Brown is pretty damn competitive, but Wharton in itself is one of the most competitive (if not THE most competitive, in terms of both number admitted and admit rate) undergraduate programs in the nation. Look at the University of Pennsylvania's admission statistics for my GPA range:
11% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
And that statistic is for the whole school. Imagine how much less it must be for Wharton.
I actually have a friend at Wharton. All I can say is congrats and good luck, and be ready to work your ass off ^_^
I had a very slim chance of getting in, but because I did something other than just focus on having perfect grades and scores, I was admitted. And it wasn't just luck; I admit I was very blessed, but I set myself up for success when I got deferred (I had applied ED), as I ventured into a very unique community service endeavor (no one else had ever done it in the world), and raised thousands for a few charities. That, I think, did it (and I was confident I would get in because of it). Obviously not my GPA or scores.
First, I'm sorry I came off as a bit of an ass, as I'm still kinda bitter (at the schools, not at the people who got in, I'm not alone here). Anyway, the fact that you raised thousands of dollars for charities is your selling point. They want kids that go out and do amazing things. Also the fact that you didn't just volunteer but you actually raised money helped you quite a lot with the top
business school in the country.
I think grades and scores are definitely important, but only up to a certain point, and once you pass that point, subjective factors become more important. GPA doesn't really mean much outside of the context of your high school so it's hard to give an example, but SAT wise, I think once you're at about the 2250 level, each additional 10 points doesn't really make any sort of difference. I didn't have shockingly good stats (~3.7/2300), but I think I managed to make myself really interesting in my application, wrote a really good essay, had unusual interests, etc, and that allowed me to get in over people from my school with marginally better stats (~3.9/2350) for example... because once you meet their "cutoff", extra points don't really mean so much.
Agreed. (Though you forgot to mention that admission rates jump for ED kids with your profile. High-powered schools love to see that you want them and not the other 7 Ivies or numerous Sub-Ivies). Also I've heard that there is little difference between 750-790 in individual subjects. The plateaus are 700 min, 750 is a cut above, and 800 is really a cut above. Anything in-between say 750-790 for example is comparable due to the way SAT scores can fluctuate based on the bell curve for a particular test. I got screwed in that regard, with a 770 in math that would have been an 800 the next month (two wrong).
Anyway, as a note to kind of sum up this post and my observances with the system as a whole:
To anyone wanting to apply to high level schools, do big things. Don't hesitate. Do anything and everything you can and excel as much as possible. Don't wait to do a charity "next year". Start early and show the schools that you're a dedicated person. Join sports and clubs Freshman year/Sophomore year. Participate in competitions. Then, focus on your SAT/ACT scores. Get them as high as you possibly can. Take them 2-3 times if you have to (I took the SAT twice and four different subject tests, one subject test twice). Do all of this
while maintaining your GPA. If your school ranks, shoot for at least top 5 if it's a really big school, top 2 otherwise. If you like one school above the others, ED there. It helps a lot. If not, apply to a wide range of schools. I made the huge mistake of putting my eggs into all the high-end schools. I was lucky to get into one and waitlisted at two. Nothing is certain. Finally, write the applications and get them checked as many times as possible. Make them perfect, grammatically and in content.
As an addendum, if you can't pay for college, make sure you apply for every little local scholarship you can. Most of the essays overlap and you can slightly edit them. Do this even before you find out how much financial aid you're getting. Those little $500-$2000 scholarships add up if you apply to a lot of them (17 and counting, not including an omnibus in-house scholarship that ~35 local scholarships from my school came under).
I could go into a ton of detail but my post would be huge and there are experts in each field both on Smogon and in the real world. Feel free to contact me in pm or on irc (or here but I'm not going to check frequently).
In conclusion, GO JUMBOS 2014.
(sorry Blackhawk11 I've been really busy and I forgot to respond to your pm! hopefully this post covers some of the stuff)
