I recently applied to Princeton, and was told by my GC that since I am a female that plans to major in chemical engineering and applied early action, I have a strong advantage. Is there any merit to this statement?
My GC said that she has heard being a minority (which she said being a female in engineering is) can be very advantageous in the early applicant pool. I still see Princeton as an extreme reach for everyone, and will just be holding out hope until mid-December (although the waiting is already getting to me and its only November 2nd!!)
Generally if an engineering school has close to a 50/50 ratio, women are accepted at about twice the rate as men are. However the advantage is probably not quite that high as the pool of women tends to be stronger than the pool of men. So you probably have a slight advantage, but your chances are still at best about 14%.
I certainly wouldn’t go as far as to say a strong advantage. Hope for the best and plan for the worst (meaning you have other schools/applications lined up in case you don’t get in to Princeton EA).
Every female BSE student that I know at Princeton was incredibly qualified to be admitted and without a doubt are there on those qualifications regardless of gender. Once upon a time when there was a dearth of women in the STEM fields it may have been true that gender meant a strong advantage. Now it may offer a slight advantage but definitely will not compensate for a weak resume.
@Cantiger - I dont think I have a weak resume - 35 ACT, 4.5 GPA, most APs in my schools history, solid recs (including one from a high profile person I worked with most of the summer), and lots of leadership. Im just looking for anyway possible to stand out in the extremely difficult process of Princeton admission. Who knows - I will just cross my fingers and hope the stars somehow align in my favor. Thank you again for your insight and taking the time to help me out!
@mathmom Thanks for the link! I read it over and it definitely had some helpful info. Because Princeton doesn’t specifically release their engineering statistics like Cornell, it is hard to gauge whether being female is an actual advantage. I really do hope so!!