<p>Hi, I just applied Early Action to Princeton and now I'm stressing over my chances of actually getting in. I'd really appreciate your input on this issue. Thanks all in advance!</p>
<p>First of all, I'm an international applicant from Eastern Europe. I intend to follow a Chemical Engineering Major.</p>
<p>Scores go like this:
SAT I: 2320 (740 CR, 780 Math, 800 Writing -12 Essay)
SAT Subject Tests: Chemistry (800), Physics (800), Math 2(760)
Toefl iBT: 117/120</p>
<p>I attend what is considered to be the best high school in the country. We also don't get to choose our courses. We all take the same classes and their difficulty is probably on par with AP courses. That makes the school curriculum quite rigorous.
We have a 1 (very poor) - 10 (excellent) grading system.
My Average over the last 3 high school years (GPA) is 9,88 out of 10. (anything between 9 and 10 would be equivalent to A).
My rank is something around 5 out of 211 students (top 3%).</p>
<p>Academic achievements:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>qualified and participated in the National Chemistry Olympiad in the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th grades; ranked among first 10% each time and therefore qualified for National Chemistry Camps in which we were taught really advanced, college-level chemistry courses; the Olympiad is basically the most prestigious high school academic competition in my country;</p></li>
<li><p>was selected to represent my country in an international renewable energy competition which will take place in Israel this November; I am part of the biomimetics team and we have to devise a theoretical model of a process which is more energy-efficient;</p></li>
<li><p>participated in National Earth Sciences Olympiad (combines physics, chemistry, biology and geography) and National Junior Sciences Olympiad (physics, chemistry, biology);</p></li>
<li><p>some other National sciences competitions including chemistry, physics, biology;</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Other qualifications:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>interned this summer at my country's largest and most prestigious chemistry research institute; conducted research on the detection of peroxynitrite by electrochemical means; my research mentor mailed a really terrific recommendation letter to the undergraduate admission office at Princeton; also, as a member of my mentor's team, I helped organize several international conferences and met internationally renowned professors who thought that a high school student conducting research is highly unusual and praised my work;</p></li>
<li><p>participated this summer in the International Summer Science Camp which took place in Portugal and was themed "Engineering of the Future"; had a really good time and learned quite a lot about engineering in general;</p></li>
<li><p>won 1st prize in an Essay Writing Competition called "My Europe" organized by a German company; was also offered an internship at one of my country's top newspapers, but had to decline it due to lack of time;</p></li>
<li><p>co-founded an Interact Club (branch of Rotary International for young people aged 12-18) in my city and became its first Secretary General (one of the 4 leading positions); We are really new (we founded it in June, this year), but already organized two fundraising events for a young boy suffering from cancer and some very poor children;</p></li>
<li><p>I am a member of DeMolay International and we organized both a national chess and a tennis tournament; both were really successful;</p></li>
<li><p>participated in a Model United Nations simulation and represented Pakistan on the Security Council;</p></li>
<li><p>I am also a Red Cross volunteer but I haven't been really active; I did, however, identify homeless people and provided for them.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I also have pretty good essays, though it's hard to evaluate my own writing.
My recs should also be pretty good to excellent, the teachers really like me :D
The extra recommendation from the research mentor is fantastic :D</p>
<p>Thank you for the time you took reading this rather long post! :D</p>