A Saxophonist's Chances at Princeton

<p>Hi I'm going into my senior year this fall and wanted to know how much of a chance I had at getting into Princeton. I went through high school with the idea I would major in music, but I decided that's not for me. So I realized my grades were halfway decent and wondered if music would help my application so here's what I have:</p>

<p>Academics:
Unweighted GPA: Somewhere around 4.2
SAT: 740 Reading, 730 Writing, 760 Math (took only once)
SAT Subject Tests: 780 World History, 790 US History
AP Scores: 5 on AP World History, US History, and Psychology
I've taken only those 3 APs, but I'm taking AP music theory, government, BC calculus, and literature in the fall.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-High leadership position in my school's marching band for 3 years (I'm quitting this year)
-High school jazz band
-National Honors Society
-German Club
-I volunteer monthly to perform at a nursing home and regularly at my church
-I give saxophone lessons at a local place
-I practice my saxophone at least an hour daily (if that counts)
-I take private saxophone lessons from the director of jazz studies at George Mason</p>

<p>Honors:
-Best tenor saxophonist in my county for 2 years in concert band
-Best jazz tenor saxophonist in my county for 2 years
-Second best jazz tenor saxophonist in Virginia
-Honorable mention at the regional science fair for a project on carcinogenic effects of tobacco and alcohol on salmonella
-Went to the Governor's School for music (they take 40 musicians among other artists from across Virginia to Radford for 4 weeks over the summer to learn from the faculty there)
-A handful of school level band awards like best in class</p>

<p>And hopefully I can show some diversity in the essays. I'm not all music; I just finished reading a book on quantum physics for fun, so I'm not that out of it. Do I have a good shot at getting in? I know these things are unpredictable but I didn't know how much of a difference music would make since they seem to love passion. And thanks for picking my thread out of the mass being posted daily here!</p>

<p>Everything looks stellar; I’m just wondering what your unweighted GPA is out of.</p>

<p>What I think is a normal 4.0 scale? An A+ is 4.3, A is 4.0, A- 3.7, etc.
I actually had weighted 4.49 cumulative at the end of last year, but with a .5 bump for honors classes and 1.0 bump for APs</p>

<p>bump for a second opinion</p>