the negative points of my resume? I have read other Ivy league websites (Harvard and Columbia’s SGS particularly), where they are welcoming of non-traditional students as long as they display an ability to make the best use of opportunities the Universities present, however, there was nothing mentioned in Upenn’s website about this.</p>

<p>As a final question, what other Ivys might be more kindred to my ilk of students? I will gladly research this myself, but if you know any, please do drop a line :)</p>

<p>I’m sorry about the huge length of this post. Thanks for reading!</p>

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<p>Firstly securing 80% in 12 th grade in India does not mean a 3.2 GPA , the grading system is a lot different and adcoms are well aware of it.
Secondly life experiences and what u learn from them mean a lot ,in my opinion u “should apply to the ivies for sure”.
Not having awards and EC’s can be largely accounted to the events of ur life, no one can have leadership positions in a school, if he changes his school 5 times in 7 years.
Thirdly the main factor in your admission would be ur life after u dropped out,mainly-“whether u did justice with ur life or not”.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the kind words mechrockz. I’m sorry about the ‘kind of repeat’ nature of the question - you had responded in the India section, but thank you for once again patiently reading and answering :)</p>

<p>This gives me reassurance, to be worth the consideration of the Ivies is something awesome, and would lend meaning to everything I’ve been through, so this is very important to me. I will certainly apply now… have a great day!</p>

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<p>I’m sorry mechrockz, I mistook your handle for someone else’s, you had not responded back then, but probably read it since you’re active in that section too… :)</p>

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<p>The essay will decide whether you will be admitted, because you have a “story” which will likely attract adcoms, and the essays are now the medium for you to convey this.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

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<p>Thank you for the response, deathblade. Indeed, I recognize the importance of the essay. I will put the most effort into it, and try to come up with attractive and meaningful writing.</p>

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<p>nothing to contribute really, but i hope you get in somewhere really good…i think you deserve it :)</p>

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<p>shrey228, I wish there was a +1 button here, like on StackExchange. Thanks! Blessings and Good wishes are more important than people realize :)</p>

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<p>^ +1 :)</p>