Chance me for Princeton From South Dakota [3.95, 1570, 1/50 rank, physics major]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Hi,
I’m a rising senior from a small town in South Dakota wanting to apply REA to Princeton for Physics. My family is low-income and my public high school isn’t very rigorous and doesn’t offer many AP classes. My public flagship isn’t very academic(nor are any SD schools) and I’ll need a lot of aid, so very stressed about getting into good out of state public of private. I also don’t like the people in my environment as their pretty closed minded, very socially conservative, and religious(not allowing birth control or talking about LGBTQ+ people reiglious), so I really want to go out of state.
Sat: 1570
Unweighted GPA: 3.95
Rank: 1/50
EC: Editor of Newspaper, Captain of Soccer team(not good enough to be recruited), captain of math team, president of women in STEM, and heads peer tutoring club for kids in middle schools.
9th Grade Classes:
Honors Bio
Honors English
Honors History
Honors Spanish 2
Honors Geometry
10th Grade:
Honors Chem
Honors English
AP Euro
Honors Algebra 2
Honors Spanish 3
11th Grade:
Honors Precalc
AP Physics 1
AP US
AP Lang
AP Spanish Lang
12th Grade:
AP Art History
AP Spanish Lit
AP Lit
AP AB Calc
AP Bio
AP Pysch

My school doesn’t offer BC, AP Chemistry, AP Physics C/Mechanics, or any comp sci classes so I hope I won’t be marked down for a less rigorous schedule.

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Apply and see. You are a competitive applicant…as are many others applying to Princeton.

Good luck!

Get working on the rest of your application list, and particularly ones where there are early deadlines for scholarship and honors college considerations. You need some sure things for admission and affordability. Plenty of colleges out there to consider.

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We’ll they need someone from
SD and you are extremely accomplished.

It’s a tough admit but someone is getting in. Why not you?

So make no mistake. It’s a high reach. But. Why not you ?

You are worthy.

Best of luck. Whoever gets you will be lucky.

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I think I’ll be a National Merit Finalist based on my PSAT scores(1600) so that will hopefully open more merit doors if I don’t get into top private school with aid.

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@AustenNut suggestions??

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I’m just nervous about weak ECs, since there aren’t any viable places for internships and mine seem kinda mundane(school government + clubs/sports).

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Assuming you have tenure in them, define where they are weak ?

NMF will open up free to very low cost at very good schools.

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My entire list is:
Reach:
Princeton(REA)
Yale
Columbia
Amherst
Williams
Duke
Stanford
Harvard
University of Pennsylvania
Target:
Grinnell
Wake Forest
Bowdoin
Safety:
Alabama
USD(really don’t want to go but feel I should apply)
University of Vermont
University of Arizona
Auburn
Ole Miss

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I read on here about people winning national competitions, having great internships, and starting organisations while all top applicants probably have great leadership/involvement at school

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PSAT max score is 1520. And there are a lot of schools that will want you and offer merit.

As long as you are taking the max rigor your school allows(and it looks like you are), you won’t be “marked down” for not having Phy C or BC Calc.

I’m sure there are plenty of people that can chime in and offer suggestions for merit schools for an excellent student like yourself. But definitely give Princeton a shot. UChicago is also a good school for Physics and Chicago is very blue. Good luck!

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Sorry that was a typo I meant 1500 lol

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Chicago is another one I forgot to list along with JHU. My parents aren’t willing to take me to any of these schools so I’m just going on reputation lol

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No need to apply to USD if you can afford one of your other safeties.

Also Tulsa would be a free full ride at nmsf and it’s closer to your desired schools size wise.

You basically are going big or going home.

There are some very aggressive smaller schools if you don’t want the huge. A Truman State for example. Kalamazoo but don’t know your budget and then Tulsa is legit as a school and in cost of nmsf.

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Sure 99% of them cure cancer but others work in grocery stores or at McDonald’s or just are kids - like you.

You don’t lack !!!

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Good idea, I’ve always assumed you needed to apply to your flagship but I’m pretty sure I could afford/get in my other safeties so probably can take off list. Will look at Tulsa, but I’ve always been nervous Oklahoma is like SD, even more so than some of the bigger southern schools

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If your family earns less than around $65k, I would definitely look into QuestBridge: QuestBridge | National College Match. You can rank up to 20 schools and potentially be matched to the highest school on your list that is also wanting to admit you, and students accepted via QB receive a full ride, I believe.

I’ve heard good things about the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. If you’re quite sure on physics (or another STEM major), you might want to consider it as one of your in-state safeties.

If you’re wanting a more liberal environment, I’m not sure if Auburn and Ole Miss are the best fits for you. U. of Maine or U. of Louisville also offer generous merit to National Merit Finalists and might be more liberal as well.

This thread is also a goldmine of info: Big merit NMF/NMSF schools and their specialties

My brain is losing steam, but I’ll come back later with other suggestions.

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Agree on concern about Auburn or Ole Miss, I just assumed they were big enough/had enough out of state students cause of aid to make a difference. Is Alabama also pretty conservative or is it more diverse?

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Unfortunately the more souther/conservative colleges seems to have great aid. Wish places like Michigan, UNC, Wisconsin or UVA had more aid(my advisor said they were very bad for OOS)

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Although I heard University of Vermont was good for aid

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My advisor only looks at public flagship safeties so I’m just trying to figure out what some good non-public safeties are