Princeton Admission Chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello everyone… Okay I know, another “what are my chances” post. But, there are a couple unique things about me that I’m not sure how they fit into my “story” as an applicant, and whether or not they will help me.

Applying as an Italian/French student

To get stats out of the way:
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 6.879/6.93 weighted
Rank: 1/~500
SATs: (need to be retaken) 1420 (760 CR, 660 math that I know I can score at least a 700 on)
SAT 2: taking them this weekend, the language, Italian and USH. Expect to do well.
Junior Course Load: AP Env Sci, AP Calc BC, APUSH in American Studies (combined APUSH and American literature course), Biochemistry (about a semesters worth of college material taught over the course of a year), Italian, Organic Chemistry (IS) and Orchestra
Senior Course Load: AP Language, AP Italian, Multivariable Calc, AP Psych, AP bio, AP human geo
I know I need to get my SAT scores up, I’m waiting on the May results, but I’m hoping that as long as I seem “qualified” I will stand half a chance, because Princeton is my absolute favorite school.

ECs:
Debate team all 4 years, captain junior and senior year, about 12 first place trophies at tournaments and 1 second place speaker trophy, state competition every year, top 10 team, 1st place Yale Osterweis
VP Italian Honor Society
Co-Pres NHS
Italian Club President
TSA: school VP, state award winner, going to Nationals this summer to be one of the reps for my state in several events, hoping to place top 10 in the debate/extemp speech categories
Musician (play violin, jazz on clarinet and am a classical singer). 2 years of regional honors choir, hope to make all state next year but I didn’t this year when I auditioned (2 points shy)
I work a job at a local Italian restaurant to help support my family and I have to pay for all of my lessons and extra things on my own, so I never got voice lessons until summer before junior year when I worked enough hours to pay for them on my own. I work about 20 hours there and use the opportunity to practice my Italian skills since they are Sicilian and also speak standard. I got the opportunity to go to Italy once, through crazy fundraising and more distant relative contributions.
Lots of church volunteer involvement, mission trip to the DR this summer that I have fundraisers and saved money for entirely on my own, I hope to raise enough to sponsor a child to go to school as well, because it’s really important to me.

Recommendations: should be outstanding, I am probably one of the best students most teachers have in at least my class, I typically stand out and am very sociable (I don’t mean this as bragging, I just have a memorable personality and relate well with people)

The thing that I hope to express through my app/interviews is that I have had to overcome a whole lot of difficulties in my family life to get where I am now. None of my relatives have attended college in my direct line (parents, grandparents, great grandparents, so on), so I will be a first gen college student. My mom had me in the spring of her senior year or the year after, so life with parents so young was really hard. She also became disabled in a car accident when I was about 6, and we lived with my grandparents. Very, very poor. My aunt also lived with us and was a drug addict, my dad was (is? Idk) an alcoholic, and life at home was so terrible that I tried to spend as much time outside of the house as possible (hence my many extracurriculars), but also had to work because my mom’s income was solely what she was getting from disability (no child support for 10 years, it’s complicated, father also disabled from something).

I’m not sure if this actually helps me, but one of the professional college counselors I talked to briefly said that top schools love to accept qualified students who they consider “underprivileged,” and that I definitely seem to fit in that category. However, because I work so much and am too deep in my activities now to stop (family life better as of about a year ago, thank god), I don’t get all that much study time in, so I know that my scores are unremarkable and that I don’t stand out academically compared to other students who apply to YHPS… But Princeton genuinely is my favorite school in every aspect, and I could really see it being my opportunity to me something more than the girl from the poor side of town with good grades. Do you think I have a shot?

2

Princeton is a longshot for any unhooked applicant, including yourself. You are a competitive applicant, but with an acceptance rate of 6.5% Princeton does not have enough space to accept all of the qualified applicants. Put forth your best application (including essays etc.) and take your chance like everyone else. In the meantime, it I strongly suggest that you don’t pin your hopes on this one hyper-competitive school. Work on developing a comprehensive list of reach (including Princeton), match, and safety schools that you would be very happy to attend. There are many many amazing colleges and universities that can give your the opportunities and experience that you seek.

3

Thanks for the reply! According to this ex-dean of a couple ivies, my personal circumstance sort of would be my hook, but I’m not sure.

4

It’s your interesting point – but not your “hook”

A Hook is something that the school desperately wants. Will your story capture someone’s attention? Who’s to know. Not having superior academics diminishes your chances. Like happy1 said, please apply broadly. Being fixated on one school is quite foolish. Apply, by all means. But apply broadly to others too

5

Try some highly selective LACs, I think you would be a great candidate for many if Princeton falls through.
My two cents.

6

Thanks for the replies! I didn’t mean I was only going to apply to Princeton- I’m not a complete moron. It’s just my favorite, I’m singing for the choral director in a couple weeks and I will probably apply SCEA if I get my SAT scores high enough.

7

Current Princeton student here. I’ve gotten to read my admissions notes and heard from several of my friends as well so I have a good idea of what they actually look for.

Your first reader is going to rate you from BA (Below average) to A (Average) to AA (Above Average) to G (Good) to VG (Very Good) to O (Outstanding) to T (Terrific).

I’d say you’d be on the G to VG scale (without knowing more of your situation other than just the listing of your ECs).

Most importantly, you need your “hook” or “spike.” Here’s what I’ve noticed.

  1. You’re a first gen college student who’s overcome many difficulties to get to where you are today. This is HUGE. And should come across in your essays (without being overly cheesy of course, and focusing on how being in this position has affected YOUR development not necessarily your family’s). Many of my friends definitely have their first gen student status as an integral part of their identity and knowing the struggles they have come from has added to my respect for them, as well as the readers (in general, application readers will be told to look out for students who overcame great odds).

  2. What’s your second hook? Just being the first gen college student who worked hard to overcome difficulties is moving, but what else is special? Are you the master of debate that will be able to add to the debate culture? It seems you’ve participated in your school debate team and done quite well. I say this because everyone I know at Princeton has one particular strength they bring to the table, whether that be debate, creative writing, or science and that’s what readers look for. Oh, this is the “student who will bring X” to the table.

Feel free to message me if you want additional help crafting a persona to add the second “hook.”