Preparing in High School

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>Hi everyone!</p>

<p>I'm currently a Freshman at a Public High School in Washington State. (Gooo Class of 2011!!!) </p>

<p>Basically, I want to go to Princeton - it's my #1 choice. Yeah, I know I'm totally going to change throughout High School, so all my options are completely open but as of right now, and for a while now, it has been Princeton.</p>

<p>Basically, I was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice for my time in high school that can help me prepare well for eventually applying there. I can't spit out any SAT scores or anything, but I can say that I am super passionate about traveling, am quite involved in my local FBLA chapter, and am 110% dedicated to Thinkers Club. These are the three things I love and though I do have other ECs, I want to stress on these two as I am most involved in them.</p>

<p>Anyways, after all that rambling, once again, does anybody have any words of wisdom? </p>

<p>Thank you very, very much!!!</p>

2

<p>Hi Mishaal!!</p>

<p>I love hearing about people who are into Princeton. I knew it was my top choice in freshman year too! </p>

<p>good grades are a must. (to state the obvious), and pretty high standardized test scores (2100?) will make sure you aren't at a disadvantage, but once your scores are competitive, a higher score won't increase your chances by much. but seriously, you don't need insanely good grades (academically, I was about the top 10%. and my sat math score was 670 and then 680) In terms of courses, try to take the most rigorous courseload you can without compromising your social life / sanity. I took hard courses I loved even though I know i could have done far better in some easier ones. Do I regret this? No.</p>

<p>the really important stuff though, is ECs, passion, and personality. admissions wants to see you love and are committed to one or two things, e.g. piano and debating. Looks to me like you have already identified your interests - way to go! Also, leadership positions really help.</p>

<p>I also think the interview is important, although others may disagree. Purely from experience, the top colleges I had great interviews at were the ones I got into, dodgy interviews led to waitlists, and no interviews led to rejections. there were, funnily enough, no exceptions to this.</p>

<p>I notice that many strong applicants on CC have mind boggling lists of awards that I am not familiar with (I live abroad). I had just about none, and I got in!</p>

<p>Write a really good essay. Really.</p>

<p>I'm not sure how helpful you find this. you might already know all of these things, but I know how lost and anxious I was when I was a junior and I would really have appreciated any help. I didn't even know what the SAT was then!</p>

<p>Don't let anyone discourage you. you have a shot!</p>

3

<p>Thank you so much, annabell! That was really very helpful</p>

<p><em>Phew</em> I'm glad to learn you don't need too many awards or many ECs, because I'm the type of person that prefers to give 200% to everything I do, and not do AS much, rather than just 100% to a lot of things (I mean why be good when you can be GERAT right? ;D )</p>

<p>Anyways, thanks so much for all of your help - and GREAT JOB on getting in yourself :D ) !!!</p>

4

<p>Mishaal My son got in to Princeton for this coming fall. He took every AP class available, plus a class at the local college and an intensive 8 week class last summer. He has at least one job always. He has had 3 at one time. If you get a job, try to avoid (this is just my opinion) being a camp counselor during summer. I think the admission people see this all the time.</p>

<p>I am not familiar with Thinkers or FBLA. Explain?</p>

<p>My son did lots of volunteer work.</p>

<p>He wrote a very personal essay which I never saw, just heard about. </p>

<p>He did not use any college counselor. He did not take an SAT prep course.</p>

<p>When we visited the school, I had a chance to talk to some young people who worked in admissions. They were staffing the welcome tent for prospective students and parents. I remember one very nice young woman saying that she hoped that they could go to the waiting list this year because she knew of some very special kids on that list that she would like to see admitted. (I am paraphrasing here.) My point is, MAKE YOUR ESSAY PERSONAL. I had this feeing that the kids who could reach out and grab the reader from the page stood out. This may seem obvious, but it wasn't to me.</p>

<p>I really hope this helps. Pease remember there are other great schools, not just Princeton.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the reply, momofnewP. Congratulations to your son for getting accepted :D </p>

<p>Wow, looks like he had quite a tough load on his hands with the job and school, and everything else.</p>

<p>Thinkers Club is a personalized club for our High School; it is like a debate team but they are more Socratic Seminars and it's an opportunity to really learn about current world issues, discuss them with your peers, learn everyones position on it, and (most importantly) learn about fellow school members. I guess I'm very attracted to it because I love learning about PEOPLE more than probably anything :)</p>

<p>FBLA stands for Future Business Leaders For America and is one of the largest student-business organizations in the country. It's an opportunity to compete in business related events, learn about leadership, and learn about lots of people. My goal with it is to get to go to the National Leadership Conference (So, place 1st or 2nd in my competitions at the State Leadership Conference) during my time with the club.</p>

<p>The information about the essay really, really helped a lot. Thanks so much sharing.</p>

<p>Yeah, I'm absolutely keeping my mind open to all colleges and plan on learning about as many as possible (and hopefully getting accepted into the ones I apply to, hahaha)</p>

<p>Again, thank you very much, and I hope your son has a wonderful time at college! :)</p>

6

<p>omg! I REALLY REALLY REALLY WANT TO GO TO PRINCETON too!!!!!!!!</p>

<p>i have a few questions myself :D </p>

<p>firstly, i am a canadian student, so can i still give an interview or is that for domestic students only?</p>

<p>and are my chances slimmer than others just because i'm an international student? :(</p>

<p>and also, i went online see the list of undergrad programs princeton offers. i really wanted to do my undergrad in neuroscience, but then i saw that princeton offers that as a certificate program NOT a major, so I was wondering.... what's the difference?</p>

<p>i'm not to heartbroken by that fact, i'm open to anything that combines psych and science but i was just wondering</p>

<p>and to all you princeton students... i heard the dorms are GREAT. how do you feel about them? and is the campus really as beautiful as it seems? :D</p>

<p>thanks in advance!!!!!!!</p>

7

<p>Travel...why don't you study abroad for a bit? :) Lots of companies give full scholarships for year, semester, or summer programs (I'm guessing you'd be most interested in summer). If you pay for it, it won't really do anything for you xP but if you win a scholarship, that's at least mildly impressive, and definitely super awesome ;D yfu.org has a lot of summer scholarships, and I'm sure other programs have some too.</p>

8

<p>The above advice is good. You might also consider moving to Montana and then become a world class fencer.</p>