Does Princeton really only look at the Sophmore onward GPA?

Colleges & Universities Princeton University
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<p>My daughter is considering applying to Princeton (although I think Columbia might be her favorite). I read in another thread that Princeton not only superscores the SATs, but primarily looks at the Sophmore & Junior Grades (and Senior if available). Is this true?</p>

<p>Secondarily, how competitive would my daughters chances be with:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Her high school was rated by US News at the Number 5 public high school in the nation and the Number 1 IB program. Just for some context, the school (which is located in Michigan) has only about 150 kids but has over 1% of the entire nation’s 36s on the ACT (based on last year’s class). The school is a 190 day per year school which starts in August, is very intense with its studies and is not easy with grading (and does not release class rankings as it is a magnet school).</p></li>
<li><p>Her stats -
GPA Freshman year - 3.66
GPA Sophmore year - 3.77
GPA Junior year - 3.93 (projected but reasonably sure)
Overall GPA 3.77 (3.85 with just Sophmore/Junior grades - hence my interest)</p>

<p>ACT - 33
SAT(super scored) - Math 710, Reading 760, Writing 780 (total 2250)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>She is president of two clubs, and has won (earned) the department awards in Math (one of three) and History. She has also been in a variety of other activities over the years including groups like the National Honor Society etc. Plenty of volunteering in the past two years (mostly reading to kids at the local library and a touring volunteer at the Holocaust museum). She plans on majoring in econ/history.</p>

<p>Thoughts?</p>

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<p>I don’t work in the admissions office - I’m simply an alumni interviewer.</p>

<p>Don’t get yourself all tied up in knots over the difference between a 3.77 and 3.85 GPA. All applicants are viewed holistically, which is an incredibly complex process.</p>

<p>There is no GPA cutoff, and the school looks at how challenging the school’s program is, the weighting system, if any, and whether or not your daughter took the most challenging program. They also prefer to see rising grades in the higher grades. This goes for most colleges, especially the super-selective ones.</p>

<p>Princeton rates all applicants 50% on academics and 50% on non-academics. Those who get in usually have really differentiated themselves on the non-academic side - there are plenty of kids with stellar academics (my friends and I have interviewed many who haven’t gotten in, unfortunately). </p>

<p>There is an article from the mid-1990’s, when it was much easier to get in, in a book called Getting In: Inside the College Admissions Office, in which Princeton’s Dean of Admissions was interviewed. The Dean reached into the application stacks and pulled out a valedictorian who was a star athlete and a member of the band, and the Dean wasn’t impressed. After reading it, however, it turned out that the kid was also a farmboy who had to work 40 hours on the family farm (60 in the summer), and that was impressive. This was a different kind of a kid, with a strong work ethic, and a non-traditional background (not the typical kid form a suburban background).</p>

<p>He also said that being president of the class is fairly typical – that’s in the activity portfolio of someone who gets rated a 3 out of a 5 on the non-academic side.</p>

<p>The moral is that your daughter should apply to Princeton and Columbia, as well as a number of schools that are easier to get into. She needs to assume that she won’t into any of the Ivies or extremely difficult schools to which she’s applying, because countless superior kids don’t get in.</p>

<p>She also needs to find a way to present herself in a way that makes her stand out. An essay isn’t enough – there are lots of great essays written (some by someone else besides the student). Not that the essay isn’t important, but it won’t turn an average non-academic kid into a 1 or a 2. </p>

<p>I can’t go into all of the details about how to do this, but she needs to find something that makes her seem truly unique and interesting, and find a way to clearly demonstrate this (a newspaper article about how she led a drive to collect 1000 coats for the homeless would be an example of how this can be demonstrated – you can extrapolate from there).</p>

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<p>Yeah, they don’t count freshman grades or electives. They only consider grades in Science, Math, English, History, and Foreign Language.</p>

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<p>PtonAlumnus, Thank your for your private message. For some reason my message box will not allow me to reply. My email is <a href="mailto:mekozak@comcast.net">mekozak@comcast.net</a> if you would like to send me your email so I can respond. Again thanks for your comments.</p>