How can I improve??

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Wasn’t really sure how to categorize this…

Princeton is my absolute dream school (sounds cliche doesn’t it) and it has been since we took a field trip there in 5th grade. I would love to go there in addition to some other Ivies (Brown, Columbia, and UPenn) but I feel like my chances are pretty low. Can you guys give me tips on being a stronger applicant???

I guess here are some basic facts about myself. I’m African American, female, first generation, income is less than $20,000 (these are the “hooks” I guess you can say, though I’m not sure if being female is a hook)

I don’t have many extracurriculars. I do Student Council (president), Cake Club (I love baking), and Yearbook Club. I did cheerleading last year but quit for health reasons. I also did dance for 4 years and plan to continue this year if I can get back into shape.

My school is relatively new so we don’t have many sports or the $ for it, but I really want to start a volleyball team next year because volleyball is something I’ve always wanted to play!!!

Uhh…I’m an active volunteer for my county’s public schools. So basically, any activity they have like festivals, parties, and just basic things like going there to help the kids with work is what I do. I mostly work with the elementary schools.

I feel like I’m missing something here…

Oh yes! My SAT score = 1830 and I KNOW I need to increase that. I’m in an SAT prep program and I take it again May 2nd so hopefully I see an increase in my score.

In terms of classes, I’m dual enrolled at the local community college but I also take APUSH, APES, calculus honors, and an elective @ regular school.

My GPA is a 3.84 (the thing that really messes me up here is that to get a 4.0 here you need a 97+ and most of my A’s are 93/94/95, which is a 3.625). I think it will go up after my 11th grade final grades go in because I have As in all my college classes/high As in all my HS classes.

I think that’s about it…but besides my SAT scores (if you have any tips, especially for the reading section, please share!!!), is there anything else I can improve? Thank you so much!!!

Edit: I forgot to add that I do have a job, which I guess would be in the extracurricular section

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I’m no expert, but to me you look perfectly fine on paper, excluding the SAT obviously. I would say where you will really make or break is in the essay. You’re fab, but you’re not an obvious admit. You could change that in your essay. Go look at the topics and start brainstorming now. And by brainstorm I mean really reflect on who you are and what you want out of this life. Be undeniable.

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@ohsomello‌ aw thank you so much! You know…starting brainstorming now is an amazing idea idk why it never crossed my mind. So, does that mean that the prompts stay the same every year?

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They change every couple of years. They changed this year, so I would think they would stay the same for next year, but you never know. Generally they’re pretty predictable, though. I would imagine that nailing one essay down would make it pretty easy to tailor it to a similar specific question. That’s what you’ll end up doing anyways for scholarships and the like. The goal is to be very likable and memorable. Make them want to be your friend, but do so by being yourself.

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You seem pretty good at the moment. Get the SAT and the GPA up. Possibly try the ACT too. Take as many AP courses as you can while maintaining a good GPA. Hit your essay out of the ballpark like a home run and I think you have a decent shot. Of course, no Ivy is a guarantee but you’ll look better once the stats are up a bit.

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@ohsomello‌ once again, thank you!!! I’ll be looking into those!
@TheDidactic‌ for some reason, my dual enrollment courses (which are classes taken at the local community college) are weighted on an honors level (5.0) instead of AP level (6.0). So do you think next year I should just take a whole bunch of AP classes or should I just explain to them the predicament and continue with the college courses? I don’t even know if I would have an opportunity/space to explain that.

I think though, if I can have a place where I can explain the predicament, I’ll continue with the college courses because the way my schools schedule is set up, I already miss one AP class twice a week which is kind of crucial.

By the way I did take the ACT a couple of weeks ago and it was just awful. I did really good on the ACT Plan so I thought the ACT would be easy but I thought wrong…I’d much rather take the SAT again even though it’s a longer test

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Oh okay, I wasn’t aware that you have DE classes. It really doesn’t matter whether or not you do dual enrollment or AP courses. They’re equal in rigor IMO.

And about the ACT, OK that’s fine LOL. As long as you try it out once and you see if you like it or not. :stuck_out_tongue: