UPenn Class of 2021 RD Results

LeftHandedWombat
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 04:42:13 +0000

Decision: Accepted (Wharton)

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): M:690 W:600 CR:800
ACT (breakdown): 33 R: 36 S: 30 E:33 M: 32
SAT II: Bio:800 US History:760 Math II:700
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):3.85 UW
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): mid 30’s/ ~350
AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH: 5 Human Geo: 5 Psych: 5 Lang:5 Calc:4 World: 4 Bio:3
Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP Stats, AP Micro and Macro, Calc 2 @ local college, AP Lit, Spanish IV, American Film (Independent Research Course I designed), and some filler classes (we’re on trimesters)
Major Awards: AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): STAND human rights campaign (w/ leadership role) Model UN (w/ lr), FIRST Robotics (w/ lr), Academic Bowl (for fine arts and spelling,) Link Crew, acted in the school’s musical, NHS, and a few other things
Job/Work Experience: Research my summer of Sophomore year, and I was an intern at a not for profit organization over summer of junior year
Volunteer/Community service: Dog Walker for humane shelter, graded math contests for the local middle school, volunteered at local holocaust museum,
Summer Activities: Conservation Leadership Conference and a Law summer program

Rate out of 10
Essays:
Common App Essay: It was about my social anxiety and was pretty personal, it was reviewed by a lot of people and was pretty solid 8/10
UPenn Essay: About my interest in Statistics and I tied it into childhood experiences and then into Penn’s programs. I didn’t have anyone check it and when I looked over it after it was submitted there was a typo or two, so like a 7/10
Teacher Recommendation: Didn’t read, but my 10th grade English teacher is also an academic team coach and club sponsor and I know her really well, so I would be bold to say 9.5/10. My other rec was my Calc teacher liked me but admittedly doesn’t know me all that well so most likely 6/10
Counselor Rec: She sponsored a club I was in, but still hardly knew my name somehow? Undoubtedly not too good 4/10
Additional Rec: My bosses from the not for profit co-wrote a rec. They really liked me, and I still volunteer so I think a solid 8/10
Interview: It was oddly formal, and I don’t think we really clicked but she was really nice and had a lot of answers to my questions 5/10

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Statistics
State (if domestic applicant):IN
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: Black and Hispanic
Gender: M
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, LGBT+, Statistics is a pretty uncommon major, especially for business school

Reflection

Strengths: ECs; Essays?, GPA had really strong upward trend, rigorous work laod
Weaknesses: GPA; and, to be honest I wasn’t extraordinarily invested in Penn at first and it may have come across…
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: idk honestly, I really wasn’t expecting very much. If I had to guess it’s probably the personality I put into my essays

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: UPenn, Cornell, UChicago, URochester, UWisconsin, IU
Waitlisted: Harvard
Rejected: Brown, Princeton, Yale

General Comments: I wasn’t in love with Penn when I applied, and the fact that I applied to Wharton left me 95% sure I was going to get rejected. U Chicago was my dream school, but now that I’m accepted and I visited both they’ve swapped places. Just be sure to give every school a fair chance; prestige isn’t more important that fit!

Everyone is saying do what you love, and that’s true! However, don’t be afraid to make the most of the opportunities around you. Colleges want to see passion, but making the most of a situation is never a bad thing.

ALSO: You can’t hear this enough. If you are applying to reach schools, please please please make sure you have a solid safety/targets to which you actually are OK with going!!! It’s really traumatizing to see people go to schools they hate because they didn’t plan out the “what if’s”.