My counselor is sending a letter to admissions office regarding my app? HELP?!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
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<p>So, I am an international student and my school has never send any kids to a US college for undergrad. infact, i am amongst the only 3 people in a class of 250+ who is applying to colleges in US. However, i belong to a country which is literally "feeding" students to the ivies and other top institutes. </p>

<p>My counselor, whom i have known since i joined the school, really wants me to get into one of top unis in States(obviously, who wouldnt) and my application as a whole looks great as well. only one major drawback? i have a 26 (27 Super-scoring, if they do that) in the ACTs, but fairly decent Subject test scores (790 in one of 'em). i have good essays (reviewed and critiqued by present college students and many others), in the top 2% of the class, gooooood EC records, great LORs, etc.
BUT THAT ACT SCORE!
so i told my counselor, who is like friend to me, about this score and that shall crumble my entire app since that score isnt even in the lower 25% of the scores that the college class of 2016 had (of top unis); source- college profiles. infact, i read, that top 20 colleges in US had just 1% applicants with a score below 28 (ACT) and i told this to my counselor. </p>

<p>He has already sent a recommendation letter as a counselor, however, today he told me that he will be emailing the colleges and request them to have a careful look at my application?
obviously colleges do their best job possible and sometime tend to overlook one bad score and that counselor sending a letter to the adcoms shall not make a difference but only annoy them more. My counselor, however, really wants to send this letter to request them to have a scrupulous look at my application and tell them that i am amongst the best students the school has every produced and bla-bla, stuff like that, which, i think, he has already sent in the LOR. he said, he will also be adding stuff like saying that standardized testing don't really portray myself as a proper candidate, but my grades and my ECs show that i am a good candidate for their college and more such stuff on similar lines?! I am pretty sure he'll definitely send that, even if i request him not to?!</p>

<p>so, the question is, will the adcoms read such email and pay heed to it? or will it annoy them? will it make them skip that one terrible part of my app or like, have a proper look at my app as whole? or make ANY difference? will that letter/email matter much?
or should i ask my counselor to not send it and somehow convince him that it'll only decrease my chances? or just let him send anyway? :X</p>

<p>[edit: dont be like, oh they'll overlook that score. well, coz they wont!. just please suggest?]</p>

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<p>oh and my Pton interview went amazing.
my interviewer was impressed by me and said that i was the first one to mention some good stuff in all interviews she has ever taken.
but that doesnt count, does it?</p>

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<p>It won’ t make a difference. Everything is done and set. As you’ve assumed, your 26ACT will probably be your anchor in the highly competitive International pool.</p>

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<p>Please explain, OP. How exactly has your country been “feeding” students to Ivies and other top universities? Either way, your ACT score will drag you down(and as T26E4 said, to the bottom). I would just let your counselor send that email and hope for the best.</p>

<p>Baa.</p>

<p>nvm, forget the “feeding” part. iirc, pakistan/india doesn’t exactly “feed” students to top unis because you guys are overrep’d.</p>

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<p>When i said feeding, i strictly meant the large number of indian/pakistan students being accepted at the top universities amongst the very small group of internationals being accepted (< 1%, the last time i read Pton’s admitted international students. )</p>

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<p>I think you’re wrong. Pakistan and India have never “fed” students to Ivy League universities. A very, very small number of students gets accepted from these countries. The only countries that, perhaps, come close to “feeding” are Canada and the United Kingdom.</p>

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<p>Perhaps I am misreading the statements here but a couple points might benefit from clarification. For the class of 2016 there are 154 international students from 57 countries. I know that quite a few more than that were actually accepted since I saw close to 70 different countries on the initial admitted students’ website last year. However for it to be less than 1% admission rate for even the 154 students who actually matriculated, more than 15 500 students would have needed to apply internationally to Princeton. There were just under 27,000 applicants in total - I find it difficult to believe that only 12,000 of the students were American. I can easily believe that being accepted as an international student presents a different set of challenges (my son is one of them and a freshman this year in BSE at Princeton so we went through it) however I don’t believe the presented statistic is accurate. As for Canadians (whose education system is likely the most similar to the USA’s system) I believe there are around 20 or 25 students in the class of 2016. </p>

<p>Out of 5,220 undergraduate students, 552 or 10.6% are currently international students. Princeton does not publish admission rates for internationals to my knowledge but I do believe it is considerably higher than 1%.</p>

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<p>Pakistan and India have 13 and 33 students studying at Princeton, respectively. Canada, on the other hand has 108.</p>

<p>While people always claim, on College Confidential, that international students are at a disadvantage, Harvard and Princeton both claim that this is not the case:</p>

<p>Are applications from non-U.S. citizens treated differently in the admission process?</p>

<p>No. We consider all applications in the same way, regardless of citizenship or high school location. The admission process is also need-blind for all applicants, including citizens of countries other than the United States.</p>

<p>You can view International Student Statistics here: [International</a> Princeton - International Students](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/international/community/facts/students/]International”>http://www.princeton.edu/international/community/facts/students/)</p>

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<p>Thanks, MeIsHM! </p>

<p>Here’s another link for last year that also might be helpful:
<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/intlctr/davis-ic-home/about-davis-ic/about-docs/studentdata11-12.pdf[/url]”>http://www.princeton.edu/intlctr/davis-ic-home/about-davis-ic/about-docs/studentdata11-12.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>We found the Davis Center to be tremendously knowledgeable and helpful with the myriad questions we had throughout the matriculation process.</p>

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<p>If I may, H and P and others say that “consider all applications in the same way, regardless of citizenship or high school location”, which I believe. What is omitted is the fact that top schools have unsaid quotas that limit the # of accepted international students. If you look at the static percentage from year to year, this theory holds true.</p>

<p>So what happens is as international applicants vie for a fixed # of seats. Since their app numbers grow and grow, their competition grows and grows. Their admit rate plummets as more internationals apply.</p>

<p>It’s called “category admissions” For an explanation, read this:
[Reed</a> College Admissions Essay: realities vs. messages](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/apply/news_and_articles/admission_messages.html]Reed”>http://www.reed.edu/apply/news_and_articles/admission_messages.html)</p>

<p>Summary: yes they are read the same, but that doesn’t mean they get in at the same rate as other applicants. Without a a doubt, international applications have the MOST competition.</p>

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<p>No offense, but if you could only get a 26 on the ACT. I don’t think you’re academically prepared for Princeton. Of all the Ivies, Princeton’s probably the most academically gruesome one. It’s grade curves kill students gpas.</p>

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<p>Hi Rew. Im guessing youre from India :stuck_out_tongue: “Feeding kids to the Ivies but my school is back of beyond…” Yeah , been there. I got into Princeton SCEA this year and most kids tend to have >33 ACT and 2250+ SAT 1 minimum from what I can gauge by talking to some of the admits.</p>

<p>Obviously, this does not mean you have no chance in hell. So a letter from your counsellor explaining WHY standardized test scores will not be able to reflect your academic level of preparation can only be a positive. Make sure it doesnt degenerate into " He’s awesome otherwise, so doesnt really need those scores. Overlook them" </p>

<p>Rather the tone should be about possible challenges you faced which prevented you from scoring. One (distant) family friend at P told me how he had a C on his Calc II class but got a recommendation from the teacher saying " Hes a brilliant mathematical mind, but has a problem with learning standard integrals and formulae so he falls behind on tests."</p>

<p>If theres no reason you got a less score - avoid that letter like the plague. Irrespective of which school youre from, people dont like to be pressured/cajoled.</p>

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<p>Sorry cant PM. Minimum post count limit o.O
Well, what’s done is done. I really dont think it can have a negative impact on your app. Apart from causing a little irritation :stuck_out_tongue: Which doesnt matter, since everything goes to a committee and lots of people will have similar letters. So dont worry too much.</p>

<p>On a side note, SAT kyun nahi liya? If the ACT didnt go well? I’m not gonna lie 26 is below avg for P
s pool.</p>