Yes. Princeton’s SCEA admit rate last year was a bit north of 15%. You can’t have a better GPA and your SAT is almost perfect. So on stats, you’re basically among the top of the heap.
But Princeton, as is the case with most private schools, looks at things other than stats. So while quantitatively you’re at or near the top, that alone probably isn’t enough. You also need to have the qualitative portions of your app in order to give yourself the best chance possible.
And even then, you might not be exactly what P’ton is looking for. They might need an oboe player more than a sax player, for instance.
I think, rather than throwing 20 darts at the board from 20 feet away and hoping one hits the bullseye – as is the case when kids don’t care where they go, as long as it’s an Ivy or equivalent, and apply to all eight and Stanford/MIT/Chicago et al – you should, if you aren’t already, concentrate on finding schools that fit your preferences in terms of academics (duh…), environment and social vibe. Find some reaches, matches and at least one safety where you know, with a fair helping of certainty, that you would be happy and fulfilled. And able to afford your education without too much debt – run NPC!
In terms of ED/SCEA:
- I suggest not applying ED/SCEA unless you are sure it’s your favorite school. UNLESS you are totally ambivalent, which you shouldn’t be if you are concentrating on fit… and even then you might end up liking another school more and rue the ED (moreso than SCEA…) app. So… yeah, it is best to be sure.
- Some schools seem to give more of a bump for ED/SCEA than others:
Harvard: ~14.5%
Princeton: ~15.4%
Yale: ~17%
Columbia: ~16%
Chicago: ~20%? (must be quite high since their RD rate was pitifully low, around 2%, and overall they’re like 8%)
Stanford: ~9% (smaller bump than most…)
MIT: ~8% (almost no bump)
Penn: ~22%
Brown: ~22%
Cornell: ~25.6
Dartmouth: ~27.7%
Duke: ~24.5%
Northwestern: ~26%
JHU: ~30.6%
CMU: ~26.4% (almost certainly lower for SCS)
As you can see, there is some variability in ED/SCEA acceptance rates among schools with fairly even overall admit rates. But I don’t think you should pick a school for ED or SCEA based on admit rate. ONLY if you were completely ambivalent… and liked two or more schools equally, and knew as well as possible that your mind would not change. But it might change, and then if you were locked into ED, the only really acceptable/ethical reason for getting out of it would be if you couldn’t afford it – but here we are, advising you to run NPC. SCEA isn’t as binding, but i still think you should only do it with your fave school regardless.
Anyway, I think you have a shot anywhere because of your stats. Knock the qualitative part out of the park and only apply to schools that fit you which you can afford – a mix of reach/match/safety – and you’ll almost certainly have a happy admissions result.