What do you guys think?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>Hispanic female from greater Los Angeles area
Low income, Single- parent household
First generation to go to college
Applying ED
Sending Optional Arts Supplement (piano pieces)
Either Politics or Woody Woo major
Using Princeton App
Small, parochial, all-girls, semi- competitive school
-One girl at Princeton (rising senior), one girl accepted last year but
declined for CalTech
-Only ED app to PU this year
-Toughest course load possible</p>

<p>GPA
Weighted (9-11) 4.25
Unweighted (9-11) 3.71
Princeton GPA [hopefully I calculated correctly] 3.74</p>

<p>SAT- retaking in Oct.
TOTAL 2030
CR 720
WR 680
M 630</p>

<p>SAT II
Lit 730
US 730
Spanish- retaking in Nov.</p>

<p>AP
Euro (10) 3
US (11) 4
Eng Lang (11) 3
***taking this year: bio, eng lit, us gov, spanish lang; possibly self- studying world, art history, and macro</p>

<p>RANK: School doesn’t rank, but in the top 12%</p>

<p>ECs [+++ means its going in the activities section of the app; I know it’s not going to fill up the 10 lines they give, but is it going to look bad if I have a couple of empty spaces? I mean, I’m only putting the activities i really devote the most time to and that i care about the most]
<em>POLITICS ORIENTED</em>
+++Speech and Debate (10-12) treasurer, vp
-NFL National Qualifier 2006
+++Young Politicians of America (11-12) co-founder, secretary, vp
Young Republicans Club (11-12) co-founder, secretary
+++Created my own political conference thing (11) founder/
organizer [designed to bring local high
school students in contact w/ state officials and reps; included
student speakers and an open panel discussion b/t
students and officials/ reps]<br>
+++Harvard Model Congress (11-12), house of reps and national security council
School Magazine (11-12) co- founder, editor, writer (non- partisan political
pieces)
<em>ACADEMIC</em>
+++NHS (10-12) record keeper & treasurer, pres
CJSF/ CSF (7-12) –state honor society type thing--
School's Honor Society (9-12)
<em>MUSIC</em>
+++Piano (11 years)
-Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (7-12)
<em>SERVICE</em>
Key Club (9-12) treasurer, vp
Ambassadors Club (9-12) vp, pres 2 years
+++Campus Ministry (9-12) liturgy coordinator, lector, eucharistic minister,
freshman retreat leader (11, 12), sophomore retreat leader (10),
junior retreat leader (11), KAIROS retreat leader (12), junior high
retreat leader (10, 11), freshman orientation leader (11, 12)
<em>MISC.</em>
Prom Committee (11, 12) co- chair, chair [it shows I have a social life!]</p>

<p>CONFERENCES
-------had to apply and be selected to attend-------
The National Young Leaders State Conference (2004)
HOBY (2005)
JSA California Summer Symposium (2004)
Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project (CLYLP) Conference (2006) </p>

<p>COMMUNITY SERVICE
+++-Church Youth Group (9-12) youth minister—leading and preparing weekly
teen discussion group (2000+ hours)
+++-Brothers of the Missionaries of Charity (8-12)--- feeding the homeless
of Los Angeles (500+ hours)
-Organized two “30 Hour Famines”--- raise youth awareness about world
hunger and generate donations for an international charity based in<br>
Peru working toward eliminating hunger in 3rd world countries
(1st “famine” $4300; 2nd “famine” $5700) (10, 11) (550 hours each
time)
-Organized a Darfur Awareness campaign w/ my YPA club—writing letters,
selling pins, guest speaker, etc. (raised about $2000) (11) (400 hours)</p>

<p>INTERNSHIPS
Congressman (sum 05)
Senator (sum 06)
Local law firm (sum-winter 06)
City Mayor (sum- fall 06)</p>

<p>AWARDS
Various Debate Awards (10- 11)
Various Music Awards (I’ll only include 9-12)
Rotary International Speech Comp (11)- 1st place
Los Angeles Times Plan-it Earth Essay Competition (9) 2nd place
Black History Month Essay Contest (8-11) one of six to seven winners all 4
years (parent’s union sponsors it for children of members)
$1000 Scholarship Winner (9-11) one of five winners 3 years in row (parent’s
union sponsors it for children of members)
Creative Writing Contest—Poetry Division (9) 2nd place (10, 11) 1st place
Environmental Symposium Speech Competition (11)- Best Speaker Award and
Best Proposal Award
Scholar Award- English (10, 11)
Scholar Award- Social Studies (9- 11)
Scholar Award- Spanish (10, 11)
Scholar Award- Theology (9-11)
NHS Exemplary Service Award (10, 11)
NHS Outstanding Committee Leader Award (10, 11)
NHS President’s Award (11)
Outstanding APUSH Student of the Year Award (11)
Outstanding AP English Student Award (11)
AP Scholar (11)</p>

<p>SUMMER ACTIVITIES
2004 (after freshman year)- volunteer with Rock the Vote campaign, JSA
California Summer Symposium, student in special international<br>
relations lecture course (one of 20 high school students selected)--
not for credit even though it was at a local college
2005 (after sophomore year)- internship with Congressman, traveled to El
Salvador where I worked w/ NGOs and various government officials to
help bring about a plan to help the country rise out of poverty (went
w/ one of those travel companies on a scholarship)
2006 (after junior year)- internship with Senator, attended NFL (Debate)
nationals, participant in Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project
(CLYLP) (one of 120 high school students in CA selected to attend),
internship w/ local law firm, internship w/ city’s mayor</p>

<p>ESSAYS
Possible essay topics: my political conference, volunteer work w/ youth group, and/ or "30 hour famine" work</p>

<p>RECS
Teacher #1- prolly my ap spanish language teacher
Teacher #2- prolly my ap bio teacher or ap english lit. teacher
Optionals- one from director @ church youth group [close friend and
supervises my volunteer work there], one from a close family
friend [very well respected and well known, knows me on a very
personal level and absolutely loves me; didn’t ask, she offered], and
one from a very very very close friend of mine, who’s a rising college
sophomore [I didn’t ask her, she said, no demanded, that I allow her
to write one]</p>

<p>QUESTIONS FOR CCers
-I have 3 optional recs in addition to the 2 teacher recs I want to send in, but should I send all of them or just one? Would sending all 3 annoy the adcom?
-Another thing about the recs. Are they really that important, b/c i don’t know how good the teacher ones will be since the teachers I was planning on asking have all decided to leave and move to very far away places w/ no address or means of contact, so I’ve had to resort to teachers I sort-of know, but not really. If they write the usual “she’s smart, involved, etc” rec, how much will it hurt me?
-Do I have to send a letter or anything proving I attended those conferences, held the internships, or won the awards? [friend @ Hopkins said he had to when he applied to colleges a few years ago]
-While Princeton is my first choice, I do understand that admission is a crapshoot. Can anyone recommend some other schools similar to Princeton I might want to look into?
-What do you guys think of my chances @ Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UC Davis, Penn (Huntsman), Boston College, UChicago, and Brown also?</p>

<p>Thanks so much guys!</p>

2

<p>bump.............</p>

3

<p>after posting a thread similar to this one, I have come to realize that CCers like a condensed version of your stats. this is information overload, and now I realize why barely anyone responded to my post. Just remember that, and don't try bumping it, b/c you will get little to no responses - particularly helpful ones.</p>

4

<p>Okay, here's the thing: you seem very qualified, so you have a shot. Obviously you know it's a crapshoot. So keep working hard, and if you're interested in other schools, consider some liberal arts schools besides UChicago. Schools like Amherst, Williams, Swat, Haverford, Bowdoin, Carleton, Grinnell, and so on all give a wonderful, undergrad-focused education, just as Princeton does. Also, Macalester has a great international relations program.</p>

<p>You probably won't get many responses because CCers don't just dislike long stats ... they see so many "Chances?" threads that they get kind of tired of them.</p>

<p>Anyway, good luck with everything!</p>

5

<p>I personally enjoy reading long stats but then again one of my favorite novels is War and Peace. First of all you do have a low SAT score. A 2030 will not keep you in the "pool" for a long time. However, being low-income, hispanic, single-parent, AND first to college might perhaps by a hook. Can someone confirm this? I don't know, regardless in Gate Keepers, the author wrote that top schools love students that come from modest backgrounds but excel. Decent AP scores, although there has been some arguments around CC as to their importance. You UW GPA is low but your weighted is high, when Princeton recalculates your GPA might hurt you. Way too many ECs and your conferences are very prestigious I think, don't you pay for them? Correct me if I'm wrong. Your community service, awards, and internships are exemplary, I really can't complain about them too much. Finally, only send in your two recommendations with the third only if it is good, admissions officers hate multiple recommendation letter because they seldom show additional insight. Recommendations are extremely important, I advise that you really butter up your teachers because I KNOW there will be applicants that had teachers write them novels, with millions of anecdotes and insights. I don't think you have to show proof that you attended the conferences or internships because Princeton has a notorious honor code, they are assuming that you are telling the truth. It's good to see that you realize that Princeton is really hard to get into, anything can happen. May I suggest U Chicago (which you already said), and Reed College, not as prestigious but with a notorious honor code, awesome undergraduate focus, and a decent financial aid program because the college is so small. Sorry for typos in the post and hopefully, I have given you some insight. Best of luck.</p>

6

<p>thanks for your responses!</p>

7

<p>o btw yoshi729, i didnt have to pay for those conferences, i applied and recieved scholarships to attend them. thanks a bunch for your advice!</p>