<p>I really would like to go to UPenn. I’m a junior who’s taken a huge interest in pediatric neuroscience, and developmental psych cause I love working with kids! I also got a 2350 on a practice SAT I took so I’m planning to take it in January.</p>
<p>Here’s what I have so far:</p>
<p>Ninth: (there are no APs offered)
Geometry HN
Wld History HN
Bio HN
Economics and Personal Finance (it’s required)
English 9HN
French 2
PE</p>
<p>Tenth: (only 1 AP offered)
Algebra 2 HN
AP Wld History (4 on exam)
French 3
Chem HN
Photography
PE
English 10 HN</p>
<p>Eleventh:
AP Chem
AP Psych
Pre Calc HN
AP Lang
AP US History
Yearbook
Anatomy</p>
<p>I have a 4.2 weighted and 3.8 unweighted. </p>
<p>ECs:
Track and XC (2 years)
Internship at neuroscience clinic
Volunteer at hospital
Math tutor and babysitter</p>
<p>So i was wondering what i needed to work on. Btw I took photography and yearbook because I’m still a really creative person and I love art and writing!</p>
<p>Anyone? I truly want to know what I should focus on now :(</p>
<p>Please guys, I mean the forum is to ask things right?</p>
<p>Please be patient with forum responses! It may take a while to get people to respond to them.</p>
<p>I think you’re competitive; I wouldn’t say you’re a shoo-in especially because you haven’t taken the SAT for real (good job on the practice test though)</p>
<p>It’s good that you are still a junior, nothing in your extracurriculars is really so special that it warrants any admissions officer’s special attention, which is what you want. I would think long and hard this year about opportunities presented to you that you could participate in or drive your existing passions a new direction.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response, I’m sorry for the urgent tone. </p>
<p>I just got a job as a camp counselor at an arts center. Does that help?</p>
<p>What would you consider something to wow the admissions?</p>
<p>Your arts job will not help. Try to find a job or internship with something closer to your interest in medicine.</p>
<p>So should I get another internship? And I only wanted the job because I wanted to make my interest in arts prevalent in my extracurriculars, you know, to be a bit more rounded?</p>
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<p>I am sure this answer is well intended, but it’s just plain wrong. It’s a common misconception that your extracurricular activities and work experience need to match your intended major. But it’s a bunch of nonsense.</p>
<p>For one thing, most colleges don’t give a hang about your extracurricular activities anyway. There are over 2500 four-year colleges and universities in the U.S., and most of them will admit you if you’re academically qualified. Only the selective ones care at all about extracurricular activities, including work experience. And you see, these colleges know something very important: at least half of undergraduates end up taking a bachelor’s degree in a field different from the one they expressed interest in when they applied. This makes sense, especially at big, prestigious universities such as Penn that are filled with remarkable professors in fields of study that high-school students never even encounter. So, sure you can tell Penn what you think you want to study, and you can write an essay about your “passion” for whatever (I swear, if I read application essays, I would automatically reject any applicant who used the word “passion”!), but you don’t need to tailor your work experience to it. </p>
<p>If you like the job in the arts center, and you do it well, do the job in the arts center. And do it as well as you possibly can.</p>