Hey guys, I’ve been following this thread from the beginning and am frantically waiting for decisions. The wait is agonizing.
I called Princeton today and both the undergraduate admissions office and the financial aid office confirmed to me that the FA email has no bearing on admission. The FA office first told me that their office is completely separate from the admissions office so it doesn’t make sense for them to send it out to likely students. They also told me it’s merely a paperwork thing and I shouldn’t read into it whatsoever. Sorry if I’m killing anyone’s hopes, I myself got the email and was semi-excited.
@AcrobatX Agreed. I understand that everyone is just trying to be hopeful by looking for “correlations” and stuff. But there’s no use in giving people false hope.
@seniorciti I say this without any malice, at this point in the process, I don’t think it would be something that would tip your application over the edge. If you have a strong application, then leaving that off shouldn’t matter too much. Applications are likely in committee right now. If it was a major thing you’re missing like test scores or LoR, which they would have asked for by now, then I could see it. And I say this as a person whose son’s 3rd LoR, required of homeschoolers, may or may not have been received yet. Nothing we can do about it. His application is what it is and it’s up to the committee to decide if his others have the weight of three and if his whole package is enough for them.
If it makes you feel better, then send it in, but it’s not something you should worry about. Good luck.
Someone asked if I’d elaborate a little further. I didn’t send in any tax papers, and we rather gave estimations until those materials are in order, yet I can definitely say that I haven’t received the email everyone is talking about.
You can look at my chance threads and see my application. I feel like I’d decently competitive for admission since I have a very clear and developed passion, lots of national awards, good essays, a state-level leadership position, etc. My SAT score is 2290 (800 CR, 720 M, 770 W), which seems pretty decent for my applicant pool of URMs. Maybe I’m just overestimating myself, but I’m really hoping that not getting this email doesn’t point to deferral. :-/
does anyone know where we check our admission results status on the 14th or 15th? Is it just the online tracker where it says your application is complete? And also how do you think they will notify everyone when their results come out
@anon145@eyesight2020 The thing is, if the previous thread from Regular Decision is to be believed, they don’t actually hound everyone for it. That’s what keeps me questioning it. Last year’s SCEA thread didn’t have a clear link, but the earlier RD thread seemed to be 100% accurate. A handful of people got emails asking for PFAA information a week or two before the decision, a few didn’t. Those with the emails got in, those without didn’t. They’re not looking at over 20k files in a week, it makes sense that if they have the time, to only run the numbers on accepted students.
Also if anything, this would reinforce the idea that the university is need blind, not hurt it. If the FinAid packages are not even looked at until a go-ahead from the admissions office (either due to an acceptance, a probability of acceptance, or being sent to committee) it would be nearly impossible to include need as a factor in the admission process. It doesn’t implicate that FA and UA are one and the same, it could be as harmless as admissions saying “okay, here’s our short list. Prep your aid packages.” It would potentially save a lot of time for the Financial Aid office. Then again I don’t know what the aid office would be doing between EA decisions and RD committee and between RD decisions and EA committee, so maybe they do work out all of the applications even for the rejects.
Before our son applied, we looked at the stats of how many homeschoolers had been admitted. It was 8 students. Now the 2019 stats are out and if you round up to a whole person, it’s 7. We told our son, “Well, why can’t you be one of those 7-8? Go ahead and try.”
@ivyleaguer69 It’s likely from the Financial Aid office and they need to verify her income. Lots of folks here have recently gotten an email asking for their 2014 tax returns and w2. If you applied SCEA and also filled out Princeton’s financial aid form, then you’ll get a financial aid offer at the same time you get your acceptance packet/letter, assuming you get in. (Lots of debate here as to whether or not getting one of those emails is a positive sign that you’ve made it to committee or not. )
Another thought that the financial aid request didn’t mean anything. Interview reports are do today. I know they don’t count a lot but why would they start deciding who was admitted or deferred before the reports were due. If the committee has already starting meeting they may have decided the rejections because an interview would not have changed the decision. If they started the accepts on say Dec 2nd then wouldn’t they have the interview reports due by the 2nd. The interview may not help a lot but it can hurt. We know a girl who was her schools valedictorian, perfect scores and grades and many state music awards but could not look an adult in the eye and have a conversation with them. I think Princeton would want to make sure an interviewer did not have a problem with an applicant. I understand some people don’t get interviews and then Princeton just has to assume it would have gone well. Plus, how could the financial aid office wait until committee is done and then start processing everyone’s financial aid package. I think they start processing all of the financial applications starting Nov 1st or earlier for those that submitted early and then when the committee accepts people they forward the package. In order to only process those admitted the committee would have to have met and decided at a couple of weeks ago for them to have time to process all of the financial aid packages. It is not a waste to process all of the packages because they don’t know which deferred students will be offered admission in the regular round. Just my thoughts.
@momofthree55 if FA begins putting packages together for all SCEA students starting on 11/1, why would they wait until 12/2 to tell people about the missing tax forms?
@PantherLair it probably took them a while to process all 3,000 or so applications. @momofthree55 I completely agree. It makes little sense to think that the emails mean more than wha they say at face value. @CautiousOptimist SCEA and RD are TOTALLY different. I tried explaining it earlier this thread. It’s great that RD’s letters correlated 100% with acceptance, but I don’t think we should be comparing our situation to theirs. The best is to compare our situation with last year’s, where there was practically no correlation.
You guys are reading too much into this. It’s good being optimistic, but don’t take it for more than what it’s really worth. One poster said he/she called Princeton and asked, and they said no. That’s as clear as anything. So I’d just stop worrying about it and work on something else until Dec 14 (easier said than done, I know).
@lolacell The engineering committee reviews and comments on your academic preparation for engineering at Princeton (which is very demanding). They look at high school course work, AP/IB courses, and other related preparation such as college level work that you’ve done. They don’t decide who is admitted and who is not (as far as I know) but they do comment on whether you have the preparation needed to succeed. Primarily they are looking at math and physics…these two areas are key. We heard this directly from a committee member after my son was admitted.
@meaa7130 Getting a 4/B on an AP level class isn’t the end of the world - I am doubtful this would be a problem on your application. Taking the AP Physics class and learning the material is a plus. I was actually surprised how much emphasis they put on physics preparation!
@beemane If you are taking a senior level physics course as a senior then no, it isn’t a disadvantage. My son did the same thing. It might be advisable to take (if offered at your school) or self study an AP physics class next semester if you are deferred in the early round…or even if you are not. My son found it quite a jump from high school physics to university level. He self studied AP Calc and that preparation was enormously helpful.
I am waiting day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second just to know my decision. I just want to know, even if I was denied. The anticipation is killing me!! :-SS
Good luck.