<p>Hey guys im a junior, going to apply EA to Princeton in a year for Class of 2020. I was wondering if you guys could help me out with whether I have a chance at getting into Princeton :D Thanks!</p>
<p>Stats:
SAT (highest): single-sitting: 2360/comp:2360
SAT IIs: Bio M: 760, will be taking Math II, Chem, Physics,
GPA: 4.2 UW, 5.8 W (our school unweight out of 4.33 and weighted out of 6.03)
Class Rank: top of class
Junior Year course load:
AP Chem
AP Phys 1
AP World
AP Calc AB
English Honors
Spanish Honors
Physical Education
PSAT: have not gotten back yet
AP scores:
US History: 5
Plan to self study Stats, Human Geo, and Psych</p>
<p>Extracurriculars (our school really lacks any good ECs)
Model UN (Pres this year and Treasurer soph year)
Science Honor Society/Science Club (quiz bowl/league), co founder/Treasurer (both)
Student Council Representative
Class Treasurer for 2 years (Fresh/Soph)
Math League member (also started just this year)
Volleyball 2 years , Junior Varsity</p>
<p>Summer Programs/Internships/Jobs/Volunteering:
applying to the NJ Governor's School in the Sciences at Drew University
I hear back in April 2015
I volunteered 90+ hours at a hospital (Nov to June)
Latch Key volunteer at an elementary school (3 months)
100+ hours from Student Council</p>
<p>Awards:
Hoping for Nat Merit/AP Scholar but currently none </p>
<p>Recommendations:
probably one average rec and one good</p>
<p>Anyways, I would really appreciate any suggestions, feedback, comments, etc!!! Thanks in advance!! </p>
people are gonna tell you not to do chance threads this early, but my advice is not to listen because they honestly do help if people give good advice. if you want better/more feedback, call it an advice thread maybe? but anyways, back to the matter at hand- your stats are great, as you probably know, but overall you’re boring. i know its blunt but i genuinely want you to be able to improve by the time you apply, and as someone who goes to school in the silicon valley where everyone is a siemens finalist or has done stanford level research or won international awards for something, you need a standout factor which you currently don’t have. you said your school has limited ec’s, maybe try doing something out of school? do some research on something you like, pursue it and make sure you get to a national level of achievement (yes that sounds crazy but you want the ivies and they want crazy). it sounds hard, i know, but doing something you genuinely enjoy will make it a lot easier. other than the ec’s, focus on getting those subject tests in the 750+ and maybe take an act to see if you get a 36, which i think you’ll be able to do. also if you can get varsity volleyball next year that would be great. for recs, you need both to be outstanding. they rely heavily on your recs to see who you are and confirm what youve done. make some great relationships with teachers you like this year and stay connected with them throughout the next year. you also need to do some significant summer activities, maybe apply to a few more just in case, like stanford’s summer program or an ivy summer program. you’re gonna need some more awards too, so research what you can get those in and start planning now. if you’re into the sciences, try going for intel or siemens awards. another thought-can you submit an art supplement? ivies are looking to branch out to humanities and love seeing art supps, so if you’re talented in one of the arts, think about submitting a supplement and start practicing and planning now. your essays can be your saving grace, so start thinking about them now and checking out this year’s prompts, as they usually don’t change much. i can’t tell you what chance you have because you need to put in a lot more work before you’re ready to apply, but as of now you’re a little underdeveloped. princeton, as well as other ivies, are gonna see a lot more applicants with much better ec’s, so work on that diligently if you want to go there. other than that, i wish you the best of luck!
Thanks a ton! And yeah I really should have called this an advice thread! After reviewing my stats, you’re completely right hahaI don’t have anything particular that stands out… but I hope to improve, I plan on working my ass off for the rest of the year going for all of those special things you mentioned. my school usually never admits anyone into ivies but Im not trying to be discouraged by that so ive been basically exploring some opportunities outside of school as you mentioned yourself! Anyways, again thanks so much for giving me tons of advice and direction, I really appreciate it and I’ll try my best to branch out!
@imsoworried i can see why you have that username.
honestly, at this point if you’re a junior with “boring” ec’s, it’s kind of late to start finding a cure for cancer to put on your application. my point is that while op definitely still has room to improve, if you look at the profiles of people who were accepted by princeton this year, a lot of them don’t have that international award or similar stand-out factor. perhaps chancing is reassuring for a lot of prospective applicants, but some of the most important aspects of the application are things we don’t get to see on chance threads, like teacher recs and the essays. i think overall admissions officers look for potential as much, if not more, as they look for accomplishment.
my advice would be to look back on your accomplishments and make a solid (but feasible) plan for improvement for this year. think about what you’re really good at, what you really love to do and what you want to study, and /then/ look for opportunities to showcase your talents and your potential.
I would not take imsoworried’s suggestion of taking the ACT… your SAT score is already pretty much the equivalent. Seriously, no point. Don’t waste your time, your academics are fine. Do well on those AP tests and they’ll be stellar.
I’m going to have to agree that I see nothing special in your ECs and no unity. What do you like to do? Other than being a typical high-achieving student, I can’t tell. Sorry if that sounds mean – I say this because I think you need to find out what you love and get on it (EC-wise.)
Crimes said that it’s too late by now to make your ECs stand out, and while it’s true you don’t have time to do much I don’t agree. I really had very little/no ECs until junior year and I’m doing all right now – for me, it was a question of identifying what I loved and actively pursuing that. I guess in a sense, I already had an EC – art – but I never pursued it because I thought I wasn’t good enough at it for it to be worth my time. I was wrong there, and also explored a few other areas. You have the rest of your year and a whole summer ahead of you – don’t give up yet. That’s actually a lot of time to get moving.
really appreciate the suggestions, thanks a lot! and you i do have some varied extra curriculars but my focal point is really science and anything science related, however we only had the opportunity to create the club this junior year and even then we were accidently removed from the officials club list (the club is official senior year) so I cant really capitalize on much of what science olympiad, bowl, leage etc has to offer unfortunately but I really do have a strong passion for science which is why im applying to the NJ Gov School in Sciences (haha hopefully i get in). I do also love international affairs and debate and so im currently planning another club to add called the NJ Youth and Government program (you roleplay state governments, pass legislation, act as senators and reps etc) so ultimately ive really been trying to hone my ECs in those areas. Again, our school is pretty lackluster overall, I would say I wish I had gone somewhere else bc there are little to no opportunities for people aiming like ivy level unless you really take matters into your own hands and revolutionize the school. but again thanks a ton for your input!!!
don’t worry, I totally get what you’re coming from! My schools didn’t have much going with them in terms of activities either (the teachers went on strike freshman year and refused to run them, and then admin changed so no funding). I suggest looking for research opportunities or camps over the summer (especially low pay merit-based ones, if it’s not too late!) if you want to do something that stands out a little more.
omg @naturecanyon my stats are almost exactly the same as yours…including the part about being passionate about sciences, starting a science national honors society/science club doing league/bowl (which wont be official until senior year anyway), and governor’s school in the sciences which i somehow got into.
i had the same junior year courseload as you and same SAT score (December single sitting), similar extracurriculars, which i feel are varied but i have leadership in them so i dont feel like they will hurt me.
The only problem is I don’t have any single focus, super national level awards/accomplishments anything like @imsoworried said and Im not going to try to force that. But I still remain princeton hopeful and want to show my potential and drive like @crimes said through my essay/interview/recommendations.
Good luck to you and just wanted to point out this crazy similarity
