<p>I know my SAT isn't stellar, as of yet (I plan to retake it one more time).</p>
<p>I'm graduating early, (skipping junior year for reasons beyond my control related to my family)</p>
<p>SAT1: 2080 (:/) 740 Math 680 Writing 660 Critical Reading (I think I can bump this up at least 120 points min.) planning on retaking
ACT: 31...35 math 31 english 31 science 28 reading no essay planning on retaking
SATII: 800 Math 790 Chem 710 Bio (took bio end of freshmen year)</p>
<p>GPA: unweighted 4.0/4.0 don't know how my school does weighted
I've taken all the hardest courses my school has to offer (except for language, I switched from french to latin)
Ranking: my school doesn't rank</p>
<p>AP: Calculus BC 5 subscore (5)</p>
<p>ECs:</p>
<p>Played Piano 5 years
Played Jazz Piano 1 year
Captain of JV Tennis: 2nd Singles 2 years
School Champion at Chess Club 2 years
Quiz Bowl 2 years
Latin Club 1 year
Computer Club 2 years
Sole member of School Webteam 1 year
JETS member 1 year
Junior Classical League 1 year<br>
Latin Honor Society 1 year
Science Olympiad 2 years
AMC12 participant 2 years
AIME qualifier 1 year
Math League 1 year
Columbia Science Honors Program 1 year
Honor Roll 2 years</p>
<p>Experiance:
First hand lab experiance working with nanoparticles and doing testing on its properties in Austin Texas (3 weeks)</p>
<p>Awards:
JETS national finalist
Medusa Exam top in school (I got the award below bronze medal)
Math League top in school
Siemens Westinghouse Competition Semifinalist</p>
<p>Recommendations:
I believe I'll get pretty good recommendations (perhaps one excellent one)</p>
<p>Hook:
Skipped a year in mathematics so I took Calc BC during sophomore year and maintained the highest grade in class</p>
<p>Edit: I'm an asian male from New Jersey</p>
<p>I realize the bad thing about my specs is I'm lacking a junior year, and thus don't have as many APs as other canidates and I have 0 hours of community service.</p>
<p>So regardless, what do you think are my chances at Princeton ED?</p>
<p>Honor Roll is not a EC. skipping a year in math isn't a hook. your SAT isn't spectacular; to be honest, for Princeton it's not even good. overall, the only thing that stands out seem to be the siemens (although i have absolutely no idea how prestigious is semifinalist). graduating early will hurt you.</p>
<p>i give a 30% chance ED. in other words, chances are you will get deferred, and then rejected. HOWEVER, you can greatly improve your chances (to 50% ED) by getting the SAT to 2250+</p>
<p>2250 woould not even close to give him a 50% chance while it would raise his chance. Asian from NJ, piano, math/science ECs but nothing exceptional and low SATs does not add up to a good chance. Your comprtition is other Asians from the E and W coasts who have 2350s, have been to RSI, won Intel, etc. I'd have to say very slim chance with a 2200 and current ECs. Take a gap year and do something exceptional for any real chance.</p>
<p>0 community service hours... that'll hurt you when going up against other candidates. My advice: take your only hook (siemens semifinalist), and expand upon it. Try to get published, and you'll have a shot (if you boost your SATs up 120 as well).</p>
<p>There's no harm in starting the community service now unless you can get hold of a lab so you could have a siemens submission done in the next 2-3 months.</p>
<p>"have 2350s, have been to RSI, won Intel, etc."</p>
<p>that's very extreme...</p>
<p>Here's what you do:
1. Get around a 2300 SAT...I think you could do that...especially an 790-800 on Math.
2. Enter Siemens Westinghouse and Intel STS.
3. DEFINITELY stress your research experience through essays. Can you get a sweet rec letter from a research leader/prof?
4. Do some Community Service...like 100 hours min. Do something you'd like, such as tutoring in math, physics, etc.</p>
<p>Princeton, in their ED pool likes to take mainly really high standardized test score applicants which is the area you are most laking. However, Princeton loves diversity and that crap so being a year younger may help you to stand out. Did you get published from the lab experience. The only chance you havae is your essays, and it doesn't look great. But there is the possibility of being deffered than accepted regularly. Colleges look favorably at deffered applicants come April b/c they know you want them bad!</p>
<p>Sorry, for reviving an old thread. Would it help if my paper will get published but not until June 2007 (it'll be presented in an international conference in baltimore, maryland and I'm going to attend a conference there). </p>
<p>During the time since I posted I've done like 50ish community hours for freelance webdesign, helping design websites for nonprofit organizations for a group called grassroots. </p>
<p>Another question, should I bother founding a club in senior year, or would it just seem like something I would do just to get points for the adcoms?</p>
<p>I can get a recommendatino from my mentor (from the research) but I was wondering if I should get a recommendation from the Columbia SHP program (I got into that like a year ago haven't really stood out or anything, it'll probably be just a generic form recommendation)</p>
<p>I don't think you should even apply because likely you'll get deferred and then rejected. Others pointed out, 2080 is decently low. Your EC's are bad because they're bland and you have no commitment in any of them, because you only spend 1-2 years in each. You have no community service, and it's too late to start now (20 hours isn't much even if you do it). Your hook isn't a hook. Honor Roll for only 2 years will hurt you than be an EC, because you should, as a Princeton candidate, be Honor Roll all years. And there's nothing there that helps pull you out of that hole... Unless the semifinalist was something special, which I have no idea.</p>
<p>Sorry for being harsh, but I think we need to choose the most realistic plan. I think you should find a more suitable school because you don't want to be disappointed.</p>
<p>Agreed. Given your current SAT scores, you have very little chance of getting into Princeton, but there are other very good schools out there where you'd be a competitive applicant. Assuming it's math and science you're interested in, take a look at the following schools:</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon
University of Michigan
Case Western Reserve
Georgia Tech
Rensselaer Politech
University of Rochester</p>
<p>That's just the few that came to mind immediately. There's lots more out there. Take some time. Do some research. You'll find them.</p>
<p>I'm going to have to disagree with coolsushicutter. If Princeton is your top choice, by all means APPLY! If you don't even try, you aren't going to get in. Ultimately, the choice is yours obviously whether you want to apply. Don't be discouraged by what you see on this forum. And to the posters who said the OP didnt have much community service for Princeton: So what if he doesnt have much community service? That time was instead put into passionate research in which he was able to garner Semifinalist distinction. It's not as if he wasted his time outside school.</p>
<p>Too bad thats the only distinction he got overall. I mean go ahead and apply, but we need to be realistic in my opinion. If you got low scores, you gotta balance it out with something really good. one semifinalist distinction isn't going to cut it in my opinion. its not he didnt have much CS, he had none.</p>