Princeton SCEA Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: M
Region: NorCal
Income Bracket: >150k
Intended Major: Astrophysics
Decile: 1st

Scores:
GPA: (UW) 3.86 (W) 4.54

AP: Chemistry, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Physics C Mechanics, Biology, Language and Componsition, European History, US History, Computer Science A, Microecon, Statistics, Physics: E & M

ACT: 36 (36 E, 36 M, 35 R, 35 S)

SAT II: (Math 2) 800 (Physics) 800 (US H) 800 (Bio M) 790

ECs:
President: Astronomy Club
VP: Competition Physics Club
Co-Captain: Science Olympiad
President: American Cancer Society
Head Coach: Middle School Science Olympiad Team(15 hr/week-35 weeks/year)
VP: Math Club
Board of Directors: Music based Nonprofit
Director of Operations: Aerospace engineering program working with superintendent and over 100k in funds
Pulsar Search Collaboratory Leader
MTAC Level 10 Piano - 10 years Piano
Tennis (JV/V) - 4 years - Captain
College Courses(20 credits by senior year)
Run website with lots of content (300 hr spent)
Will work as intern at local university for first semester senior year

Summer:
College courses
COSMOS- 4 week residential state science program
Internship in astrophysics with published paper

Awards:
lots of school awards
national ap scholar
national merit commended
kiwanis scholarship/ few family foundation scholarships

Senior Year Courseload: AP Lit, AP Spanish IV, AP Macroecon, AP Environmental Sciences, AP Seminar, Dual Enrollment Physics, Dual Enrollment Multivariable Calc

Thanks for your time. Do I have a chance? The majority of my GPA is bogged down by a not-so-stellar freshman first semester. Since then, I have, for the most part, gotten all A/A+

2

@astrolakers great course rigor, great stats, tons of good ECs.

But other than the published paper, nothing too unique from the hundreds of other top male, Asian Californian candidates. Maybe you spread yourself too thin with the tons of ECs (sports, music, astrophysics, etc.), but reading your accomplishments, I don’t have any sense of who you are, what you love.

What will you bring to the campus that makes Princeton say “yes”? I think that’s a problem your essays and LoRs will need to solve.

You have a chance, like any other top student.

Good luck!

3

You are a very competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are great. Write amazing essays and you could definitely get accepted to Princeton

4

@astrolakers your accomplishments make you well qualified to be admitted to Princeton. However, unfortunately Princeton may turn down four well qualified applicants for each applicant accepted. Last year 8.2% of the students that submitted SAT scores between 1,500 and 1,600 were admitted. See: https://admission.princeton.edu/how-apply/admission-statistics

Advise: do not waste time trying to appear as a well rounded applicant. Most selective universities are admitting a diverse freshman class. Admitted students are generally outstanding in one area; e.g. athletics, music, debate, science, community activities, etc. Since you have many accomplishments in science I suggest you further strengthen that area.

One of the things that you can do this summer to strengthen your application would be to prepare a recording of your piano playing. Submit the recording this fall. See: https://admission.princeton.edu/how-apply/application-checklist/optional-arts-form

Pick one university for SCEA. While admission officers say that applying SCEA does not help the acceptance rates suggest that you should apply SCEA to one university.

Princeton is great choice for astrophysics. The small department would enable you to study with world famous astrophysicists. Some of the famous professors past and present include Martin Schwarzschild, John Wheeler, James E. Peebles, Lyman A. Page, Jr., David N. Spergel, Lyman Spitzer, Jeremiah P. Ostriker, James E. Gunn, Paul Steinhardt, James Stone, Bohdan Paczynski, Adam Burrows, and Paul Steinhardt. There is a current article on the research of Professor Amitava Bhattacharjee. See: https://www.princeton.edu/news/2018/06/18/princeton-astrophysicist-bhattacharjee-leads-team-create-framework-optimal-fusion

Don’t sweat the not so stellar freshman year. I had one or perhaps two B’s my freshman year and was admitted.

5

Your GPA is probably too low to get admitted for Princeton