Princeton Chance Me

Chance Me / Match Me
1

A little info about me… I am a current Junior but with the admission office’s permission, I was allowed to apply 1 year early for the class of 2026. I already had my interview and it went super well (in my opinion). I was wondering what other think of my chances of getting in. Also, the admissions office has let me know that Juniors have made it early in the past so there is a chance.

Here if my Stats:

SAT: Not Able to Take It

Rank: 30/350 (Kind of Low but can compensate with other things)

APs: AP Statistics, AP Seminar, AP Computer Science Principles (Self-Study), AP Computer Science A, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP US History ll, AP Calculus AB , AP World (No Exams Submitted)

Academic Honors: Consecutive High Honor Roll, High Honor Roll with Distinction, National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society (In Progress), Mu Alpha Theta (In Progress)

Extracurriculars:

First Tech Challenge: Documentation Lead, Communication Liason, Lead Builder

First Lego League: Middle School Team Mentor/Assistant Coach

Math Team/League: President

Science League: Physics Captain

Boy Scouts of America: Eagle Scout, Junior Assistant Scoutmaster, Autism Spectrum Disorder Advocate

BunnyPAPR: Research on COVID-19 Positive Air Purifying Respirators with a professor at Cornell, Won the Syntegra Grand Prize in the UCSF Medical COVID-19 Hackathon

Karate: Songahm Taekwondo 1st Degree Black Belt

Sports: Varsity Track, JV Swimming

Odyssey of the Mind - Problem Solving Club: Lead Script Writer, Prop Designer, Structure Builder

Word: Community Robotics Teacher

Misc:

Attended Summer Program at Brown on Full Scholarship

Skipped to the highest level of Engineering at my School by convincing the board of education. ONLY sophomore to ever take that class.

Attended FREE MIT Summer Program. I was the only person selected from NJ and the only sophomore at the program.

After submitting my application I started teaching Web Development Classes at my local library, got invited to a Harvard Hackathon, and kept up my grades. I also informed my interviewer that I have a planned summer internship at Miles Technology as an IT Intern. I have started the training for it but my interviewer said he will tell the admissions office. This helped as I got to tell him a lot I was not able to convey in my application as the deadline was Jan 1st.

Personal Projects (Talked about them in my interview and my interviewer told them to the admissions office):

iNappy - an intelligent diaper that beeps, flashes, and sends an alert to your phone when your baby has wet their diaper. This could reduce the number of diapers in landfills and shorten the time it takes to potty train a toddler. I gave this device to test my baby cousins that are twins meaning I could “experiment” with one child wearing the device and the other wearing a diaper without the iNappy. This was a great experiment, but I am still collecting results.

AquaKno - a water-saving device that can show you how much water is used as well as shut off the water and alert you after a certain programmable limit. This can be used in residential or commercial areas to track water usage and potentially find ways to save the cost of water bills.

Physics-Based SpiderMan - Using Unreal Engine, C/C++, and Pendulum Motion, I made a game recreating the swinging and web-zipping of SpiderMan in a smaller fashion without any fight actions or animations. I plan to release the simulation for open sourcing through GitHub.

Physics Axe Throwing- Using Unreal Engine and C/C++, I made a recreation of axe throwing from the hit game, Gods of War. I plan to release this demo for open sourcing through Github.

Mentoring SuperHighway- a free program/Blog covering the process of shifting from middle school to high school, which includes talking about grades, choosing rigorous courses, and choosing meaningful extracurriculars. I am the founder of this Blog.

I applied in the engineering field and most of my activities are related to that. Let me know your honest opinion and if there is something I should do that can help me (if I do not get in this year). Thanks

2

You’ve already applied correct? If so there is nothing more you can do at this point.

I assume your backup plan is to finish senior year of HS and then apply again? Or did you have something else in mind.

Are you from an underrepresented ethnic group? If so that might help your chances.

3

Yeah, worst case scenario I finish High School and apply again. I am Indian so not really an unrepresented group. But I feel that since I have done a great amount as a Junior I can have a chance and I have been told by my alumni interviewer that Juniors have made it in the past.

4

You certainly are very accomplished. The combination of being over-represented, plus being from NJ isn’t a good position to be in. Princeton obviously has plenty of kids from NJ who they could take.

The biggest weaknesses I see in your application are the class rank, and then lack of test scores. There are lots of other kids who are applying with test scores. So without the scores, they’ll be focused more on your grades/rank. Princeton routinely rejects valedictorians. So ultimately I don’t know how they will view your application, but you might get lucky.

If I were you, don’t get so focused on Princeton now. Just plan out what you’d do in case of rejection. Plan for your senior year and put your best foot forward for next application season. Study for the SATs/ACTs and get a good score.

5

Yeah that is what I have been doing. I am planning to take the SAT in March and maybe I can submit my score before the decision date. Not that high of a chance I will get in but I am a Junior and they will consider that as well. Just because I am a junior does not make up for my rank but still.

6

In terms of planning for next year (senior). Go to the Princeton forum and take a look at the profiles of some accepted students. Especially ones who are like you (ORM). You’ll then get a better sense of what they are looking for.

You certainly have great ECs, but they were a little scattered. And I didn’t see a cohesive story. Take a look at some of the kids who were accepted and you’ll see what I mean.

7

Sure Thank you! my themes for ECs were around Engineering and Civil Service. I conveyed that a lot in my interview which will help when the admissions committee reads the interview report.

8

Ok you’re on the right track. Impressive for a junior. Best of luck!

9

Thank you!

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