Although I hate chances' threads.....

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>Hi! I am a very very nervous rising senior applying to Princeton, one of my dream schools. </p>

<p>Anyways, here are my stats</p>

<p>Ethnicity: African American female
Location: VA
Income: Very very low income; large family; parents did not go to college. dad works crappy job 24/7 </p>

<p>GPA: 3.77 (UW) 4.73 (W)
Rank: 2 out of 366
PSAT: 195 (National Achievement Semi-finalist hopefully)</p>

<p>SAT’s: Superscore: 1380/2110, highest composite: 2070 (after 3 retakes.....should i retake in October? I haven't taken any prep classes and the avrg SAT at my school is a 1300 out of 2400 (I was the only person in my junior class to break 2000, and the only one applying to P-ton) But then again I dont want "Taking the SAT" to be on my list of EC's haha)</p>

<p>ACT: will take in October, hoping for 33-34</p>

<p>SAT II's: 700 Spanish, will be taking US History and English Literature</p>

<p>Course schedule: Very rigorous. IB diploma candidate. Enough said</p>

<p>7 on my IB Spanish exam (SL)</p>

<p>AP’s:
AP World History: 5
AP Euro History: 5
AP English Language: 5
AP Spanish Language: 4...boo hoo
AP Bio: 3 (with good reason)
AP Scholar with Distinction!!! (I’m the first to get this award as a junior; most AP students get 1’s, 2’s, and a few 3’s.)</p>

<p>EC's, Awards, etc.-- relatively strong, but in CC standards, mediocre. I've received mostly school/county awards but a couple national/state ones.
I have a lot of leadership--- I will be Prez of spanish club, and hopefully president of Service Club. I can list on and on award everything I do.....but you never know who is reading your threads hehe. </p>

<p>Mentor for little kids
Over 300 hours of hospital volunteering
P-T job at Burger King (yum)
Harvard Book Award recipient
Governor's summer school (selected, state-wide)
Many many school awards (language student of the year, chemistry awards, etc.)</p>

2

<p>location says none of your b but you say you're from virginia now :p</p>

<p>I think the low income and race will boost your app but what do I know?</p>

3

<p>Considering your environment, I say you have a shot. Do you have any expectations regarding letters of recommendation and your essays? It sounds like you would probably have some teachers that would give you fantastic recs, considering you do so well amongst students who do so poorly, and if you write well you definitely have a shot, though it's hard to judge. The main weakness, to my non-professional eyes, seems to be that you don't have an affinity for math/science at all: are you signed up for APs or IBs your senior year in math or science?</p>

4

<p>It is perfectly okay if you don't have a strong math and science background. I came to Princeton thinking you needed high scores in all subjects, but I soon met people who were far from being stellar math and science students.</p>

<p>I've met plenty of people on campus who never took classes like chemistry, physics and calculus at an advanced level (some not even at all). If you are an aspiring English or Comparative Literature major I don't think the admissions office will hold it against you if you didn't take Calculus BC.</p>

<p>The irony about Princeton students is that many of us who aren't math/science/engineering students often avoid classes like Calculus when attempting to fulfill distribution requirements even though many of us took these classes in high school.</p>

<p>Good luck in the admissions process!</p>

5

<p>Thanks guys!! Next year, I will be taking both IB Biology HL and AP Chemistry. I really like science but had terrible teachers last year, and was not able to learn enough material to take SAT II's in bio or chem.</p>