Chance Me for Princeton? *Good Academics Meh ECs*

Colleges & Universities Princeton University
1

White Female, Low Family Income, High School Junior, Attending Very Highly Ranked Public High School
SAT: 1510 then 1560 with 6/5/6 essay
ACT: 36 composite (36 in every section except English which was 34) waiting on essay score
SAT II: Took BioE, MathII, Lit, waiting on scores
Weighted GPA: 105-106 ish
All my classes have been honors, I took high school level living environment, earth science, and algebra I in middle school.
High School Classes (All Honors w/ 90s grades): The usual math, science, and English line up (chem, phys, geometry, trig, etc), Intro to Filmmaking, Intro to Robotics, AutoCAD (certified), AP Bio (waiting on scores but predicted 4 or 5), AP World (4), AP US History (waiting on scores), AP Calculus BC (very likely a 5), 2 years regular + 1 year “AP” Russian (waiting on scores, have credit from U of Albany), CollegeNow Issues in Science through Kingsborough College, CollegeNow Geology 100/101
Next Year Classes: AP Environmental, Multivariate Calculus, Advanced CAD, AP Lit, AP Gov
ECs:
TV Studio Crew 3-4 years (I got screwed out of a leadership position)
Fencing 2-3 years (I haven’t competed because my courseload takes priority and its not required to try out or compete)
HIV/AIDS Awareness Team 3-4 years (I’m basically leader of the club, there’s no one else, counts as public speaking due to public presentations on STIs)
Science Olympiad 1-2 years (Juniors and likely Senior, I won a few medals at the Regional Level, not at States)
Russian Olympiada 1 year (Silver Medal, Not 2nd place, but It looks good)
National Russian Essay Contest 2 years (Gold and Bronze Medals at different proficiency levels, not 1st and 3rd)
AutoCAD Certified? Does this count?
2 years GreenThumb Youth Leadership Council Member (Garden volunteering in underdeveloped neighborhoods)
1 years SHSAT Tutoring
1 year working in an in-school cafe with an organization for the disabled
National Honor Society Member

I don’t plan on applying Early Action. My teachers that are recommending me both love me and my counselor knows my strengths as well. My projected major is EEB (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) on track for further studies into Zoology. I feel like my ECs are my main issue because I joined a lot of activities late in soph and junior year and only did a few things for 1 or 2 years.

2

I also plan on applying to University of Connecticut (Honors) and University of Michigan + a lot of local and regionals Matches and Safeties

3

Your grades and scores are great, but you are right in that your EC’s are limiting your chances of acceptance. Try making an EC related to your major. Good luck!!

Chance Back? talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/1994591-chances-at-penn-dream-school-advice.html#latest

4

I haven’t gone through the college admissions process yet, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

You probably don’t need to worry about your objective stats, looking at your ACT and GPA (I don’t know how the 100 scale for GPA works, but your number higher than the other applicants I’ve seen who used it). I think that you have a really varied lineup of ECs, which is fine as long as you’re especially passionate about one or two of them and can show it in your essay. Even if you don’t have an “official” leadership role for some of your ECs, I think they’ll be able to look past that as long as you elaborate on your involvement. I was personally kind of a goof during my freshman year as far as ECs go but picked up the pace later on, so I understand your concerns.

5

@Amduseus Yeah, I was the same way in freshman year. I think the only club I went to was Anime Club ^^; My main concern is seeing all the other prospective applicants (whether on here or through my own school) and realizing ‘oh crap theyre president of twenty internationally renowned student organizations’ or ‘theyre on literally every sport team and still have nearly the same scores as me or better.’
Good Luck with your own college admissions process!

6

UPDATE: I ended up applying REA and was accepted!

7

congrats @Artemisius!