Survivor's Guilt

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>Hey, I've been accepted ED at Princeton, and I'm really excited about attending. Reading the whole 2011 ED thread has made me think, though...</p>

<p>Compared to other acceptees, my SATs and ECs seem...sub-par. While others are whining that their scores are ~2300, my highest composite score is a 2220. People on this board have done research on everything from psychology to physics (a seven-hundred page research paper on string theory comes to mind), others have awards and accolades quite literally coming out of their eyeballs, while others are heads of seven or eight clubs in their school. I have done no research, and my top awards are laughable compared to a great deal of posters. </p>

<p>What I guess I'm trying to say is that I feel...a certain sense of guilt in relation to the deferred. So many great people, with such full high-school careers, have had the door metaphorically slammed in their face (although to be re-opened in April), yet compared to them, I seem so...mediocre a candidate for Princeton. Although none of us can fathom the admissions process for Princeton, I ask myself sometimes if a deferred candidate would be a better fit for Princeton than I. I don't expect anyone to answer me, of course, I just wanted to see if anyone has felt this way.</p>

2

<p>As a deferree, here's my opinion. You got in, and that means that there is something about you that is special, and is perhaps better than what we have to offer. I have no doubt that you absolutely deserved it, and my one hope would be that in going to Princeton you make the best of getting into a world-class institution. Congratulations!!!</p>

3

<p>No dude , everythin on earth has a reason, I wrote that 700+ page research and got RJECTED. but if u r in, you are a good fit for princeton, you have what they want and thats the whole point. Mebe they didnt wanted a String Theorist right now!</p>

<p>Well I didnt got those slamming doors from everywhere, Iam presenting my research at a SYmposium at Stanford University in March, 2007. If I get goin, I may get recruited in any big school for research instead with continuingly undergrad education.</p>

<p>Best of luck for the future, and enjoy pton!!</p>

4

<p>totally agree with jon. i feel kinda bad because amazingly talented people got deferred, but they don't ACTUALLY choose students randomly- there's a reason they choice you. and those other talented people will get in another GREAT school!</p>

5

<p>As a deferree, I am very touched by your post. I greatly appreciate your compassion, and if I did get in RD...I'd want you to be my roommate. =D</p>

<p>If you think your tests and EC's were just average, what do you think it was that pushed you over the edge? There has to be something...there is always something, try and isolate it; then tell me. :)</p>

<p>Edit: looking at your acceptance post, I see that you skipped two years of spanish. I'm guessing you are very proficient in foreign language, which may have done it. Besides that, I guess I tend to agree with you. =) </p>

<p>You give me hope though, you are a white, all around balanced guy, with nothing too outstanding on your transcript, and you got in. That means I can force myself a smile because I have a chance too =)</p>

6

<p>Dont sweat it, Quertulen. :) In life, if you get ahead of others, don't catch yourself looking back and feeling bad for yourself. Be happy, and learn from those that didnt make it as far as you did. </p>

<p>Congratulations again! And a 2200 is nothing to be ashamed of at all! Thats a darn good score. Once you're in the 2100+ range, SATs really cease to matter. They dont make or break you. If you only had a 2400 and nothing else, you wouldnt get in. ;)</p>

7

<p>mm but you only look at the objective parts!</p>

<p>maybe you made an incredible impression on your teachers, who wrote amazing recs for you, and you might be a talented writer who wrote one of the top essays the admissions office has ever seen!
but even if you weren't that good, having "really good" essays and teacher recs might be enough!</p>

8

<p>Not only is a 2220 a great score compared to the vast majority of the country, it is slightly above the average for Princeton ED acceptees. The average scores for class of 2011 were 730 verbal and writing and 740 math. So, CC is not necessarily representative of all Princeton students.</p>

9

<p>I have no way of knowing for sure, but it seems that you come from a very low income family (by Princeton standards) and have excelled spectacularly in a town and school that isn't a typical Ivy feeder. People are viewed in context.<br>
You easily deserve your acceptance, in my opinion.</p>

10

<p>to danas: i don't know how much that matters though. I am from a school and town that has never had anyone to Princeton or most of the other ivies (just Cornell) and i had much higher scores and got deferred. No one knows what the heck they want.</p>

11

<p>I was deferred and I don't feel any resentment to you, or to any of those accepted (except Calculus, taking a spot he doesn't even want). How has the door been slammed in my face? Sure, one door has been closed, but I have more doors, many of which will be open in April (well, hopefully). And who's to say that two doors can't lead to the same room?</p>

12

<p>continuation opf previous post: apparently Qwertulen the other acceptes had it</p>

13

<p>whoamg i totally agree...you can have many doors leading to the same place...
I felt the same guilt though...my SAT score was 2220 and got a 43 predicted for IB and i was accepted...a friend of mine applied with 2300 and 45 predicted but got deferred...i dont know how they make a descision but i guess my essays and teacher recs stood out more..</p>

14

<p>Eventer...like everybody else, I think you should have gotten in, and may RD.
Chances are your application readers were different than "Q"s.
Trying to read tea leaves, your family income level may be pretty high for your community ($80K). "Q"s was $30-$40 K.
10 hours a week horseback riding and varsity tennis may have sent a class message that worked unfairly to your disadvantage.
Who knows?</p>

15

<p>i guess the only thing i am really mad about would be my interview which wa 1.5 hours but i talked for all of 10 minutes--i couldnt get a word in edge wise and i really wanted to "humanize my application" and explain some of my stuff
i have nothing against acceptes, i'm sure you all deserve it like ~80% of applicants, i'm just kind of angry at the admission system at princeton right now---it needs to be more transparent
A girl from close to me got in with way lower scores (i'm not sure about essays of anything) probably mainly because she was a quadruple legacy and athlete</p>

16

<p>"i'm just kind of angry at the admission system at princeton right now---it needs to be more transparent"</p>

<p>i totally.. toootally... tOOOTTTAlly support that one.</p>

17

<p>me too, princeton shud atleast clarify the decision and shud let students a communiation with the Adcom.</p>

<p>In MIT, there are about 12-13 AOs which have supplied theie emails over web, we can so often contact them!</p>

<p>Even in UCs, you can even talk to Adcom after a decision and point out something important they missed out and this can even change yer decision.</p>

<p>Princeton shud have more options of communication, which it unfortunately lacks!</p>

18

<p>I agree, </p>

<p>I was accepted to Princeton ED, but I feel like that many fo the students who were accepted, even deferred, had better credentials than I did. But I'm glad I'm in, and grateful as well. I wasn't a URM nor a legacy/athlete either.</p>

19

<p>Well I actually understand they don't.</p>

<p>They have 17000 apps within 6 months - this alone is a lot and much more than we are probably able to imagine. Now what makes it even worse is that 12000 of these 17000 are nearly equal regarding their stats and so on - 2300 or 2400, that's a question of learning and luck but tells them nothing about the student's academic potential.</p>

<p>However, they can take only 1300 guys - not 12000. Within these 12000 students, it's pure luck. Maybe they throw dices, who knows ? </p>

<p>And then the social aspect. They want a homogene class, one that fits together and some uberbright students may fall out. But how to explain this ? They could only lose. Angry parents who sue them (this has already happened !!!) and who might even win because an AO made an amiguos remark ? That's much too risky and it stops them from doing the thing they are supposed to: Their job !</p>

<p>"Some questions cannot be answered. They become familiar weights in the hand, round stones pulled from the pocket, unyielding and cool."</p>

<p>Let's live the Princeton spirit boys and girls and prove that we would have been a perfect fit.</p>

20

<p>Qwertulen, at one one point (when I was a semi-bitter high school senior college applicant), I believed that the college admissions process was needlessly subjective - if there were so many kids with high SAT scores, awards, and all sorts of distinctions, why even bother taking other random kids? Needless to say, I was from a very competitive high school where everyone competed for every marginal increase in GPA, every club position, and studied a long time for SATs. I was a little bit of an exception, but I only felt guilty for it.</p>

<p>Yet after I came to Princeton, I saw students who weren't that ridiculously hardcore and had no special hooks (professor dad/legacy/athlete), either. In fact, one of my best friends now is a kid who comes from the middle of nowhere. And while he, too, shares some of the same guilt you do, I think I can see now why Princeton takes such students. </p>

<p>This guy's SAT scores are impressive, but perhaps not by Princeton standards, and he never participated in any of those big national competitions. But he's still a fairly intelligent guy who, unlike everyone else at Podunk HS, cared about academic achievement. He was a hardworking, sincere, intelligent guy, and perhaps the only reason he didn't win a big national context was because he was born in the "wrong" town, or went to the "wrong" high school. Heck, in classes we have together in subjects neither of us took at high school, I have to struggle to beat this guy (and I was one of those generic kids with crazy SAT scores, GPA, and awards).</p>

<p>Essentially, what I'm trying to say is the follows: Princeton doesn't underestimate the power of the situation. There are lots of kids who have the strength of character and the brains to do great things who never really garner awards in their first two decades of existence purely because their circumstances. It does not mean that they're inherently any less capable than the kids who do.</p>

<p>So Qwertulen, perhaps Princeton's investing faith in you. Perhaps adcoms think you're a genuinely hardoworking and intelligent person who can contribute amazing things in the future. If they are, there's something about you that strikes them as special. Just work hard to prove them right.</p>