<p>Ok so I'm a high school freshman with a GPA around 3.45 (not great) and Princeton (for a law degree) is my dream school. I'm also involved in things such as the Johns Hopkins Talented Youth Program and a Youth Leadership Programme at Cambridge. What are my chances of getting into Princeton at this rate?</p>
<p>Princeton has no law school. Also, you’d have to supply much more info to see. Such as SAT, extracurriculars, rank, etc. Also a lot changes in two years. Based solely on a 3.45, the chances would not be that great. You need get it to at least a 3.7.</p>
<p>Ok-sorry I need to make a correction here. I want to go to Princeton as an English major then Columbia for law. Sorry about that. Anyway, As for extracurriculars I play sports (mainly tennis) and I do Model UN. I’ve already taken the SAT and I got around a 650 on all the sections except the essay portion which I scored more around a 750.</p>
<p>Okay, well #1, Princeton doesn’t look at freshman grades, so that GPA is kind of meaningless in the long run. #2, we’re not the adcoms: we have no idea what they are looking for from year-to-year. Your best bet is to just do the best you can, apply, and see what happens. Regardless of what anyone here will tell you about your “chances,” it’s going to come down to how you stack up against everyone else 3 years from now and what the adcoms are going to be looking for.</p>
<p>Ok. So basically If I can raise my GPA to a 3.7 or higher continue with alright SAT scores kind of add a couple of extracurriculars my “chances” are decent?</p>
<p>For the record, many, many people are involved in the Johns Hopkins Talented Youth Program. And yes, doing those things will raise your chances.</p>
<p>Haha I know. There are hundreds and hundreds of kids in the Johns Hopkins program. It still gives you the chance to do some cool programs at a lot of nice colleges though.</p>
<p>“Ok. So basically If I can raise my GPA to a 3.7 or higher continue with alright SAT scores kind of add a couple of extracurriculars my ‘chances’ are decent?”</p>
<p>3.7+ GPA would be good, yes. The higher, the better obviously (and remember, they only look at grades from 5 semesters when you apply - 2 semesters of sophomore year, 2 semesters of junior, and 1st semester of senior year). </p>
<p>When you say “alright” SAT test scores, may or may not be good enough (again, depending on the rest of your application, i.e. ec’s, community service, awards, etc). I mean, if you got a 650, 650, 750, that’s a pretty good score (2050 overall), but see if you can get that to be at least a 2100 (a 2200+ is preferable, but breaking 2100 would be solid).</p>
<p>But beyond the GPA and the test scores, don’t try to mold yourself into the ideal Princeton undergrad. I don’t think anyone knows what that truly means anyway. Do what you want to do, follow your passions. Me, I didn’t think about college until summer before Senior year. All throughout high school, I followed my passions, kept my grades up, and did the best I could on SATs and ACTs. If you’ll do the same, you’ll end up at the right place for you. Whether or not that will be Princeton, I cannot say. But you’ll be at the right place.</p>
<p>they only look at grades from 5 semesters when you apply - 2 semesters of sophomore year, 2 semesters of junior, and 1st semester of senior year).</p>
<p>Peyton, how do you know this? Do they see grades or GPA? Which semesters, or are they randomly chosen? Oh jeez, this is horrible…</p>