The Princeton Plan

Colleges & Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>Alright, I cross-posted this in the "What are my chances", but here goes-</p>

<p>I am an Asian male and I'm aspiring to attend an Ivy League or something similar (MIT, etc.) As of currently, I am a Freshman in High School, with primarily B's in school as of right now, due to the fact I caught the flu multiple times this year, causing me to miss many days of school and consequently, fall behind on some work. However, what I plan to do for the next three years is as follows-</p>

<p>Summer 2010:
-Attend Computer Science I at the local community college
-Begin to volunteer at a local hospital
-Begin to volunteer at a local nature preserve
-Study more for the SAT's (Last time I took a practice test, I got an 1800, not bad for a freshman, amirite?)</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
-Classes I'm taking
-AP Euro
-Honors Trig
-Honors English 10
-Honors Spanish
-Honors Chemistry
-Maintaining a 4.0 GPA throughout the year
-Take an SAT for fun</p>

<p>-Electives:
-Computer Science
-Graphics Design</p>

<p>-Clubs
-Speech and Debate team
-Model Congress
-Investment club
-President of at least 3 other clubs</p>

<p>-Sports
-Cross Country in fall (Hopefully Captain by sophomore year)
-Track and Field</p>

<p>-Leadership
-Run for class president
-Extracurriculars
-Independent Science Research
-Guitar
-Teaching martial arts
-More?
-Columbia University Science Honors Program</p>

<p>Community Service-
-Volunteering at a Nature Reserve
-Volunteering at hospital
-Cleaning up local ponds
-Playing jazz at coffee shops in hopes of collecting money to donate to worthy causes</p>

<p>Junior Year:
-Classes I'm taking
-All the AP/Honors classes
-Maintaining a 4.0 GPA throughout the year</p>

<p>-Electives:
-Unknown</p>

<p>-Clubs
-Speech and Debate team
-Model Congress
-Investment club
-President of at least 3 other clubs</p>

<p>-Sports
-Cross Country in fall
-Track and Field in the Spring</p>

<p>-Leadership
-Run/Win for class president
-Captain of Cross Country team
-President of multiple clubs</p>

<p>-Take at least 3 SAT's during the year (2000 and up)</p>

<p>-Extracurriculars
-Maybe start teaching guitar as well?
-Continue Community Service
-Add Community Service-Ambulance EMT Volunteer work</p>

<p>Senior Year</p>

<p>-Apply to colleges
-Take all AP/Honors classes
-Continue leadership positions
-Continue sports
-Continue Community Service
-Stay in clubs
-Apply to colleges
-Hope for the best!</p>

<p>What do you guys suggest I do to up my chances?</p>

2

<p>The future has a funny habit of not ending up how one imagines it.</p>

3

<p>Heh, I realize this, but even so, I will try to stick to the plan in order to get into an exceptional college</p>

4

<p>

</p>

<p>That’s a stupid goal. I wanted to go to a good college, but I didn’t base it around that. My approach was to target specific top schools, not just top schools.</p>

<p>You will probably fare better in the admissions process or get more out of it if you change your approach.</p>

5

<p>In what ways do you suggest I change my approach?</p>

6

<p>you have a decent chance if you do what you say you do…it is very hard to pass judgment on things that didn’t happen yet…visit this forum when you’re ready to apply and post your stats then…until then just work hard and try your best and look at what each school likes in terms of the freshman they admit…Good Luck!</p>

7

<p>Thanks, I wish I could edit the post, but I want to add that I’m also doing a school-sponsored foreign exchange program, I want to go to China to teach kids to speak English, and I want to get help from my school’s physics teacher to build a particle accelerator… Yeah, I totally jacked that from that guy from the other thread :P</p>

8

<p>Thanks, I wish I could edit the post, but I want to add that I’m also doing a school-sponsored foreign exchange program, auditioning for an orchestra (I play many instruments, piano, guitar, clarinet, saxophone, violin) ,I want to go to China to teach kids to speak English, and I want to get help from my school’s physics teacher to build a particle accelerator… Yeah, I totally jacked that from that guy from the other thread :P</p>

<p>Also, do you think colleges care very much about freshman year? Because my overall average was roughly about an 85, since I caught the flu quite a few times and as a result, fell behind on my work.</p>

9

<p>Do what you love. Stop worrying about what other people think.</p>

10

<p>Advice: do what you’re interested in, not what you think will get you into Princeton.</p>

<p>“Think” is a key word, because even if the above plan works out perfectly, you could still very easily be rejected. Think of how much more devastated you’d be if you were rejected after following a plan for 3 years, something that could very well happen. The fact that your plan seems to be a laundry list of activities and lacking in passion is also a problem. Adcoms are pretty good at telling between doing things for apps and doing things because you love it.</p>

<p>Planning to take the SAT “for fun” and three times in one year is also not a good idea…instead of taking it four times and hoping that one turns out really well, why not just prepare for it and take it once? One high score looks so much cleaner on the report, even if most colleges do superscore. 1800 as a freshman is kinda okay, but aiming for 2000 probably won’t going to cut it. I think it’ll be hard for you to get into Princeton or other top colleges without a 2200+, and even that might not be enough.</p>

<p>People say Princeton doesn’t look at freshman grades, but many other top colleges do. If you have a strong upward trend, the damage of a weak freshman year will be reduced, but likely not eliminated.</p>

11

<p>

</p>

<p>What I said. “Top schools” should not be the goal. “Princeton” should be the goal (over HYS, for example). Or “MIT.” Or whichever schools you actually want to go to.</p>

12

<p>@YeloPen</p>

<p>I understand that, in writing, it appears to lack the passion (after all, it’s pretty difficult to display much emotion in a simple forum post) most colleges want, but all I was doing in creating this list, is expanding on what I love to do. For example, I love jazz and playing instruments, so I play jazz to get donations, which in turn I’ll donate to charity. Another example, I love to travel, as well as teach. Therefore, I go to rural China, where my family hails from, and teach kids English. Also, when I say 2000 and up, naturally I’ll be shooting for at least a 2300. I’m just using 2000 and up as a general outline of where I wish to shoot for. Additionally, I have been preparing for the SAT some more, sharpening up my vocabulary and essay writing skills, since I think those are the areas in which I’m weakest at. Thanks for your input though :)</p>

<p>@Baelor
When I say “top schools”, I’m just using that as a generalization. The schools I want to be shooting are:

  1. Princeton
  2. MIT
  3. Harvard
  4. Dartmouth
  5. Cornell
  6. UCLA
  7. Carnegie Mellon
  8. NYU</p>
13

<p>I’m sorry to tell you, but I learned this the hard way. You cannot plan your life. Life is unpredictable. I think you’ll have a good shot getting into somewhere great, but nothing is guaranteed. It would be nice though.</p>

14

<p>That’s great, because at first I thought you were just throwing activities out there for colleges :P</p>

15

<p>

Like I said in my other thread, yes, I know this, but think of this as a guideline to the rest of my high school career, which is why I’m asking you guys at CC: If I follow these guidelines, will I get into Princeton?</p>

16

<p>If you’re going on a website to ask anonymous people whether certain actions will get you into a university, and what they say significantly impacts your plan for life, then…</p>

<p>My answer would be no.</p>

17

<p>Well, since guidance counselors at my school never really ever pay attention to anything kids say, I figured coming here would be a good bet, since most people are typically adept at figuring out whether or not one would be able to get into their choice college.</p>

18

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<p>Unfortunately, that’s not really the case. Like I mentioned in my previous post, doing all this will not guarantee you entry into Princeton. It will give you a shot, but many, many applicants have a “shot.” You need to realize that college admissions is very random, and even when you think you have the perfect profile for a particular school, you can still be rejected (and vice versa). I thought I had the best shot at Princeton and the least shot at Yale in HYPSM, but I ended up getting into Yale and Stanford and rejected from HPM.</p>

<p>Another note: you probably haven’t grasped how important recommendations and essays are yet. It is my opinion that those were the reasons I was admitted where I was (and a hell of a lot of luck). You can’t plan those things out though, unfortunately.</p>

19

<p>True, but it will at least increase my chances, amirite?</p>

20

<p>

</p>

<p>Well, for chances to increase, you have to have something to compare it to…and considering you’re not old enough to have a profile yet I can’t really say it’ll increase anything…</p>

<p>But you will have a good shot if you can maintain all those activities and tack on near-perfect grades and scores.</p>