chances thread. sorry.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>Hey sorry...just wondering if i even had chance. Should i even bother to be applying here, or any other ivy league for that matter.</p>

<p>oh, and i dont know if this matters, but i already was accepted into University of Edinburgh, the #5 school in the UK</p>

<p>Want to major in international relations or archaeology</p>

<p>Quantitative data:</p>

<p>New SAT: 750 Critical Reading, 740 Writing, 710 Math
SAT subject tests: 770 Math IIC, 750 US History, 710 Chemistry
AP: English Language/Composition – 5; Chemistry – 5; US History – 5
GPA: 3.96 unweighted (out of 4.0)
Class Rank: 5 out of about 360. (Top 2%)</p>

<p>I am taking 4 APs as a senior: English lit/comp, Biology, US Gov’t, and Calculus AB. </p>

<p>I have taken 7 APs and 10 honors. Our school only offers 8 APs. (couldn’t take AP Econ because of scheduling conflict)</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:</p>

<p>Newspaper, our school paper is a Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medalist
- Staff Writer (2 years)
Cross Country
- Junior Varsity (3 years, no fourth because of scheduling conflict)
Track and Field
- Varsity (4 years), high jump, have earned letter
Kung Fu
- yellow belt, (one year)
Key Club
- Member (4 years)
- Newsletter Editor/Board member
Speech and Debate
- member, (2 years)
Model United Nations
-president (1 year)
- member (2 years)
Empath club, visiting the elderly
- 4 years
Also participated in a school tradition in which junior girls see off the graduating class
Scholarship Committee
- member, 1 year
Choir
- member, 1 year (due to scheduling conflict)
Piano
- 11 years (Certificate of Merit, Level 8)
Student-Athelete Mentor program
- 1 year
Off campus club helping disabled kids
- co founder, 1 year
Project Tsunami Relief:
- volunteer</p>

<p>Volunteer Work: Totaling around 350 hours
- volunteer with disabled children, 2-3 a week, 3 years
- volunteer at American Red Cross, 7 hours daily in summer & 4-5 hours weekly during school year, 1 year
- Volunteer through key club
- Tutor kids in special education
- Volunteer at special Olympics</p>

<p>Work experience:
None, except for the odd tutoring or babysitting gig. </p>

<p>Awards/Honors:
- National merit Commended
- Columbia University Book Award
- California Scholarship Federation Member – 4 semesters
- Quill and Scroll (Journalism) Honor Society member
- United States Achievement Academy
- Who’s who among American high school students
- Varsity letter, track and field
- Certificate of merit, piano, level 1-8
- College board national Hispanic recognition program scholar
- College board ap scholar
- National honor roll
- Perfect attendance (3 years so far)
- School’s top GPA award
- School’s sports-scholar award</p>

<p>Summer:</p>

<p>Lived abroad in Naples, Italy with a host family.</p>

<p>Essays: One is about my abusive/alcoholic father and his influence on me (i.e. why im a feminist, indepedence, etc.). The other is about trip to Italy/how being multi-ethnic (Chinese, white, Mexican) has made me love international relations. </p>

<p>Recommendations: Very good. All written by people who like/know me very much/well.</p>

2

<p>No No No. Doesn't anyone get it? First of all, the community service is solid, but you didnt write an essay about it. And don't say you are a femisit because Princeton is consevative. And please dont wqrite about being multi-ethnic becuase it is BS, there will be 5000 other essays about people being multi-ethnic and you will not stand out to the admissions committe. Be careful with the father one, it is a good topic in my opinion, which is a compliment becuase i think 99 percent of essay topics completely suck. Just make it interesting and really open up. Don't say, "becuase my father was abuse i developed greater indepence." It needs to be deeper</p>

3

<p>well, i haven't submitted yet. so i could always write an essay about my volunteering if i decide it would be better. And my father essay would definetely be in depth. thanks for your comment!</p>

4

<p>I disagree with Creatine. You don't need to (although you can) write essays about community service, because it's already clear from your activity list that it's one of your passions. Feminism is a good thing, because it shows that you care about what's going on in the world around you. Princeton may be considered more conservative than other universities, but the adcom isn't necessarily conservative -- moreover, President Tilghman is a woman and Dean of Admissions Rapelye is a woman; both strongly believe in empowering women.</p>

<p>About the essay on an abusive father -- I wrote it too. It's risky, but it's definitely possible to make it work. Diversity essays, too, can work; a mundane topic written well can stand out more than a mundane essay on a quirky topic.</p>

5

<p>Ehm, k- mostly I'm speaking for myself, but keep in mind that we're just people, especially me.</p>

<p>I say, write the essays you want to write, the ones that come from the heart. Don't sort of go for a formula or rewrite if you have excellent essays. If you want to write about something, and if you care deeply- it will show, and it will be better than an essay that is written as a calculated attempt to stand out. So write a community service one if you want to, but if it's too much work at this point, move on. I'm sure you have other things you need to do.</p>

<p>-highschool student who doesn't know much, except that the crappiest essays are the ones that arent' sincere</p>

6

<p>agrees totally with Frozen she said it all :D
however, like creatine said, add some small or big quarks into the essays since they are risky/clinche topics ;)
It's actually quite fun to model it after a ** good ** sci-fi title, since those things tend to draw people in with their intrigue which you can use.... :D</p>

7

<p>on a tangent, how are you going to pay for edinburgh? congrats on your acceptance though.</p>

8

<p>I wrote a flippant one. Came from the heart, really. It was pretty humorous, or so I'm told. Showed my funny side. Plus, I wrote a second serious one, so I don't think they took the first as disrespectful.</p>

9

<p>at the moment, im still trying to figure out if im even going to go to edinburgh. so about the money...i guess i'll cross that bridge when it comes.</p>