Chances... Please!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>So now that regular decisions are done, it's crunch time for seniors, myself included. Am I a strong applicant for Princeton? </p>

<p>Location: Michigan
Ethnicity: Hispanic immigrant
Sex: Female
First generation college student, low income.</p>

<p>GPA (W): 4.06 (My school's weighted GPA is strangely designed so that the highest a student can receive is a 4.2, which I'm pretty sure has never happened. The highest colleges will see my GPA will be a 4.08.)
Rank: 1/442</p>

<p>I've taken the hardest courses available at my school, which by the way is very urban and inner city. We are considered by Johns Hopkins to be a "drop out factory," which pretty much says it all. </p>

<p>ACT: 26 (Retook it in June and expect a 28 or 29.)</p>

<p>SAT IIs:</p>

<p>U.S. History (Took it in June and expect a 780-790, maybe even an 800.)</p>

<p>Will take the SAT Subject Tests in Biology and Lit. in Oct.</p>

<p>APs:
10th
AP US History (5)</p>

<p>11th
AP Biology
AP American Gov.
AP Spanish (Self-study)
AP Psychology (Self-study)</p>

<ul>
<li><p>I'm certain I received 5's in all except Bio.</p></li>
<li><p>Expect AP Scholar with Honor by the time I apply in the fall.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>12th
AP Environmental Science
AP Statistics
AP English
AP European History
AP World History (Self-study)
AP Art History (Self-study)
AP Comp Gov. (Self-study)</p>

<p>ECs:
*Editor-in-Chief of high school newspaper
- Accepted and attending a summer program at Michigan State University for high school journalists in Michigan; will take an InDesign class.
*Academic Decathlon
*Excellers (President)
- Chief Coordinator or a school-wide International Day that showcased diversity and cultures. The club itself is devoted to diversity and community service.
*County Youth Commission (Secretary, most likely President next year.)
- Co-Chair of the Community Service Committee
- Chair of the Government Education Committee
- Paid Summer Intern at Civic Academy where I will introduce prospective members of the youth commission to youth enfranchisement and leadership.
*NHS (Vice President)
*4-H Peer Mentoring Program
- Created a peer education workshop program for middle schoolers and high schoolers with Michigan's 4-H on college preparation.
*"Girls to Women" Conference
- Created, and in the process of organizing, a conference on issues young girls have to combat as they reach womanhood; working with local and state leaders and heads of women organizations and movements.
*Young Women's Commission
- In the process of working with my county's Women's Comm. to organize and implement a commission which will appoint young women from my county to lobby, organize, and discuss matters and events relating to young women.
*Internship with a Michigan State Senator this summer.</p>

<p>Possible Majors & Minors:</p>

<p>Sociology
Psychology
Women's Studies</p>

<p>Community Service
221+ volunteer hours</p>

<p>Work Experience:
Library Page at a local library; 10 hours/week.</p>

<p>Awards:
Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution Student Fellow
- I was the only student selected from Michigan to go to this convention for high school journalists in Philadelphia. I was featured in newspapers around the country due to this.
Honor Roll
Ventures Scholar
Sophomore of the Year (School Award)
Academic Decathlon 3rd place in Speech
Academic Decathlon 3rd place in Interview
Academic Decathlon Highest Team Scorer</p>

<p>Well... chance away!</p>

2

<p>Well....</p>

<p>I say...</p>

<p>You got in. And I know this may seem like it's bad, but I think it's because although your stats may have some small drawbacks here and there (the ACT, for example), the following changes everything:</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Hispanic immigrant </p>

<p>=). that will definitely help.</p>

3

<p>Are you only listing AP courses and not regular or honors courses? It looks like you're weak on math and science - have you taken any chemistry, physics, pre-calc or calc? </p>

<p>Listing three self study APs during your senior year is problematic, since the exams don't occur until after college decisions are out. If you eliminate the self study APs from your senior schedule, the schedule looks lightweight for Princeton's pool. Look at Princeton's website and see what they recommend. ECs are impressive.</p>

4

<p>Yes, I've taken Physics and FST, which used to be called Pre-Calc. Yes, Math is problematic for me to say the least. I'm more concentrated on the social sciences/humanities. Will this hurt me? I'm not going to be in a Math/Science major.
Also, how many APs am I supposed to have? I'm going to still take all the AP tests, even after college admissions.</p>

<p>I've also been in honors since Freshman year. I've had:</p>

<p>Honors English
Honors World Geography
Honors American Lit.
Honors World Lit.</p>

<p>My counselor can attest to me taking the most advanced schedule possible.</p>

5

<p>Like lefthandofdog said, the most worrisome part is the lack of any honors in math and relatively few in science. Princeton likes to have well-rounded students. However, I think you have a strong shot, especially considering your background and the school you attend. It will, of course, be heavily influenced by your essays and letters of recommendation. Do you have any idea what the strength of your essay might be?</p>

<p>Don't worry much about your senior year schedule appearing weak: I come from a similar background (Hispanic, first-generation college, "Johns Hopkins Certified Dropout Factory" :)), and my senior year schedule was AP Lit, AP US Govt, AP Microecon, AP Macroecon, and self-study AP Physics C (with a physics honors class), a half-credit of world history honors, and two music courses. Princeton will completely understand if that's all that's possible to fit in your schedule.</p>

<p>As for your ECs, make sure you can emphasize the ones that were truly important to you and why. You don't want it appear like you're just padding for college, as many students do. Your ECs are strong: just make sure to use them effectively!</p>

<p>Best of luck! My guess is, if you do your overall application well, you're in :)</p>

6

<p>Math in my school doesn't have any Honors. However, technically I am on an Honors track since I started high school Algebra in 8th grade. Should I have my GC note this? I consider writing one of my greatest strengths and I have a few topics floating around my head. I'll start work on them next month.</p>

<p>Recs should be great, especially the one from my Newspaper teacher since he's known me since sophomore year, I'm editor of the paper, and he was invited to go with me to go to the conference for journalists in Philly.</p>

7

<p>Your willingness to take such a difficult course schedule (especially 3 self-study AP's) is going to be very impressive. Your EC's also look extremely good and let's be honest, your ethnicity/1st generation status will be a huge bonus to your application.</p>

<p>However, your ACT score is incredibly low. That score would barely get you into an Honors program at a decent state school (i.e. Michigan State or something like that). You, unfortunately, have failed to support the rest of your great application with a decent score and this might give the admissions committee some wariness. I'd maybe take one less AP self-study or one less EC and study extremely hard for the SAT or ACT (preferably SAT b/c Pton is on the east coast).</p>

<p>But please don't take my word for it!</p>

8

<p>I'm really not experienced but - wow@ your amazing extracurricular stuff. yeah I would recommend trying to get the test score up a bit, but really, a 29 isn't that bad, it just isn't stellar. personal opinion- you would get in. But who knows.</p>

9

<p>Given what you just told us, I think you have a strong chance, especially if you can raise your ACT score (maybe you could give the SAT a shot as well: it's hard to tell which one you'd do best in). At least a 32 or 2100 would be great. Studying for these tests can do wonders for some people.</p>

<p>Good luck! :)</p>

10

<p>Trust me, I think the ACT is best for me. About the MSU comment: I know countless people with scores in the low 20's who have gotten into Honors courses and colleges at MSU. Also, the average ACT score in my school is in the very low 20's, so if my GC brings that up, would Princeton maybe look at my scores in that context?
I've already taken the ACT two times, I honestly don't think I have time for a third. I really want to concentrate on making my ECs as strong as possible and study for the two SAT II's I have left to take.</p>

11

<p>Colleges won't know that you're self studying 3 APs senior year.</p>

12

<p>I was just thinking about that today. I can't put it anywhere on the application? Maybe like in the additional information section?</p>

13

<p>@ OliveTree:</p>

<p>You knowing people who got into MSU Honors with low scores is simply anecdotal evidence. Here's data from LSU, which I'd consider a decent state school significantly below UNC, UCB, Michigan, UIUC, etc... The average SAT score was approximately 1350. So your score is well below average.</p>

<p>Princeton is a whole nother ball game. I applaud you on your significant academic and EC acheivements, but your score is way below average for Princeton, probably almost 300 points (if using ACT to SAT conversion).</p>

14

<p>All right, well thanks guys for your advice! We'll see what happens!</p>

15

<p>... and, dontno, LSU is ranked lower than MSU, which makes Olive<em>Tree's comment all the more curious... but good luck to you, Olive</em>Tree, nonetheless.</p>

16

<p>Not to beat a dead horse, but OliveTree, you mentioned that the ACT average is in the low 20's in your school. You scored in the mid 20's, which isn't significantly higher than the average score. Considering that your school is a "drop-out factory" that looks really bad. Princeton will like that you've taken advantage of your opportunities, but your low score could almost completely nullify you being valedictorian. It looks rather odd that someone could be number 1 out of 450, yet get close to average on the ACT. </p>

<p>I would really recommend studying extremely hard and taking it again. They might give you some slack b/c your socioeconomic status and ethnicity, but you should strive to do your absolute best and try to reach the average standards as best as possible.</p>

<p>Furthermore, about MSU, I find you knowing "countless" individuals in the MSU honors program with such low scores (I'm assuming in the mid 1100's) to be unbelievable. MSU only has about 100 kids in the honors program total with an average SAT of 1470.</p>

17

<p>^Actually, the total enrollment in the Honors College is around 2,500 students. One generally needs 3.6 GPA and 1300 SAT/31 ACT to get in; there are a few exceptions, but not much lower on each.</p>

18

<p>I don't really know what else to say. The only reason why my ACT is so low is because of Math and maybe Science. In English and Reading I had a 33 and 32 and when I retook it in June, I honestly think I had only one question wrong in each of those sections. When I retook it I really did try, but Math is always a struggle and the Science section was actually harder in June than in May. I'm really not trying to make excuses, but that's how I feel. Could this be the only weakness in my application?</p>

<p>Also, how is a 28 or 29 in the mid 20's? </p>

<p>Well, thanks for the advice everyone!</p>

19

<p>What is a library page, and how do you become one? It sounds like my ideal job, but I don't think we have 'em here in Montana...</p>

20

<p>I don't know if it would be an ideal job for anyone, LOL. Basically, we do the dirty work: shelving (dirty) books, checking books in after they come through a conveyor belt in the library's basement, checking for problem items, answering questions, and cleaning. The good thing is getting a glimpse of books while you're shelving, like the newest Harry Potter. =)</p>