How much do interviews influence admissions?
From what I understand, very little. In fact they are not even mandatory if you are offered one (not everyone is, depending on the number of alumni in your area available to interview). If you say or do something extremely rude or inappropriate Iâd suggest it could hurt your application but I have certainly heard of some people who thought their interview didnât go well at all and were still offered admission. And if it does go well, a glowing report canât hurt!
The interviewer seemed in a hurry, and the conversation was too short and I didnât feel very good. Will it hurt the admission? I am so worried.
No it wonât hurt unless you said or did something outrageous (made a racist or hateful/threatening comment, disclosed criminal activity, lied). Lots of students who were later accepted reported that they were not at all pleased with how their interview went. Often the interviewers are very busy people who forget that students are extremely nervous about their application. Donât give it another thought! If you arenât accepted it wonât be because of your interview not feeling âgoodâ.
Thanks!
How much does applying single-choice EA boost admission chances?
Most likely only a small amount if at all. I think it could be in your favor if you and another applicant who applied ED were essentially tied. Most legacies, children of current faculty and recruited athletes all apply in the early round, skewing the admission percentage significantly.
A note on interviews: they arenât exactly optional. True, they donât count for much, in the sense that they likely wonât make or break your application, but declining an interview looks very odd to admissions officers, because it communicates a lack of genuine interest in the school. You have to understand that Princeton, and many of its peers, are not interested only in applicants who do well in class- they have to have the capacity to present themselves professionally. These schools push internships and other programs very heavily while you attend- and in order to feed students into top internship/research programs and the like, the universities need students who can function in an interview, even if theyâre nervous. You donât have to blow them away, but keep the universityâs interests in mind when youâre applying.
Weâre in the Boston area, and my son just visited Princeton (had a great time) - he took the train, and got off at Penn Station in NY, then took the NJ Transit and then the âDinkyâ - was this the right way to do it? When I looked at the Amtrak route, it seems to get even closer to Princeton than Penn (NYC), but I donât know if getting to Princeton from the later NJ stops is as simple. Any thoughts/advice in case of future trips? Thank you!
The only way to get directly to Princeton is to do what your son did - take NJ transit to Princeton Junction and then transfer to the dinky which goes to campus.
@midatlmom - thanks!
My daughter rides the NE Regional from VA up to Princeton. She usually gets off in Trenton and crosses over the tracks to get on New Jersey Transit to Princeton Junction then onto the Dinky.
@Dragonflygarden - is there a safe crossing over those tracks? (Iâve never been there.)
It doesnât look like S will be able to attend either of the admitted student days, so will we be visiting on our own at the end of the month. Iâm not sure what information our unformatted visit can provide other than the general feel of the campus and the surrounding area. I suppose we will take a scheduled campus tour, but other than that, who knows? Any suggestions on how to make the visit more productive? Thank you.
How much room is there for students to do something outside the standard tracks? For example, how accessible is research to underclassmen? What about signing up for junior seminars before junior year? Iâm extremely interested in a lot of aspects of Princeton, but Iâve previously had difficulties with schools that railroaded students onto particular paths and things I heard in my interview got me worried Princeton might do that.
@notaname Research is super accessible. Like, really, really, really accessible. For junior seminars (Iâm assuming you are talking about the JP), you can early concentrate if you wish (although that is railroading yourself early). And honestly, the only thing that would railroad yourselfâŠis yourself. Iâve found a lot of flexibility in my schedule to take interesting classes unrelated to my major, as well as fit in plenty of classes for my certificate (many people take more than 1). I would note, that a lot of my engineering friends have had more rigidly defined class schedules, but Iâd venture to say that they still have plenty of room to work with and tailor to their specific interests.
Current high school freshman with 4.0. Iâm extremely hard working and willing to do whatever it takes to get into Princeton. What specific things can I do to up my chances of admission? Certain extracurriculars, awards to apply for or sports to get involved with? My biggest talent is my writing ability, so is there any way I could use that to help me? I have some awards already, but would publication at a big magazine be a deal breaker for getting in? What do you think got you accepted? Thanks so much!
I applied for Princeton Engineering but forgot to send in my Math 2 scores. I sent in Physics and Chemistry, both of them were 800s.
Should I abandon all hopes of getting in?
@Lahore97 - I have no actual clue, but this might be something to call the Admissions office about.
@gotigers12345 Publications would be a tremendous achievement for a high school student. If youâre a writer, then write: blog, write for online publications, submit to your local papers, high school newspaperâall of the above. Awards are less interesting that publications, in my opinionâbut of course it depends on which media outlets weâre talking about. A combination of the two wonât hurt. Most people who apply to Princeton have all kinds of awards so actual publications could be a way to differentiate yourself.
The most important thing you can do is to be genuinely humble and authentically curious. I can tell when the applicants I interview have a âsparkââand I can tell when theyâre just smart kids with good scores who want another gold star to add to their list of life achievements.