B+ in AP Calc AB--UPenn still an option?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.reddit.com/r/WhitePeopleTwitter/comments/186n79l/she_got_really_lucky_that_her_mom_got_cancer/



Get some breast cancer and she's fine.

My daughter said writing about that stuff nowadays is a bad idea. She refused to write about my cancer - trauma porn is now frowned upon.

Kick it up a notch. Write about how trauma porn is now frowned upon

Dang she already wrote her essay. I’ll save that topic for my 9th grader. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will be a big reach. I am just trying to be honest with you. You need to lower her expectations NOW. DS got into Penn and had a 3.97 from a DC private with near perfect scores and high rigor. He went to different Ivy. Graduate school legacy matters very little at Penn. It is a harder admit for non STEM girls, too. To increase her chances, I would zero in on a very arcane major (one that they have trouble filling classes for) and write a lot about it in the essays (authentically). Consider having her apply ROTC, a big booster as a female applicant. Be very specific about what she brings to the Penn community in the essays. Have her fight to raise that B+ to at least a A-. AB Calculus just isn’t deemed very hard from a school like Penn’s perspective. Your daughter is being compared to her classmates (especially other girls) so if there is a hooked classmate or one with a better total package, it will be hard for her to stand out. Find matches and likelies. Good luck!

I don't see how you write authentically about an arcane major unless you were in fact interested in an arcane major prior to HS Jr year, and show something tangible to indicate that interest.

Don't have your daughter magically develop an interest in something obscure and then ruining her JR and 1/2 her SR year of HS trying to prove the interest.

It’s not that hard to be honest.
Create a club at school; add one or two other things and college counselors can help create a narrative. Search on CC for ideas .

Take the elective classes in that subject offered at your high school.

We’re trying it this year. I’ll let you know how it goes

How random could it be if your HS offers elective classes in it?

I was thinking you find a major that has maybe less than 10 kids at Penn graduate with that major each year...whatever the heck that might be?

It’s adjacent - fits into the whole narrative. Map out all of the students’ interest.

Look at majors at the schools and try and find ones that are adjacent. Then try to find corresponding classes this week to it, have the kid do an independent study on a niche topic, and have that teacher write the recommendation about that niche interest. Apply for a couple of awards or local or state recognition from really random obscure places.

This is not rocket science at all, but it does require a ton of research and it’s not something a 16-year-old can do alone.

There are a lot of ideas about this on college confidential, and Reddit

So, I hope it works for you...because you are absolutely proving the point of making your kid fairly miserable to go down this rabbit hole. I will agree that if you are willing to hire a 6-figure+ college consultant, I would assume they will essentially do all the legwork for you.

However, how do you make any of this happen if you are current a HS Jr. You won't be able to take these HS electives until next year, so you can't have your HS teacher write the recommendation about this niche interest.

Your kid must be younger. My comments were also factoring in time constraints.

If you have a junior senior, now, you might be able to look at other majors like philosophy… That’s an easy one or ancient history (instead of history)…. it really does depend on the specific interests of the kid already documented; and what their extracurriculars are already in.

You can really map this out if you spend time on college websites. And with kids resume.

Important to know what grades papers the kid has written in high school (that were particular interest or can be positioned of particular interest) that his recommenders might be able to speak to, and if any are at all related to niche majors.

Instead of being an English major be a comparative literature major.

Instead of a poli sci major, try philosophy, or an affinity/ethnic major if possible etc.

It takes hours of research to find the right fit here. And I have a senior and a younger kid in Hs.

Again, comparative literature is not an arcane major. Philosophy also is not an arcane major. Penn graduates plenty of kids each year in those majors.

I would think for this strategy to work, you need to talk about your lifelong interest in Piraha or another obscure foreign language (make sure Penn offers it of course). Really obscure stuff.

No: I doubt there are many comp lit majors! There were hardly any 20 years ago when English was one of the most popular majors. English itself is struggling to attract kids now, and philosophy is too. Russian also!

Whether this works as an admissions strategy though, I don’t know. I think of it seems too obvious it could backfire. And some of these departments are not especially well resourced for undergrad classes. They exist mostly for their grad students and don’t expect or need many undergrads.

They are not as many applicants in these majors as you’d think. Do the research yourself if you’re interested.

I’ll be happy to weigh in on what worked and didn’t work in the spring….
Signing off, so as not to reveal more of my secrets!
J/k

This has to be one of the more pathetic posts I ‘ve seen on this forum in a long time and that is really saying something. College admissions officers are well aware of this trick, if your school has a good college counselor they would have told you this. On the other hand, if you made your kid spend hundreds of hours on a subject in which they had no interest, what a bad life lesson, in many ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will be a big reach. I am just trying to be honest with you. You need to lower her expectations NOW. DS got into Penn and had a 3.97 from a DC private with near perfect scores and high rigor. He went to different Ivy. Graduate school legacy matters very little at Penn. It is a harder admit for non STEM girls, too. To increase her chances, I would zero in on a very arcane major (one that they have trouble filling classes for) and write a lot about it in the essays (authentically). Consider having her apply ROTC, a big booster as a female applicant. Be very specific about what she brings to the Penn community in the essays. Have her fight to raise that B+ to at least a A-. AB Calculus just isn’t deemed very hard from a school like Penn’s perspective. Your daughter is being compared to her classmates (especially other girls) so if there is a hooked classmate or one with a better total package, it will be hard for her to stand out. Find matches and likelies. Good luck!

I don't see how you write authentically about an arcane major unless you were in fact interested in an arcane major prior to HS Jr year, and show something tangible to indicate that interest.

Don't have your daughter magically develop an interest in something obscure and then ruining her JR and 1/2 her SR year of HS trying to prove the interest.

It’s not that hard to be honest.
Create a club at school; add one or two other things and college counselors can help create a narrative. Search on CC for ideas .

Take the elective classes in that subject offered at your high school.

We’re trying it this year. I’ll let you know how it goes

How random could it be if your HS offers elective classes in it?

I was thinking you find a major that has maybe less than 10 kids at Penn graduate with that major each year...whatever the heck that might be?

It’s adjacent - fits into the whole narrative. Map out all of the students’ interest.

Look at majors at the schools and try and find ones that are adjacent. Then try to find corresponding classes this week to it, have the kid do an independent study on a niche topic, and have that teacher write the recommendation about that niche interest. Apply for a couple of awards or local or state recognition from really random obscure places.

This is not rocket science at all, but it does require a ton of research and it’s not something a 16-year-old can do alone.

There are a lot of ideas about this on college confidential, and Reddit

So, I hope it works for you...because you are absolutely proving the point of making your kid fairly miserable to go down this rabbit hole. I will agree that if you are willing to hire a 6-figure+ college consultant, I would assume they will essentially do all the legwork for you.

However, how do you make any of this happen if you are current a HS Jr. You won't be able to take these HS electives until next year, so you can't have your HS teacher write the recommendation about this niche interest.

Your kid must be younger. My comments were also factoring in time constraints.

If you have a junior senior, now, you might be able to look at other majors like philosophy… That’s an easy one or ancient history (instead of history)…. it really does depend on the specific interests of the kid already documented; and what their extracurriculars are already in.

You can really map this out if you spend time on college websites. And with kids resume.

Important to know what grades papers the kid has written in high school (that were particular interest or can be positioned of particular interest) that his recommenders might be able to speak to, and if any are at all related to niche majors.

Instead of being an English major be a comparative literature major.

Instead of a poli sci major, try philosophy, or an affinity/ethnic major if possible etc.

It takes hours of research to find the right fit here. And I have a senior and a younger kid in Hs.

Again, comparative literature is not an arcane major. Philosophy also is not an arcane major. Penn graduates plenty of kids each year in those majors.

I would think for this strategy to work, you need to talk about your lifelong interest in Piraha or another obscure foreign language (make sure Penn offers it of course). Really obscure stuff.

No: I doubt there are many comp lit majors! There were hardly any 20 years ago when English was one of the most popular majors. English itself is struggling to attract kids now, and philosophy is too. Russian also!

Whether this works as an admissions strategy though, I don’t know. I think of it seems too obvious it could backfire. And some of these departments are not especially well resourced for undergrad classes. They exist mostly for their grad students and don’t expect or need many undergrads.

They are not as many applicants in these majors as you’d think. Do the research yourself if you’re interested.

I’ll be happy to weigh in on what worked and didn’t work in the spring….
Signing off, so as not to reveal more of my secrets!
J/k

This has to be one of the more pathetic posts I ‘ve seen on this forum in a long time and that is really saying something. College admissions officers are well aware of this trick, if your school has a good college counselor they would have told you this. On the other hand, if you made your kid spend hundreds of hours on a subject in which they had no interest, what a bad life lesson, in many ways.

More importantly, who has a 18 year old who is enough of a lemming that they'll follow mommy's directions with regards to their free time. This idea is so completely foreign to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:how about penn state? it's close in the name and may confuse people.

Genius.

My daughter, who will likely go to Michigan State, will be instructed to tell people that she goes to “Michigan” when asked.

Lived in Western PA. This name confusion happens and it makes UPenn people so mad it's kind of funny!!!

Now live in Michigan. Fierce football tribalism prevents any such confusion between Spartans and Wolverines. The partisanship is overt and distracting to those who don't care about sports, from elementary schools (MSU has a strong K-12 educator program) to the adult workplace and just around town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm also a UPenn alum and as I understand from conversations with the current Dean they are phasing out legacy somewhat or at least deprioritizing it significantly from what it was in the past.

So do share that with your child so they are not counting on it. It used to be a significant hook at Penn, esp double legacy like you have.

Dh and I are also double legacies and our DC did not get into Penn last year with great Stats. On our Wharton whatapp group, we are seeing that the only kids of fellow classmates who got in are URM or are extremely influential or rich. For our second child, we will not waste the ED on Penn. Penn is actively moving away from legacies, so I would not factor that into any decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will be a big reach. I am just trying to be honest with you. You need to lower her expectations NOW. DS got into Penn and had a 3.97 from a DC private with near perfect scores and high rigor. He went to different Ivy. Graduate school legacy matters very little at Penn. It is a harder admit for non STEM girls, too. To increase her chances, I would zero in on a very arcane major (one that they have trouble filling classes for) and write a lot about it in the essays (authentically). Consider having her apply ROTC, a big booster as a female applicant. Be very specific about what she brings to the Penn community in the essays. Have her fight to raise that B+ to at least a A-. AB Calculus just isn’t deemed very hard from a school like Penn’s perspective. Your daughter is being compared to her classmates (especially other girls) so if there is a hooked classmate or one with a better total package, it will be hard for her to stand out. Find matches and likelies. Good luck!

I don't see how you write authentically about an arcane major unless you were in fact interested in an arcane major prior to HS Jr year, and show something tangible to indicate that interest.

Don't have your daughter magically develop an interest in something obscure and then ruining her JR and 1/2 her SR year of HS trying to prove the interest.

It’s not that hard to be honest.
Create a club at school; add one or two other things and college counselors can help create a narrative. Search on CC for ideas .

Take the elective classes in that subject offered at your high school.

We’re trying it this year. I’ll let you know how it goes

How random could it be if your HS offers elective classes in it?

I was thinking you find a major that has maybe less than 10 kids at Penn graduate with that major each year...whatever the heck that might be?

It’s adjacent - fits into the whole narrative. Map out all of the students’ interest.

Look at majors at the schools and try and find ones that are adjacent. Then try to find corresponding classes this week to it, have the kid do an independent study on a niche topic, and have that teacher write the recommendation about that niche interest. Apply for a couple of awards or local or state recognition from really random obscure places.

This is not rocket science at all, but it does require a ton of research and it’s not something a 16-year-old can do alone.

There are a lot of ideas about this on college confidential, and Reddit

So, I hope it works for you...because you are absolutely proving the point of making your kid fairly miserable to go down this rabbit hole. I will agree that if you are willing to hire a 6-figure+ college consultant, I would assume they will essentially do all the legwork for you.

However, how do you make any of this happen if you are current a HS Jr. You won't be able to take these HS electives until next year, so you can't have your HS teacher write the recommendation about this niche interest.

Your kid must be younger. My comments were also factoring in time constraints.

If you have a junior senior, now, you might be able to look at other majors like philosophy… That’s an easy one or ancient history (instead of history)…. it really does depend on the specific interests of the kid already documented; and what their extracurriculars are already in.

You can really map this out if you spend time on college websites. And with kids resume.

Important to know what grades papers the kid has written in high school (that were particular interest or can be positioned of particular interest) that his recommenders might be able to speak to, and if any are at all related to niche majors.

Instead of being an English major be a comparative literature major.

Instead of a poli sci major, try philosophy, or an affinity/ethnic major if possible etc.

It takes hours of research to find the right fit here. And I have a senior and a younger kid in Hs.

Again, comparative literature is not an arcane major. Philosophy also is not an arcane major. Penn graduates plenty of kids each year in those majors.

I would think for this strategy to work, you need to talk about your lifelong interest in Piraha or another obscure foreign language (make sure Penn offers it of course). Really obscure stuff.

No: I doubt there are many comp lit majors! There were hardly any 20 years ago when English was one of the most popular majors. English itself is struggling to attract kids now, and philosophy is too. Russian also!

Whether this works as an admissions strategy though, I don’t know. I think of it seems too obvious it could backfire. And some of these departments are not especially well resourced for undergrad classes. They exist mostly for their grad students and don’t expect or need many undergrads.

They are not as many applicants in these majors as you’d think. Do the research yourself if you’re interested.

I’ll be happy to weigh in on what worked and didn’t work in the spring….
Signing off, so as not to reveal more of my secrets!
J/k

This has to be one of the more pathetic posts I ‘ve seen on this forum in a long time and that is really saying something. College admissions officers are well aware of this trick, if your school has a good college counselor they would have told you this. On the other hand, if you made your kid spend hundreds of hours on a subject in which they had no interest, what a bad life lesson, in many ways.

Agree 100% with your assessment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pitt is a much better school anyway.

Really? I've never heard that. Thanks for a first.

I graduated from Pitt and agree that's probably sarcasm. However, for someone who wants to be a really big fish in a smaller pond, Pitt would probably be more fun. Pitt has Rhodes and Marshalls scholars. Pitt grads who stand out get into prestige medical schools, Harvard Law, etc. The professors have good backgrounds and seem to enjoy teaching. The new Chancellor just came from U of MN for a pay bump and because her own son goes to Pitt. Pitt also respects the liberal arts more than a lot of big universities do - valuing writing skills/English, history, languages, etc. There are plenty of campus activities and of course if the school is somewhat less selective there's more of a chance that your child can lead or participate vs. not even making the cut. When I was in college, my close friend at Penn said many of her freshman friends were still bitter about not getting into Harvard or Yale. I wonder if that's still a factor but doubt there's any reason for that to have changed...teen ingratitude being a fairly durable tendency, LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pitt is a much better school anyway.

Really? I've never heard that. Thanks for a first.

I graduated from Pitt and agree that's probably sarcasm. However, for someone who wants to be a really big fish in a smaller pond, Pitt would probably be more fun. Pitt has Rhodes and Marshalls scholars. Pitt grads who stand out get into prestige medical schools, Harvard Law, etc. The professors have good backgrounds and seem to enjoy teaching. The new Chancellor just came from U of MN for a pay bump and because her own son goes to Pitt. Pitt also respects the liberal arts more than a lot of big universities do - valuing writing skills/English, history, languages, etc. There are plenty of campus activities and of course if the school is somewhat less selective there's more of a chance that your child can lead or participate vs. not even making the cut. When I was in college, my close friend at Penn said many of her freshman friends were still bitter about not getting into Harvard or Yale. I wonder if that's still a factor but doubt there's any reason for that to have changed...teen ingratitude being a fairly durable tendency, LOL.

Unfortunately, unless you go to Harvard or Yale or Stanford or MIT....there will literally always be some kids at any school that graduated from X but wished they were at Y.

I will say that Penn has Wharton and most of those kids are exactly where they want to be.

[Anonymous]

"Check out the DMV area admits for Penn. It's almost impossible for unhooked kids. The mid-Atlantic is not a desirable geography for Penn. There are so many smart, accomplished kids that want to go up the road to Penn. There is so much legacy."

This is not true for all schools. I just looked and my daughter's school has had 11 acceptances out of 50 apps at Penn in the last 3 years.

Despite popular belief this is not a crap shoot. These schools want to know who the kid is not just scores and numbers. They want to see that the kid brings "something to the campus" and arent just going to go to school and study. They want kids who will make the campus a better place. I dont know why this is so hard to undrstand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Check out the DMV area admits for Penn. It's almost impossible for unhooked kids. The mid-Atlantic is not a desirable geography for Penn. There are so many smart, accomplished kids that want to go up the road to Penn. There is so much legacy."

This is not true for all schools. I just looked and my daughter's school has had 11 acceptances out of 50 apps at Penn in the last 3 years.

Despite popular belief this is not a crap shoot. These schools want to know who the kid is not just scores and numbers. They want to see that the kid brings "something to the campus" and arent just going to go to school and study. They want kids who will make the campus a better place. I dont know why this is so hard to undrstand.

So true….
And scores and grades are really only the very first step, and not at all dispositive….
so much more than that.

At our school, there was one candidate who got in his scores and grades were lower than others who applied.

But she had a very unique and compelling interest/EC, story and life trajectory with that story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only number that would definitely get you into Penn is an erg score.

Facts.

[Anonymous]

At my DC’s private, the Penn admits are all crew or lacrosse recruits or URM (who are usually also legacies) at the top of the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my DC’s private, the Penn admits are all crew or lacrosse recruits or URM (who are usually also legacies) at the top of the class.

Yes. You’ve mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my DC’s private, the Penn admits are all crew or lacrosse recruits or URM (who are usually also legacies) at the top of the class.

Yes. You’ve mentioned.

NP, so I actually haven’t mentioned

[Anonymous]

just a quick warning - this is just an idea, not sure if it's going to work.

how about donating a kidney? and write about this? i think it's a win win for all.