<p>If the ACT is giving you grief take the SAT out for a spin.</p>
<p>ditto, i was hoping to get in so i wont have to do any more apps around christmastime. </p>
<p>the mid-year report is pretty important esp for deferred ppl, it can really show that you're working hard and improving since the last time they looked at ur application. my GPA graph kinda looks like a V. i had high grades frosh/soph year and a drop in my junior year (which is probably one of the reasons i got deferred). and im hoping my senior year grades will show adcoms that im working much harder this year and getting mainly As (one B). does anyone know if the mid-year report includes midterm/final exam grades? </p>
<p>mj19999, i think an explanation may be good but try not to BLAME work/football for the drop in your grades. adcoms want to see that you can take responsibility for your actions. i guess the wording of ur explanation is really important.</p>
<p>i found this on a similar thread in the princeton forum. its really really helpful. um...just subsitute in Penn for everywhere it says Princeton :)</p>
<p>hbarns
Junior Member</p>
<p>In no particular order:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Keep them updated on your accomplishments, but do so in a concise and measured way. That is to say, don't deluge them with information that won't make a difference, because that will annoy them and distract them from the information that might. For instance, if you're a hockey player, sending them game-by-game updates on your scoring statistics is a bad idea. Letting them know that you made All-Conference or All-State is a good idea.</p></li>
<li><p>You can't go wrong by sending them a letter saying that while you are disappointed by being deferred, you understand that it's an extraordinarly competitive process and you just want to reaffirm your interest in Princeton, as well as your conviction that you're a good fit for Princeton, and vice versa. One thing that they don't know about you from your application is how gracefully you handle setbacks and disappointment. This kind of a letter can let them know that you're poised, classy, mature and the sort of person that they would want to have in the class.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>What NOT to do:</p>
<ul>
<li>nag them</li>
<li>be overbearing, arrogant, or angry ("How could you defer me? Didn't you see my scores?!!!")</li>
<li>call up and cry (This does happen, and it never does you any good.)</li>
<li>get your parents involved</li>
</ul>
<p>Good luck, and don't lose perspective! Princeton is a wonderful place, but it's not the only wonderful place out there.</p>
<p>beth downing is supposed to call me at one on monday. you have to make an appointment. I called on friday.</p>
<p>How did u call on friday? the decisions came after 5:00, and the office closes at 5.</p>
<p>is beth downing ur reg. director and she personally set up an appointment to talk to u? if so, thats pretty cool, I'll call tomorrow</p>
<p>NO!!! do not call the admissions office, and if you do, don't tell them your name! it makes it seem like you're desperate. they won't even tell you what your weak point was/is. Have your GC call Penn, and they'll tell your GC what your weak points are. Also, the reason the deferral acceptance in regular is so low is because when they defer people from the ED pool, they defer some legacy students and URM just so they don't totally crush their spirits by deferring them, when they have a very slim chance of being accepted regular, so these students were never really even in the back of the admissions committee's minds when they deferred them. It's the students that had a few flaws in their overall application that they deferred. hopefully this helped</p>
<p>I think the people who are deferred and actually get in (pure speculation) are those with upward trends. Penn may not be 100% sure about the improvement in GPA, and may just want a very good midyear report to make sure you are a strong student. If you lacked leadership, you are not going to improve in 3 months. If your essays were god awful, you can't change them. However, you can reaffirm an upward trend with strong grades first semester.</p>
<p>darn it. i have no grades to improve.......my grades have always been high. ahhh, this sucks. at least if i HAD bad grades, i would knwo that that's exactly what i needed to improve.</p>
<p>sigh i'm afraid. my senior year classes are a lot harder than i thought they would be. so my midyear grades, i hardly doubt will be pretty :[</p>
<p>hmm...well...theres still some time left until the semester ends right? i have until 2 or 3 weeks after winter break. so i guess i'll just have to work my ass off till then.</p>
<p>whats this about NOT calling admissions office?</p>
<p>I called on friday at like 5:05 right afer I got the letter they picked up the phone and her sec. set up an appointment to call me on monday at one. lets see what she has to say</p>
<p>My GC told me to call and ask about which school i was deferred from from the dual NHM program. I dont think it will be percieved as week but only as informative. My GC has a conference call with beth anc carol laiden tomorrow morning.</p>
<p>i have until the end of january. but blahhhh im dying in 2 classes tho :[ friggin ap physics and ap calc bc. those two classes are totally gonna screw me over.</p>
<p>I'm about to get a B in Honors Chemistry (I suck at science) and a B in AP Calculus AB.</p>
<p>Do u think it will be okay to send Penn a letter explaining the grades? (i.e. these grades don't mean I'm slacking off, its that I was taking a harder course load and taking standardized tests during the time period, as well as working.)</p>
<p>but I won't make excuses, I will accept the responsibility and put it in good words</p>
<p>do u think it will work?</p>
<p>ns347, totally same boat. sigh gosh darn math and science, im getting b's in them too :[ and not from senioritis, just b/c its hard even tho we're trying etc</p>
<p>Im getting a B in AP English Lit... Thats because the teacher is new at the school and shes having trouble with organization and grading stuff.... so I have 3 zeros because they appeared Not handed in... MY teacherr actually lost them, and she doesnt want to change them. so Im really supposed to have an A. Do you think I should explain that?</p>
<p>i think you should complain to the english supervisor in your school. its so bad, stuff like that can screw kids over. its even worse cause its not your fault either.</p>
<p>exactly, I got all A's 9-11 grade, except Spanish 2 (B), Honors Spanish 3 (B), Honors Spanish 4 (B)</p>
<p>let's just say my spanish teacher wasnt very useful and lost everything (all we did was busy work and expected to teach ourselves)</p>
<p>I wasnt that angry cause Im still managing a 4.0 UW this year with that grade, but anyways... thanks xiaoleen I think Im gonna do that, especially since mid-year reports matter that much right now.</p>
<p>lol npnp you guys are beasts then with your brilliant :]
my school has the most messed up gpa system where kids who get a's in cp classes get higher gpa points than me and my friends who take AP's and honors classes and get a-'s in some. total bummerrr
& im just annoyed about teachers screwing kids over b/c my friend and i asked for a rec from our french teacher who we like love. but unfortunately my friend got rejected from her early, and our teacher apparently deleted her rec that she wrote for her, so now shes giving her a "default generic" rec, and im terrified she might have done that to me tho. haha so im going to "talk" madame tomorrow xT</p>