Chances for Princeton REA?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I know the Ivies are a reach for everyone, but am I at least competitive? I haven't done any amazing ECs (highest level of honor was reaching the state level for Solo and Ensemble, but that's really easy to do anyway) and they barely show any of the "passion" that I see so much about here. I honestly wouldn't even apply if I wasn't a URM.</p>

<p>ACT: 34
SAT II: Haven't taken yet, planning on taking Bio M and Lit. Doing lots of studying, should be in the 700s
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5/430
AP (place score in parenthesis): Stats (5) English Lang (5) APUSH (4) APWH (4) Bio (4) Psych (didn't take)
Senior Year Course Load: 7 APs, 1 elective
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, National Achievement SF</p>

<p>ECs:
-4 years of marching band (on leadership team, sax drill/section leader 12th)
-Made region band 11th-12th, Went to State for Solo and Ensemble 11th-12th
-10 yrs of piano, ~15 or so minor awards
-Two independent research projects relating to music, about 65 hours each
-Led city-wide instrument drive to give instruments to local band programs
-Leads music workshops at local day cares
-Occasional volunteering at animal shelter & hospital
-Cultural organization (president 10th-11th, VP 12th)
-Boy Scouts/Eagle scout (senior patrol leader 11th-12th)
-Audio/Video committee at my church (director 11th-12th)
-Literary academic competition 11th-12th (team leader 12th)
-Key Club (Treasurer 10th)
-NHS, Mu Alpha Theta
-Psych club, Stat club, Risk club, Robotics I all mainly joined for fun and to meet people, no leadership roles here</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service:
-150+ hours
Summer Activities:
-2013 TX Boy's State
-Rotary Youth Leadership Awards
-Studied abroad in Italy, got credddittts
-Summer programs at various colleges
Essays: Should be really good, spending a lot of time on them
Recommendations: My planned recommenders (is that a word?) love me, so they should be pretty nice</p>

<p>Other
School Type: Large public (~2000 kids)
Ethnicity: Black
Gender: M
Income Bracket: 75,000-100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I'm Black, is that still a hook?</p>

2

<p>Impressive ECs! I’m sure your minority status will help as well! You are DEFINITELY competitive for REA Princeton.</p>

3

<p>^I completely agree :)</p>

4

<p>Forget Princeton. Go to Harvard. You are a lock unless you put something in the application that would disqualify you such as being a Christian or having a belief system in a free government by the people. Be careful on the essay and the application and while you shouldn’t espouse something you don’t support, on the other hand you don’t have to talk about something they would use to disqualify you. I would recommend you read a lot about Ben Carson for inspiration and then contact Dr. Carson personally and ask him for advice. I think he would be more than happy to respond. Also be sure you are prepared emotionally and spiritually to withstand peer pressure and professorial pressure if you are a person of faith.</p>

5

<p>@Graminator</p>

<p>What? How would being a Christian hurt my app? Your comment kind of confuses me</p>

6

<p>Anyone else? I chance back</p>

7

<p>“I know the Ivies are a reach for everyone”</p>

<p>Top colleges are reaches for every unhooked applicant.</p>

8

<p>20more- Implying that they’re not reaches? I hardly think that, even with the whole URM thing, I can say that any Ivies are matches</p>

9

<p>i still think you have fantastic ECs! your stats are great too, and being a minority will also definitely help. plus studying abroad is pretty different, too. i think you’ve got as much of a shot as any highly competitive applicant. still ivies are all reaches, so don’t expect too much. good luck, best wishes!</p>

10

<p>Completely competitive. Apply to a few Ivy’s I’m sure you’ll get into at least 1</p>