Hello everyone, I applied to Princeton SCEA and I am stressed about the decision.
My Stats are:
ACT: 36
SAT: 1580
SAT Bio, Chem and Math 2: 800
I took 12 AP classes before Senior Year & got 5’s on all but one
My GPA was 4.0UW/4.5W with all A’s. My school doesn’t rank but if they did I would be 4/450.
My awards are:
2nd Place in Biochem @ Intel ISEF
1st Award from DCAT @ Intel ISEF
American Junior Academy of Science Finalist
Coolidge Senator
First Author on a research paper submitted to a very reputable journal
I am pretty confident in my Awards & Stats, but I feel like my EC’s are weak:
Paid Research Assistant @ a University
Co-President of Non-Profit I founded that provides free test prep to kids
About 100 hours of community service across a few clubs and organizations
I have fenced for 11 years & was a Junior Olympian as well as a High-School All-American
Member of Quiz Bowl, HOSA, and Science Olympiad Teams
Worked at Budget Blinds (lol)
As the decision deadline approaches I was wondering if y’all could weigh in on my chances. I think the biggest hole in my app is the fact that I don’t have any leadership in school and all of it is through my non-profit or in a separate community organization.
Also I wrote my common app about some of my experiences meeting people @ ISEF and my main supplement about how my fencing coach impacted me.
Has anyone called P’s admissions office to verify the notification date? I was rereading the SCEA thread from when my older son applied, and there was chatter about doing so, to verify when decisions would come out.
Also, my counselor just told me that Princeton had called her asking about my first quarter grades. Does that mean that they’re interested in my application or something?
@riazuluaga14 - the generally-accepted wisdom is that calls like that are for borderline cases because it could make a difference one direction or the other.
@riazuluaga14@fretfulmother my counselor got the same call earlier today. I’ve read online that this means we are on the bubble, but I also don’t understand how our current academic status could even make a difference. Like for students who had an upward trend in gpa, or just shaky grades in general I think early senior year grades are important. But for people who have high gpa, good grades, high ACT scores and good academics in general I wouldn’t think that academic performance would be their main issue. If anything I figured it would be our essays, recs and oher subjective stuff. So, could it be that this is more of something they do if they are worried about our motivation? or maybe this is like a final check they do if they are leaning towards admitting us?
@tennisguy14 Can you provide the link on Princeton’s requirement of the SCEA applicant’s senior year interim grades? My GC said only RD applicants need to send in mid-year grade report in February.
FWIW, our GC sent first quarter grades to Princeton for all of our students applying SCEA. He did so because Princeton wants them. It may be that the committee is currently evaluating your application and wanted/needed your interim grades. It might also mean that you made the first cut (based on metrics) and they need to verify current standing. I don’t see how anyone would be able to know whether this means you’re on the bubble or if it’s just SOP.
I got one Maddy09. I am also wondering if it went to all of the SCEA applicants. Did anyone NOT get the notice? Good luck everyone, it is getting real!