<p>I have been reading a lot of negative comments about Princeton University, and how it is not cracked up to be what it says it is. What is the deal with this? Does anyone have any informationr regarding this? I need to think of a backup plan, but I still would like to stay with the top prestigious schools. If I don't get into Princeton, would I have a chance of getting into Yale, or Stanford. How about Columbia?</p>
<p>MeTaLhEaD</p>
<p>Lol backup plan...you should have a backup plan regardless</p>
<p>Yale has the lowest acceptance rate of all the Ivy league/other schools (except for music schools, other non-traditional places, but that's irrelevant). Yale has a regular decision rejection rate of 94.2%. Ouch.
Columbia accepts about the same percentage (11%) as Princeton but its SAT ranges are lower (may denote lower quality of applicants, or different admissions priorities, or both, or whatever). Stanford's acceptance rate is also in the teens. So, you could be accepted or rejected at all of them...they're all so selective and seemingly random that applying to all of them can't guarantee acceptance to at least one. Sorry :). Make sure to have real backups when the time comes. For now, concentrate on the Xiggi method of raising SAT scores (nothing secret or special, it's just a productive practice plan).</p>
<p>I got these numbers off of collegeboard.com.</p>
<p>Lol, oh yes. I have a backup plan. Lol. Trust me, i'm not a complete idiot, just when it comes to English, lol. I will definitely concentrate on the Xiggi method of raising SAT scores, particularly in English. People, keep leavin' comments, any comments will help.</p>
<p>MeTaLhEaD.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I have been reading a lot of negative comments about Princeton University, and how it is not cracked up to be what it says it is
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You don't come to the Princeton board and insult Princeton :D</p>
<p>Anyway, Stanford and Yale are just as competitive, if not more, than Princeton. I think Columbia is a notch below these three, but still very competitive. Like the above poster mentions, admissions at these schools are extremely random. As long as your SAT score is in their range, it ceases to matter (at least not as much). Unless you have some outstanding achievement on the (inter)national level, you need an overall strong application (good GPA, high SAT score, good EC's, essays, etc.) A 2400 SAT probably won't get you in if you don't participate in any school activity, and/or if your essays are dull and boring.</p>
<p>As far as SAT practice is concerned, Xiggi's method is probably the best. I went from a 1140 (old test, 8th grade) to 1970 (10th grade) to 2240 in 12th grade (and I didn't speak English until I was 12) so it's definitely possible to improve by a large margin. Just practice and practice!</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Keep 'em coming: those comments.</p>
<p>dont take this the wrong way....but to be honest i think you might have made up some of this. you dont have enough time in the day to do all of what you said. taking all those AP classes, working, varsity sports, taking community college classes, and community service? that just seems like it would take up ALOT of time. almost impossible unless your school is ridiculously easy adademically? is it?</p>
<p>does this seem fishy to anyone else?</p>
<p>sorry if your telling the truth..haha</p>
<p>To be honest...I think you're right.
OP, how in the world can you work twenty hours or more a week while doing all of that other stuff? Do you get any sleep?
I'm sorry if I sound offensive, but I'm just really wondering.</p>
<p>Lol, don't worry about the offensive. I'm not going to lie, I don't believe myself sometimes. But, I know how to budget my time. And I don't do ALL of this everyday. The community service, I do hours at a time, two or three times a month. I work 20 hours a week, plain out. We have a block schedule, so I'm not taking ALL of those AP courses at the same time. This semester I have three. Next semester I have one. But I also have three courses next semester at the community college. It's really hard to explain. Oh: I make time for my Varsity sports after school mostly everyday. Tuesdays I don't make to practice because of the college course that interferes with that day. Lemme think what else . . . Uh: Lol, my school is not that easy academically. It takes me a lot of time to do my homework (hours a night). But I budget my time to do everything, and I am getting all A's. We also have a study hall that is 40 minutes, and I utilize every second of the day to get what I have to get done. I have no life during the week. Blunty speaking: I seriously don't. None at all. My only life is on the weekend. Friday and Saturday. Sunday, it's back to academics and school. I work a lot of my hours during the weekend though. I have a life, but I work after practice in the morning currently, after our three hours practices: 7 - 10. It is really hard to explain. But its all about budgeting time. If that was a major, I would have majored in it already. Lol. But I understand where you are coming from about not believing any of this. It is sorta unbelievable. Lol, i'm not going to lie to you. Like I said, it kinda doesn't make sense to me sometimes. But: there are alos those really hard, stressful times that I can't get everything done. Let's say: if homework interferes with work, and I can't get it off and I don't have enough time to complete my homework, even during Study Hall, then I tell my teachers straight out. They usually give me an extension, they know me as a student. They know what I can do, when I can do it, how I do everything I do.</p>
<p>MeTaLhEaD.</p>
<p>the danger is that princeton ad coms may not be able to see these qualities - ability to manage your time well, multi-tasking etc.- in your application. They may even see your extensive list of extra-curricular activities as characteristic of an applicant who is 'A jack of all trades but a master of none.' I don't know how true this is, but i've heard adcoms are more interested in an applicant who is outstanding in one area compared to one who dabbles in a variety of activities. I'm not saying you are the latter of course - your stats is amazing. I'm just saying you should be careful with how you present yourself in your application. :)</p>
<p>Yes, I heard about that. Do you know how I would be able to present all of the information in the application related to those personal qualitites? If not, how would I present myself in the application with the "A jack of all trades is a master of one" theory? I as well have heard about the admission officers being interested in those applicants who are outstanding in one area. This doesn't fit my purpose.</p>
<p>MeTaLhEaD.</p>
<p>well, make use of the 'optional reference' section - ask someone who knows you well, like your mom or dad or anyone else for that matter, to pen a glowing letter of recommendation highlighting these qualities. There must be a common theme in your application - say you are a hardworking person, your essays and stuff must touch on this personal quality. the 'optional reference', coming from another person's perspective, should also mention something about you being hardworking, thereby reinforcing what you say about yourself. in short, there must be coherence in your application. </p>
<p>what i suggest you do is to select those ECAs for which you are truly passionate and elaborate on them in your application. may even be a good idea to omit a few minor ones. i'm just saying you shouldn't confuse the adcoms with your spread of ECAs. in my opinion, they want 'passion' as opposed to 'variety'. </p>
<p>and you mentioned that your ECAs sometimes interfered with homework? and that you frequently asked for extensions from your teachers? no offense, but i'm worried that this is a sign of poor time management and i hope you didn't ask for a recommendation from the teacher whose homework you frequently didn't complete on time. it just wouldn't reflect well on your application if your teacher chose to write about this. the adcoms may think that you've sacrificed your academic obligations for ECAs' sake. Adcoms understand that high school grades do not correlate well to how well you'd perform in college, especially at a place like Princeton. While you may be able to overload yourself with activities in high school and still manage to score straight As, the same thing may not happen in college where the academic work is so much more challenging. </p>
<p>all in all, i hope i've not offended you. wish you the best of luck in your apps :)</p>
<p>Albert he was in a foster home for a long time, asking for hw extensions on things like projects would be perfectly acceptable. I'm pretty sure he didn't ask for an extension on the daily math problems or w/e.</p>
<p>sorry if i got my facts wrong, just being frank.</p>
<p>and oh yeah, you should capitalize on the 'What else would would like us to know' section to describe your experiences while in foster care - why you were there in the first place and how you eventually got out of it. :)</p>
<p>Lol, Albert87, It's very rare that I ask for homework extentions. Lol, if extracurriculars interfere with homework, then too bad for the extracurricular, because frankly, I beleive academics are most important. But when it comes to work interfering with academics, I have no choice but to delay the academics. Lol, it's all good albert 87 about the misunderstanding. I believe exactly what you are saying. It is poor time management if someone has to get frequent time extentions on homework. Like I said, its rare, and only happened once this year (for an essay in AP Geography). But regardless. I like hearing about what all of you guy's say on this thread. Keep those comments coming.</p>
<p>Foster care: I wasn't allowed to do anything. Most of us kids in that home had to stay at the home, with the exception of going to school everyday. I really didn't have an extreme academic interest during freshman year. I just got A's, A-'s, and B+'s, and I was happy with those marks. It was after the first card marking freshman year when we were taken out of school by the state, and brought to a foster home. Many of the courses at my first high school didn't correlate with my second high school, so my academics were changed. The second school was a little bit harder academically, not too much though. Since I wasn't allowed to do anything, or participate in anything, I just decided to try out taking the most advanced courses, to take up my time in the foster home. I didn't ever like just sitting in one place, and rotting. Which is what those kids did all day. So, come the next year, I enrolled in the hardest workload possible for my schedule. And quite frankly, I enjoyed it. I liked being challenged, and I liked not just sitting and rotting in the foster home. I was determined to keep going, and take harder and harder classes, and I convinced myself when I was returned home, I was going to participate in sports, and extra-curricular activities, because during foster care, I found a liking to budget my time, and being busy. It was about March of sophomore year, when I was returned home, and all of this came true.</p>
<ul>
<li>- - But it was very difficult to do all of these academics during foster care, it was so hard to be away from home, but I was determined.</li>
</ul>
<p>MeTaLhEaD.</p>
<p>then if you let the admissions officers see all that on your application, i'd say it'd be great.</p>
<p>btw, are you applying to the Class of 2011? hope to see you in the fall if you are ;)</p>
<p>oops, you are a junior rite. then all da best in your applications end of this year :)</p>
<p>Lol, class of 2012 baby. What else should I add into that section though, with relation to foster care.</p>
<p>Aside of this, I still have to take all of those standardized tests, SAT, ACT (just in case I get a higher score than on the SAT), and those three SATII tests. I'm sure I will be fine with those SATII tests though, I don't know what is on them as far as content, but i'm looking at taking the Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. By then, I should be fine. I'm taking all of these courses in college, and being in an actual college level course for these exams, i'm sure I should be able to score higher. But what worries me is the ACT or SAT, if I don't score so high, my chances are lower. Even though Princeton doesn't necessarily have a "cut-off" score. Keep those comments comin'</p>
<p>MeTaLhEaD.</p>
<p>For SAT, any score above 2200 would be fine. the average SAT score for accepted early decision students to the Class of 2011 is 2210. if you aren't satisfied with your SAT score the first time, dun worry about it. Re-take it - statistically, students seem to score better on the second attempt. </p>
<p>Trust me, if you really practice and practice and practice for the SAT I, you WILL get the score that you want. i recommend using collegeboard's very own test prep book. </p>
<p>For SAT II, anything above 700 would do. Shouldn't pose a problem to you considering you're already taking college level courses. </p>
<p>talk about foster care in the 'what else would you like us to know section', sort of like how it has impacted you and stuff, how you overcame the barriers you encountered while in foster care etc. in short, ad coms value individuals who have overcome adversity in life. </p>
<p>for your common application essay, choose another topic to write on. </p>
<p>these are just my opinions on how you could go about putting together your application. you know yourself best :)</p>
<p>just a warning..(it might be different in your area) but community colleges around here SUCK. dont rely on them to teach you enough for the SAT IIs.</p>
<p>all my high school courses are probably harder than the ones at community college.(i took a class there this summer)</p>
<p>then again, maybe where you live is very different. i would still recommend getting a test prep book.</p>