**Official Princeton Class of 2013 Decisions Thread**

[fiona_]

Decision: Rejected

Objective:

• SAT I: 800CR 800M 760W
• ACT: Did not take
• SAT II: 800Maths II, 800Chemistry, 800Physics
• GPA: 4.42/5.0
• Rank: Top 25% (school only reports quartiles, I estimate about 15% though)
• AP/IB: 5s in Biology, Chemistry, Calc AB, Calc BC, Physics B, Physics C, Stats
• Course Load: Most rigorous
• Awards: Int Chem Oly Bronze, Singapore Physics Oly Nat'll Champion

Subjective:

• Extracurriculars: MUN, Cheerleading, Journalism (it sounds better than it was)
• Job/Work Experience: Tutoring
• Volunteer/Community service: Tutoring, Guiding at Zoo
• Summer Activities: N/A
• Essays: Used CommonApp--essays good (you can read, search my posts) but Princeton Supp was mediocre
• Teacher Recs: One excellent, one good
• Counselor Rec: Excellent, love that dude. <3
• Interview: Alumni interview

Other

• State: Singapore
• Country (if international applicant): Singapore
• School Type: Insanely competitive public magnet
• Ethnicity: Asian
• Gender: Female
• Income Bracket: $50k? or so?
• Hooks: Idk Female in Science?

Reflection

• Strengths: Test scores and awards
• Weaknesses: Low rank, mediocre grades
• Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Competitive applicant pool from HS

General Comments:
I'm probably going to Harvey Mudd in California.

[StrandedInEurope]

Decision: Accepted

I'm accepting a deferral from a previous year, but I'll be part of the class of 2013, so figured I'd throw my name on here.

[visionquest09]

Decision: Accepted

[hsn16]

Decision: Waitlisted


Objective:

• SAT I (breakdown): Math:800 Reading: 780 Writing:790 Total:2370
• ACT:N/A
• SAT II:Math II:800 U.S. History: 780 Chemistry: 780
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):1/600
• AP (place score in parenthesis):12 5s Got 5s in AP World History, AP Statistics, AP Physics B, AP English Literature, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP English Language, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP U.S. History, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics
• IB (place score in parenthesis): IB Math :7 IB Economics: 7
• Senior Year Course Load: IB HL Chemistry, IB HL Physics, IB HL Economics, IB HL European History, IB HL English, IB SL Spanish, AP Art History
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National AP Scholar 10th and 11th grade?
  National Merit Finalist
  Missed USAMO twice by 1 point and 3 points but AIME score of 9
  Plenty of Math/ Science/ Academic/ Martial arts awards but nothing that really stood out
  

Subjective:

• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
  Mu Alpha Theta (President) (Secretary)
  Music service organization (Founder/President)
  Literary Club (Vice President)
  Tae Kwon Do (Instructor/ Leader) 2nd Degree Black
  Quizbowl
  Piano
  Band
  NHS
  SNHS
• Job/Work Experience:Piano Teacher, Martial Arts Instructor
• Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered at hospital and also did a variety of other activities. Overall >200 hours
• Summer Activities:Junior Statesman of America, M&TSI
• Essays:Pretty good, I thought, really showed my loves in life- martial arts, my lil' sis, and more. One essay was about some of the difficulties I've been through and how I was able to grow through them (sorry, I want to keep everything really general)
• Teacher Recommendation: Excellent, they all really love me
• Counselor Rec: Fabulous! Know her really well.
• Additional Rec:
• Interview: Average. We talked. He said I was an excellent applicant w/ a great chance.
  

Other

• Applied for Financial Aid?:Yes
• Intended Major:Undecided
• State (if domestic applicant):
• Country (if international applicant):
• School Type:IB, Large school more than 2000 kids
• Ethnicity:Asian (Chinese)
• Gender:Female
• Income Bracket:100-200k
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):None
  

Reflection

• Strengths: Well rounded?
• What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: Really passionate about what I love and the things I do.
• Weaknesses:Too well rounded. Just an average academically strong asian girl
• Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Look above.
• Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: UF, MIT, Caltech Waitlisted: Harvard, Yale, Princeton
• Some words: CONGRATS to you guys who made it!!! I know so many ppl who are qualified and well, admissions at HYP are chancy, so if you made it in- I hope you guys have an amazing time. The only thing I was wondering was why I didn't get acceptances/ rejections and just waitlists across the board. I would have preferred a mixture of both.
  I was really disappointed at first but I've come to terms with college admissions. Life will go on...

[nburnett3]

Decision: Rejected

Objective:

• SAT I (breakdown): Didn't submit
• ACT: 35 (36 R, 35 M, 34 E, 34 S, 7 W)
• SAT II: 780 Math II, 730 Physics, 690 Chem
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.79/4.00, 4.35/4.00 weighted
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Does not rank. Top 10% at least.
• AP (place score in parenthesis): No AP scores. I attend a residential college program. Have been taking only college classes since my junior year.
• IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
• Senior Year Course Load: University Physics, College Chemistry II, Multivariable Calculus, Discrete Mathematics, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, College Literature, Deviant Behaviour, Music Appreciation
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Chess club (president). GSA (member). Mock Trial (lawyer, team captain). Beta Club (member).
• Job/Work Experience: Worked for CollegeBoard over the summer.
• Volunteer/Community service: 200+ hours. Most with the Center for Gifted Studies.
• Summer Activities: None, other than a job.
• Essays: Good, maybe not great.
• Teacher Recommendation: Both great recommendations.
• Counselor Recommendation: Read like a form letter.
• Additional Rec: None.
• Interview: Went fine, nothing great, nothing awful.

Other

• Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes.
• Intended Major: Mathematics.
• State (if domestic applicant): Kentucky
• Country (if international applicant):
• School Type: Public/Residential.
• Ethnicity: White.
• Gender: Male.
• Income Bracket: ~60k/year.
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None.

Reflection

• Strengths: Test scores. Class load.
• What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: Having already experience college and knowing what it was like and how the program has changed my life.
• Weaknesses: Extracurriculars. Nothing that stands out other than my numbers.
• Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My numbers were good, but that was it.
• Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted to Tulane and some state schools. Princeton was the only major college I applied to.

[xxxxjeffreyxx]

Decision: Accepted

and most likely attending!

[soccerunner678]

Decision: Accepted

SAT I (breakdown): 2210
ACT: 35(35 English, 36 Math, 36 Reading, 33 Science)
SAT II: 770 Math II, 750 Math I, 800 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.00/4.00 unweighted, 4.64/4.00 weighted
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/ 655
AP (place score in parenthesis):US History 5, Macroecon 5, English Lang 4, Chemistry 4
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Calculus A, AP Cal BC, AP English Lit, AP Latin, AP US Gov, AP Biology, AP Environmental Science, AP Psychology
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Scholar

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Econ Honor Society (President), Academic Quizbowl (Captain), Sciencebowl (captain), Math Team, NHS, Beta Club, Science Olympiad, Latin Honor Society (Treasurer)
Job/Work Experience: Worked at local theatre for past two years as "team leader"
Volunteer/Community service: 100+ hours.
Summer Activities: None, other than a job.
Essays: Pretty good
Teacher Recommendation: Both great recommendations.
Counselor Recommendation: Really good
Additional Rec: None.
Interview:N/A
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes.
Intended Major: Economics
State (if domestic applicant): Alabama
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public/Residential.
Ethnicity: White.
Gender: Male.
Income Bracket: ~30k/year.
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): QuestBridge finalist
Reflection
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Oxford (UK)(accepted)- probably will go there because of full ride; UPenn (accepted), UChicago (accepted), Stanford (waitlisted)

[t-san]

[36][green] Decision: Accepted [/green][/36]

Objective:

* SAT I (breakdown): CR -800, M - 740, W - 790 (1540/2330)
* ACT: 35 (35 R, 34 M, 36 E, 34 S, 11 W)
* SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 US History, 730 Physics, 800 Chem
* Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85/4.00, 4.66 weighted
* Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 13/587
* AP (place score in parenthesis): 9 tests: one 3, two 4s, six 5s.
* IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
* Senior Year Course Load: AP European History, AP English Lit, AP Macroeconomics/AP Government, AP Physics B, AP Biology, Humanities (Academic Decathlon), AP Art History.
* Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

* Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Academic Decathlon (Captain). UIL Academic Team (Captain). NHS, Mu Alpha Theta (members) Youth Group (Teen Life Leader), Club Soccer, Piano - 10 years.
* Job/Work Experience: N/A
* Volunteer/Community service: Maybe 50 hours total outside of church work. I didn't mention this except for my work at church.
* Summer Activities: Harvard Summer School last year (organic chemistry), AP U.S. History the year before in summer at Rice, Honors Pre-Calc at Rice before that, Honors Geometry before that.
* Essays: I thought they were pretty good. So did my parents.
* Teacher Recommendation: Excellent. My 4 year A.D. coach wrote one, my Honors Chem/AP Chem teacher wrote the other.
* Counselor Recommendation: Probably it was just Okay. My counselor respects me for taking a hard courseload, but doesn't like that I rarely visit/pushed some mandatory classes till senior year, etc. The rec was probably good in subject matter but meh in tone.
* Additional Rec: None.
* Interview: Wonderful. We talked about Harvard Summer School, then about A.D, and he was really impressed at my state championship. Then we talked about student life at Princeton, then he asked my for help on Calculus. Then we talked about UIL and piano, and soccer.

Other

* Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes - denied
* Intended Major: Chemical Engineering
* State (if domestic applicant): Texas (but we're not permanent residents, so I'm still international)
* Country (if international applicant): England/Nigeria
* School Type: Public/Residential.
* Ethnicity: Black
* Gender: Male.
* Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM (kind of, but i dunno if URM status applies to internationals).

Reflection

* Strengths: Test scores. Class load. Teacher Recs. Team and Individual State Championships.
* What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: Explaining how high school (the class load and Academic Decathlon) has helped me evolve into a person who enjoys life outside of just math and science - how having to study for 10 subjects in Decathlon helped me see how all fields are related and how the current high school system, where there is a wide variety of mandatory classes helped me broaden horizons, etc. It sounded less corny when I actually wrote it, trust me.
* Weaknesses: My grades. Lots of Bs, especially in sophomore year.
* Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think that the mixture of school, decathlon and church, and soccer made me look well rounded. Plus I painted myself as a person who loves to learn and who learns from my mistakes well. I don't really know.
* Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Stanford, Harvard, MIT waitlisted. Rice, CalTech, Yale, Columbia Rejected. Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Cornell, UT, Baylor, Berkeley accepted.

[t4k]

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

• SAT I (breakdown): 800CR 800M 780W one sitting, 2390 superscore
• ACT: n/a
• SAT II: 800Math2C, 800BioE, 800Chem
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98 uw
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): uhh ~28/530...I only have 1 B, but that's how many valedictorians we have
• AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology (5), Chemistry (5)
• IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics, AP Eng, AP Calc BC, Digital Imaging, French 4, Govt/Econ
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nothing much...a random French award, nomination for Presidential Scholars, Presidential service award, NHS, US Patent
  

Subjective:

• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): math organizations, travel, babysitting, yoga/pilates
• Job/Work Experience: job @ learning center for tutoring ~8hrs/week, summer engineering internship, engineering job shadowing, 2 summers of working at a summer camp for 4 weeks/summer, etc
• Volunteer/Community service: ~400 hours, hospital work, summer camps
• Summer Activities: basically answered above. plus a lot of travel
• Essays: i really really liked the quote one, and wrote a fairly solid engineering essay
• Teacher Recommendation: should've been fine? My chemistry teacher really liked me, but who knows how good it was. French teacher claimed her's was good, don't know how personal it was.
• Counselor Rec: eh. I dislike her
• Additional Rec: an incredible one from my supervisor at my engineering internship
• Interview: amazing. my favorite/best one. Interviewer couldn't stop saying how much she loved my attitude and the way I approach life
  

Other

• Applied for Financial Aid?: no
• Intended Major: Chemical Engineering
• State (if domestic applicant): CA
• Country (if international applicant):
• School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: Asian American
• Gender: Female
• Income Bracket: I don't qualify for aid
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none...unless you count female applying to engineering
  

Reflection[list][*] Strengths: GPA, SATs, essays[*] What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: Strong interest in engineering, as a girl[*] Weaknesses: Extracurriculars. I enjoy my sleep and didn't bother doing everything. Also I don't have major awards, I've never done a math/science competition in my life.[*] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I love Princeton! I feel they really care about the applicant as a person. For example, if I applied to Stanford, it's a huge school and they'd just take a checklist and start tallying all your awards/extracurriculars/scores/etc.....and there's no way I can stack up against those geniuses. I honestly feel really lucky.[*] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted at all the Ucs, Applied to 6 privates...accepted Duke, Caltech, Princeton, rejected at Yale, MIT, and Harvard. Don't care though, Princeton is my first choice . Congrats to everyone!

[CCPWNZ]

Decision: Rejected

Objective:

• SAT I (breakdown): 2270 - 730R, 780M, 760W (71 gram 12 essay)
• ACT: 34 - 35 Eng/Sci/Math, 30 Read, 32 Eng/Writ (9)
• SAT II: 760 math II, 770 chem, 780 phys, 790 korean w/list, 117 TOEFL iBT
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 100 weighted
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5%
• AP (place score in parenthesis): world hist, eng lang/comp, physics b (5), us hist (4)
• IB (place score in parenthesis): not offered
• Senior Year Course Load: ap chem, calc bc, eng lit, comparative gov/pol, spanish
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): intel semi, national merit commended, ap scholar w/honor

Subjective:

• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): tae kwon do (junior master) science olympiad, newspaper (editor) etc.
• Job/Work Experience: tutoring
• Volunteer/Community service: nursing home
• Summer Activities: intel research
• Essays: alright
• Teacher Recommendation: good
• Counselor Rec: good prolly bland
• Additional Rec: good, from research mentor
• Interview: amazing!!!!!!

Other

• Applied for Financial Aid?: yup
• Intended Major: mech. engineering
• State (if domestic applicant): NY
• Country (if international applicant): from korea 6th grade, transferred to regular pool due to status change to permanent resident
• School Type: public
• Ethnicity: korean
• Gender: male
• Income Bracket: ~$130k
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflection[list][*] Strengths: moved from korea 6th grade? and itnerview was amzing[*] What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: focus on mech. engineering tied to research, interest in cars and engines since little[*] Weaknesses: grades, essays (?) [*] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: eh i just suck at life[*] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: accepted to yale, uc berkeley, and stony brook so dont really care, but waitlisted to harvard, mit, columbia, penn, cornell, johns hopkins, and cooper union, so im kind of wondering what i may have done wrong with my application(s) that caused so many (SEVEN out of 12) waitlists.... oh and rejected from princeton/stanford.
anyway dudes(and dudettes) if u wanna get into princeton do better than me and get better grades, good luck!!!

[Arch3r25]

Accepted

Stats:

• SAT Reading: 760
• SAT Math: 770
• SAT Writing: 800
• SAT Total: 2330
• SAT II: 800 Physics 800 Math 2 760 US History 750 Chemistry
• TOEFL (if applicable): Nay
• ACT (if applicable): Nay
• AP/IB taken/scores: This year: AP Bio, AP Calc BC, AP Euro Hist, AP English Lang, AP English Lit. Last year: AP French Lang (5), AP US History (5), AP Macroeconomics (4), AP Microeconomics (4)
• GPA weighted (if applicable): 103.3 -- 4.0
• GPA unweighted: 96.2 -- 3.91
• Rank or % estimate (if applicable): 1 out of 770
• Academic Awards: National Merit Finalist, Presidential Scholars Candidate, AP Scholar with Distinction, Xerox Award, Junior Achievement Titan Business Competition State Champ, Tri-State Math League Top 3 Award
  

Subjective:

• Essays: I like my essays a lot. Main commonapp one about professional wrestling, another about family heritage, and a third about my research interests and where I want to take them.
• Teacher Rec #1: I didn't read it. I assume it was good.
• Teacher Rec #2: I didn't read it. I assume it was good.
• Additional Rec: Two research mentor recommendation letters from MIT Nuclear Engineering and Harvard SEAS professors. The MIT one was phenomenal. I didn't read the Harvard one.
• Counselor Rec: I didn't read it. I assume it was crappy. I go to a massive school, and I barely know her, although we are on really friendly terms and I provided her with ample material for any sort of rec letter.
• Hook (if any): Research is most definitely my hook.
  

Location:

• State or Country: New Hampshire
• School Type: Private (Realistically, it's public though)
• Ethnicity: Caucasian
• Gender: Male
• Legacy: Wustl, Harvard Legacy
• Recruited Yes/No: Nay....I wish. Anyone wanna hook me up with a ping pong coach? :P
• Important ECs: Microfluidics summer research internship @ Harvard SEAS, Nuclear Engineering summer research internship @ MIT, Hospital Volunteer, Varsity Math Team Captain, Solo & Orchestral Violin, Granite State Challenge/Quiz Bowl Team, and Greater Manchester Red Cross. On resume: Obama for America volunteer, Community Alliance for Teen Safety Youth Board, and local State rep candidate's campaign manager.
• Work experience: Freelance PHP Programmer/Website developer
  

Other Factors: A sweltering degree of awesomeness? I sent in my research abstracts, two mentor recs, a resume, presidential scholars candidate update, etc. Loads of supplementary material for them to judge. I have also self-taught myself around 7 programming languages and am fluent in French, proficient in German.

Why do you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted/offered guaranteed transfer: Waitlisted by Harvard & Accepted by Yale, Princeton, MIT, UPenn, Dartmouth, UChicago, Brown, Cornell, Tufts, BU, and WPI.

General Comments/Congratulations/etc: Good luck to everybody in college! Any future applicants reading this, feel free to PM me or email me with any questions or for advice.

[canwemoveon]

haha i know this is really late but i just decided to post it because i'm excited for the new waitlistees who are coming in! yayyy i am a march 31st acceptee though.
<3 PRINCETON

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

• SAT I (breakdown): 2400
• SAT II: U.S. History 760, Literature 780, Math IIc 800
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.94
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/160
• AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH (5), AP Microecon (5), AP Macroecon (5), AP European History (5), AP Chinese (5), AP Lang (5), AP Lit, Physics B, Calc BC, Psych (all taken this year)
• IB (place score in parenthesis): Chinese A1 SL - took this year
• Senior Year Course Load: APs Lit, Calc BC, Physics B, Psych. IB Chinese A1SL. Choir! yay haha
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): natl merit finalist

Subjective:

• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Council (junior class president, senior class president), church youth group (student leadership team), MUN, choir (a bunch of honor choirs), musicals (lead roles? haha), track & field, NHS, Tri-M music honor society
• Job/Work Experience: tutoring in English
• Volunteer/Community service: Habitat for Humanity trips to Bangladesh and Sichuan, teaching at a migrant school, Roots & Shoots, writing center peer tutoring
• Summer Activities: volunteering at an orphanage, orphan summer camp in western China, teaching English at Chinese minority school also in western China
• Essays: one about local Chinese school, which i attended in 8th and 9th grade; the other one was about random stuff that happens to me when i take the elevator every day. my short answer activity thing was about having to go blonde for the school musical, and about all the silly embarassing things i do for choir/theater, but it's okay because i love to sing. and then for the summer thing i just recounted the volunteering & trips i did in the summers and threw in a story about an awkward wedding i had to be a bridesmaid at.
• Teacher Recommendation: my english & history teachers... both of whom i LOVE <3
• Counselor Rec: my counselor is a total noob
• Additional Rec: none
• Interview: it was okay. my interviewer was not that interesting haha... sadly.. but that's okay because princeton itself is amazing <3

Other

• Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
• Intended Major: history? english? woodrow wilson? don't know
• State (if domestic applicant): N/A
• Country (if international applicant): china, but i'm a u.s. citizen
• School Type: international school
• Ethnicity: taiwanese
• Gender: F
• Income Bracket: uh... we didn't get finaid
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): n/a

Reflection

• Strengths: i enjoy life? haha
• What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: i just tried to be genuine.
• Weaknesses: i am not a genius or super amazing at anything.
• Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: God loves me
• Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: ACCEPTED: UC davis, ucsd, ucla, uc berkeley, claremont mckenna, pomona. WAITLISTED: penn, brown. REJECTED: yale, stanford.

[sunshowers23]

I guess I should fill this out, for all of next years seniors at least:

Decision: Rejected

Objective:

• SAT I (breakdown): 2280 (800CR 720MT 760WR)
• ACT: 34
• SAT II: 770 World History; 760 French; 740 Math II
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9; 99/100
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Salutatorian out of a class of 108
• AP (place score in parenthesis): English Language(5); US History(5);French(3)
• IB (place score in parenthesis): none
• Senior Year Course Load: 4 APs, creative writing
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist

Subjective:

• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Editor in Chief of a fashion mag I created at my school, head of the office of community outreach, tons of theatre, etc..
• Job/Work Experience: lifeguard at an inner-city pool for 3 years
• Volunteer/Community service: see extracurriculars
• Summer Activities: working
• Essays: Excellent, as far as I can tell. Everyone who read them loved them
• Teacher Recommendation: Also excellent. At graduation, I received the top awards for the subjects they teach.
• Counselor Rec: Also excellent. She loves me
• Additional Rec: n/a
• Interview: Rather boring. The interviewer just wanted to talk about her times at Princeton instead of actually interviewing me. She was nice, but she... well... didn't seem very bright...

Other

• Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
• Intended Major: Sociology
• State (if domestic applicant): Upstate NY
• School Type: small private
• Ethnicity: white
• Gender: female
• Income Bracket: middle class
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None, really.

Reflection

• Strengths: Creativity, essays, recs.
• What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: That I was creative, that I could bring a lot to the university.
• Weaknesses: Having a crappy interviewer. Not as many APs as students who go to other schools. (We're not allowed to take them until junior year).
• Why you think you were rejected: No idea. I could blame it on the fact that a girl from my class had already been accepted for athletics, and more than one person rarely gets accepted to an Ivy in the same class, but that's just making excuses. In the end, I'm just going to laugh at Princeton. They made the wrong decision; it was nothing I did. And they'll end up paying for it, too. If they ever want me to teach as a professor or speak, I will flatly reject their offer
• Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I'm going to Fordham University under a full scholarship in the Honors program. I was accepted into Georgetown, UChicago, Wesleyan, and BC, but we couldn't afford any of them. We didn't get financial aid because the school counted my parents retirement savings in their calculations. If I went to these schools, my parents would have to put off their retirement. (We're basically in that weird, middle-class realm that's too well-off for financial aid and too poor to afford college. The only schools that give financial aid to this group is the Ivy Leagues. I was rejected from Brown as well, so my hopes for a good, intellectual school were squandered.)
  
  So now I'm hoping to score a better degree at graduate school. Instead of going for the messed-up, elitist Ivies or expensive US schools, I'm going to try some foreign schools that only cost a few thousand per semester. In my opinion, they'll give me an advantage over those who did go to an Ivy league school as an undergraduate, because I'll have a more interesting life experience.