<p>My two dream schools are Princeton and Yale. I really am working very hard (stunning grades, vast ecs, leadership, volunteering, etc.). I'm just wondering, who got in and what did you do in high school, grades, SATs, etc</p>
<p>you might want to check out the decision threads: </p>
<p>and </p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>Haha I'm not really sure how I got in...there are plenty of kids I know with similar qualifications who didn't. Luck, maybe? It's been a tough year, and next year's supposed to be worse. Still, good luck...if you're working hard, your chances will be higher, though nothing's guaranteed!</p>
<p>Thanks..honestly it's kind of dissappointing to see kids with 800's get rejected. Oh well, I'll just continue doing well and serveral years down the road we'll see if I get in.....</p>
<p>Looking at the profiles more closely, I'm noticing how your state of residence really matters (for instance someone from Hawaii with considerably less impressive grades & ecs was accepted while someone w/ much more impressive wasnt). I live in GA and my area is an "island" with good schools in the middle of a state where education isnt very important. Maybe that will help</p>
<p>^That's a good point. I think being from DC hurt me considerably (my stats are [url="<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=302463%22%5Dhere%5B/url">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=302463"]here[/url</a>]; I was rejected... don't worry, I'm not bitter :)). My school is rigorous but not competitive, but apparently many other schools in the area are really cut-throat and Ivy-obsessed, which makes it much more difficult to stand out since everyone applies to the same schools and most have very impressive resumes.</p>
<p>Cut-throat and ivy-obssesed seems to sum up my school....</p>
<p>Anyway, your profile looks really good- did u do an interview?
Where else did you get in?</p>
<p>"Haha I'm not really sure how I got in...there are plenty of kids I know with similar qualifications who didn't. Luck, maybe? It's been a tough year, and next year's supposed to be worse. Still, good luck...if you're working hard, your chances will be higher, though nothing's guaranteed!"</p>
<p>-What were your ec's, grades, etc?</p>
<p>I had an amazing interview, actually; it was supposed to be half an hour long but we talked for over an hour and a half, and my interviewer said I was very different (in a good way!) from the typical DC-area applicant. I won't try to analyze what went wrong because I'm pretty sure it came down to simple mathematics -- too many kids, not enough space -- as opposed to any fatal flaw on my part. I'm going to Dartmouth, though, so it all worked out in the end. :)</p>
<p>just remember that when it comes to the top schools its not so mcuh as a problem of what you can do to get in but a matter of space. people seemingly with better qualifications than you can and will get rejected; people with worse off qualifications than you can and will get accepted. theres not mcuh you can do about it, other tan work hard, get your grades and scores what not and just pray. pray. and pray as hard as you can becase even then it might not happen. </p>
<p>i do like to believe that your essay and interview can make that that tiny bit of a difference. i think it did for me for princeton, when i read back on the % rates for princeton regular - i still lose sleep</p>
<p>I think what did it for me was the original research I was involved in. More students are beginning to have this, but it definitely set me apart from the other high stats kids whose EC's weren't as original. I second what someone else said about essays, but to be honest, my Princeton essay (the Albert Einstein one) wasn't very good. I did a good job on the common app one though, and I was able to show how it related to my interests and EC's. BTW, I also live in Georgia. What part of the state do you live in?</p>
<p>I think my mission work made me stand out a lot. A lot of applicants have community service that they perform with National Honor Society or Key Club or whatever, but all of my service took its form in trips that I took with my church during the summers. I had to work as a junior counselor to pay my way for most of them, and I got to go to all kinds of awesome places just to serve people. It sounds remarkably cliche, but it was actually really fun, and I think it's kind of unusual.</p>
<p>This is the dirty little secret I've discovered since attending college: it seems as if >75% of the decision comes from the state of residence of the applicant.</p>
<p>So would being from Nebraska help at all?
I don't live in a rural area at all but my town is small in comparison to many US cities.
I think only a couple of people apply to ivies from NE...</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Getting 800s is easier than it looks compared to various EC things people have done. Then again, it does help quite a bit.</p>
<p>Especially on the SAT II's. Having the triple 800 is nice.</p>
<p>I would say spend more time doing other things than trying to get triple 800s though. October was probably the craziest month of my life, with the height of my competitive swim season, having a debate tournament every weekend, planning all kinds of fall nonsense (I'm student body VP), and working six days a week. I didn't study for my subject tests nearly enough, but I still managed alright. I didn't get a single 800; in fact, my highest subject test score was a 740. I think the 800s are extremely desirable, but I think a lot of people might tend to sacrifice time when they could be doing ECs or something in order to study for the SAT IIs. I know this goes against everything that we have ever learned, but if anything, I would recommend doing a crash weekend the week before the test and just staying inside for 2 days straight taking hundreds of practice tests. Then you can continue reviewing throughout that week, building up to the tests on Saturday.</p>
<p>I'm not really sure why I'm providing SAT II study tips on this thread...maybe because I'm bored and it's 37 degrees outside in April in Texas (it gets this cold like maybe 8 days each winter) and I don't know what to do with myself.</p>
<p>hahaha it was actually warm today in geneva! :D </p>
<p>umm, like j07 said, don't spend aaaages trying to get that perfect 800 SAT II score. one weekend is enough because you've probably learnt all the stuff already and really, it's not as hard as it seems. spend your summer or other free time doing interesting stuff like volunteer work or something EC. the last thing they want is a student with perfect score and no life.
i'd say it's more important to study for the regular SAT, but even then, it's not like you'll need months of preparation.</p>
<p>i didn't get in, but i'm just sharing my opinion. :P the 800s are nice, but the interesting people are nicer. :D</p>
<p>The easiest way to get into Princeton is to be literally the top in the nation in some catagory (some broad catagory) and have good grades and scores to back it up (e.g., world-class athlete, Siemens Competition winner, etc.). Or your parents could donate about $500,000,000 to the university. Then they'd accept you. Other than that, there really is no guarantee of admission.</p>
<p>Yeah I should have qualified my comments about the SAT II's. Don't spend more than three days studying for them and defintely don't let them interfere with your EC's.</p>