Decision: Accepted
Objective:
- [] SAT I: 2380 (CR: 780)
[] SAT II: 2380 (Math II: 800; Latin: 800; Chemistry: 780)
[] GPA (out of 4.0): 3.96
[] AP: Gov (5); Mechanics (5); Music Theory (5); Microecon (5); Macroecon (5); English Lang (5); Chem (5);
[] Senior Year Courses: English Lit; Latin; Bio; Calculus BC; E&M; Concert Band; Orchestra
[] Major Awards: The Maureen O’Donnell Oxford Classical Dictionary Award (11); National Latin Exam — Gold & Summa Cum Laude (9, 10, & 11); —Redacted City— Classical Society Award for Performance in Latin Week (11); National Merit Commended (12); AP Scholar with Distinction (12)
Subjective:
[ul]
[li] Extracurriculars: (11, 12) **Science Olympiad/b; (9–12) **Latin Club/b; (9–12) **Drum Line/b; (11, 12) **Youth Orchestra/b; (12) **Youth Orchestra 2/b; (9–12) **Band/Orch/(11,12) Musical Pit/(11, 12) Jazz Band/b; (9, 10) **TSA/b; (12) **Internship at a local Charity/b; (11, 12) **Community Percussionist/b; (12) **Tutoring/b[/li][/ul]
- [] Work Experience: I had that internship but not much else
[] Community service: Just over 100 hours
[] Summer Activities: I did a chemistry program as Columbia HSP. It was great!
[] Common App Essay: b; I used an anecdote about baking super-salty cookies. I then transitioned to speaking about my love for Chemistry and Kettledrums. I then tied it all up by returning to the anecdote and ended the essay in an eloquent and powerful manner, yet cliché nonetheless.
[] Princeton Supplement: b; I chose the quote option. The essay was all about how I was shaming my little sister’s friends for not liking Latin, when I made a sudden realization about passion.
[] Extracurricular Essay: b; I wrote about Science Olympiad. This essay would have been a ten, if I had not made an inadvertent typo right at the start!
[] Summer Essay: b; I just gave two rather bland descriptions of my past two summers. To be honest, I didn’t do much between my sophomore and junior years!
[] Princeton Engineering: b**; Story time!!! I had major procrastination problems with these essays — and when I say major, I mean it! During the weekend apps were do, I was actually in Disney Land with my school concert band. On Halloween, I spent the day writing my Princeton supplement in Jurassic World. Then, on the day apps were due, I had to write my entire engineering essay! That day was spent in Epcot, and I was fortunate to haphazardly stumble across the only AC outlet in the entire park (it was only there because an employ had failed to hide it). Needless to say, while my friends were enjoying their day in Future World, I was sitting at a table in Morocco scrambling to finish my essay. At 11:58.19 that night, with just over a minute before I would be thrown into the RD pool, I submitted my Princeton app from my hotel room. The essay itself was very rushed at the end, and didn’t have much of a conclusion. I am very fortunate that I was accepted in spite of this weak essay!
[ul]
[] Teacher Recs: One (9/10) from my lovely chemistry teacher, who taught me in honors, Ap, and organic chemistry. Another one (10/10) from my phenomenal Latin teacher. She has taught me since the second semester of freshman year. Ambivalently, the rest of my class is not as enthusiastic about Latin as I am, however this has really allowed me to stand out and flourish. Finally, my concert band teacher inadvertently recommended me after a mess up with Naviance (8/10), but I run the percussion section and occasionally entire band rehearsals, I’m sure it was great!
[] Counselor Rec: (8/10); Unfortunately, I don’t know my counselor as well as I should. I am sure she said many positive things, but I doubt anything along the lines of “best in class” considering the competitiveness of my high school.
[] Additional Rec: (8/10); I actually had the chance to view this recommendation as it was sent to me via mail on behalf of my chemistry professor from Columbia HSP. It was really well written, and he spoke very highly of me.
[] Interview: (9.5/10); My interview went really really well. He went to the other high school in my school district back in the day, and it turns out we both share the same favorite class: Organic chemistry (a Saturday morning class shared by student in both high schools). He was also familiar with my youth orchestra, and had just started to drum himself! After my interview was over and I had left, some of my friends walked into the Starbucks at which my interview had been held and overheard my interviewer raving to his wife about me! I only wish I had asked about his senior thesis…
[li] Art Supplement: (6/10); I had not practiced enough and did not ultimately submit enough material for the requested 10 minutes. Considering that percussion is a major part of my application, I’m really surprised they still let me in![/li][/ul]
Other
- [] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[] Intended Major: ChemE
[] State: PA
[] School Type: Public w/ class size of 309
[] Race: White
[] Gender: Male
[] Income Bracket: >200k
[] Hooks/tips: None
Reflection
[ul]
[] Strengths: Excluding my Engineering essay, I had really strong essays that together displayed my passion for Chemistry, Latin, and Percussion. Additionally I have very strong standardized testing scores, and a boatload of extracurricular hours over the past two years. Finally, I think that my personality is a really good fit for Princeton (and vice versa), which is why I was admitted very many other very-well-qualified candidates.
[] Weaknesses: No hooks; No major awards; I could go on
[] Why you think you were accepted: See strengths
[] Where else were you accepted: Penn State
[li] Where else are you applying for RD: I have applied to UT Austin as well as UCB (College of Chem), UCLA, and UCSB. I don’t know if I have it in me to start more essays.[/li][/ul]
General Comments:
This is, in many ways, a dream come true, however, I feel terrible for those many deferred applicants over whom I was accepted. If you are belong to this group, stay positive. This was only round 1 of 2!!! There is yet hope! Furthermore, to all you future Princeton applicants out there reading this, I was once one of you! I was certain that they were going to defer me, but look how things turned out! With this said, I cannot provide a recipe on how to get in, but I can say that so long as you pursue your passions and stay positive, you will end up okay, whether this be at Princeton, or some other magnificent university! Oh — and one last thing: whatever you do, DO NOT procrastinate like me, especially in regard to writing RD essays (my delay of which was most imprudent. If I had not been so lucky in my gamble, I would not be sleeping for the next couple of weeks 