<p>Pton-</p>
<p>By development cases, I meant the children of alumni as well. Typical alums do not have millions of dollars to lavish on gifts to Princeton- nevertheless, through the annual giving process, the tacit message is a quid pro quo- you consistently donate to the university and your child will be held to a lower admissions standard.</p>
<p>I probably don’t have to tell you that “unhooked” applicants to Princeton have to be significantly better academically than the jocks, URMs and legacies.</p>
<p>Jocks win the Rhodes Scholarship because it is geared towards athletic prowess, at least for very good students. Not too many science Nobel prize winners come from the ranks of former Rhodes Scholars. I am not a UK national but spent most of my formative years there.</p>
<p>The stats you refer to also include recent alums, who may have attended or taken pre-med science before grade deflation really took root. These applicants are likely to have fulfilled college physics, calculus, general chemistry and organic chemistry requirements over the summer at an easier school or in a post-bac.</p>
<p>I am certainly not trying to dissuade talented science students from Princeton- the faculty, labs and peers make it an incredible place for someone gifted enough to someday earn a PhD. Where Princeton is less than ideal, in my opinion, is for someone to manage a 3.75-3.8 that is needed for Harvard, Penn, Johns Hopkins, Wash U. and a 3.5, which is the cut off for most U.S. MD programs. It is extremely difficult to get a 3.75+ as a science major at Princeton. Science grading and the level of rigor is and has always been very high at Princeton, at least in the modern era.</p>
<p>I don’t think we are far apart on our views of Princeton at all. Having a sister who went through the unpleasant medical school application process recently, I would advise pre-med students to consider an honors program at a state university, the nurturing environment of an LAC or an accelerated program like Brown, Northwestern or Penn St./JMC.</p>
<p>There are paths of less resistance to becoming a medical doctor than studying nuclear physics at Caltech for example.</p>