Chance me for Princeton SCEA and other Ivies

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hey guys, I’m an international applicant (Asian). Obviously, this is a disadvantage, but it isn’t exactly in my control.

SAT 1 Superscore: 770 M/ 740R/ 730W; 2240 Composite.
SAT 2: 800 Math Level 2 and 800 Physics
ACT: NA

  • No PSAT/ NMS because they aren’t offered in my country.
  • AP courses aren’t offered, AP exams can be taken after self study. I took AP chemistry and got a 4. Will be giving AP Comp. Sc. and AP Calc. BC in May 2017.
    IELTS: 8.0 (9 Listening, 8 Reading, 8 Speaking, 7.5 Writing)
    GPA: Not measured on a 4.0 scale in my country. I have a strong upward trend, from 90% on a scale of 100 in freshman year to a 96.4% on a scale of 100 in senior year. The curriculum is fixed, there is no variation in the ‘rigor of courseload’. My transcript has only one B+ (Freshman year, math), the rest are all As and A+s. All grades in senior year are A+s.
    Rank: School does not provide. I am in the top 1/8th percentile out of ~400 students.

Extracurriculars:
(Not going to detail as I wish to preserve my anonymity.)

-Research on Cyber Security with my Comp. Sc. teacher, senior year.
-Internship as an Editor and Proofreader with an International travel journal for two years (junior and senior).
-Wrote chapters of a Comp. Sc. course-book for middle-schoolers, detailing the fundamentals of Linux. Proofread and edited the chapters not written by me. Letter of Recognition from the Author. Publication forthcoming, November 2016.
-Contributing writer to spiritual journal, distributed in US and Canada as well as in my country.
-Student Coordinator (our terminology for President) of an esoteric society for writers who are hand-picked for their natural gift to write. We polish our student-written pieces to a high degree of finesse and publish them annually in an anthology. (All 4 years)
-Student Coordinator, Debate Society. Won Best Speaker and Best Team Awards at several interschool debate competitions. Honorable mention by a reputed newspaper as ‘one of the best debaters of his school’ (All 4 Years)
-Vice President, Physics Club. Helped organize interschool symposiums, conducted group discussions, etc. (All 4 Years)
-Volunteered to conduct workshops to teach middle school students about basic computer software, senior year.
-Student Government and Politics: Held office at all stages where offered.
-other minor ECs
Essays:
-Common App : My counselor loved it. I kinda like it too, so 8/10

  • Princeton Supplement: Witty and humorous, while conveying exactly why I love Princeton. Very specific, gives a good amount of insight into me, as well as my passion for Princeton and my love for writing. I wish to say its a 9 or 10/10, but better to be a bit harsh and put it at an 8/10

Recommendations:
-Counselor: She has mood swings sometimes but she really likes me usualy. 8/10 if I’m rounding down
-Physics teacher: She says she wrote ‘a glowing letter’ but because she’s new to the recommending process, gave me ‘lower and safer rankings that aren’t suspicious’. So, 4 Top 10%s, 2 Top of Career and all the rest Top 5%. Overall I’d say 8-9/10
-Comp.Sc. Teacher: Says I’m his favorite student with a very high aptitude for the subject. Definitely my best LoR. 10/10
-Additional: Mentor teacher for Writing and Debating Societies. Probably a 8-9/10.

Miscellaneous Info:
URM, First Gen etc: No.
Other Colleges I’m Applying to: UPenn, Cornell, Columbia, Stanford, UIUC. (may also be able to convince parents to let me apply to Harvard, heh.) (Before you chastize me for not keeping safeties: I’d prefer to go to Canada instead of a non-Top 50 U.S. University.)
Financial Aid: Yes, but Princeton is need-blind, so idk probably doesn’t matter.

Is there anything I left out?

2

Right, I forgot!
Intended Major: BSE Computer Science.

3

You’re competitive, you have a nice lottery ticket like everyone else!

4

You’re a good applicant. Only thing that I can think of is that your ECs are slightly varied. I’m not familiar with Princeton’s Comp Sci program but I can bet that it’s very competitive. So make sure you emphasize your interest for Comp Sci in your essays. Good luck!

5

@doorrealthe that’s on purpose. My spike is as a creative writer. It’s a lot clearer on the common app. Thanks, though!

6

You have a chance, but if you’re from the country I think you’re from, there are way too many people who look like you. Lottery! That said, if your spike is as a creative writer (i’ll have to take your word on that) you have a better chance. Still, I’ll lean towards deferral --> rejection.

7

@eagledink I hope that doesn’t happen :0 Anyways thanks!

8

Good test scores and grades as many other applicants have. I do think that your ECs are impressive, and you do have a good shot. Being an Asian international will make it tough though, especially with BSE Comp. Sci major. I think it will probably come down to how powerful your essays are, but I’m no expert. Best of luck!

9

Thanks! @vnv2799

Also, guys, would it be a good idea to apply to MIT as well, even though most of my ECs aren’t engineering and CS related? Could you also help me classify which of the universities I’ve listed are high reaches and which ones are low reaches?

10

You have really good stats, but like you said, you’re an international student. Princeton is one of the smaller ivy schools so they might have a smaller acceptance rate for international students, which in that case, it might be hard for you to get in, even though your scores are good, there might be other people who are better. I think you might have a better chance at other ivies, maybe columbia, upenn, cornell, basically the bigger ones. Also you might have a good chance at dartmouth because less people apply. Basically what I’m saying is that your scores are fine and all, the only thing you should pay attention to is how many international students the schools take. My advice is to chose the schools you actually really want to go to (maybe your top 3) and then look into ivys and other top schools that accept more international students. (Maybe the UC schools?) Good luck! I hope this helps.

11

Hey @paxer101! It did help! I know about Princeton being really picky when it comes to international students. They usually take about 40 students from my country out of an applicant pool of about 1000-1500 people, I guess. While this is lower than the average admit rate, I think I’m still going to give it a shot!

I’m not appying to the UC schools since I don’t feel a connect with them. Princeton, on the other hand, feels absolutely right. I’m also applying to U of Toronto, Waterloo and University of British Columbia in Canada.

12

*applying

13

BUMP

14

Hey, fellow creative writer here—your ECs look interesting, but (I’m sure you know this) it’s incredibly hard for international students to get into schools of Princeton’s caliber. Some other schools you should consider if you’re interested in writing are Emory, NYU, Washu, UVA, Bucknell, Kenyon, Davidson, Middlebury.

15

Hey, I can certainly say those politically correct words to you as others did, but the truth is your chance to any Ivy + Standford + MIT is almost zero if not zero… If you are from what i think where you are, you need to be a international Olympiad winner or things like that to make you stand out. Top 50 out of 400 students won’t guarantee you anywhere… Sorry, truth hurts.

16

@UVA–mom I’m fro India. Is that where you thought I was from?

17

@UVA–mom Also, my school only offers class categorization in terms of top 1/8th, next 1/8th etc. So, I’m in the top 1/8 of my class, on the record. According to my GPA, which is again, not weighted as the school does not provide, I’m second in my class. Does 2/400 work?

18

@UVA–mom i don’t think you know what politically correct means