ED chances with low-ish SATs?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>How much will my chances improve with a SAT I retake in October, assuming 2300+? Okay I know you're probably going to say that 2260 isn't low, but when you're a prospective chem or chem e major, a 740 math isn't going to cut it.</p>

<p>STATS</p>

<ul>
<li>Rank 1 of 504</li>
<li>4.0 UW GPA in high school</li>
<li>4.0 GPA in community college (currently have about 30 units)</li>
<li>5 completed APs by application time, taking 5 more senior year.
Chemistry - 5</li>
<li>SAT I : 1580
Math: 780
Verbal: 800</li>
<li>PSAT: 240</li>
<li>New SAT (RETAKE IN OCT)
Critical Reading: 790
Math: 740
Writing: 730</li>
<li>SAT II Chem: 800</li>
<li>SAT II Math IIC: 800</li>
<li>SAT II Writing: 800</li>
<li>SAT II Physics: November</li>
<li>SAT II Literature: November</li>
<li>AMC 12: 102</li>
<li>ACS Local: 55
Misc: Asian female in California</li>
</ul>

<p>EC:
- NASA SHARP at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena (12)
- 3 years newspaper [staff writer (10), news editor (10/11), editor-in-chief (11/12)]
- Chemistry Olympiad: 2nd place in school [10], 6th place in Southern California [10], national qualifier [10,11], national Honors (top 150 in nation) [10,11], 1st place in school [11]
- 3 years naginata (obscure ancient Japanese martial/combat art -- also the name of the 7-foot long weapon used)
- self-employment: built website, brochures, posters for University of California Library Bookbindery [11]
- Science Club [member (9), intercommittee councilmember (10), treasurer (10), president (11,12)]
- 3 years Engineering Fair Overall 1st and 2nd place (shared among 4), 1st place Impromptu Design (11)
- lab assistant for physical chemistry professor at UCLA (11)
- 3 years Science Olympiad: silver in Tower Building (11)
- 2 years Academic Decathlon [11, 12]; 3rd place Interview (11)
- Bay Math League (inter-committee councilmember, 1st place final meet 2004)
- ~350 hours community service (tutoring community college nursing students, teaching immigrant neighbors English, library stuff, Relay For Life)
- Write-Offs: editorial writing, 3rd place
- CSF (9, 10, 11, 12)
- Continental Mathematics Calculus League Medal (11), Certificate of Distinction (11)
- PTA Reflections: 2nd, Literature (10); 3rd Literature (11)
- Spartan Laurel Nominee: Science, maths (10), journalism, social sciences, science, maths (11)
- Spartan Laurel Certificate: Science (11)
- 1 year Chinese Club (9)</p>

2

<p>Retaking your SATs and getting 50 points or so higher won't really make a difference. You've gotten to the level where your grades and test scores are high enough, and now you need a distinguishing factor, which I can't see from this one post. What are your chances? I'd say you have about a 10% chance for admission, just like they say. I wouldn't say better, because even though you have certainly achieved you haven't done anything extroadinary, and I wouldn't say lower, because you <em>have</em> done a great job in high school. What I can say for sure is - good luck!</p>

3

<p>Hm... I was hoping that naginata, SHARP, chem olympiad, and media designing for the UCs might help me stand out.</p>

4

<p>what part of your test scores do you find low? those are great scores. 740 definitely "cuts it", especially with the 800 sat ii.</p>

<p>i'm not entirely sure what kind of advice i can give you besides to be sure to have a backup plan and hope for good luck. as has been said, your stats are good but don't seem to stand out well enought to ensure admission.</p>

<p>i'd put your chances at roughly 15-25%, which is better than average at a school like this :)</p>

5

<p>frozen tears, dont listen to them...
seriously, from someone who noes a lot abt college admissions, U HAVE AN AMAZING shot at princeton...in fact, i out ur chances at around 60%, and 80% for ED...and btw, ur sats r excellent...especially when u consider SATIIs...</p>

6

<p>What you've posted are the basics. On your application you need to create a strong sense of who you are, why you participate in your particular activities, what makes you tick, how and why you would contribute to campus life. Outstanding recommendations will also help.</p>

7

<p>Now I understand why Asians don't benefit from Affirmative Action...</p>

8

<p>I do have glowing recommendations, one from my chemistry teacher and one from my history teacher. My chem teacher's written four or five recs for me in the past already (one of which got me into SHARP), and I'm sure they were amazing (one of the top students in career, inspiration to other students, etc.) and my history teacher writes amazing recs hands down.</p>

<p>My physics teacher has also offered to write my recs, but I'm not entirely sure I should have recs from two physical science teachers even though my prospective major is a physical science.</p>

<p>As for essays... the one I've already written is on naginata; I haven't written the others yet.</p>

<p>Oh, I forgot; I'll also be working on a renewable energy research project with some friends this fall; we've won a $10,000 grant. I doubt we'll have enough accomplished to enter Intel or Siemens in time, however. Um... and there's also a chance I'll be working on a proposal for a moon mission for NASA; it's a five-person team and we're drawing straws. So we'll see how that turns out next Monday.</p>

9

<p>frozentears-if you think that a 2260 is too low for princeton then you have serious problems. YOU WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED BECAUSE OF A HIGH SAT SCORE PERIOD. Dont be like the typical asian who complains that he got rejected from HYPS when he/she had a 1600 and cites AA for his/her rejection. These kids get rejected because although they have good scores, they dont have any distinguishing factor about them and their apps dont give a clear vision of what they stand for and/or is passionate about.</p>

<p>the adcoms have to see a personality, not an SAT score</p>

10

<p>I really don't understand what the OP means by low-ish SAT scores.</p>

11

<p>Well, isn't 740 math kind of low for someone who might be interested in engineering? It would be in the bottom quartile at a tech school like MIT or Caltech! And a 730 writing? At a school that values writing skills so much? I remember an alum parent on the old board said once that you don't stand much of a chance unless you're above the mid-50%.</p>

12

<p>2260 is a very good score. If you feel it is not high enough, it is your choice to retake. Of course, it might help a little bit but not a significant difference between rejection and admission. Your stats are stellar. Will you be applying early decision? IF you do, I think you would have a great chance.</p>

13

<p>P prides itself on attracting female engineering students. They announced at one talk I attended that they have a higher percentage of female engineering students than any school except Smith. ;) In fact, they have just started an exchange program with Smith's engineering students. It seems that they are eager to raise the percentage of women engineering students. I don't know what that would mean in terms of admissions, but if I were you I'd consider it promising. </p>

<p>Your old SATs and SAT II's are great, and you have some wonderful ECs, if you can present them as a coherent whole. </p>

<p>I would stop worrying and start crafting a beautiful application -- and enjoying the end of high school. ;)</p>

14

<p>Well they mix and match your SAT marks; you recieved 780 for the old SAT so I don't know what there is to worry about</p>

15

<p>
[QUOTE]
Well they mix and match your SAT marks; you recieved 780 for the old SAT so I don't know what there is to worry about

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>Oh, wow, really? I thought that since they require the new SAT but would consider scores from the old, that they wouldn't mix and match. Does that go for the Writing section and the old SAT II test, too?</p>

16

<p>The Writing section is considered different from the old SAT II Writing because its scale is much harsher. Collegeboard says the two aren't comparable. Generally speaking, colleges will be more flexible with the new writing scores because they do not have anything to compare those scores to, so I wouldn't worry about a 730. Princeton is strange in the regard that it won't mix and match old and new SAT scores; however, HYSM will mix and match old and new scores.</p>

17

<p>Sadly...princeton DOES NOT MIX and MATCH old and new (although it does mix and match new and new)</p>

<p>harvard, yale, mit, and stanford do tho...which makes it weird that princeton wont</p>

18

<p>Well, the new SAT I math is much more difficult than the old SAT I math, also the old verbal had analogies while this one doesnt. They are rather different and it doesnt make sense to mix and match them.</p>

19

<p>??? well doesn't that essentially mean that the old SAT marks are useless now? </p>

<p>oh well, its just going to make ONE dent in her quasi impeccable transcript...no biggie..</p>

20

<p>The other dent would probably be the fact that I only took 2 years (one in high school and 2 semesters in community college) of a foreign language (Japanese). I'm hoping to at least partially make up for it in my naginata essay.</p>