Am I spread too Thin?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

Greetings lads,
In the coming week I have off as a result of Florida’s sporadic doomsday weather, I am hard at work revising and finalizing my common application. As context, I am a White, unhooked, male attending the top independent day school in my county and am #3 in my class. Last year, the entirety of the top 7 students received t20 offers. I am personally motivated to study biophysics and economics, with hopes of earning an MBA in the future and exploring career options in managing Biotech development in the immunotherapeutic treatment of Alzheimer’s. My extracurricular profile is quite diverse and I am wondering if it conveys an unintended sense of well-roundedness Every activity I’ve participated in has come solely from enjoyment, and I’d appreciate any tips to ensure that this message is evident.
Here goes:
SAT: 1560 (790M, 770R/W)
ACT: 35 (35 E, 35M, 36R, 35S)
SAT II: 800 BioM, 790 Math II, 790 Chem
APs : 5 - Bio, Chem, APUSH, Euro
4- CSA, Latin, Seminar
DE - Calc II, A
GPA : 3.99/4.0 UW (1 A-), 4.6 W
Senior Courses:
AP Lit, AP Research, AP Psych, AP Gov, AP Econ, Post-AP Multivariable Calc (Math progression at my school is odd, no AB offered, and I Dual Enrolled Calc II so I could reach Multi), AP Physics E&M, AP Physics C, Math Modeling Honors

Awards: AP Scholar with Distinction, The Maureen O’Donnell Oxford Classical Dictionary Award, given to students who win four National Latin Exam gold medals, (~450 Students Nationally), A couple of regional Scioly 1sts and 2nd (Huge region), 6th in state Latin Grammar, 15th Nationally Latin Grammar, Designation as top STEM student of my class, Debate Regionals

ECs:
Research Position at a local Tech College (11-12)- Ecological Biology research, I produce data that will be published. I really love the project, even if it doesn’t seem to fit perfectly with my career aspirations.
Mu Alpha Theta (10,11,12)- President 12th. As president I have digitized the school math tutoring system, ensuring it operates much more efficiently. I have also started outreach at a local impoverished middle school.
Science Olympiad (10,11,12)- Several Regional awards and President.
Entrepreneurship Club - (12), Cofounder, president. I have worked closely with a local entrepreneurship institution to provide a very motivated group of kids at my school with the opportunity to start a business. We have secured funding and are teaching the younger students alongside a mentor.
Speech and Debate (10,11,12)- Secretary, I have attended several National Tournaments, won a couple of awards regionally, and have tutored middle school members.
Academic Team (10,11,12) - 2x District Champs, Captain
Latin Club (9,10,11,12)- Secretary, several decent results at state and national conventions.
NHS- Secretary, started a book drive
300 Hours Volunteering at a local ER

My school list is as follows:
Reach:
Princeton (First Choice, likely SCEA), Penn, Harvard, Brown, Stanford, MIT, Vandy (Wouldn’t attend without significant merit aid
Match:
Boston University, Northeastern, USC, UNC-CH, Georgia Tech,
Safety:
UCF, UPitt, UF (In-State/Exceptional record with school)

As is, will my resume prevent/drastically decrease my chance of gaining admittance to the schools on my list? I am fully aware of the astoundingly competitive nature of these schools, but do you think I stand any chance at all in being admitted to Princeton SCEA or one of my other reaches?
Thanks for any feedback!

2

Your academic stats are incredibly impressive; I’m astounded you’ve kept all that up with your extracurriculars. I think your ECs will definitely help your chances of getting into these schools because you show both breadth and depth in each of these. You’re clearly not a career student who guzzles ECs and AP classes for the resume clout and forgets/doesn’t care after they’re over.

While you have an incredibly impressive resume, it will only get you so far. Your primary concern is whether you appear spread too thin and your related concern is whether it is evident you do these for enjoyment. A resume can only tell so much of that. It will depend primarily on how you characterize yourself and contextualize your accomplishments while sprinkling in how these activities made you feel, and your vision for your personal future and a global one. Your personal statement can’t be too broad, so try to pick a few different activities you can connect thematically, or pick the activities through which you’ve made the most impact. Also, Princeton gives you ample opportunity to elaborate on many of your ECs through its supplementals. I’m less familiar with the other schools’ supplementals, but I have no doubt the majority of them give you the same opportunity. Also, choose your recommendations wisely. If you play your cards right, you can accomplish telling admissions in depth about several of your activities through the voices of the people you know. (Ideas: Mu Alpha Theta sponsor? Digitizing the tutoring system probably won’t be the biggest item in your essays, but the teacher can give admissions another perspective into how you do stuff because you want to help people)

You’ve done a great job so far. I think you have a strong chance at admittance. Now, you have to package all that into your essays and figure out how much you can get your recommenders to say for you. Best of luck! You seem like a very intelligent and driven person.

3

Of course, your resume is not going to “prevent/drastically reduce your chance” of acceptances to Princeton and to the other schools on your list. You have a great resume, great test scores and grades, coming from a school that has the academics and counseling to facilitate selective school admissions

I think you’ll get into a number of your choices. The question is which ones. With single digit accept rates,Princeton is not a shoo in for anyone. Far too many applicants for the seats it has. You are doing just as you should , giving it your best go EA, and picking other schools as well. Hopefully you can get your applications out early to some state schools early so you have your safeties in place. With your stats, you are likely to get merit money at some of these schools. If FL, certainly BF. You are in contention for PItt merit too. Apply early while the funds are flush

I’ve been assuming you can afford all of your schools. Princeton is extremely generous with financial aid, but if it’s not enough, that doesn’t help you. Have you run NPCs for your schools? You mention that you need merit for Vanderbilt. Some of your other schools are just as pricey. Are you assuming NEU, BU , USC are going to come up with enough merit to make it worth while for you?

4

My daughter is P’23 and did SCEA. Her stats (4.0/4.8 GPA, same SAT and ACT) very similar to yours. She also started a nonprofit at her school and participated in various clubs and athletics. She was deferred but got in off the wait-list. She believes if she would have just done ED she would have gotten in during the initial round. The Princeton grant is very generous. The elite schools want to know you want them the most. SCEA puts you at a disadvantage of not showing you want the school the most and also does not allow you to apply to any other private schools.

Best of Luck

5

I like to start with the safeties. I will admit that I live way to the north of you (Dorian has not gotten here yet). However, from everything I have heard UF is a great university. Given your stats and being in-state really should make it a safety. Having a safety that strong to me takes a lot of pressure off the rest of the entire process, and frees you up to apply only to schools that you are really interested in.

I think that you are competitive at any university in the US, and probably any English language university in the world. That does not necessarily mean that you will get in.

You have a rather long list of schools to apply to. Are you fine being full pay at any of them? If not, then you might want to run the NPCs and use the results to drop a few that are likely to be unaffordable. Are there any on the list that just would not be worth the price compared to in-state costs at UF?

6

[quote=“mara15, post:4, topic:2065062”]

… She was deferred but got in off the wait-list. She believes if she would have just done ED she would have gotten in during the initial round.

7

If I’m not mistaken Princeton does not offer ED, only SCEA (Single Choice Early Action) non-binding or Regular Decision.