Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further... And one fine morning--

Colleges & Universities A-Z Princeton University
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<p>I have two reasons for choosing a quote from *The Great Gatsby<a href="one%20of%20my%20favorite%20novels,%20by%20the%20way">/i</a> as the title for my chances thread:</p>

<p>(a) "...no one had a deeper attachment to the Ivy League school than Fitzgerald did. Fitzgerald idealized Princeton football, Princeton braininess, and Princeton scenery - right up to his dying day." The full article, [here[/url</a>], is actually rather interesting.</p>

<p>(b) One of the most important themes in The Great Gatsby is the idea of the unattainable dream. Now, I could go on about this, because I've analyzed this book to death in IB English, but my real question is this: Is Princeton my Daisy Buchanan?</p>

<p>Besides "complete and utter dork," I'm female and from Washington, DC. I'm neither athlete nor legacy; I'm a minority in terms of religion (atheist) and diet (vegan), but not skintone (white). My first language is Swedish; I learned French at 6, English at 12, and am still working on Spanish. </p>

<ul>
<li>Stats</li>
</ul>

<p>SAT I: 800 CR, 760 M, 710 W
SAT II: 800 French, 750 Literature, 710 Chemistry, 710 Biology-M, 700 Math II, 700 Spanish
GPA: 6.3/7
High school: Small private school in Washington, DC (50 students in the class of '07); school does not rank
Course load: Bilingual IB Diploma
IB English A1 HL
IB French A1 HL
IB Chemistry HL
IB Mathematics SL
IB Biology SL
IB History SL
Theory of Knowledge
Journalism</p>

<ul>
<li>Writing</li>
</ul>

<p>Essays:
(1) Growing up as a foreign service brat (posted [url="<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=291193%22%5Dhere%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=291193"]here](&lt;a href="http://www.capitalcentury.com/1920.html%22%5Dhere%5B/url"&gt;http://www.capitalcentury.com/1920.html)&lt;/a&gt;)
(2) Richard Dawkins on art and science: "The feeling of awed wonder that science can give us is one of the highest experiences of which the human psyche is capable. It is a deep aesthetic passion to rank with the finest that music and poetry can deliver."</p>

<p>Activity short answer:
*I've enjoyed working on the [school newspaper] partly for the sense of accomplishment that comes with producing a newspaper of astounding quality for a high school publication, and for everything it's taught me about style, writing objectively, layout and graphics, and the ever-important deadlines, but just as much for the friends I've made and the particular sort of bond that forms between people who of their own free will choose to spend entire weekends cooped up in a windowless basement scarfing down glazed donuts and arguing about punctuation and whether the margins are aligned. As the subeditor responsible for the "News and Features" section, I’ve learned leadership and confidence; as photography editor, I’ve been able to explore my interest in photojournalism; and as copyeditor, I’ve learned that if any pen cuts deeper than the sword, it’s probably the red one. *</p>

<p>Summers:
2005:
I spent a long and lazy summer in Sweden catching up with friends and relatives, repainting my grandmother’s house on the small island in the south where my mother spent her summers as a child, learning to drive a boat, fishing mackerel (pre-veganism), reading, painting, writing, and relaxing on the sun-warmed granite along the west coast where my father grew up.
2006:
I spent the first month in DC, working for 40 hours per week as a riding instructor at my stables’ summer camp and volunteering for 15 hours per week at Georgetown University Hospital. Afterwards, I traveled to Sweden and spent the rest of the summer in a fashion similar to the previous one.</p>

<ul>
<li>Recommendations</li>
</ul>

<p>English (grades 9, 11, 12): I haven't read it, but I'm sure it's excellent; he probably knows me better than any adult outside my immediate family.
Chemistry (grades 8, 9, 11, 12): "unique," "thinks outside the box," "makes the teacher rethink the approach to the material," "[IB Extended Essay was] more akin to an undergraduate research paper," etc.
Theory of Knowledge (11, 12) and Journalism/newspaper advisor (12): Another favorite teacher; should be very good as well.
University counselor: Good, I think? I honestly have no idea. </p>

<ul>
<li>Extracurriculars</li>
</ul>

<p>School newspaper:
Positions held
News & Features Editor (12)
Photography Editor (12)
Copyeditor (11-12)
Reporter (9-12)
Awards
Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal (9-11)</p>

<p>Photography:
Courses at a darkroom outside of school
Documentary Photography and Project Printing (12)
Intermediate Photography (12)
Intermediate Photography for Young People (11)
Photography for Young People (10)
Other
Featured artist in a juried exhibition of young photographers in the DC area
Independent work
[url="<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cameliasinensis%22%5DPhotography"&gt;http://www.flickr.com/photos/cameliasinensis"]Photography&lt;/a> supplement<a href="slides%20forwarded%20to%20art%20department">/url</a></p>

<p>Amnesty International:
Campaign coordinator: Responsible for organizing letter-writing campaigns, film screenings, and other events to raise awareness and encourage discussion of human rights issues (12)
Head of Corporate Accountability committee (12)
Member (9-12)</p>

<p>Volunteering:
Georgetown University Hospital volunteer, 4 hours/week (11-12)
Photography studio volunteer: Setting up for photography shows and general "behind-the-scenes" work (10-12)</p>

<p>Equestrian:
Riding lessons (2-12)
Local horse shows</p>

<p>Academic:
Spanish independent study (11-12)
Chemathon team (12)
Chemistry tutor (11)</p>

<p>Other:
Yearbook staff (9-10)</p>

<p>Besides Princeton, I'm applying to Amherst, Bryn Mawr, U of Chicago, Dartmouth, Macalester, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams. I'm deeply sorry for the terrible jokes, and as always, any comments are much appreciated. :)</p>

2

<p>I'm sorry about the multiple cut-off posts, by the way. CC was having issues. :rolleyes:</p>

3

<p>i'm rather impressed by your language background...and a bit jealous...i'm alas limited to english and spanish...and i have a decent background in latin...hoping to take 5 or so more in college...</p>

<p>anyways, hope you get in!</p>

<p>oh, and yay for vegan--i'm just veg, couldn't handle vegan, but props to you!</p>

4

<p>quite honestly, i usually dislike chances posts. i don't think they're a good use of time for the person chancing, for the person being chanced, and for the people reading them.
but ever so rarely, i stumble across ones like yours. yes, i know, i know, i'm reading a couple lines where you try to summarize your life, and i know, most of it is impersonal statistics and programs and extracurriculars or whatnot, but still, i can't help feeling like you're the type of person i'd really really like to see more of here.
but ultimately, who knows? i think we can all agree that your profile and writing are both strong enough, so i think at this point, you've done as much as you can do, and it's up to a little bit of luck.</p>

<p>so here's to another artsy--or so it seems--potential student. good luck! i look forward to being able to meet you next year.</p>

<p>--jason</p>

<p>ps. your messages are full.</p>

5

<p>One fine morning, we will write shorter sentences. However, your line about the red pen is not bad.</p>

6

<p>Thanks, everyone. I do write insanely long sentences (but then again, so did Proust ;)). </p>

<p>quirkily, thank you so much for your post. I've cleared out my messages if you want to try again.</p>

7

<p>I am thrilled to find someone else who writes long sentences. ;) I do as well -- it's a sort of madness, I think, along with rampant overuse of parentheses in my particular case. (I did write a 158-word sentence once. It was probably quite frightening, especially considering the fact that it was sort of metaphysical metaphor.) </p>

<p>Anyway, you sound like you have a great chance; your writing's lovely, and you generally sound like the sort of intelligent and talented person who really should get in everywhere. Good luck!</p>

8

<p>Congrats for being the most entertaining chances thread I've ever read (excluding all of the completely weird trolls that spur 2034082 page fights). I appreciate your quirky creativity so much. </p>

<p>While I'm not a very good judge of chances, I think that if the personality that you portray so nicely to us on the Princeton board was reflected in your application/interview (you had a good one with gold ballet flats at a tea house, I remember!), then I think that Princeton would greatly benefit from having a girl like you on campus.</p>

<p>I love writing long sentences too. Actually, I am a bigger fan of the run-on. After I read Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses I wrote in sentences that were completely free of punctuation for a good week (not on schoolwork or anything) and loved it. </p>

<p>Anyway, I hope that we will both end up at Princeton next year and I think you have a great chance of filling your half of that bargain!</p>

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<p>Noldo and j07, I always love to read your posts here, and I really hope we'll see each other at Princeton next year. :)</p>

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<p>Well there's not much that I can say other than to wish you luck...</p>

<p>For some strange reason I seem to remember my own essays when I read the extracts you've posted here (I share a common affliction for long sentences with you and Noldo); I'd have to second Jason here, even through your writing here you give a pretty good impression of the type of person you are and I'd be willing to prophesy that you'll be able to succeed wherever you end up going.</p>

<p>Good luck once again from a fellow International applicant,</p>

<p>Kaushik</p>

11

<p>Thanks, k_twin, and good luck to you as well. :)</p>

12

<p>Good luck, I personally think you have a decent chance but I don't know much about this stuff. Sorry. I liked your short answer essay though. Your recs sound good. </p>

<p>Off topic: I'm jealous that you can take History SL. Ours is "automatically" HL. I have no idea why. It's kind of annoying. I guess because to graduate in Va you need 4 years of history but still. The kids in AP don't have to take two years of AP history. I don't see why we couldn't do history SL and take a regular history class the next year. Or just do both years but take the SL test since we do that in pretty much every class anyway.</p>

13

<p>


</p>

<p>Jason, that's exactly what I was thinking.</p>

<p>Cameliasinensis, let us know how it goes!</p>

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<p>Princedog, I think it's because (a) I go to private school (on scholarship from my parents' employer; I'm not wealthy) and we don't have the same requirements as public schools, and (b) at my school both SLs and HLs are two-year courses, which makes scheduling less of an issue. We actually don't have to take history at all if we don't want to; both geography and economics fulfill the social science requirement.</p>

<p>Jason and FitzRandolph2010, I hope the admissions office feels the same way. :o</p>

15

<p>i would tell you what i think, but my opinion is not exactly professional. besides, i would feel like a ***** telling you percentages, and what not. your application certainly sounds interesting, and im sure youll get into at least one of the schools your applying to, like U Chicago and Macalester, but your chances become slimmer when it comes to Amherst, Dartmouth, Princeton etc. but that goes for everyone :-)</p>

<p>best of luck and hope to see you on campus next year!</p>

16

<p>Yes, but Proust had a very high level of talent.</p>

17

<p>Yeah I guess we technically don't have to take history either although it's IB Business that our school offers that also fulfills the Group Six requirement (totally made that up, I don't really know what group it is but Six sounds good). But if you do take history then it has to be HL. We also have most SLs set as two years courses (second year of a lot of IB classes are HL/SL splits). I'm in SL physics and the two years really gives a more realistic amount of time to get everything down since there's really no chance to take any introductory physics before SL 1.</p>

18

<p>Lynxie: I was joking, hence the ;). I'm sorry you found my style so grating.</p>

19

<p>cameliasinensis: You have a high level of talent too. Personally, I like your sentences. Good luck!</p>

20

<p>Thanks, Graham. :) I don't mind long sentences provided that they're grammatically correct, but I really didn't post this thread to discuss sentence structure -- unless, of course, the length of my sentences significantly impairs my chances at Princeton. Then we can talk. :p</p>