How much does legacy help?(Princeton)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

I’m a legacy at Princeton and here are some of my stats:
GPA: 97/100
Class Rank: top 15 out of 400
ACT: 33
SAT II: will take Spanish, Math II, and US History
Only allowed to take APs junior year but current schedule is: Honors Spanish, Pre Calc Honors, AP Lang, AP US, reg physics, regular orchestra, chamber orchestra
Senior year: AP Euro, AP Macro, AP Spanish, BC Calc, AP Lit, regular orchestra, chamber orchestra
Selected as Editor-in-Chief of school newspaper as a junior
3 years varsity basketball
section leader of audition only chamber orchestra
received As at state violin competitions
National Honors Society, Tri-M Music Honors Society
President of club that helps out elementary school orchestra
On board of Midnight Run club
Camp Counselor for 2 years
started own basketball clinics business freshman year, has made thousands through this

How much does being a legacy help at Princeton and do my stats seem good enough?

2

You are a competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are great, and your hook will probably help. Write good essays and you could get accepted to Princeton

3

@polkadotsss I think I’d want to see your SATII’s and some AP score before I could give you input, as these nationally standardized test help validate your schooling. A 33 ACT is pretty good, but not stellar given the competition. Your GPA is good, so is your course rigor. ECs are nice, but I don’t see anything unique enough to position you above the amazing competition.

Are you a recruited athlete? URM? Legacy is a good tie-breaker. Agree essays will be very important, also LoRs.

Good luck,
Psy

4

Well, I guess if your are a legacy of the current Director of Admissions or University President, then you are in. Otherwise, I think that you need an additional boost such as URM, recruited athlete or legacy of a major donor.

5

Do you think legacy urm is a boost or a hindrance.

6

Just something for perspective - this is from another CC poster whose mom attended Princeton and who was rejected. She is from Idaho and applied this cycle:

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/admissions-hindsight-lessons-learned/2069374-rejected-and-relieved.html#latest

7

Are you taking a science class senior year? I don’t see one listed.

8

I am not interested in science at all. It has always been one of my weakest subjects and I am far more interested in the history courses offered at my school. For senior year I chose to double up in that department and drop science.

9

I think the only thing that really sets me apart from this girl is that I have more leadership roles and extracurriculars. Otherwise, I feel like we are relatively similar…Do you think I would be better off applying somewhere else ED? Did this girl apply ED?

10

Interesting datapoint. The person applied to Harvard SCEA - I definitely get the impression legacies need to apply early to Princeton to get any boost, and even then boost isn’t as generous as it once was. I have younger kids but have seen enough data points to believe a legacy needs to have tippy top stats to be considered - top 2% to 3%, and very high standardized test scores - to have a chance.

11

So do you think it would be worth it applying there early? I haven’t performed open heart surgery or won a Pulitzer so I feel like I don’t even stand a chance against some of the other applicants. Another school I really liked was UPenn however I have no connections there. My high school always sends a few kids there each year though.