Is it worth for me to apply to Princeton/Yale SCEA

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Stats:

SAT: 1470 ATM( took in June, hopefully improved to over 1500)

SAT II: 740 US history, 760 Math II

GPA: 96 Weighted GPA ( about 93 unweighted)

Class Rank: Top 5 ( Great sophomore+ junior grades but I had a few Bs freshman year)

Course Load: only 5 APs but Counselor said he would check most rigorous

Positions: Class president, 3 year member of Varsity tennis( nominated to co-captain Junior year), Debate team captain, Mock trial captain, founded book club, Disciplinary Committee Rep

Awards: Some National Language Exam Awards( Bronze and Silver medal), Spanish Honor Society, top ranking student book award, Writing contest prize, participated in selective conference,

Extracurricular: Completed independent project on historical linguistics, hosts podcast about language and literature, founded national Spanish language lit mag for high school students, member of drama club, participated in MIT summer program

Recs: Probably will be glowing but aren’t all rec letters? I will have two supplemental letters though- one from a mock trial coach(princeton alum) and another from my independent project mentor

Demographics: Upper Middle Class Asian Male

School: Private school( in a sparsely-populated coastal state)

Intended Major: Comparative Literature

Princeton/Yale are my “dream schools” but I also want to be realistic. Do I have a chance at either if I apply during the SCEA round?

Obviously I’ll only apply to either Princeton or Yale early but I haven’t decided which one yet.

2

Can you explain your GPA system? Most GPAs are on a 4 point scale unweighted, so it’s hard to chance you when you don’t have that listed; other than that, I’d say you have slightly above average ECs and SATs. The acceptance rates for SCEA are still very low - pretty sure Yale’s is like 12%, not sure about Princeton - so apply, but don’t get your hopes up too high. That’s not unique to you though - even very strong, 4.5ish, 1580+, valedictorians get denied from those schools because of their competitiveness. If you’re deadset on either school, just put in an application to one; the worst you’ll get is a rejection letter, which means you can move on earlier. GL!

3

Thanks for the response! My school grades out of 100. All of the grades on the report card are averaged and this number becomes GPA.

4

By my rough calculations, your GPA would equate to about a 3.72 UW/ 4.3 W, which would be somewhat competitive, but still not in the ballpark some other students are in. With that said, I still stand by what I said earlier - either way, you’ll have closure earlier on, so you can take the next steps faster.

5

Ok, thanks for letting me know what I’m getting into. Honestly, I know the odds of acceptance are pretty low but I think I’m willing to take the chance.

Out of curiosity, do you think GPA is more important than class rank? Will the fact that my GPA could be higher hurt me even though I’m at the top of my class?

6

Hey, it’s always worth it to apply… as they say in the lottery commercials “You can’t win it if you’re not in it.”

But the Ivies are a total longshot for everyone. So be sure to include a number of matches and safeties on your list-- schools you’ll be happy to attend if you’re not one of the small percentage of qualified applicants who gets into one of the Ivies.

7

Thanks for the response bjk, I guess this schools are pretty hard to predict. How competitive do you think my profile is for Princeton’s early round?

8

You have a chance but I don’t see anything that sets you apart from the other applicants which is often what it takes to get admitted. Good luck

9

Ok, thanks for the honesty. I probably shouldn’t get my hopes up.

I’m new to this site so pardon me if I’m overstepping the thread but… what do you think of my college list?

At the moment the rest of my college list includes:

  • Brown
  • Dartmouth
  • Columbia
  • Harvard
  • Williams
  • Amherst
  • Vassar
  • Bowdoin
  • Kenyon
  • Umass

I know you all aren’t my admissions counselor, but do any of you have any opinions about my chances at the above schools?

10

OP, GPA and class rank are considered equally, as they qualify each other. For example, a high class rank but low GPA could speak to a bad school in general, while a low class rank but high GPA could speak to either an easy school or a very competitive one. In your case, you have a GPA which fits into the typical top 10% in their class student, so I wouldn’t worry too much. Princeton’s SCEA has an acceptance rate of 15%, which seems like a reach for you (as it is for 99% of students) based on your ECs and stats, but don’t let that discourage you from applying. Before applying SCEA to any school though, make sure you check out their NPC and make sure your parents would be fine with the amount they’d have to pay if you were to get in. If all that checks out, put in an app to whichever of the two you’d want to go to more (Princeton has a higher SCEA acceptance rate if that matters) and cross your fingers.

11

In terms of your college list, I see almost all reaches at non-LACs (not very versed on the selectivity of LACs), with the exception of UMass. I would look into more match/safety type schools, just to make sure you have a fallback.

12

RD apps:

Reach:
Harvard
Columbia
Williams
Amherst
Brown
Dartmouth

Low reach:
Bowdoin
Vassar

High match:
Kenyon

If UMass is in-state, it’s a likely safety.

I would add a few matches.

Regarding SCEA at Yale and Princeton, given all the athletes and legacies we assume get in through the early round, the effective admit rate is probably about 10% – still much better than the roughly 4% RD admit rate, but not the 16-17% SCEA appears to be. So I think Yale or Princeton would still be a reach in the SCEA round. But – still, like I said, better chances than RD.