Ranto please help!!!?

Question

I asked this question before though none of these people can give a straight answer like you...so here it it.

I messed up my first two years of high school badly, with a 2.65 and 2.71 GPA. I am going to work my butt of this year and aim for all A's. I been taking practice SAT's, and my scores on those have gone up to around a 1700, though I am also going to continue studying for them and bring them up as much as possible. I did XC the last 2 yrs, and I am doing it this yr as well. I have 250 volunteer hours completed, 50 a library, 100 at the YMCA where I worked with little kids as a basketball coach or a summer camp leader, and I have 100 done at a non-profit store called 10,000 villages. I went to Upenn because my uncle lives near it and when I saw it and walked around for a while, it was like I had an epiphany. I know I belong there and I want to go there, though what can I do to get in? Just do my best and hope for the best? I am willing to do anything to get into it, so please if anyone can help me out let me know what I need to do.

I know this is my fault, though I know for a fact I did not put forth my best effort the last two yrs, though that is going to change from now on.

My goal is to get a 2000+ on SAT's, and the 1700 was a practice test and I have only been studying for SAT's 1 month. If I study 5-6 more months, I should be able to get around a 1900-2000.

Answer 1

I answered your other question last night -- perhaps after you asked this one.  I think it is too late for Penn -- but not too late for a decent school.

Here is what I said

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To get into Penn, you will need an unweighted GPA above 3.8 and SAT scores above 2100.

I applaud your efforts to get a higher score and to get higher grades. Doing that will get you into a decent school. But realistically, the Ivy League is a near impossibility for you -- as are any of the other schools in the top 20.

Extracurriculars are great -- but they are easy to pad and hard to verify. Therefore they don't help you nearly as much as people think. Spend a lot of time on your admissions essays. They are what will help you differentiate yourself from other students. If you are able to bring up your grades as a junior, that will give you a good topic to discuss.

Answer 2

To make you stand out a bit, I would consider asking some of your high school teachers if you can do special projects with them. You can also, believe it or not, ask the professors in UPenn in the field you plan to take if they have any projects as well. I would try the later first as having a UPenn's professor giving you a recommendation would go a long ways to getting in that specific university. Knock em dead :)