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

[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.

Each school will only take so many students so if you only have a graduating class of 100-150 students, they will only take a handful at best.

[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.

Your daughter must go to Sidwell Friends. They have done very well in the last few years (and maybe before that too) sending students to Penn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a junior who has taken a rigorous courseload over the last 3 years. All As thus far, but she is most likely going to end up with a B+ in AP Calc AB.

Her dream school is UPenn. She always knew this was a reach school (the only IVY on her list), but now feels that she has no chance with a B in AP Calc AB. Is it accurate that this probably takes her out of the running? She is really upset and I want to console her, but want to also be realistic. She is well aware that Penn admissions is a lottery even amongst the most competitive candidates, and there is no pressure from me/husband about going to a T20 school. Still, it's where she truly, deeply believes she will be happiest....

She is well-rounded and has strong ECs (all local though, no state/national awards). Her LORs and essays will be excellent, as she is well-liked by her teachers and a wonderful writer. SAT 1550. FWIW, she will be a humanities major and never wants to take another math class after HS. Her father and I are both legacy at Penn grad schools.

Serious question: It’s November. How do you know now what your DD’s final grade for the course will be in June?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Your daughter must go to Sidwell Friends. They have done very well in the last few years (and maybe before that too) sending students to Penn.

I thought 0 students got into Penn last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Your daughter must go to Sidwell Friends. They have done very well in the last few years (and maybe before that too) sending students to Penn.

I thought 0 students got into Penn last year.

well there are two on the Instagram page alone. Both URM.

[Anonymous]

Who cares, what major is she picking

[Anonymous]

DC thought half the buildings were ugly and that the students looked miserable. Hated Penn and moped through the whole tour. Yes, he got in, so not sour grapes. Cue the hate mail, but it is not everyone's dream school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the DC private world and the ONLY (and I mean ONLY) Penn admits I've known in the past 5 years are:

1)Crew recruits
2)URM, generally plus legacy and often plus big $$
3)legacies, generally plus big $$
4)valedictorians who have grades that make you go "how was that even possible?" (because they got As in every class where the teacher gives maybe one A per year).

Agree--#4 describes the 2 local kids we know, one from our private HS, one from MGLWS. Got in RD last year. no hooks at all. Almost all A+, not just A. Insane stats and ECs all around. Knew an ED kid from mglws who was very slightly "less" , ORM, ranked top5% which means all As there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the DC private world and the ONLY (and I mean ONLY) Penn admits I've known in the past 5 years are:

1)Crew recruits
2)URM, generally plus legacy and often plus big $$
3)legacies, generally plus big $$
4)valedictorians who have grades that make you go "how was that even possible?" (because they got As in every class where the teacher gives maybe one A per year).

Agree--#4 describes the 2 local kids we know, one from our private HS, one from MGLWS. Got in RD last year. no hooks at all. Almost all A+, not just A. Insane stats and ECs all around. Knew an ED kid from mglws who was very slightly "less" , ORM, ranked top5% which means all As there.

[Anonymous]

URM possible, otherwise don’t sweat it, UPenn like Harvard on a downward slide anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC thought half the buildings were ugly and that the students looked miserable. Hated Penn and moped through the whole tour. Yes, he got in, so not sour grapes. Cue the hate mail, but it is not everyone's dream school.

Wow. That was really impressively tone deaf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC thought half the buildings were ugly and that the students looked miserable. Hated Penn and moped through the whole tour. Yes, he got in, so not sour grapes. Cue the hate mail, but it is not everyone's dream school.

Why did he apply if this was his impression?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My niece is at Penn with 2 Bs (physics and Calc). No hooks. Middle of the road public. Stron everything else. She is a history major.

The key here is it’s a middle of the road public, not helpful/applicable when our kids are in strong schools

Your Schools can’t be that strong if the students keep getting rejected.

You pay for a rigorous education to prepare your child for a top college and middle of the road public school students are the ones seen as prepared well enough to be admitted.

[Anonymous]

Holton had 12 girls going to UPenn during 2019-23. Many of them were not athletic recruits/legacies. In fact, UPenn seems to be one of the schools where top stats unhooked girls can still go (unlike other Ivies).

[Anonymous]

Her SAT should help her, but to caution you, don’t expect your legacy status to boost your child’s chances of acceptance. I used the CDS to determine that my undergrad school is statistically a hard target for my child based on his stats, he has leadership, sport, and volunteer hours (over 300 in hs), an unweighted 4.0, A in both semesters of AP Calc AB in junior year and a 4 on the exam, and he was just waitlisted at that school. It is not as prestigious as UPenn. Legacy status made us an odd target for marketing from competing institutions as well.

I’m delighted with where he will be attending and it is the right fit for him. I’m glad that I didn’t over promote where I went to DS. We are a classic donut hole family and the college he will be attending is a favorite of families like ours who want our kids to graduate debt free.