<p>Do you think I can make it to Princeton?
Please share your opinions on how I could improve my chances of being accepted at Princeton University and/or Georgetown University. Am I well on my way to or even already at the point where I may be accepted? I will be raising my SAT Math and Writing scores and am studying to improve over this summer. I am aiming for at least a 700 in Math and Writing.</p>
<p>Personal:
Sex- Male
Age- 17
Race/ Ethnicity- Black/ African- American (actually, my mom is Trinidadian and my dad is partly Chinese)
Class- Rising senior</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2010 CR 780, M 570, W 660 one sitting
SAT II: Will be taking US History, Lit, and Spanish.
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5%
AP : AP Art History (3), will take AP Stat, Macro& Micro Econ, and Lit. (my school only offers six AP's)
National Awards: Member of the National Honors Society and the International Thespian (not Lesbian) Society.</p>
<p>Subjective:
Extra-curriculars : Theatre for 4 years- I LOVE theatre. I started doing minor roles and props in freshman year and ended up in lead roles by sophomore year. I co-directed an entirely student-run play and stage-managed a play as well. I have NEVER seen a show at my school- I've been in all of them!
I am the Vice President of student gov't (running for President next year)- we're literally creating a Constitution since this is the first serious student gov't at my school.
Playing Piano for 3 years, performed in every music concert in those 3 years. I have a huge passion for piano as well!
Playing tennis for 3 years- Undefeated (as in I played 1 doubles match and won).
Managing editor, contributor, and future Editor-in-chief of The Voice, my school's literary magazine. We went completely digital as of last year- congrats 2011 Voice!
NOTE: I am the only student in my school who decided to take Spanish for all four years, thus my teacher created the first Spanish 5 class in my school's history. Is that interesting information? Anyone? Anyone.......?</p>
<p>Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered at my local library for 3 years- supervising children's reading and art programs, organization of books, etc.
Organized Japan Relief Garage sale at school- invited locals and family members to support- raised several thousand dollars.</p>
<p>Congratulations: your grades and your ECs are impressive. You already know that raising your SATs is crucial, and I assume you realize that being a URM is also an advantage. So the answer is - you’ve got a lot going for you. You’ll get into some excellent schools. Whether or not you make it to Princeton is hard to say: at some point getting into any of the Ivies is a bit of a crap shoot. My advice is to shoot for Princeton (you may also consider Yale since it has such an excellent drama department) but to also put together a solid list of safeties/matches/reaches. Love your safeties. And keep those fingers crossed. Good luck!</p>
<p>If you can raise your math and writing score your chances will be very good, being the 1st kid in your school to take Spanish for 4 years isn’t too impressive considering there are lots of schools where a lot of people take languages that long. It’s cool that you did it, but people should have been doing it already.
Was it AP Spanish or Spanish 5?</p>
<p>Spanish 5. Unfortunately, my school only has one Spanish teacher and she teaches several Spanish 1-4 classes on a daily basis. She just couldn’t add an AP Spanish class to her schedule and I can’t blame her!</p>
<p>If you get your SAT I and IIs all in the 700s you will be in excellent shape. For now, it is iffy, even URMs need to show PU they can handle the work.</p>
<p>So I think the general consensus here is that I need to improve my SAT and get excellent SAT II scores. But besides that- any other suggestions that could supplement my application?</p>
<p>wait, if you were the first to go up to spanish 4, then basically no one else ever took the spanish 4 class?? why would they even have it available if no one took it?</p>
<p>People! Remember that applicants are judged in the school they go to . It doesn’t matter that other students around the country take Spanish 5. He’s the first to do so at his school! That shows academic passion and initiative (2 key factors)</p>
<p>I think it couldn’t hurt to improve your scores a little, but the essays are going to be the biggest factor. If you can show your passion for theater and student government in your essays, you will definitely stand out. Especially because it is fairly rare for students to direct plays. </p>
<p>Being an URM definitely helps your chances, but will probably still leave you with a 10-15% chance for admission</p>