Chances: Princeton SCEA, Northwestern, Yale, Stanford, ec

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey! I am a rising senior who wants to apply to Princeton, Stanford, Northwestern, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, and Colorado College. I have a few safety schools as well— including University of Kansas (especially their honors program) and Colorado State University (honors program, hopefully!).

I am a white female in a western state. I have attended a highly ranked arts school since sixth grade with a focus on creative writing. In college I will likely major in history, economics, or international relations, with minors/certificates in English or creative writing.

Test Scores:
1st time taking the SAT: 730 reading/writing, 760 math
2nd time taking the SAT: 780 reading/writing, 700 math
(1540 superscore)
SAT Subject Test in US History: 800
SAT Subject Test in World History: 800
APUSH test: 5
AP Human Geography test: 5
AP Lang test: 5
AP World History: 5
AP US Government: 5

I am ranked first in a class of 175. I have gotten an A in every class I have ever taken. My weighted GPA is 5.144 on a scale of 5.2.

I have taken these AP classes: Human Geography, US History, World History, Language and Composition, and US Government and Politics. Next year I am taking Calculus AB, Spanish Language and Culture, Literature, and Art History.

When I graduate, I will have 4 years of Spanish. I will have taken 5 years of social studies courses (all AP) by the time I graduate but only 3 years of science (biology, chemistry, physics, all honors). I skipped algebra 1 and have taken geometry, algebra 2, and pre-calculus, all honors, and I will be moving onto AP Calculus…

I have competed in a highly competitive nationwide history competition since I was in seventh grade. My highest award is 8th place at the national level during my junior year. I have advanced to the national level 3 times (8th, 10th, 11th grade) and won 1st place at every regional or statewide competition I have participated in since 8th grade. My favorite topic was restrictions on chemical weapons in the 20th century.

A paper I wrote for the previously mentioned competition was published in a journal done through the competition. I have won numerous awards in the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition for several pieces, including a silver medal at the national level. I have also won several writing awards at the local level and received an honorable mention for a podcast competition run by a national newspaper. I write mainly poetry, poetic prose, and creative nonfiction. I am an avid reader.

I play Ultimate Frisbee for another school in my area, and have since fall of my sophomore year. I also have had a part time job (roughly 20-25 hours a week) since the beginning of my junior year.

I have also held many leadership positions. I have been an elected representative of Student Council since 8th grade. I was a member at large during my junior year and next year I will be treasurer. I was a junior representative for my school’s National Honors Society, and was elected president for my senior year. I coordinate multiple donation drives every year for local organizations.

I was accepted into a highly competitive international summer camp for the summer between my freshman and sophomore year. I was one of the few selected to return for a second year the following summer. I also do a lot of work with this organization and am co-president of the chapter for alumni in my state. I run admissions and help select the campers my state will send each year.

One of my parents attended Northwestern, and the other attended Colorado College.

If you want to hear me describe my essays or any other parts of my app (letters of rec, etc) I am happy to do so. I know Princeton places quite a bit of emphasis on student writing ability.

Questions: Chances of SCEA Princeton? I am definitely applying to Princeton SCEA, but it is tied for my top school with Northwestern. I’m not applying to Northwestern ED because I don’t like the idea of a binding decision. Any thoughts on my chances at Northwestern for RD admission? Same thing for Stanford. Also, if anyone knows anything about the honors programs at CSU or KU I’d love to hear your thoughts…

Thank you!

2

Forgot to mention I spend a significant amount of time outside of school working on creative writing, from just my journal to writing a full length novel. This is something I intend on continuing in college. I know some schools are emphasizing creative writing programs— would this help?

3

You are certainly in the ballpark for SCEA Princeton in terms of objectives and high level achievements in your writing and history EC’s. Knowing this limited info, I think you are making the right moves as far as choosing an attainable reach as your EA/ED school and having state flagship honors programs as backups. Both UK and CS are rolling admissions with honors decisions after admission to the university in general. I assume you have already made those submissions which are not precluded by Princeton’s SCEA restrictions.

4

That’s true. I’ve already applied to CSU and am about ready to apply to Kansas. I know I would be happy at either.

5

Northwestern RD, even with legacy, might be tough. Its difficult to predict, and will depend on what holes they are trying to fill at that stage. However your stats are in the range for Princeton and the rest.

How would you feel if you were deferred EA, and then rejected everywhere else during the RD round except Colorado College/Colorado State? This is a real possibility. Would you be disappointed?

If so then you might consider adding an ED2 school in case you are deferred or rejected during SCEA round.

6

Generally speaking, the legacy bump only helps if you are applying ED.

You are certainly in the ball park but these schools are reaches for everyone.

7

Giving up your legacy tip at NW, which fills more than half of its class early, is a big loss.

8

Those are good points. I know my chance of ED Northwestern is far, far greater than NW RD or even Princeton SCEA, especially with the legacy piece. I think the reason I decided not to go ED at Northwestern is partially because I will likely get considerably better financial aid at Princeton (just based on financial aid calculator on website). It’s also true that I don’t like the idea of a binding decision. If NW had EA, that’s exactly what I would do, but I personally am opposed to ED for any school because I don’t think it’s a fair process. It’s partially my personal thoughts on ED, but the other piece of it is that though I’m divided between Princeton and NW, I think Princeton pulls ahead slightly. Its majors and emphasis on writing is what I’m especially interested in.
Regarding only getting accepted in my safeties– that’s absolutely something I have thought about, and I would likely end up going to KU. I know I would like it there (big familial connection and I love the sports culture), but obviously my goal is to shoot higher. If that is what it came down to, I know I would be disappointed, but I have no problems with going to Kansas.

9

If you want nonbinding EA, look at UChicago. They also have a strong emphasis on writing and liberal arts.

10

Thought about this. Definitely applying to UChi RD, but definitely an EDII possibility if Princeton doesn’t work out.

12

Thought about this. Definitely applying to UChi RD, but definitely an EDII possibility if Princeton doesn’t work out.