Haha I caught myself doing that in front of my mirror today ^^
Thanks so much to everyone that called and emailed! I hear that Harvard and Brown release on Thursday, so kind of bummed we have to wait such a long time for ours (such a long time = a week, of course, haha).
@azwu331 Just wanted to thank you again for all the fantastically helpful information you’ve provided on this thread! Don’t know if you caught my comment earlier, but I’m really, really crossing my fingers for you. <33 You seem like such a fabulous person who totally deserves to get in!
Thanking @azwu331 and everyone else here too… all of you have been super helpful, so fun to talk to, and great at clearing up confusion/calming the nerves! I have no doubt that you all will go on to awesome universities, wherever they may be. Here’s to next week! :bz ~:>
My guidance counselor is friends with one of the interviewers. Counselor says that according to the pace that interviewers are submitting reports, Princeton’s notification date will be later than last years. Also cause this year’s applicant pool is larger than last year’s
For those who have not seen the following blogs:
EA and ED notification dates of selected universities: http://blog.■■■■■■■■■■■/blog-0/class-of-2020-early-decision-notification-dates
Early application numbers for class 2020 of selected universities: http://blog.■■■■■■■■■■■/blog-0/class-of-2020-early-application-numbers
Yale has said for over a week now that their early decision date is the evening of Dec 15. (My son put his RD app in on Dec. 1 and got an email verifying it and giving the decision date for early and regular decision.) To me it seemed like a sure thing. Just wish we knew for sure with Princeton. LOL!
Hey, I’m new to this thread and I’m a Legacy from New Hampshire.
I am wondering if legacies are selected from a separate pool because the Princeton maintains the same proportion of legacies in each freshman class. ~12 percent
I am also wondering if you guys think that legacies will automatically make it to committee and get a free pass from the adcoms—so that the actual Princeton committee members can check the connectivity. It does not make sense to me how some unqualified legacies can get in if their numbers are not the variable that gets them into committee. (basically, how do unqualified legacies even make it to committee? I know that Princeton states that legacies are reviewed in the same manner but there are still cases of unqualified legacy admits. In addition, Princeton legacies have ~30-35 percent acceptance rate (The Daily Princetonian and Legacy letter). I personally don’t think a 4-5x increase in acceptance rate can be explained by " Legacies tend to be more qualified due to more opportunities." I’m sure some legacies are bred to go to their parent’s alma mater but I doubt this is the case for the majority.
That being said, I have a 35 ACT 4.4GPA in an elite private school, very strong extracurriculars, essays, and recs.
I was wondering what you guys think the standard legacy applicant stats look like and how admissions actually deal with diversity and hooks. (URM, Legacy, Athlete)
I think that Princeton would place URMs, Legacies, and Athletes into separate strata to try to maintain consistent proportions throughout the years. It makes sense that the members of these strata would have lower standards and this would explain the huge gap between the 25th and 75th percentile scores. Do you guys think it would make sense if legacies/ athletes/ URMs made up the lower 50th percentile. To me, it would make sense that admissions would accept a legacy with lower academic standards ( <50percentile scores) than to accept a non-hooked applicant with <50 percentile scores. This way, Princeton can still maintain consistent proportions of each group and keep up the same spread of academic ability.
Any thoughts?
@TheIvyFruit I think what happens is that “legacy” will excuse some bad things–perhaps not as high testing, not as high GPA, not high quality essays, etc. Some bad things, but not many bad things (i.e. a 3.5, <2200 kid with boring ECs and not great essays will not get in, even with a “basic” legacy).
The more relationships you have with Princeton beyond a “basic” legacy, however, the more things will be overlooked. Many relatives who are legacies? We’ll excuse the GPA and SAT, maybe the kid really cares about things outside of school. Development, say at least a couple hundred thousand? Well, that boring 3.5 <2200 kid above isn’t a bad person…
I doubt they would place legacies or URMs into separate strata (athletes I think so). What I think they do is have a “quota” or similar for at LEAST that many legacies/URMs (with no upper limit), and “overlook” certain things like I mentioned above to meet that quota (so perhaps 9% of legacies in each class are great applications regardless, and the 3% got a boost from legacy). So no, I don’t think legacies and URMs exclusively make up the <50%, but they will be over-represented to some extent in the <50% group.
If your stats are as you say they are, though I’m not sure how anyone can say with certainty that they have “very strong extracurriculars, essays, and recs,” then you’ll 95% be admitted.
By the way, the legacy letter said like 30%, not 30-35% (big difference - that 5% would make some legacies’ extremely happy/non-legacies’ extremely unhappy!).
Joining the SCEA wait on behalf of DS.
@jasonmath My application portal changed today now it says:
“The Princeton Admission Office has received your application.
Checklist information is currently not available. The checklist information will be available to applicants between September 01, 2015 and December 09, 2015.”
What does this mean?? Is it a good or a bad sign?
For reference, before it said:
“The Princeton Admission Office has received all the required pieces of your application. Your application is complete.”
It prob means they are uploading info but no way to know for sure. I would assume you are fine.
I’m getting that now too, but it explains it in the description. Before it said the text you quoted, it had a “checklist” of all the materials they had and didn’t have. Presumably the “application is complete” bit is a part of the checklist system in the design of the program.
Since it’s currently just past midnight of Dec 09, 2015, that checklist is no longer available to applicants. What it means, or why they would remove that part of the system, I can’t understand. But the text of the message seems to suggest that it’s a universal thing. Since it’s only been 55 minutes since the change, that’s probably why you’re the first to post on CC about it. Tomorrow once everyone else gets on I bet they all confirm the same message. Looks to be a feature not a bug, but we can only speculate as to why that feature exists.
@CautiousOptimist I got the same message just now. Seems like it’s universal.
I don’t remember seeing a checklist when I logged into the portal earlier today (before 1 pm EST.) I thought it was odd since Yale and Harvard (both RD) did have checklists. It was the first time I’d logged into the portal though. I’d messed up the password so many times on the first try, way back when the application was submitted, that it locked me out and I was afraid to try again. lol! The two times Princeton needed something (the 2nd LoR and the 2014 tax info proof) we got an email about it.
@FarscapeFan Last year, applicants who were accepted SCEA were asked to provide their tee shirt size and were sent a free tee shirt! It came pretty quickly, too!
Yep, just checked and ditto.
@NJMom97 Thank you! My son will be thrilled to hear that! We’ve been saving up. He wants a hat and t-shirt. (Also sweats and a sweatshirt…and a backback and a…, and for hub a polo shirt or tie he can wear to work, and for me a t-shirt too, but damn, the university store is expensive! Hence the hope for cheaper merch elsewhere.)
Just checking this morning and now have the same new message.
Portal changed again so I guess it was a glitch. Now it says “The Princeton Admission Office has received your application. Checklist information is currently not available. The checklist information will be available to applicants between September 01, 2015 and December 09, 2015.”
My portal says the same: “The Princeton Admission Office has received your application. Checklist information is currently not available. The checklist information will be available to applicants between September 01, 2015 and December 09, 2015.”