Princeton Class of 2020 EA Chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi everyone! I’m a rising senior and Princeton is my extremely reach school, but I plan on applying EA this fall. Chance me? :slight_smile:

Stats:
SAT: (first time, without studying too much) 1890 -> plan on taking it again in June (practice tests in 2100 range)
ACT: (first time) 29, plan to take it again this June (practice tests around 32 overall)
SAT IIs: Will be taking Math II, Chem, U.S. History in October
PSAT: 196
GPA: 3.99 UW, 4.72 W (our school unweight out of 4.0 and weighted out of 5.0. though we have a lot of unweighted reqs)
Class Rank: top 2% of high school class
Ethnicity: African American (more specifically, first generation Somali)

Sophomore Year course load:
AP Chem (Score: 4)
AP Calc AB (Score: 5)
AP Calc BC (Score: 5)
AP European History (Score: 4)
AP Political Science (Score: 5)
English Honors
Biology Honors

Junior Year course load (IB Diploma Candidate):
IB Higher Level Mathematics
IB Theory of Knowledge
IB Higher Level Biology
IB Higher Level English
IB Higher Level History of the Americas
IB Higher Level Spanish
IB Standard Level Computer Science
AP English Literature (self study)
AP Comparative Government (self study)

Senior Year course load (IB Diploma Candidate):
IB Higher Level Mathematics
IB Theory of Knowledge
IB Higher Level Biology
IB Higher Level English
IB Higher Level History of the Americas
IB Higher Level Spanish
IB Standard Level Economics
AP English Language and Comp (online class)
AP Macroeconomics (credit alongside IB class)
AP Microeconomics (credit alongside IB class)

Extracurriculars:
County Academic Team (3 year member + 1 year as a captain) – school won 1st place during my sophomore year
It’s Academic Team (3 year member + 1 year as a captain) --T.V. competition and my school ranked 3rd in tournament
Science Academic Team (3 year member + 1 year as captain)
Model United Nations (3 year member, will be secretary of school club next year)
Envirothon (captain of varsity team since sophomore year)
National History Day (4 time country winner, advanced to states every time) - each time did documentary
Econ Challenge (team won 1st place past 2 years)

Honor Societies:
National Honor Society
National Mathematics Honor Society (Vice President)
National Science Honor Society
Sociedad Honaria Hispanica
National English Honor Society
National Social Studies Honor Society (Treasurer)

Sports:
Junior Varsity Track and Field (2 years)
Varsity Track and Field (for senior year)
Varsity Cross Country (for senior year)
Unified Track and Field (volunteer and participant) (1 year)

Summer Programs/Internships:
Civics and Law Academy
Johns Hopkins Engineering Innovation
National Institutes of Health Summer Intern at Shady Grove Branch (Dry Lab)

Work experience:
Student Writer for local newspaper (2 years)
Kumon instructor (upcoming summer)

Volunteering:
Shady Grove Hospital (starting Sept 2015)
Smithsonian Museum on Natural History (100+ hours)
Al Huda Center (100+ hours as a student instructor)
CAS Hours (150 hours, for IB diploma requirement)
Youth Leadership Council (~50 hours)

Awards:
AP Scholar with Honors (received during Sophomore year)
African American Award of Academic Excellence (received every year since freshman year)
Writing Expressions Martin Luther King Jr. Essay/Poetry Contest (won state-wide essay contest in MD)

Recommendations:
Two extremely well written recs from teachers I have known for 3 years:
1 was my AP Euro, AP PoliSci and AP CompGov (independent study) teacher and mentor
1 was my Theory of Knowledge teacher and Academic/It’s Academic Coach since my freshman year

Hooks: daughter of refugee parents from Somalia??? idk haha

2

You have great hooks (Refugee parents from Africa), and have a ton of extracurriculars and volunteer work. If you get your test scores up I’m sure Ivies would accept you.

3

I’d say you have a good chance but with the Ives you can’t really say.
Chance me back?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1778854-chance-me-for-wharton-co2017.html#latest

4

Some other opinions? I’d appreciate it! :slight_smile:

5

Wow. Everything is ridiculously good except for SAT/ACT which if you got up would make you an incredible candidate for any school. I think you have an excellent chance at Princeton.

6

If I were you, I would not go around taking the AP test counterparts to your IB classes. It won’t impress any college admissions committee because it becomes overly redundant. Instead, invest your time in ECs.

7

You have some great hooks, and anything is possible. With great essays and recs, you never know!
Chance me back please :slight_smile:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1782833-chance-a-rising-senior-for-uchicago-georgetown-ivies-etc-will-chance-back.html#latest

8

Eh, you really need to bring up those scores- I’m sure you already know that. I’m pretty much in the same situation as you but I’m Nigerian and I’m going for Cornell lol. I also have a 29 on the ACT and pretty great ECs. Currently doing my best to get a 30+

9

@0br0123 Yeah, I feel yah. I took the June SAT yesterday and I’m praying to god that I got a 2200. I’m sure my chances at that point will go up a lot at any school. The ACT for me is kinda hard to improve upon but I’m working for a 33 on it. If I don’t get it in June, I’ll try to get it in September lol

10

The only thing you need is better SAT/ACT and you’re golden. Just make sure you show your drive and focus in the essay and I think you have great shot at the Ivies.

11

@Homeless2Princeton Hey, I’ve been seeing your threads and replies to many posts, so I would sincerely appreciate your input on my chances at getting into any of the Ivies. First off, congratulations with Princeton and all your other acceptances! For financial reasons, I will most likely be applying to all 8 Ivies and a few other safeties around the country (UMD, Texas Tech, UMBC, American, University of Minnesota). I took the extremely controversial SAT last Saturday (June 6), and I feel as if I did well (2100-2200). I am taking the ACT tomorrow and I have been scoring around a 32-33 on my practice tests.

In any case, I would appreciate your predictions and those predictions from anyone else! I am starting to write my college essays and I will probably do my Common App one about my It’s Academic experiences from how I watched it as a child (9 years old) to become team captain in my junior and senior years.

Princeton has been my dream school ever since I was a freshman, and though I have done everything possible to enjoy my high school years - I have kept the HYP schools in mind since then. My school typically sends one kid per year to an Ivy League: this year we sent a kid to Harvard! And the year before that, 2 girls to Harvard and a guy to Princeton!

12

You remind me a lot of me. I’m first generation Congolese and my stats were around that vincity when I first starting prepping. I understand your anticipation, I’m planning on applying to Stanford through Questbridge this fall. That being said, I think you have a strong chance at admittance, despite the lack of certainty in the college process and the speculation on your SAT/ACT scores. I wish my school had some of those opportunities. We have rather mundane organizations that are fairly standard nationwide. Good luck. Princeton isn’t my first choice, but maybe I’ll see you a year from now.

13

There was a black kid who was on the news who got into all the ivies with a 4.0 and a 2100 and mild extracurriculars. Hell, Obama got into harvard with a 30 act. Your hooks are stronger than both of them. If you get a 2100+ on your SAT i’d honestly say that the ivies are matches for you.

14

@Alundari Thanks! Is there a way to superscore your ACT scores? I felt like I did fine on the ACT today but my science section was rushed.

15

ACT superscoring happens but i don’t think it’s as common. The reason is probably that at the higher end, the SAT curve is much more brutal. 1 wrong question on the math can drop you to a 760 and 2 wrong might drop you to a 730. The ACT has more questions but it’s possible to miss 6 questions and still get a 36

16

@Alundari -With all due respect, Obama applied to Harvard in 1988. Here’s what the Harvard Crimson had to say about that year’s freshman class.

Contrast that with Harvard’s acceptance rate of 5.9% last year. For anyone not named Bush, Ivy admissions have gotten infinitely more competitive. in the last two decades.

Note also that Obama himself was applying for the law school. His 30 ACT got him into Occidental College. There, he worked his tail off, transferred to Columbia in 1981, and eventually applied to Harvard Law in 1988, not with that 30 ACT but with a much stronger GRE score.

17

Just a question. If I am applying to all 8 Ivies, how many essays does that mean I will have to write?

18

Ok, a well needed update on this thread. I managed to bring my SAT score up by 210 points!! I got a 2100!!! Do my chances go up more for acceptance now that I have a better score? chance me again please!

19

While 2100 is generally not a good score for Princeton (it is around the 25th Percentile), being Somali is a great hook. I’d say you have decent chances for most Ivies, HYP admissions is too random to call

20

I see. Thanks! Any other thoughts? I’m probably gonna send my SAT score of a 2100 in since I don’t think I did well on the ACT the second time around.