<p>I do not have a 2400 SAT score--not even close. I have never built a house in Uganda or even been overseas for that matter. I will never be the next Albert Einstein; I am by no sense of the word a "genius." But you know what I am? I am passionate. I am creative. I am tenacious. I am humorous. I am unique. I am real. For all of you who drive yourselves to insanity striving to achieve a coveted Ivy League acceptance letter: take a deep breath and slow down. Speaking from personal advice, the Ivy League wants genuine individuals who are uniquely passionate. You don't have to be the president of 15 clubs and an Intel Science Award to be acknowledged by top schools. Devote yourself to that which makes you feel alive, take risks, challenge yourself, but always remain true, and you will be rewarded. </p>
<p>Having been accepted to Brown, Cornell, & Princeton, I'm here to tell you: ceaselessly chase the glimmer of possibility in what the masses naively dub as "impossible." Be a dreamer. Keep your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground. Never allow anyone or anything to clip your wings, and you will soar.</p>
<p>I've had run-ins with infinite naysayers along the road who would have scoffed at my desire to attend the number one school in the nation. And yet here I am, Princeton University Class of 2018. If only I could see the look on their faces.</p>
<p>Congratulations dude, you are in one of the greatest schools in the world! I do agree that personality traits like passion and creativity are what Ivies value, but for international students, it’s just not that easy.</p>
<p>I am from Hong Kong, and I have been rejected by Princeton. Forgive me if I seem to be arrogant, but I am quite sure I am unique, special and passionate. I participated in things I like, designed creative events, actively devoted in different kind of services, and my teachers even encouraged me to teach some classmates with my knowledge in Maths and physics. I described all these in details with my genuine feelings, and my teachers who understand me well wrote very favorable comments. I had good grades in school and acceptable results in standardized tests, Yet, I am still rejected. </p>
<p>Please don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to say something like “Ivies’ admission officers are dumb that they didn’t accept me”. What I mean is the competitions here in Asia is just too fierce. Less than 10 students are admitted a year in Hong Kong, and this is our main challenge. This is not a racist thing, it is perfectly understandable to keep a larger quota for locals, but under this situation, international students need to have much more than personality traits to be admitted, such as awards or achievements. I am quite sure that many of the applicants here will be admitted if they live in US. </p>
<p>In conclusion, I just want to remind future students especially international applicants to keep in mind that you will need achievements plus personality traits to get in, so join competitions and try to contribute as long as possible. Congrats again to the 2018 tigers! You are all brilliant!</p>
<p>Food for thought, to be sure. I agree that following your passions, taking risks and the like is a great approach to life in general. This kind of advice has been dispensed frequently on this and other forums and I concur that it is the best approach to college admissions. My son took that approach as well and is currently nearing the completion of his sophomore year at Princeton (he was also a recruited athlete which was part of following his passion). </p>
<p>As SAPenguin pointed out, often there are a number of other factors involved in gaining admission to extremely selective schools. It is true that being an international student can add to the difficulty of admission if coming from a country that has many students applying (China/Hong Kong, India etc) but it can be a plus if applying from one of the less-represented countries at Princeton as a URM. A strong resume, good test scores and marks, excellent essays and so on also contribute to the process. </p>
<p>I remain convinced, however, that there is a certain element of “luck” beyond all the passion and accomplishments (not personally being a strong believer in luck generally) in gaining admission. Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye seems to comment every year that they could have filled their freshman class 5-6 times over and been happy with the results. This would seem to indicate that there is an exceptionally strong pool of applicants and that several thousand of them would have been at the level of actually being strongly considered. </p>
<p>Keeping this in mind, the advice of the OP will certainly help in the process and allow any prospective student to move toward a great future regardless of where they ultimately land. To SAPenguin and others who poured all you had into trying to gain admission to your ‘dream’ school only to receive disappointing news last Thursday, the road does not end here. You’ll just be taking a different path. And to those who are now part of the Princeton Class of 2018, welcome and congratulations! </p>