Can’t seem to find that thin insert anywhere. Alright, thanks.
I literally just finished my interview!! So relieved… and i figured I’d share the questions asked…
- Why Princeton? (was expecting this ofcourse!)
- What do you see yourself doing after Princeton?
- Biggest success and failure
4.Why Chemical Engineering? - Questions related to other interests
- Questions you have for the interviewee.
Good luck to all of you out there who are waiting for your interviews! :))
Thank you so much @anon145!! Since I can’t really do anything about SAT subject tests, I’m going to try to stay positive and pray until my knees bleed that they realize how hard it was for me to even fit in SAT1 tests into my schedule. I’m probably the only person at my school apying to ivy early, and no one at my school from the British divison has even considered sitting for SAT 2 tests. The average person at the American division of my school has one SAT 2 test (usually math 2) in their transcript.
On a different note, can anybody tell me if being international a hook or a disadvantage?? I’m from a very underrepresented country in the MENA region where the average SAT score is pretty low, very few good schools are available (that cost a fortune) and there are very few opportunities for work/ internships for high school students. I think I racked up some pretty good EC’s but I’m not sure they’re enough…God the wait is killing me
“Our goal with that was that we wanted to make sure we included students who may not have had good [college] counseling to know that they needed to take the subject tests,” Rapelye said. “It’s hard to know whether this change affected the pool, but it is something new this year."-- Dean Rapelye on the removal of SAT subject tests from the application requirements for this year.
It makes sense, but I’m not sure if their hearts are in the right place or not. I don’t even have a college counselor (or anyone who’s familiar with college admissions) at school so this fits my situation perfectly.
But that’s the problem with applying Stanford info to Princeton applications. I recruit for Yale. We dropped the SAT2 requirements this year. As is. There’s no hidden “you better unless you’re from a disadvantaged background” message/threat behind it. We don’t want to play games. We accept the ACT & Writing without SAT or SAT2s – many districts (rich or poor) hardly ever use the SAT2s. Stanford can do whatever the heck they want. Harvard and Yale clearly don’t need applicants to stress about SAT2s. Applicants are free to submit scores if they did exceedingly well – feathers in the cap – but Yale feels completely able and willing to evaluated students without them.
My guess is that PTon is thinking along the same lines as Y & H.
@pnguon Thank you for sharing. My son’s interview is next week, we’ll post his questions. Did you interview in Canada? It will be interesting to see if the question are the same, or localized (we are in Texas).
stanford, yale, and princeton all say SAT subject tests are recommended, which most independent websites say means you should read that as close to required. I guess we can wait and see for the acceptance/rejections posted on CC and see the ratio of who did nor didn’t have good subject test scores to see. Schools like Duke and Brown will skip the subject tests with ACT only, but still require subject tests with SAT1 so it’s hard for me to believe stanford, princeton , and yale are going to ignore well off applicants with SAT1 but no SAT2 - otherwise their standards are lower than Duke/Brown. Again the best case scenario is disadvantaged kids may benefit, but I doubt it applies beyond that.
Again, everyone knows all schools want to increase applicant numbers and yield. alumni who “interview” students are not privy to cynical goals of admissions offices… Princeton dropped “required” and changed to “recommended” and their applications went up 10% - the exact reason they did it!
http://www.dailycal.org/2012/10/01/the-holistic-admissions-lie/
“Why do admissions offices go to such great lengths to present their selection processes in this dishonest, harmful way? I think, unfortunately, that part of the answer has to do with the college rankings frenzy that has become so influential in the admissions process. Colleges are desperate to maximize the number of applications they receive so they can reduce their acceptance rates and boost their rankings. Admissions offices therefore encourage unqualified students to apply by suggesting that, even if their test scores and grades aren’t good enough, they might get in if only they can show that they are sufficiently mature, kind and responsible.”
Stanford had the most applicants and said “recommend but not require” princeton and yale want their applicants up so they now match Stanford’ wording that has been in place for years. but here’s princeton’s “In addition, we recommend, but do not require, the submission of two SAT Subject Tests”. It seems irrational that princeton/yale would not use subject tests the same way stanford does… it never says they will view all applicants the same if they do not send subject tests. In fact they clarify that there is “no preference” for SAT1 vs ACT , but they do not say they have “no preference” for not sending subject tests.
Yale’s wording is a little different than princeton’s people should realize. For instance neither princeton nor stanford say an applicant without SAT2s is at no disadvantage like Yale does. Yale" SAT Subject Tests are recommended but not required. Applicants who do not take SAT Subject Tests will not be disadvantaged in the application process."
if you read US news and world report criteria for undergraduate rankings, all these things start making sense. Student retention and graduation rate matter more than selectivity (how many people they can reject); however subject test scores are irrelevant for US news. So increasing applicant numbers is good, taking people with really high ACT/SAT1 also increases rankings, the admin office just wants to make sure the kids don’t drop out… So cynically really high SAT1/ACT without subject test is better than lower SAT1/ACT but high subject test scores. So maybe I’m agreeing with T26E4 for the wrong reasons
@psywar hello! that is great! I hope the interview goes well for him 
No, I don’t live in Canada… i live in a country in southeast asia…
anon145: trying to read into every bit is a no win scenario. Before the recent “no need for SAT2” item among some top schools, Yale (and many others) clearly stated that they would accept, without prejudice, students that only submitted ACT & Writing – no need for any SAT1 or Subject tests.
Should we spend time examining admit records to see if it holds true? This becomes a never-ending cycle. It’s too bad that Stanford (or perhaps its renegade admissions officer) is less forthcoming – that’s sad (but in my dealings with them, not surprised).
Yale is pretty straightforward – and I’m glad of it. I think Princeton and Harvard are more on the “straightforward” path as well.
@T26E4 you completely just eased my nerves about this whole hidden message situation. Thank you for your insight
When does PTon release decisions? Dec 15?
I have a question about interviews: if my sibling applied to Princeton last year and was interviewed by an alumnus, would it be a conflict of interest (not sure if that’s the right term) for that same person to interview me?
Just had my interview!! I really enjoyed talking to the alum; he was super young and really nice! It was so relaxed and I was completely overdressed.
@meaa7130: it wouldn’t be a conflict of interest, regardless of your sib’s results. Honestly, that person 99% doesn’t even remember your sib unless he/she got accepted. The interviewer is a volunteer, trying to help Princeton – he/she doesn’t have an axe to grind against you or your family or anyone.
I still haven’t been contacted for an interview… should I be worrying? I live in San Diego, so it’s not like I’m in the Himalayas.
When will Princeton be releasing its EA likely letters? Anybody know? Thanks in advance!
^^are EA likely letters a thing?