Chances for Princeton Early Decision?

Colleges & Universities Princeton University
1

Objective:

SAT I: 1570 (CR/W: 770 M: 800)
ACT: Didn’t take
SAT II: Haven’t taken yet, but I will take Math II and Chemistry in August. Based off of practice tests, an 800 is very realistic if I’m diligent.
UW GPA: 4.12
W GPA: 4.58
Rank: Not provided by school, but definitely in the top few out of ~450
AP Tests: I have taken Computer Science A, US History, Calc BC, Physics 1, and English Lang and Composition. No results yet. Next year I’m taking Chem, Bio, Stats, Microeconomics, and Literature.
Junior Year Course Load: AP Comp Sci A, AP US History, AP Calc BC, AP Physics 1, and AP Lang. Honors Wind Ensemble and Honors Spanish IV
Senior Year Course Load: AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Stats, AP Microeconomics, AP Literature, Honors Wind Ensemble
Awards/Achievements: >Won school’s science, history, English, and Spanish awards (one selected for each grade)


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Probably qualified for National Merit Program (1510 PSAT)
High Honor Roll
New Jersey Governor’s School of the Sciences nominee
AMC 12–second place within school
Several 4-H awards–Herdsmanship, Teen Leadership, Best Record Book
National Honor Society member
Spanish National Honor Society member
National Hispanic Recognition Program member

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There’s probably several things I forgot to list, and also some things here that aren’t really worth anything. I’m not sure exactly how colleges will look at things like awards and achievements.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars: >New Jersey Science League


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FRC Robotics Team, community service coordinator and will be programming senior year
Marching Band, planning on being alto sax section leader in senior year
Jazz Band
Homeroom Representative for Student Government
4-H Herpetology club. Teen leader and Treasurer.
Work Experience: None
Volunteer Work: >Aid with summer reading program at local library
Help run summer band camp for elementary school students
Tutoring for NHS and Spanish NHS
Various volunteer activities provided by NHS
Various volunteer activities provided by 4-H, including volunteering at the summer county fair
I couldn’t tell you how many hours I have off the top of my head.
Summer Activities: Lots and lots of volunteering. This summer, I also plan on creating a website centered around freshwater angling information with informative guides (fishing is something that I spend a lot of time doing and am genuinely knowledgeable about)
Other:
State of Residence: New Jersey
Ethnicity: Multiracial–Black, White, and Hispanic
Gender: Male
Intended Major: Still thinking, but definitely something centered around Bio/Chem/Medical
Income Bracket: 65,000-85,000

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I would really appreciate any advice or info you have for me!

2

It’s a stretch for everyone, but you have a great shot.

You should be aware of your strengths and weaknesses, and luckily you have far more strengths than weaknesses.

Strengths:
SAT is far higher than the average
GPA is very strong
AP’s are plentiful
You’ve won many awards which demonstrate obvious achievement
Your EC’s are diverse, you have music and leadership.
Ethnicity is a huge plus!
ED will help chances drastically

Weaknesses:
You are applying to Princeton, it’s gonna be tough, they take under 2000 students
Your major is common and competitive
Your EC’s are a little repetitive, could use some more interesting things to round it out. For instance your community service and tutoring is based off of your NHS which repeats that accomplishment. Schools like to see a lot of stuff.
New Jersey is not a unique state, this won’t hurt you, but it won’t help.

Good luck hope this helped

3

^^^ second what @stressedmhs said. Your stats are stellar, your ECs are ivy-level but nothing that makes you an individual. The fishing website is interesting- that plus the 4H ECs will look good.

Best of luck, your application looks great!

4

Princeton doesn’t have ED, they have SCEA. Still, I think you have a great shot at EA.

5

Thanks for the input so far, everyone.

ECs are definitely one of the things I was more unsure about, but then again, they don’t fully encapsulate everything that I do with my time, so I’m hoping that I can show a more complete picture with my essay.

@CU123 thanks for the correction. I was aware that they don’t have ED but I guess I mixed the two up while I was making the thread.

6

Since Princeton is SCEA, you can’t EA to another school, but you can certainly ED to another school. I would find another school to ED as well just to be on the ‘safe’ side.

Given your stats, ECs, and URM status, you are as viable a candidate for acceptance to Princeton as anyone. I want to say you’re ‘golden’ and likely in, but it’s Princeton. Keep doing what you have and you will have your choice of Top-10 college admissions.

7

Your ECs are a little lacking, but your stats are great and your race will definitely help you out in admissions. I think you have a very good chance! Good luck

8

@Hamurtle On the Princeton website it says that for SCEA, you can only apply early to nonbinding publics, nonbinding internationals, or nonbinding rolling admissions. Early decision is a type of early action, so when it says single choice early action, it means nothing early (excluding the cases above).

9

My mistake-SCEA/REA does mean applying to only one school via EA/ED although you aren’t bound to it. Either way OP has as good a chance as any candidate of being accepted.

10

If you think it’s likely you are pre-med and you are hoping to attend a SCEA school - I’d look at Harvard as it most likely would be easier to obtain the higher GPA you’ll want for med school admissions there than at Princeton.

11

^^ Harvard’s grade inflation and Princeton’s grade deflation-leaning practices (although they had gotten rid of grade deflation a few years back, the actual grading practices haven’t relaxed much, I heard) are well known among med schools, so I wouldn’t choose a school based on that.

12

@TiggerDad I’m not an expert on Medical School admissions but everything I’ve read the past 2 years is that Med Schools aren’t going to take grading policies into account and all things being equal the higher GPA wins. But @Amduseus if you are strongly thinking about Med School I’d read threads on the Medical School forum and ask questions there.

13

Here’s an article that places grade inflation within the larger context of medical admissions: “Does Grade Inflation Help Getting Into Medical School?”

http://www.collegeadmissionspartners.com/college-admissions-counseling/grade-inflation-medical-school/

14

is a 4.12 unweighted possible???

15

From everything I have read on these forums from posters that are in the trenches, med schools do NOT take college grading policy into account. Princeton students are still successful in med school admissions because even though it is much harder to obtain a 3.8 plus gpa, there is still about 20% of the student body that manages to do it.

16

@timjones213 At my school, an A+ counts as a 4.33, A is 4.0, A- is 3.67, and so on. The highest unweighted I can think of someone having in the past was close to a 4.2.

On a side note, I must have calculated my UW and W GPA for the end of this year wrong, because the official number was updated today and I actually have a 4.15 and 4.60 respectively.

17

SCEA looks like a very attainable chance for you, ECs are both academic and volunteer oriented, you have a few leadership positions, and grades are great. The only issue is a lot of other applicants have the same set up, use your essays to set yourself apart, and remember to highlight the most unique of your ECs (That website you’re making will stand out because it’s something you’ve done independently). You’re actually making me worry because my ECs are a lot worse than yours and I plan on applying regular decision lol. Chance me back?: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/2001214-chance-me-for-princeton-good-academics-meh-ecs.html#latest

18

I think your ECs are great and the combination of band and 4h sounds very unique. You have the grades, you have the test scores, and you have a hook as an added bonus so all you need are interesting essays. Good luck!