If anyone has any insight on this, I was wondering what kind of students does Princeton look for. I’m trying to fit my essay/application to fit their “ideal” student. Like for example, are they looking for students who are super tryhard, perfect scores, etc. or someone who is creative, blah blah blah?
I’m guessing you’re pulling our leg right?
@lostaccount I’m confused, I just heard each college is looking for different types of students so I wanted to get an insight on that? Not trying to make a joke or anything.
Applying to a tippy top means being on top of your own game. You need to have explored this, as best you could. They want the sort of kids who do their due diligence, not ask such a broad question on an anon forum.
“I’m trying to fit my essay/application to fit their “ideal” student.” And you have about 5 hours to figure this out.
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@lookingforward Thanks! I just wanted to get a headstart. I’m currently looking for some summer programs/opportunities to apply for so I was diving into this whole admissions game and all
There’s no “ideal” typecast student for Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and so on. Your best bet is BEING YOURSELF and being really good at it.
For the record, this is the post I deleted:
** Oh, you’re a junior? (You were yesterday.) Two things to know: you have to be the sort who can pull the vital pieces together. And that that’s the level of energy, action, and thinking they want. Not just stats and dreams.
Plus this: none of the tippy tops are looking for unilateral, “all stem/all the time.” It’s depth and breadth.
So why writing the essays now? This doesn’t make sense.
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OP, it feels like you’re going about this backwards. First you check stats and learn the sorts of kids they want, what they value (or not) and then self match. You fine tune activities, as needed. And so on. As you create a picture of what they look for, you do a self assessment. NOT forming a list and starting essays half way through junior year.
You start with what they say- and show- in their own web sites or other info from them or about them (eg, new announcements from them, not blogs, not those sites purporting to tell the magic formula- and not CC, until there’s something you’ve learned and want to confirm here.)
So that’s where you need to focus, now. Then, with better ideas about your targets, we can help you.
And yes, your activities are unilateral and you have two AP 4 scores. See how this summer’s AP scores turn out. Add something that shows meaningful breadth, that you’r einterested in more than stem. For an idea, read the MIT admissions blogs.
No, just being yourself is not “it.” It’s nice, but may be irrelevant or even counter to what they want to see.
On top of that, you previously said an AP 4 score in physics, which would be less competitive. A more recent thread shows 5.
Iunderstand wanting to get started. But do that in the right ways.
"No, just being yourself is not “it.”
For the record, I said “Your best bet is being yourself AND BEING REALLY GOOD AT IT.”
If being yourself is not “it,” then try being other than yourself and see how that goes.
The point I was trying to make is that you can’t fake, i.e., trying to be whatever the OP thinks Princeton WANTS, isn’t the path toward a successful admission.
Here is a classic. It was written by Chris Peterson and posted on the MIT admission site but it is not specific to MIT: an oldie but goodie: https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways/
I often agree with you, TiggerDad. But it depends on what being yourself means. If it doesn’t match, it doesn’t match.
No, can’t fake it. But the savviest kids will know how to balance. OP is being “himself” by nearly only pursuing stem. (He has a service award for hours put in, so there’s something there. But we don’t know what. For all I know, it’s more stem.) He’s good at it. But they want more than that, in the tippy top campus community.
You chose what you want to do. You choose targets. But the colleges choose whom to admit, based on their wants. And that’s Real Life.
There are colleges with top stem programs where they don’t review holistically.
@lookingforward @TiggerDad Ok yall can play this whole humanistic game like “always be yourself and all” but let’s be real. Harvard isn’t going to accept a professional uno player. As for the 4, I was just giving a prediction since AP Physics 1 is the hardest AP exam with only a 5% of people getting a 5. I am not lying about any information on this application, just trying to mold it into the best it can be.
This is as true as it gets: “You chose what you want to do. You choose targets. But the colleges choose whom to admit, based on their wants. And that’s Real Life.”
To expand, this goes around over and over. Yes they are looking for something specific, and no, no one knows what it is. Search every thread you can and you will not find the keys to the kingdom.
There was just a great NPR story about the Harvard lawsuit. They interviewed quite a few current Harvard students, none of which had a clue as to why they were chosen, while others, even in their own classes that they felt were stronger, got passed over.
Schools look for students that they feel, by their own proprietary, secret metric, will succeed at their institution. That’s it.
You can’t game it. They will see right through you.
OP, you can’t “predict” and certainly not a 4 in one thread and a 5 in another. Or shift the AP lang scores, as well. In fact, some will shut down a thread for being hypothetical.
Do not lump me in with those who say, “Be yourself.” I’ve seen tons of kids get rejected for being off in their understanding. There is no admissions metic for “He’s being himself, whoopee!”
Of course, with the right effort, one can figure out the sorts of things tippy tops and tops look for. Some of it is intuitive. But the fuller picture requires effort. Unfortunately, most kids stop at their own hs glory. "I want this, my stats are tops, I have this title, founded that, am curing cancer…and can;t even answer a Why Us? question because…
@lookingforward Very cool!
@lookingforward I’m guessing you attend a “tippy toppy” school yourself, speaking from your perspective.
Look, OP, there’s NO secret sauce to your question. My original response stands, “Your best bet is BEING YOURSELF and being really good at it.” I don’t know what more that can be added to this, really. Your GPA is your best GPA, your test scores are your best scores. Your ECs, I’d have to assume, are your best efforts. Your essays, LOR’s, and supplemental stuff are, I’d have to assume, your best effort. As you said yourself, “let’s be real.” If you’re not “lying about any information on [your] application,” then what else can you do? That is, other than “being yourself”? You can get all 5’s on your AP’s and we all know that’s not the secret sauce. You can get perfect GPA, SAT/ACT scores and that’s not the secret sauce, either. NO ONE here on CC knows with surety what the secret sauce is. So, AGAIN, “Your best bet is BEING YOURSELF and being really good at it” is the best that I can come up with.
Intellectually curious with proven abilities. Or someone who is very accomplished at throwing, catching, running or tackling when a football is involved.