<p>Does Princeton want quirky students? Or well-rounded ones?</p>
<p>For example, can an "bright" kid w. 4.0 & 2400 get rejected but a kid w. slightly above avg stats get in bc he's more interesting?</p>
<p>Well, he has to be darn interesting to be preferred over the 2400 kid (if he has above average stats which would be 1800-2100 in the SAT?)
I mean, behind every applicant there is a story…
Scores are just a part of it…
Your STORY must stand out, with all of the components highlighting how you are the right person for this school…</p>
<p>Well, let’s put it this way. I did pursue an AP/honors intensive course load in high school. I never had a perfect semester in high school, and managed to actually rack up 2 Cs in calculus and chemistry. My SAT I capped out at 1970, and I didn’t exactly have the most stellar Math II Reasoning Test. I took 5 gap years in the form of an enlistment in the Marine Corps and applied just to see what would happen. Despite my academic past, I managed to get in even declaring an intention to pursue a B.S.E. Granted, Princeton has the lowest veteran population at 4 (the only undergrad is fragged to graduate this year). I will be 23 when I start out as a freshman next year, so that makes me a pretty strange case as a nontraditional. </p>
<p>On the flip side I actually got rejected by a lot of mid tier schools which I suspect were a lot more empirical in their selection process. Hopefully that is sufficient proof that Princeton’s admissions selection is truly holistic in nature.</p>