Do I have a shot at Princeton?

TigerWolf90
Fri, 02 Oct 2020 19:40:58 +0000

The academic stats all look fine, and your abundance of activities shows more ambition than well developed, zealous passion for one area. I was intrigued until you said you wanted to be an actuary. It’s a very practical, potentially lucrative job. To me, that reads that you want a high paying job more than exposure to cutting edge academic research and scholarship. Google Jeff Bezos’s high school graduation speech in which he discusses his vision of space exploration and colonization.

If you truly want to be an actuary (which is actually a fascinating job), you should attend a university that has a business school, actuarial department, and proximity to insurance company headquarters so you can get a stimulating internship. From Baruch College or Pace University in Manhattan to University of Illinois, Florida State, Ohio State, etc. with their actuarial departments. They have tremendous resources and contacts dedicated to that pursuit. Princeton does not have a business school - it’s more like having CalTech, Amherst College and Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service adjacent to each other on one campus. Financial Engineering is in the ballpark of where you’d want to be.

To make Princeton decide that you’re a fit, you need to find the departments and activities that call out to you. What makes you more of a Princetonian than a top business school alum? Would you rather have dinner with Mark Cuban or with Sonia Sotomayor? What makes Princeton so ideal for you versus Kelley School of Business? What have you read? Whom do you admire? What clubs there are you desperate to join? Could you see yourself debating Ted Cruz?

And why depict yourself as an ethnicity and gender with scores and a GPA and roster of accomplishments? Show a log of your drive and passion. Have an essay that says something like, “I love statistics and data science because I see how they can make the delivery of services better for mankind and not just advance the standard of living, but also expand the horizon of what can be offered. Examples of what I have studied that truly fascinated me are the following. I love it so much that I have read X, Y, Z, A, B, C and D. Then I learned about E and went there to study. I contacted F, G and H for advice, and they lead me to I and J. They told me about K and L at Princeton, and I knew that I wanted to be there. I’m addition, I love an active cultural and artistic community as well, and these clubs, unavailable at any other university in quite the same way, are the ones that I can join, grow, learn, meet great colleagues, and really thrive, because…”

A little more compelling, yes?