God I wish my school had grade inflation. Nobody within the past five years has had an unweighted GPA over 99. Only about the top 1% has grades above 97; thank god my school doesn’t rank.
@jarrett211 I totally feel you, I know when there are other kids from my school on here (and I too have been called out)… yet I still feel like I have some sense of privacy/anonymity.
@Makooks @emilyskates I feel like a lot of people were primed for long term planning by their environment/families/etc. as early as like middle school so they knew to engage in unique and career related extracurriculars but like you guys were saying I never though about what I’d look like as an applicant until last year basically and my commitments are all over the place :((
Is it better if your school average is lower or higher? cuz my school probably has a school average of around 65 to low 70s…
Haha I got to the coffee shop before my interviewer and a few minutes later this lady that looked about the right age walked in holding a legal pad and a pen. She looked around the whole place like she was looking for someone, and then walked to the door. I was worried it was the interviewer so I went up to her and asked if she her for my interview (but I was really awkward about it) and she looked at me like I was crazy. So I had to sit down and wait some more. It was really embarrassing.
Anyone else have absolutely no ECs related to their intended field of study? Mine are decent but have nothing to do with neuro. At all. Just a ton of mission trips and music and a little bit of leadership
@decidophobia YES! EXACTLY!! My parents never pushed me or anything. They never signed me up for music classes or competitions or anything. I just had to find things to do on my own. My parents didn’t prep me at all because they didn’t think it was worth paying for all of that extra stuff and driving everywhere for it:/ so my ECS are very average if not below average:/( not just blaming my parents, I too should have had more initiative)
@ZaGongShow Since admissions officers look at you in the context of your own school’s grading trends, I don’t think it matters much. But when you’re looking at others’ stats on college confidential it’s good to keep in mind trying to compare GPAs from different schools is like comparing apples and oranges
My interview was virtual 
I live in PA so in theory there should be lots of interviewers in my area… Does this mean anything? They didn’t care enough to give me a non-virtual interview?
Speaking of apples and oranges @decidophobia
“How are apples and oranges supposed to be compared?” courtesy of UChicago
I live in PA too @SylvRsr
@SylvRsr I’m sure it doesn’t. I live in PA in a big city, and I think people around here still sometimes get virtual interviews b/c even though there are a lot of interviewers, there are also a lot of applicants and the interviewers are busy people
OMG thank you so much everyone!! 
and LOL @rosewood98 that’s going to be me
@SylvRsr I don’t think it means anything! I think interviews are randomly assigned, and a friend I have who lives an hour away from Penn also got a virtual interview
@rosewood98 Me. Like under the rock where I was apparently living I didn’t even realize high schoolers could conduct research at university labs and stuff like that but @Makooks you’re right lol instead of pitying myself I have to say part of it was my own fault and lack of initiative…
@rosewood98 @mirawan68 Thanks for the response! My interview was only 30 minutes and the skype connection was horrible. Oh well…
@rosewood98 @TheWaffleMan149 Does Penn prefer Pennsylvanians at all??
@rosewood98 I don’t do much else besides skate, and figure skating has absolutely nothing to do with economics or history. I’m toast.
@SylvRsr Yes they do prefer people who live in Penn…
I am actually from Canada so would I be at a disadvantage as they might view my application with more scrutiny?
@SylvRsr I doubt it. Although it probably is easier for you to visit/ get an interview.
@emilyskates individuality is good for an application
no need to cri
Lmao I still didn’t get an interview… I’ve given up I know it’s random and it (hopefully) shouldn’t hurt my chances.