Hi. I’m currently in 8th grade and 13 years old. I am serious about having a career at Princeton. I started school early for my age. I’m in advanced math(enriched geometry) and next year as a freshman in high school I will be taking algebra 2. I plan to take almost all AP classes next year. Right now I’m pretty advanced for my age. I’m in advanced language arts too. I have all A’s in all my classes and throughout my whole middle school career I’ve always been in the A honor roll with no grade less than a B+. I always score advanced on all my state tests and always have since 1st grade. Recently I took a MAP math state test and scored 270 which is really advanced and I looked on a chart and the score for on track to an Ivy League school is 269. I scored one of the top scores in my grade. Next year as a freshman I plan to join math team and lots of clubs. I’m playing high school hockey for my school and plan to continue playing hockey maybe even at Princeton. I also took a state MCA test and scored advanced and one of the top scores in my grade. I was just wondering if I continue this path I could have a chance in getting into Princeton.
Princeton has a 6.1% acceptance rate. Many, most even, of really awesome students get rejected. It’s great to have a goal, but please don’t get too set on any university with a low acceptance rate.
Take fun and challenging classes in high school, participate in activities you enjoy (depth is better than superficial breadth), and start worrying about colleges in junior year.
:Based on how you’re doing now you’re on track to attend a good college. It might be Princeton. It might be another great school. Keep up the good work!
Schools like Princeton are looking for the best of the best. They reject kids with perfect test scores, perfect grades, perfect activities, and a combination of all three. It seems like the best way to get into a school like this is to literally start a business or a charity. I would say dedicate yourself to activities and jobs that suit the major you will be pursuing. Start a club in your school if there isn’t already one (or start another one anyway just to show you take initiative). I would also start looking for Princeton alum to build a relationship with who could potentially write you a letter of rec. A friend of mine has perfect grades, test scores, does mission trips every year, wrote a paper redesigning the IV system, and spent a year writing an entire thesis on redesigning wheelchairs which he is currently making a model of, and just got deferred (hope he won’t mind that I shared all that…). I wish you the best of luck but want to stress that the Princeton admissions process is not all about grades and testing. I am giving you some tough love but it is because I think you have a chance because you are so dedicated this early (: rooting for you! HOWEVER in 8th grade I wanted to go to Harvard or Stanford and I didn’t end up applying to either. You may also want to relax until you start doing real college tours and finding out what you are looking for in a school. The school that gives you that “golden feeling” may surprise you.
I have two slight concerns:
One is that while you should continue to consider Princeton as a possible school (it is a great school), there are a LOT of other great schools also. There are big schools, small schools, engineering-focused schools, liberal arts schools, many great schools in the US and more elsewhere, … When the time comes you will want to consider a range of schools and figure out what is a good fit for what you want to do.
The other concern I have is that you don’t want to stretch yourself too thin, or take on too much too early. I have heard of cases of students burning out. For example, I have seen posts on CC of students who were failing Calculus as a high school freshman or sophomore. There is no need to take Calculus until you are ready for it (I took it as a freshman in university and still ended up as a math major at a highly ranked university). However easy schools seems now, there really are very hard classes that you will get to, and you want to take them when you are ready and not sooner. Life is not a race.
I agree with @pinkzebra1234 who said “You may also want to relax until you start doing real college tours and finding out what you are looking for in a school”.
I think that you will do very well when it is time to look at universities. However, have some fun between now and then.
It is way too early to think about specific colleges (especially the hyper-competitive ones). You are in middle school, you have no HS GPA, you have no standardized testing.
I’d strongly recommend that you give up the idea of a dream school and when the time comes work to create a solid college list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable and that you would be happy to attend. The people I see who get hurt by the college admission process are the ones who focus on one or two hyper-competitive schools and then don’t get in. With acceptance rates of well under 10% there is nothing you can possibly do to insure your acceptance at a school like Princeton as there is simply not enough space for the school to bring in all of the exceptionally well qualified candidates. You need to expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.
You also must recognize that HS should be an experience in and of itself – a time of learning and growth and not just a 4 year college application prep experience.
It is great to take school seriously and know that college will be on your horizon, but it is too early to start planning for specific colleges. I would highly recommend that you get off of CC until your junior year.
For now you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardized tests.
–Get involved in activities you care about and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.
I also have taken a pre-ACT test earlier in the year(everyone had to take it at my school) but I have yet to get the results back. Thank you all for the replies! It really means a lot! I know I am still young, but I’m very mature for my age and like to plan things out. However, I will take your advice, thank you!
I would just like to say that you should work hard etc but be yourself. If you try to be who you think Princeton wants you to be you are wasting your time. Good luck. I also think @happy1 is 100% correct.
You didn’t mention it so I will. Read for pleasure and try to expand the types of books you read for pleasure.
I agree with wcharter2. Do your best and have a varied and interesting high school resume. Do alot of volunteering, leadership along with some fine arts. Why do you think you want to go to Princeton?
@Dolemite gives excellent advice!
Here’s what I would do: Pick something you’re truly passionate about. For me, it was math and science. Next, ask guidance if you can take summer courses to skip certain classes to enrich your passion. In this manner, I personally skipped algebra 2 and am currently taking pre calculus (almost the same as algebra 2 though :D, just sounds cooler). Just pursue that passion like you mean it! Doing too many extra curriculars is good if you can do them all, but make sure your GPA/scores don’t get affected by it. For example, in the end of eighth grade, I received a perfect score on the math SAT (I know, I know, its only up to algebra 2), but I feel the only way I did that was by dropping some “useless” extra curriculars. Mainly those I wasn’t interested in, and devoting that earned time towards my passion. Now, as a freshman, I’m working on my english. (680, and trying to increase! lol) Btw, I loved the princeton campus when I visited it, you should take a visit!
*Edit was too add more info