<p>I'm a junior attend Manheim Township High School, which is the highest-ranked public school in Central Pennsylvania. I have a 3.7 gpa, slightly remarkable as I was only diagnosed with severe ADHD only last month. As such, I expect a big upswing in grades come this semester. I'm an Eagle Scout, and a former Senior Patrol Leader. I love Pynchon, Nabokov, Joyce, Auster, DeLillo, and Roth. I'm fluent in French. I've taken 6 A.P. classes in the past two years, and all others were honors as possible. My English teachers are smitten enough with me that I expect glowing reports from all (two of them offered me adoption during my parents' divorce). My SAT scores were 800 for verbal, 750 for math, 780 for writing. My writing, which has been described by one of the afforementinoned teachers as "the most abstruse, intricate, hypertextual, beautiful thing I've ever seen" got me into the Pennsylvania Governor's School. I've completed a thoroughly postmodern novel, which my sister (a professional editor...she's really very good) is having published. I'm a varsity member of the #8 Quiz Bowl team in the nation. I'm the literature editor for my school's arts magazine. I sing in my church choir and am usually the lead in the yearly musical. I'm a writer for my school's yearly variety show, Follies. I participated in the musical theatre programme for a year, but didn't like it much. I spend about 15 hours a week writing and 10 reading. My parents attended the Coast Guard Academy and Ithaca College. My mother has been in law school for most of my high school career, leading to some hardcore independance. I can't write poetry for crap. So, do I have a chance of admittance? I feel like my mediocre GPA puts me in some seriously awful terriory, but the ADHD provides a pretty heroic explaination. Also, should I bring up the gay thing on the application, or will that seem desperate and trite?</p>
<p>Oh, and I'm also the vice president of my school's Political Club, which I helped to found this year, a member of National Honor Society, and am willing to sell my soul. I've also had a pretty intense struggle with mental illnesses. My aunt used to be At&T's CMO, and my grandmother used to be a pretty big Beacon Hill socialite, so there are strings to be pulled. I volunteer at the library over the summer. I won a national contest for a Joyce essay.</p>
<p>I'm always surprised when people give out so much info about themselves online (location, high school, family history)</p>
<p>I think you have a great chance of admission.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Also, should I bring up the gay thing on the application, or will that seem desperate and trite?
[/quote]
Don't bring up anything just for the sake of bringing it up. You're a writer; you know that everything you include in a piece of writing has to serve a thematic purpose. For college apps, the main purpose is to express your values/personality/etc. If "the gay thing" defines you to a great extent and would allow you to express a lot about your worldview, then by all means include it. But sexual orientation means little in and of itself.</p>
<p>P.S. For someone who is such an amazing writer...would it have been too hard to make paragraphs?</p>
<p>sounds like this is a "i just want to tell you how great i am, but ill act like i have a question to ask" post. take a number, kid.</p>
<p>It's people like you that make me ashamed I got into Princeton :p.</p>
<p>Well, if you're going to make me specify:
1) Exactly how many (?) histronics is appropriate for an essay? I've a whole lot of shmaltz from which to chose, and I was wondering which of them would mean the most implied personal strength: divorce for sympathy, crazies for association with creative output, ADHD for perseverence, gay for color, or leave it all our for dignity?
2) How attached are admission officials to a university? Princeton's supposed to be very laissez-gay, but does that guarantee security for applicants?
3) My GPA, 3.7, isn't exactly Princeton material. I may include my untreated condition on the application, but is it worth the sort of doubt that comes with my cognition condition (I really couldn't resist)?
4) Is there any place on the application, save the essays and awards, to show off my literary obsession? May I count "lots of reading" as an extra-cirricular? If so, how do I rank it? If I place it first, they may ignore the fact that I'm active within school structures as well. Yet I can't honestly put anything above it in terms of passion.
5) If the publishing deal fails, how do I list my novel? I feel like "amateur novelist" places me with confessionalists and kids with who wear capes (only they use the word "don").
For Mallomar: Sorry. Check the post time; dithyrambs are nocturnal.</p>
<p>ur a loser brownhopefulguy. u just wanna brag to everyone. take a hike. some of us really want to know what we can to get in and you just wanna brag.</p>
<p>^ lol, if this guy's actually seriously asking these questions, it would be really funny (to us) if he got rejected. Well, have fun w/ the process and don't be too hard on your ego.</p>
<p>Ah. Well thanks for the clarification. Just out of curiousity, how does one take a hike online? And for god's sake it's Princeton; no one's a guarantee. I haven't heard of anyone with stats as I have (mediocre GPA, no athletic skills) being accepted. Also, if I really wanted to brag I'd point out my ability to make sentences with real words in them.</p>
<p>Sorry Mintie, that wasn't directed at you.</p>
<p>I think you're being too judgmental here, Col.</p>
<p>lols maybe i am. oh wells in any case i apologize if i have offended you. post on my chances btw.</p>
<p>why is everybody so rude here?? brownhopefulguy i think you have a really unique profile. Not being athlete is not necessarily a bad thing, since you have another passion that not many applicants have. </p>
<p>Others may think you are bragging, but take it as a good sign, since apparently your profile is so good that it qualifies as bragging.</p>
<p>It's coo'...and considering I once passed up tickets to a Strokes concert to meet Don DeLillo, yes I say yes i'll say Yes I'm a pretty major loser. </p>
<p>Also: Am I allowed to include my sexuality on the application even if I don't know a thing about Cher?</p>
<p>you think joining track senior year will be considered an advantage?</p>
<p>I feel like it'd look like an application padding, as that would be my only motivation. I did do cross country freshman year, and hated it.</p>
<p>Also: could someone fill me in on the application format?
How much space is provided for weiting samples?
Are the rec's essentially a rubric?
Is there a limit on the number of extra cirriculars?</p>
<p>why are you so obsessed with telling princeton that you're gay? being gay shouldn't be a positive (nor negative) towards your application. AT BEST, it'll be a moot point.</p>
<p>r u really gay? and telling them ur gay is the most retarded. although most people are aceepting of gays you dont know who is reading your application. It might be a very liberal person which wud be an advantage for you but how can you be sure its not some chirstian mother or some homophobe. thats a major risk. it wud also look like ur exploiting and ridiculing gays for personal gain.</p>
<p>If you decide to apply with the Princeton app, there is no limit on the number of extracurriculars you list. However, the application does instruct you to pick out things that are actually important to you...don't list membership in Mu Alpha Theta (this is hypothetical and has nothing to do with you) if you attend one 15-minute meeting every month. The format is generally to list the activity, to list any offices or positions you have held with that activity or awards you have won within the activity, and then to list the number of hours per week and the number of weeks per year you participate. They're looking for an average with that question, so if you do something for 8 hours a week some weeks and only 4 others, you can just say 6 hours per week if it's balanced. </p>
<p>There isn't really a "rubric" part of a recommendation. The guidance counselor recommendation form is a bit different from the teacher recs. They do "rate" you on certain characteristics, but the most valuable part is probably the letter about you. </p>
<p>From what I've read elsewhere, stating that you're gay somewhere on your application will do absolutely nothing to hurt you and absolutely nothing to help you and therefore is best left off. If you are extremely involved in your school's GSA or if you have had some kind of VERY unique experience, then I could maybe see it being OK to write an essay or short answer about that. However, unfortunately most gay kids in American high schools are discriminated against in some format, and so any essay about that would not be that original. Then again, it is also said that any cliche topic can make a good essay if written well. I guess it's up to you, but it would be my advice to not mention it directly. If you feel that it's an integral part of your personality, then ask one of your teachers or your guidance counselor to briefly mention it in his/her recommendation. They could perhaps provide some commentary (if necessary) about how your sexuality has affected you as a person/student/whatever (if it has?). </p>
<p>Otherwise, you have accomplished some really amazing things. I would avoid discussing the ADHD too much on your own--again, maybe something a teacher or counselor could mention. I particularly enjoyed reading your teacher's comments about your writing. </p>
<p>Also, collegebond, why would you be rude to somebody on their chances thread and then later post "comment on my chances" on the same thread. That seems a bit hypocritical. Also, the point of these forums in general is to be constructive and so far you aren't really helping the situation at all. I'm sorry, but your negativity is not conducive to...anything.</p>