I recommend that she take a detailed look at the Huntsman program. It sounds like it is perfect for her interests and with her stats, legacy, and URM status she has a very good chance. Princeton does not have a similar program that I know of, and admission will be less likely.
She may still get be able to get into Huntsman via regular admission, but her odds are lower.
I don’t think it works quite that way. Being Hispanic is one hook or checkbox or however you want to conceive of it. Being first generation is another. Being full pay is another…
So your D being Hispanic and full pay may open doors slightly. The top schools want all kinds of diversity. They don’t want all the Hispanic kids on campus to be low income or first generation, just like they would not want them all to be rich and famous.
I’m going to out on a limb here and predict the OP’s DD will get into Princeton SCEA. She has great stats and is obviously engaged in her activities and community. But-- will she have spectacular recommendations? Is she known to have a great attitude with teachers? If she has “skeletons in the closet”, (any character faults noticed by teachers and GC? Disciplinary problems?)–those would sink her chances.
Princeton has the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs, a fantastic department which is now open to all Princeton students (you used to had to apply as a sophomore and it was quite competitive.) She might want to take another look at Harvard- the Kennedy School of Government has excellent international courses, impressive world leaders who pass through for classes and seminars, etc.
@fauve - I sure hope your prediction is correct. Those recommendations worry me too. One has no control over therm, and these teachers and the college counselor need to say she’s one of the top few they have seen in her career. My daughter is not even the top student in one of the classes in which she asked the teacher for a recommendation. She just got an A+ for the first time on an assignment in the class so I am waiting to see if she ends the year with an A- or an A. The teacher is known for writing great recommendations, but if she doesn’t get an A in the class, I believe she should ask another teacher where she is clearly the top student in the class.
She did not like Harvard. She found it completely overwhelming - all the tourist, being shown the dorms where Gates lived, where Facebook was founded…
Bottom line, I recommend SCEA to Princeton, EA to Michigan, Rolling Priority (by Nov 1) to Wisconsin in an almost trivial application.
I can’t imagine liking Michigan and not liking Wisconsin.
This will guarantee a good safety without violating Princeton’s SCEA, and without having to rely on holistic admissions.
@Ldoponce While the academic side of the rec is important, Princeton will also be looking carefully at the character side of the applicant. Integrity, honesty, generosity, and intellectual spark will be more important than whether she is number one or two GPA-wise. (As long as she is in the top 2-3% rank-wise.)
ClassicRockerDad has a good plan–with some luck she may not have to finish all those other apps come mid-December.
@Consolation - Rolling admissions at Michigan doesn’t exist anymore - they now have EA and RD. EA hears by mid-December but they do defer many of the tippy-top students who they think might have applied ED somewhere, and then accept them in January when they haven’t pulled their app.
My younger son got a fabulous recommendation from his pre-calc teacher even though he only got a B+ in the class. The teacher really got my son, and understood that his problem with memorizing facts slowed him down, but that he showed real mathematical thinking in his answers. (Like the time he recreated the Pythagorean theorem from first principles!) But figuring out who will write you the best letter that also meshes with the picture you are presenting of yourself is a real art.
I like ClassicRockerDad’s plan too.
@Ldoponce , your D doesn’t have to have an A in a class to get a great recommendation. Your D should ask a teacher who she really likes, and who really likes her. Recommendations are not just about getting the highest grade. They are about effort, and how a student works with others, personality, and those intangible qualities that can’t be conveyed by numbers and activities.
We never saw my D’s teacher recs, but they must have been very good. One teacher she asked was for a class she struggled in initially. But she went for extra help, she tried hard, she ended up really enjoying the class and eventually got a good grade in it. It was by no means her strongest class. The teacher recs are important because they give the college an insight into an applicant’s character. Your D should ask for a rec from the teacher she feels will best convey her character to adcoms.