I’m a 17 year old male (junior) and I go to school at a private school in Chicago, IL. (ranked #1 private school in IL) I am worried about my chances of getting into Princeton. Here’s a quickly made resume:
I have legacy at Princeton (mom went there)
GPA: 3.63 (highest possible is 4.00)
1480 PSAT (will take the SAT to try and get national merit)
36 ACT
Currently studying for subject tests (Will be taking Math 2 in June and will probably take the Physics or Latin subject test.)
Have played JV/Varsity basketball for 3 years and I plan to play senior year
Have played 2 years of JV/Varsity Soccer (might play senior year)
Eagle Scout
Volunteer about 2-3 hrs a week at a nearby animal shelter
On Junior Leadership Board for a different animal shelter near my house
Basketball team editor (I love editing film and making movies on my own, but I make videos for our basketball team)
Member of STEM club
Creator of Entrepreneurship club
Creator of Basketball club
Overall I’m a pretty quiet kid at school in terms of relationship with teachers so I feel like I might struggle to get a good 2nd letter of recommendation from a teacher.
Additional info: I have ADD but didn’t receive any testing accommodations at school until junior year. My grades have steadily improved since freshman year and I hope to raise GPA to a 3.7.
GPA is the thing I’m most worried about. I take a really rigorous course load compared to other students at my school (I take all the AP classes available and take more classes overall than most kids) but I really wish my GPA was higher. Princeton isn’t exactly my dream school but I’ve been visiting it every few years since I was 5 since my mom went there and it’s definitely top 3 on my list. I know my testing scores are very good, which I didn’t expect to happen, but I really don’t think they make that much if a difference.
P. S. Are people at Princeton weird or unhappy like I’ve heard about some of the people at Harvard?
Like you said, your GPA is a bit low. Legacy will obviously help, and your EC’s are no worse than mine when I applied and was accepted. Definitely submit your ACT, unless you get a perfect score on the SAT.
No, people at Princeton aren’t weird or unhappy. Obviously there’s a significant amount of stress, but that’s true of every top school, and Princeton is pretty rigorous. People are generally normal, although some of them are a little prestige-obsessed (ask your mom about Ivy/Cottage). Overall, I’ve really enjoyed my time at Princeton - I don’t think the classes are too difficult, I get good grades and am in fun extracurriculars, and I’m in a bicker eating club. I’m a rising junior now, and I can’t wait to go back in the fall.
If you just finished your junior year, the last OCT PSAT is what is used for National merit. What was your selection index? That said, Princeton doesn’t really care about national merit.
Princeton doesn’t use HS Freshman grades when they calculate GPA, correct? @Gavinc21, if that’s true that might help…but with an acceptance rate of sub 6% Princeton seems tough for all.
@NewEngParent@oak2maple can you point me to a resource that states Princeton ignores HS freshman grades? This seems to have been a rumor for so long, and I can see why it is popular, but if you read Princeton’s Admission site, I cannot find any such statement. I would believe that schools that have a concrete policy, would state it.
For example, Stanford uses clarifying wording:
, but even that passage gives them wiggle room to look at 9th grade grades. Notice they say “focus”, not “solely” or ignore.
The wording Princeton uses
seems to says they do review your entire transcript “we look at your transcript course by course”, they have every opportunity to state a 9th grade, yet they don’t. If Princeton doesn’t explicitly state such a policy, why would you believe otherwise?
FWIW - in face to face chat with Admissions at Princeton, at a Princeton Preview Day, I asked and was told they looked at “everything submitted”, including “all grades and all courses for all years.” This was true as of 2015, but perhaps this has changed? If so, I’d love a link…
Go with what psywar says. Don’t assume you get off the hook because 9th grade doesn’t matter. The competition is fierce enough that even if they don’t care as much about 9th, a kid’s individual file may not be enough.
If there’s an ADD issue, see if the GC will mention how you overcame, all the ways you stretch now and the successes. Talk to teachers asap re whether they feel they can write a strong LoR. Sometimes, it’s intimidating to ask outright, so find a way to ease into that conversation.
And the ECs are sports, animals and a few hs clubs that may or may not be stretch-y. If you want a stem major, what about other math or sci activities? What’s up this summer? What future goals? Why not some hands on volunteering this summer that helps people in need- easy to join some group at a meal site? Continue in fall.
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Oh, shoot, now I see OPis awol since April. Oh, well.
@psywar One place that I can clearly recall reading that Princeton does not look at ninth grade assesments was in the well-regarded book “A is for Admission” by Michele A Hernandez. Other sources are mainly word of mouth, but from credible sources. Perhaps this was true in the past and the policy has been changed.
@oak2maple yeah, that book was written in ‘97 (and last revised in ‘09), so many things have changed, such as no more grade deflation, they’ve started to accept transfers and no more unlimited smoothies / soft-serve at RoMa dining Hall. I’d think twice about using that source as official.
Don’t mean to be a downer, I just want to challenge this assumption (and would love to be proved wrong if we can find a source).
I agree HS freshman year is not a reliable indicator of academic performance in college, but perhaps this is one way for Princeton to filter candidates? They have so many…
Right, the Hernandez book is now forever old and she has been in the counseling biz, not in admissions, since something like 2003.
Right, with days and days of 4.0 applications, all sorts of things can filter. You’d need to know an individual’s full record, strengths, stumbles, goals and other, to even begin to “guess” if a 9th grade issue matters. The easy example is highly advanced stem kids, with lots of relevant experiences- it doesn’t always matter if they got some B in foreign language. It can matter in other cores, especially related to the possible major.
But we’re now just talking amongst ourselves, OP isn’t in.
The OP asked this question in April and has not returned, so closing thread.
I’ve said before on this site, Michele Hernandez has not set foot in an admissions office since skidad was a college applicant. Admissions has changed drastically since she was an AO; so what she said may have been valid back in the day, but that does not mean it’s still accurate.
I’d think twice about using that source as official.