I’m only in eighth grade, but I have a sibling who is a senior in high school, so I’ve had a lot of exposure to the whole ‘applying to college’ thing. I want to go to UPenn with a burning passion. I’m thinking BME or Computer Science. Here’s the thing. I’m not the best student. I’m disorganized and until this year, I never realized how much harder I need to work. I’ve done crazy amounts of research about the UPenn admissions criteria, but I’m not sure how to really impress the school, even if I do manage to scrape the proper test scores. At the moment, standardized testing isn’t my thing. Two out of three years in middle school, I’ve been taking high school math classes, and also two years of a foreign language. I’m also in the Duke TIP program, and have placed in the state for SAT scores. I’m also a classical violinist, but in Indian music. I’ve planned out what courses I should take in high school, but I need help with what I should do outside of school to show UPenn that I would be a good candidate for their school. Any tips?
You are only in the 8th grade, so don’t worry too much yet. Just keep working hard, and keep getting the best grades (an unweighted 4.5+ cumulative gpa would be your best bet with an Ivy league school like UPenn. Take as many AP credits in subjects that you excel in if offered, that you can comfortably handle in high school, but don’t go overboard. Participate in extracurricular activities and get community service hours. Colleges like to see a well-rounded, strong academic student who’s actively involved in their community. However, everyone, even the best, most academically, well-rounded students have their limits.
Ivy League Liberal arts schools are big on five things: 4.5+ gpa students, students who take academically rigorous courses if offered, high standardized test scores, and family alumni (if your parents or grandparents graduated from UPenn, your more likely to get in).
Standardized test expected are in the 1980-2400 section for the SAT’s with the writing portion, which translates to a 30-36 on the ACT test+ writing. Those scores translate into the 95-99.96% percentile of students at or below the scores between 30-36 for the ACT. If you really want to improve your standardized test scores buy an ACT and SAT workbook. There’s an Official ACT test prep guide with 5 full length ACT tests called The Real ACT Prep Guide (http://www.actstudent.org/testprep/book.html). They also offer official SAT studyguide test books on the college board website along with a full online course (http://sat.collegeboard.org/sat-store). I was never a great test taker either, but I was never aiming for an amazing score to get into an Ivy League either. I just wanted to bring up my 19 composite score to a 23-25 on my ACT, and by studying hard for it, I did. I took tutoring classes my junior year as well. Take the ACT instead of the SAT, it’s a lot easier in my opinion. Since you are wanting to get into schools like UPenn, and your test scores are only so-so right now, start studying outside of school for them now until you get the score you are completely satisfied with when you apply your late junior or early senior year.
Also, just remember that college name means nothing. I was thinking like you before I graduated high school, thinking that I had to go to a big name school to feel like a successful, and fulfilled student in my parents perspective, but I learned that it means absolutely nothing if you get in, and then don’t work hard and move forward as a person. In short, don’t let the name of the college you go to define who you are as a person. I have an Uncle who was a Harvard graduate, who most likely smoked weed in college, and said that he wasn’t academically successful.
@ Robinsimha
- It is smart to think about this early if you are aiming that high
- Make a conscious effort to become more organized. It will become increasingly important
- Post this in the Penn forum and you will probably get a lot more feedback
- Penn is generally more concerned about grades and rigor over test scores, you will need a lot of A's to get into Penn. That should be your top priority if Penn is your goal.
Just make sure you reevaluate where you want to go to college ever few months as objectively as you can. A lot of students really like a college in middle school (when, let’s face it, you don’t know that much about it) and basically exhibit cognitive dissonance (wanting to go there just because they’ve always wanted to).
Also, and I tell this to everyone, please don’t get carried away. Those types of colleges have acceptance rates so low that being denied does not actually mean you’re not qualified or even any worse than other students they’ve admitted. The rates are so low that it’s exceedingly easy to get lost in the cracks, and a lot of students who “should’ve gotten in” don’t just because of the vast quantity of applications.
CORRECTION: Sibling is a junior, not a senior!!!
"Colleges like to see a well-rounded, strong academic student who’s actively involved in their community. " This was very true a generation or two ago. It is not any more. Your best bet is to forget about college right now. Pursue academics and one or two areas of interest in addition to your classes. Forget about advice like “take the most APs you can”. Ho hummmm Instead, be the best student you can be. Are you interested in biology? If so, see if you can get some experience in a lab at a local college. Identify one area in biology and learn all you can about it. Interview someone doing research on that topic and submit an article to your school newspaper about your interview. Go to a talk at the local college if someone is speaking on that topic. is your interest in English literature? I knew someone who was interested in a particular writer. She interviewed her and wrote it up for the school paper. She also explored some of the actual locations where the writer’s most popular novel took place. She also joined a book club run at a small independent bookstore. She was the only person in the group under 20. That did not deter her. Don’t worry about what every one else is doing. Use your imagination to stretch beyond the usual. If you do that for the next 4 years you will have no worries about college. But do you mean your older or younger sibling and are your interests still engineering? I’m a little confused about your profile.
How’d having a sibling in her junior year give you experience with college applications by January? That is very confusing. Must be confusing to you too.