Is Princeton worth a shot (International)?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>Judging my stats only, do you think I have any chance of being applied by Princeton (planning on applying Early)? I'm an international student from Northern Ireland :)</p>

<p>SAT I (breakdown): 770M, 770CR, 760W
ACT: N/A
SAT II: 790 Chem, 790 French
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): British Student so N/A but basically 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): N/A
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: 4 AS and A Levels (4As and predicted 2A* 2A)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A ( not quite major awards eg :
School Prose Award,
Various Awards for GCSE/AS results,
Prize Winner 5 out of 6 years, Various Writing Awards (both UK and Worldwide),
Duke Of Edinburgh Bronze, Silver, Gold , Grade 4 in Drama (had to quit because of transportation problems)
CREST Silver and Gold for work in Computing)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
- Student Editor of School Magazine
- Duke of Edinburgh (voted leader every year)
-Self taught HTML C++ and CSS (a bit rusty now though, haven't looked at it for 2 years haha)
-Very involved in writing and have written for websites such as Huffington Post, Bleacher Report, Give Me Sport and The Guardian
-Member of school Charity Committee
-Project Leader of Young Enterprise Scheme in school (leader of runners up in county)
-Voted Senior Prefect and Mentor
-Tutoring struggling students with various subjects such as Maths, English, History, Biology, French</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience:
-Paper Round (4 years, few hours a week),
-Internship at Bosch,
-Written for local and national newspaper,
-Part time job at newsagent/retailer for two years</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service: Saphara (trip to India with school, helping villagers build houses etc), worked for local Barnardo's for three years
Summer Activities: Saphara as above, some work as above, studying for the SAT haha</p>

<p>Intended Major(s): Economics
State (if domestic applicant): N/A
Country (if international applicant): Northern Ireland (UK)
School Type: Public Grammar School
Ethnicity: White</p>

<p>Copied the template from 'Results' Thread hence the layout :)</p>

2

<p>Your stats so far appear to be excellent. What were your GCSEs results? And, which subjects are you taking at GCE AS/A Level? American schools, like top British schools, prefer students who have taken traditional A Levels. </p>

<p>Also, Princeton will compare your results with the average grades obtained by other students at your school. You can view this information at the Department of Education website.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the reply! I got 6A<em>s and 5As at GCSE and 4As at AS (Economics, Chemistry, French, Computing). Predicted 2A</em>s 2As at A2. So do you think it’s worth a shot? :)</p>

4

<p>Why not applying if you have interest. Your scores meet the norm. Princeton is a reach school to all. But you don’t apply, you never know. And Princeton’s Early Action is not binding.</p>

5

<p>Your GCSEs and predicted A Level grades are also excellent. Your chances will be increased if at least one your A*s is in chemistry or French. </p>

<p>You should definitely apply in my opinion. I am aware of at least two British students who got into Ivy League schools with grades lower than yours. </p>

<p>You should visit the UK Harvard Club website and read the information. It is very important that you follow it! Your grades, teacher recommendations and essays have to be completely different from what you would do in the UCAS.</p>

6

<p>Thanks a lot! Do you know if I’m offered a place SCEA and accept but get, say A<em>AAA at A-Level rather than A</em>A*AA will my offer get rescinded? Just wondering :)</p>

7

<p>^I don’t know much about the British system, but no. Your admission would only be taken away if you broke a law or completely dropped the ball academically (e.g. coming close to failing several classes).</p>

8

<p>That would not be an issue. Even if it’s quite a big drop (e.g A<em>A</em>AA → AABB), your teachers can write a letter saying that something probably went wrong in the exams, and that if you were to retake you exams, you’d get your originally predicted grades. American universities realize that British students only have one chance to prove themselves each year, and are thus more understanding about the stress, etc.</p>

<p>NOTE: it is important that you still try to get the best grades possible. Just because some American college give students a “second chance” does NOT mean you should become careless about your grades, thinking that teachers will support you and everything will be fine! Colleges can be more stringent in some years than other’s.</p>

9

<p>I’d definitely try. If you don’t get in you will at least know. If you get in - well obviously that’s just awesome. Doesn’t hurt to give it a shot. :slight_smile: and your stats are quite impressive.</p>

10

<p>Solid shot. good luck</p>