Chances for Princeton, ETC

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Junior right now, stressed beyond words. IMO, my academics are pretty good (though GPA will be like, screwed this year), but I'm lacking in those spectacular extracurriculars. I'm also pretty quiet... don't really talk to my teachers much or anything.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 UW
PSAT: 226
SAT I: 2350
SAT II: Math IIC= 800, Biology= 750, Korean= 780
- Will take Physics, US History, and possibly retake biology. Excepting 700's.
AP Biology Exam: 5
- Will take Physics C, US History, Calc BC, French Language. Expecting 3-5 on all. Possibly even a 2 on physics C or french.
Next year: AP Chem, AP French Lit, AP Gov, AP English Lit</p>

<p>Main Activities
Violin (forever) - regional orchestra, district orchestra, some chamber groups
Piano (almost forever)- high scores on national piano playing auditions, festival, etc (I'm better at violin than piano)
National French Honor Society (10, 11)- Historian
National French Contest- 8th place in nation, 9th place in nation
Biology Club (9, 10, 11)- Secretary
Biology Olympiad Team (10,11)- semifinalist, maybe finalist if I'm lucky
Korean School (forever)- school award since 1st grade and straight A's (haha not that it really matters though)
AMC- qualified for AIME
Volunteering + random summer government leadership things</p>

<p>Essay: pretty good hopefully
Teacher Recs: okay
Interests: Biomedical Engineering, Pre-Med</p>

<p>That's all I can think of right now lol. </p>

<p>Schools I'm interested in:
Princeton (Engineering) (Thinking about ED)
Stanford (Engineering? Maybe.)
Columbia
Duke
MIT (Engineering. What else.)
Cornell (Engineering)</p>

<p>Comments? Advice? Any brain-boosting potions I can take? Thanks.</p>

2

<p>You have nice scores and gpa, but when I look at your profile, I see nothing to really distinguish you from the rest, especially your extra-curriculars, which seem lacking.</p>

<p>Maybe you're better at violin and piano, but the impression I get is that everything is pretty typical.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the honest opinion. For violin, I've been in several selective orchestras like regionals and I was concertmaster once (the orchestra only had like 30 people but hey no one has to know...), but sadly I'm not one of those violin geniuses who wins competitions.</p>

4

<p>Like all the other 20,000 kids with similar excellent stats and impressive ECs who will apply, you have about a 20% chance of being accepted at Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, and MIT, probably a 25% chance at Duke and a 30 to 40% chance at Cornell.</p>

<p>Click the link below. It's the stats for last year's class at UPenn. It'll give you a pretty good idea of what the Ivies and other top schools are looking for.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/profile.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissionsug.upenn.edu/applying/profile.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Now, considering your stats and ECs, you should apply to those schools, but you need to look outside the top 10 as well. For example, if you're interested in engineering, you should look at Carnegie Mellon. If you want to go pre-med, look at Washington University in St. Louis. There's other great schools as well. Don't confine yourself to HYPS and MIT.</p>

5

<p>I think that your best chances are at Cornell and Duke, but I see no reason not to apply for the others.</p>

6

<p>I agree with amptron2x. Again, when looking at your stats and accomplishments, I basically see a well-rounded applicant. If I were you, I would perhaps send in a CD recording of violin or piano to highlight something and make myself stand out.</p>

<p>Good luck :)</p>

7

<p>Wow I looked at that link... I had no idea UPenn favored instate kids that much. (Then again.. UPenn... University of Pennsylvania... should've seen that coming.)</p>

8

<p>add some safeties</p>

9

<p>Your SATs plus GPA are just IMPRESSIVE.
You will certainly be give a serious consideration at these schools, but as people've said, your chances are somewhat slim. In your ECs, you certainly don't want to put something like "volunteering + several random government things." <<< it's evem better not to put them on your app. </p>

<p>ALSO, COMMUNICATE with you teachers! If you don't care about them, they won't care about you either! Teachers are not going to write you an impressive rec. when this student doesn't even talking to them for the entire year. Tell them your thoughts, feelings, goals, ambitions, and ask for their honorable advise on certain things you are not sure about. Teachers are actually really "smart" people, since they know clearly in their mind whom they prefer the most, and whom they loath the most. </p>

<p>An "Okay" rec. isn't enought.</p>

10

<p>what is your rank?</p>

11

<p>amptron's on crack if he really thinks you have a less than 50% chance at Cornell.</p>

<p>Cornell is a safe match for you.</p>

<p>Princeton ED: Slight reach
Stanford: Reach
Columbia: Match
Duke: Match
MIT: Reach</p>

12

<p>Is rank even important if a high school doesnt weight grades? A lot of lazy people taking easy courses could be ranked in front of hardworking students who take many APs.</p>

13

<p>the college will definitely look into what subjects you took, that's why its better to have hard courses with a 3.7 than easy ones with a 4.1.</p>

<p>agree with flippy... although talk to your teachers! get to know them and vice versa (although not the point of being a shadow). learn to be more sociable. you'll need it for your recs, i think.</p>

14

<p>Guys: Just a reminder that if someone's applying to an ivy, you can never really "predict" the chances of being admitted. Ivy admissions are getting so competitive nowadays that no one can say that they have 50% chance at Princeton or 30% chance at Harvard. </p>

<p>Also, Aroda, are you Korean? Since if you are, your "Korean" SAT II probably won't work in your favor just because of the lack of challenge.</p>

15

<p>Columbia?????? a match??????</p>

<p>think again........columbia has roughly a 10% acceptance rate, it's a match for no one</p>

16

<p>Princeton wants to build up its engineering program, so Princeton ED would make a lot of sense. If you want an overall well rounded education with spectacular engg, then chose Princeton. Other schools like MIT are well rounded in terms of courses, but not in terms of students. Princeton also wants more female engineers. I think you have a great chance ED Princeton.</p>

<p>Try to get a research opportunity or something this summer. Or do something to distinguish yourself. Your scores and academics are flawless, but ECs are not at the top of the heap relative to competition. The French contest is very impressive-- plan to talk about it in one of your essays. How many engineering applicants will have something like that? I'd bet close to none.</p>

17

<p>Thanks everyone :D :D </p>

<p>My school doesn't rank- if it did students would start killing each other out of competition. I am hopefully going to do some sort of research thing this summer, and enter Intel, Siemens, etc. Since my violin/piano aren't really impressive, I'm kind of relying on my biology-related extracurriculars (for biomed engineering or pre-med), french (my french teacher is the only one I talk to, mostly because I've had her for 3 years and she's the sponsor for National French Honor society), and AP Physics C (which I'm not really good at, but hardly any girls at my school take it). </p>

<p>Yes I'm Korean. American-born though. And yes SAT II Korean sucks and doesn't help anyway, that's why I'm taking lots of other SAT IIs lol.</p>

18

<p>Bump Bump Ba-da-bump.
Bump Bump Ba-da-bump.
Bump Bump Ba-da-ba-da-bump.</p>

19

<p>I think you have good chances everywhere...just a tip for your application: Because Stanford doesn't have an interview, they really need to get a good feel for who you are through your essays. Stanford weights a signficant amount on your essays, so make sure they are killer.</p>

20

<p>Thanks californiakid.
This is kind of a general question, but not really big enough to merit its own thread- does anyone know Dukes acceptance rate regarding ED vs. RD? I can't decide whether to do ED at some selective school that I really want to go to (like Princeton) or at Duke. I'm pretty sure I would be able to get into Duke ED, but I have no idea how hard it is to get in RD.</p>