Chances: Princeton

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Please be brutally honest. I am still open to other colleges, so suggestions will be appreciated.</p>

<h2>I'm hoping for Princeton, but please give any suggestions -- I obviously have a lot of other colleges I already like.</h2>

<p>Class of 2011 (just finished junior year)
Male
Latino
Class rank: 10/358 as of end of sophomore year, and I think the updated rank will be slightly better</p>

<p>My school is suburban, middle-class, and sends a couple kids to the ivies every year.</p>

<p>Intended major: chemistry, physics, or something in that area</p>

<p>--------8th grade--------
96 Algebra Enr
91 Living Environmet
97 Spanish Enr</p>

<p>--------9th grade--------
94 Design & Drawing for Production
95 Earth Science Enr
95 English Enr
95 Geometry Enr
95 Global History AP Prep
99 Orchestra
97 Phys. Ed.
100 Word Processing</p>

<p>--------10th grade--------
100 Health
96 Accounting
100 AP World History
98 Chemistry Regents
95 English Enr
99 Inter. Algebra Enr.
100 Orchestra
98 Phys. Ed.
96 Spanish Enr</p>

<p>--------11th grade--------
99 AP US History
96 AP Chemistry
99 AP English
100 Orchestra
100 Phys. Ed.
97 Precalc. Enr.
96 Spanish Enr.</p>

<p>--------12th grade courseload--------
AP Calc. BC
AP European History
AP Statistics
AP Physics B
Orchestra
-some time-fillers-</p>

<p>--------Subject tests--------
740 World History
770 Chemistry
790 Math II</p>

<p>--------APs--------
4 World History
5 US History
5 Chemistry
4 English Lang. and Comp.</p>

<p>--------SAT--------
770 Math
690 Reading
710 Writing
(1460)</p>

<p>--------School clubs--------
Math League (A team, officer, qualified for NY state competition)
Masterminds (varsity)
Rotary (over 40 hours)
FBLA (placed 3rd in state competition)
NHS (officer)
Spanish NHS
Tennis (JV)
Private weekly violin lessons (scored 96 out of 100 in hardest difficulty rating <--3rd in school)
Ping pong club (ranked 5 out of 150)</p>

<p>--------Outside of school--------
2nd degree black belt in karate (and teacher/sensei)
Volunteer for hospital (about 200 hours by the time I apply for colleges)</p>

<p>--------Honors--------
National Young Leaders Conference
Won 1st, 1st, and 3rd place trophies at one local karate tournament
2010 national finalist in US National Chemistry Olympiad
Received University of Rochester Young Leaders Award
All-American Scholar Yearbook two years in a row</p>

<p>-Thanks and sorry</p>

2

<p>Good shot as a high scoring URM with good enough rank.</p>

3

<p>“Won 1st, 1st, and 3rd place trophies at one local karate tournament”</p>

<p>After seeing that there is no doubt in my mind you’ll get in.</p>

4

<p>Thanks, guys.</p>

<p>As I was reading other posts, I came up with two questions. They don’t have clear-cut answers, though.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I’ve been to my native Brazil (GO ROBINHO!) 13 or 14 times –> I’ve obviously seen a lot of poverty and a lot of wealth. Would that be a good topic to use for essays or is it overused? I can talk about how even without a lot of money, the people there seem to be very happy, which can get on to a big philosophical debate. I could also talk about the billions of misconceptions I’ve heard about Brazil and how people really don’t know what’s going on in the wider world.</p></li>
<li><p>What other schools would you recommend? I’m okay with any town/city as long as it has at least about 20,000 people (no upper limit). I’d prefer to stay in the northeast US, too (or maybe southeastern Canada).</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I was thinking of this list:
Princeton
Harvard
MIT
Yale
Boston C
Boston U
Northeastern
Columbia
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
U Rochester
U Pennsylvania</p>

<p>I am aiming too high?</p>

<p>-Thanks again</p>

5

<p>Any plans to take the SAT again? I’m concerned with your scores.</p>

<p>In my opinion, they’re not “definitely good enough” for Princeton, Harvard, MIT, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon or U Pennsylvania.</p>

<p>Your other credentials are great. Just work on the SAT.</p>

6

<p>Latino from top school, decent enough rank, great SAT IIs, average SAT I, and average EC’s.</p>

<p>I’d say you’ve got a good shot, possibly a great shot if your essays are outstanding and your teacher recommendations glowing.</p>

<p>The only problem I see is the SAT I. A 2170, while it certainly won’t render you unacceptable, is sub-par for Princeton. It won’t matter as much since you’re a URM, but if you can retake and score a 2200+, that would help significantly, espeically if your CR score is raised by more 30 or more points.</p>

<p>Here’s my predictions for the other schools you listed (you’re not aiming too high, btw) and Princeton:</p>

<p>Princeton - Mid Reach
Harvard - Mid Reach
MIT - Mid Reach
Yale - Mid Reach
Boston C - Match
Boston U - Match
Northeastern - Match
Columbia - Mid Reach
Cornell - Low Reach
Carnegie Mellon - Match
U Rochester - Safety
U Pennsylvania - Low Reach</p>

<p>You’ll probably get into one of HYP, maybe more, unless your essays are mediocre. If your essays are great though, you should be accepted to most of these schools.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

7

<p>Thank all of you VERY much. :)</p>

<p>I’ll try to chance you guys back.</p>

8

<p>About your essay topic:</p>

<p>It is overused, however, it’s not about what you write, but how you write it. If you can write an essay really well, it doesn’t really matter what you write about. Original ideas help though.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

9

<p>DO NOT use that as an essay topic. I REPEAT, do NOT use that as an essay topic. Not only is it overly clich</p>