Chance me SCEA Princeton Biology Major!

Demographics

  • Gender: male
  • Race/Ethnicity: asian
  • Type of School: public semi competitive
  • Hooks: none

Intended Major(s): molecular bio; minor/concentration: neuroscience

Academics

  • GPA (UW/W): 4.0/4.53 (one A- freshman year)
  • Rank (or percentile): school doesn’t rank
  • Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 12 by senior year - 6 taken in school, 6 self studied
  • Junior Year Course Load: calc 3/linear algebra, ap chem, ap lang,
  • Senior Year Course Load: ap stat, ap spanish, ap lit, ap psych, differential equations/complex analysis, independent study (neurobiology)

Standardized Testing

  • SAT I: 1590 (790 ebrw, 800 math)
  • SAT II: 800 math 2, 800 Bio M, 790 Physics
  • AP: All 5s: apush, calc bc, bio, physics I, comp sci A, macro, chem, enviro, micro, physics c mech, lang, physics c em

Extracurriculars/Activities

  1. Nj governor’s school in the sciences: biology/neuroscience related classes; research project in chemistry/neuro stuff (will hopefully be published in journal)
  2. summer research program at a university - quantified change in gene expression in tumors for a brain cancer; designed a molecule to serve as a potential inhibitor of a brain cancer; another summer research program at university: learned about dna sequencing; published 2 dna sequences
  3. Varsity tennis (captain)
  4. Boy scouts (eagle scout)
  5. President of stem entrepreneurship club at school (~100 members)
  6. science olympiad (executive board member) - few first place medals at invitationals like yale, upenn, Princeton
  7. cofounder of certified 501c3 nonprofit that provides local tutoring; 200+ students, 500+ hours
  8. Columbia science honors program
  9. volunteer at American red cross and local hospital (>200 hours)

Awards/Honors

  1. eagle scout
  2. USABO semifinalist
  3. presidential volunteer service award - gold
  4. national merit semifinalist
  5. ap scholar with distinction

Essays/LORs/Other

  • common app is pretty/very good
  • one recommendation will be excellent (tennis coach + ap chem teacher), one will be alright

Cost constraints
none

please also recommend me some match schools; will be applying to many t20s and ivies

Are you premed? If so, does “no cost constraints” include four years of university plus four years of medical school with very little or no debt? Medical school is expensive.

Do you have solid safeties in mind?

Clearly you are very competitive for Princeton. It is very hard to predict whether your chances are about equal to the acceptance rate or maybe a bit better. It is still a reach. Everything about your post is excellent, but most applicants to Princeton are also excellent.

You need solid safeties. Are you in-state in New Jersey (I am just guessing based on “Nj governor’s school”).

I think that you are going to do very well wherever you end up going to university.

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@sciencesayv First off congrats on a great High School Career. Your resume is a perfect example of what a lot of kids who post here miss (that more is not really more). You profile says to me I’m focused and dedicated to what I do (Eagle Scout, tennis captain, Volunteer 200+ hours for ARC), great grades and great test scores

Agree with the other poster, remember if you are looking at Med School in your future, your ultimate goal is to become a Doctor, not get a bachelors from an Ivy League school.

You should certainly have, Rutgers, Pitt, Michigan on your list. As a NJ HS student with your stats you are basically looking at a free ride to RU and opportunities for great internships considering you are smack in the middle of almost every major Pharma company.

Another option would be USNA - Graduate from Annapolis at zero cost and then get the medical school of your choice paid for alone with a a stipend of $2200 a month, plus a full salary while on active duty (6 weeks a year). After Medical School you need to serve for 4 years at full pay. In the end you bank account would be about $1M fatter by the time you are 30 then going the full pay route.

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As a Columbia Science Honors student, why not Columbia? By virtue of that program, it might help. Your stats are certainly within range for Princeton, but I think its a wildcard.

to put into perspective: about 8 ppl from gov school go to UPenn and princeton each. 2 go to Columbia

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“no cost constraints” includes all of undergrad and most of medical school. I still haven’t figured out if I wanted to get an MD or MD PhD so the cost really depends. The only safety in mind I really have is Rutgers and Umich (which is obviously more of a match). I replied in the response below, but Princeton is decently common amongst gov school graduates. Please lmk if you have any other insights!

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I’v been an alumni interviewer for Princeton for over a decade for some of the top high schools in my state. Many of these students have superb academic records and extracurriculars. In all my years, only one of the students I’ve interviewed has ever been admitted to Princeton. I cannot tell you what the magic admissions formula would be. I encourage you to keep your options broad. So many exciting opportunities await you! You are worthy of any school and will make your mark.

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