Chance Me for Princeton SCEA?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

Princeton is far and away my first choice school. Please estimate my chances of acceptance as best as you can, though I know its difficult with top-tier schools.

General

Race: White (I am Middle Eastern, but this is counted as ‘white’ on apps).
Gender: Female
Financial Need: No financial need
State: New York

**School gives no class rank or GPA, and, as everyone in my class of 100 is very private/competitive I have no way of estimating my rank. They will only send a transcript to schools.

**Transcript:/b

Freshman Year:
English I: A
History: A-
Physics: A-
Algebra II/Trig: B+
French I: B+

Sophomore Year:
History: A
English II: A
French II: A
PreCalculus: A-
Chemistry: A-

Junior Year:
AP Biology: A
English III: A
US History: A
French III: A-
AP Calculus: A-

Senior Year: (Classes only)
AP Calculus BC (Semester 1) / Multivariable Calculus (Semester 2)
AP Physics C
AP Government
Shakespearean Tragedy (Semester 1) / AP English (Semester 2)
French IV

**A note re: the rigor of my schedule: this is just about the most rigorous program offered by my school. If one took every single AP the school allows the top students to take at any point he or she would have 7 AP’s, and I have 6. The discrepancy would be APUSH on top of AP Bio and AP Calc in the junior year.

Total UW GPA: 3.8
Total UW GPA w/o freshman year: 3.9

SAT/Subject Tests

SAT: 790 CR, 740 M, 780 W (10 Essay, 77 MC). Total: 2310.

This is not a super scored value, and I only sat the test once.

Literature SAT II: 770

Math SAT II, Level I: (First attempt: 730), Assume second attempt is 750+

Biology (E) SAT II: Assume 750+

My sophomore and junior PSATs were 204 and 206, respectively, if this matters. Enough to get commendation, but not enough for Semi-Finalist (225 cutoff for NE boarding schools applies)

What I think:

Strongest part of application: SAT, science research ‘hook’

Weakest part of application: GPA :frowning:

How do you think my shabby freshman year will impact my chances? Does Princeton really not weigh freshman year in GPA?

2

I really don’t respond to Chances threads, but Princeton does use freshman year in calculating GPA (the school policy changed at some point, but most applicants don’t seem to be aware of this).

3

I am not certain that there is much of a difference in a GPA of 3.8 vs 3.9 in Princeton’s view. What is important is that you fall within the generally acceptable range of GPA and test scores, which you certainly do. Your extracurriculars look solid as do your awards. It does not hurt having a sibling at Princeton as well! I am sure you realize that no one but admissions can tell you if you will be accepted, but it appears you are a competitive candidate. Good luck!

4

You definitely look competitive! Good luck!!

5

Are you a junior or senior? I will say I know someone who played a sport that he had to quit due to injury in 10th grade (would have been recruited). He got a mix of As and Bs. Then junior and senior year straight As. He ended up at Yale instead of Princeton. If you are not applying until next year you may want to look at them. Also Yale is trying to develop their engineering school. My friend may major in science but is not an engineer and did not apply as one. He did have some other talents

6

@SaphireNY, I am a junior.

Would applying as engineering not look strange with my biomedicine background?

Thanks for the input!

7

Not at all, have you looked at the majors? I expressed a strong interest in biomedical engineering based on a STEM project I did at school. So far not helping so not sure you want advice from me!

8

Those are definitly some competitive stats, although sometimes non-academic activities cover for low GPA, I wish you good luck anyways! :smile: