What to Do Better?

Colleges & Universities Princeton University
1

Hey guys, so I’m a freshman in a new school that uses the AICE Cambridge Program which is equivalent to AP and IB. I’ve already planned out what I’ma do during the next few years however, and so would like to know what you guys think I should do to stand out more against the crowd of gifted people that apply to Princeton; to really make them think I belong there.

I transferred to the school after abhorring the one I was in initially, so I missed out on the clubs for this year. I’m also incapable of attending the community service programs or any summer programs for this year due to financial and traveling reasons. Next year is all smooth sailing however.

I’m going for ORFE (Operations Research & Finance Education) major, and minor in Physics/Quantum Mechanics, etc. You can tell by my username I like science lol.

Key: AICE classes are equivalent to AP and IB. AS Level is equivalent to IB SL, and A Level to IB HL. Pre-AICE (IGCSE) is equivalent to Honors.

Freshman Stats (currently):
UW GPA: 3.857
Weighted: 5.000

AICE Spanish AS: A
Pre-AICE English: A
Pre-AICE Mathematics 3 (Algebra 2): A
Pre-AICE Chemistry: A
Pre-AICE World History: A
AICE General Paper AS: A (it’s a college writing course)

Overall Freshman GPA (counting all grading periods): 4.0

Sophomore Stats:
AICE Spanish A
AICE English AS
AICE Mathematics & Mechanics AS (AP Calc AB/IB SL Maths equivalent. Mechanics is Physics added in)
AICE Chemistry AS
AICE U.S. History AS
AICE Thinking Skills AS (Required. Dunno the equivalent)
Dual Enrollment: Calculus 1 & Economics-Micro
Summer Dual Enrollment: Calculus 2 & Economics-Macro

Junior Stats (Predicted):
AICE English A
AICE Mathematics & Mechanics A (AP Calc BC/IB HL Maths equivalent)
AICE Physics AS (AP Physics 1&2/ IB SL Physics equivalent)
AICE Global Perspective and Research AS
AICE Mathematics & Prob. & Stats AS (AP Calc AB + AP Stats/IB SL Stats equivalent)
AICE U.S. History A (Required I think)
Dual Enrollment: Intro. to Differential Equations & Physics w/ Calculus 2
Summer Dual Enrollment: None

Senior Stats:
AICE English Literature A (AP Lit/IB HL Lit equivalent)
AICE Further Mathematics A (No AP equivalent; further than BC. IB HL Further/Higher Maths equivalent)
AICE Maths & Prob & Stats A (AP Calc BC + no AP equivalent for Prob & Stats/IB HL Stats)
AICE Physics A (AP Physics 3/IB HL Physics)
AICE Economics AS (said to be harder than Dual Enrollment Econ)
Internship Course
Dual Enrollment: Stocks & Bonds (one class) & Marketing for Bankers

ECs: Currently none as I said up top with my dilemma with financial and traveling situations. Predictions for next years:
NHS member (hopefully leads to Treasurery/VP/President)
Beginning Investment Strategies Club
Starting Science Honors Society
Debate Club
During Junior summer traveling to Africa for one month to help with Malaria epidemic any way I can (fuck mosquitos)
Developing a research paper or partnering up with a local university for one
Second research paper on graphing private equity market patterns and probabilities of local dips and rises
Planning on getting involved in more student-run organizations locally, as well as more research papers on Econ. and Maths or Sciences

Community Service: I have 48 at the moment from going to the hospital my mom works at. Will do so again during this summer to gain another 80 hours. (8 per day)
Will also volunteer at a pet adoption center where I once went to give up our purebred English bulldog due to financial reasons
School holds various volunteer opportunities throughout the year so will attend those

Anyways, tell me what you guys recommend and such to improve my resume as a whole. Things that I would enjoy however, not just things to look good. Examples: Math or Econ. programs during summer, etc. They have to be local in Florida however; unless they’re too good to pass.

Anyways, thanks for reading this far on the wall of text. Hope to see responses.

2

it’d be awesome if you participated in/won SIEMENS competition, or qualify for AIME. Try Science Olympiads too-- I’ve seen that those who win SIEMENS or are successful in nationally known competitions tend to go to top schools, so hope this helps!

3

Thanks for the great advice, @hungrihippo . I looked up those competitions and they seem like National Merit Scholar competitions not named NMS lol. Works perfectly for me to get in on those alongside NMS. I’ve also began to consider attempting a start-up of some sort after helping out in Africa, as well as recruiting any of the Biology/Med majors in my school to it to try and research about the disease. I’m not very into Biology. The start-up would use a good amount of the profits to send to whichever town or community I go to, but also to fund the people I recruit’s research. We’ll probably try to join in with a local university as well.

Cheers.

4

@tachyonexist course rigor looks good. Would need to have some ACT / SAT / SAT II scores for better calibration. I would say at this level, ECs and Essays set you apart.

I would be careful on the Africa trip, unless with a well understood non-profit, adcoms think these trips are rich person junkets and not meaningful. Also, rather than creating yet another startup, instead partner with one already established and doing good work. Then use your essay to talk about how you’d rather work with someone than recreate the wheel. You lose a little leadership credit, but gain it back and more with showing you made trade offs to do the most good, not pad your resume.

Your current / predicted ECs seem cookie-cutter to me. The Africa trip and research papers could be interesting, if done in a novel way. Adcoms have seen thousands of kids who wrote a paper, and hundreds of kids that went to Africa. Ideally, your ECs, work well with your essay and your LoRs to create a compelling, consistent narrative that is memorable.

Princeton, I believe, does not offer a minor in physics/quantum mechanics. Minors at Princeton are called “certificates”. Here is a list: https://admission.princeton.edu/academics/certificate-programs

I would do additional research into the school, its programs.

Last, although I like your ORFE choice (Princeton uses "concentration"instead of “major” btw), I suggest you give yourself a few more years before trying to make up your mind. My son (class of 2020) loves ORFE (he was admitted as a ChemE), but it is one of the more difficult programs at Princeton.

Good luck,
Psy

5

@psywar Well, they’d probably be able to tell I’m not a rich person due to income lol. I’d reckon at most I’d be $150,000 annually with both my parents’ salaries.

My ECs and LoRs will definitely go together; my teachers really see how invested I am in Mathematics and Science. Economics is a Junior-only thing so I’ll have to wait 'till that so my LoRs reflect it. My Math teacher this year said she looked over a test I bombed 3 times, as well as checked the answer key, to make sure I did that badly. It wasn’t a good time for me during that test, and I didn’t pay attention in class at all. Ended with an A still though. Dropped from 104% however.

As for ORFE; I’ve been crazy about being an iBanker at GS for quite a while . . . 3 years to be exact. Before that it was a stock broker. I might get into being a quant (think it’s how it’s spelled) soon. ORFE covers all those fields. While it might be tough, that’s what I especially thrive on. When the classes are too easy I start to get worse grades. Happened when I was put in Pre-Algebra rather than Algebra due to moving back in 7th. They fixed it and I finished with a 4.0

If they seem cookie-cutter, then by all means please suggest a few more. Like I said, it’s a small school. I do really feel interested in joining someone else, like you said, for the non-profit. I was wanting to do the non-profit regardless. I’d probably take a more leadership role in that, i.e., Treasurer or such, than the one that creates the mass-produced cure though.

The paper won’t just be to reflect something already known simply; it’ll be a way to statistically find the probabilities of private equity markets’ future fluctuations in my local city. Any higher and I’d fear it becomes too inaccurate. The trip to Africa isn’t just to say I went as well, I read about this girl who went and did amazing things a few years back. Really inspired me.

My essays I’ve not really stocked up on thinking about them right now, as I’ll probably have much more to talk about two years from now when I’m doing the actual app.

Thanks for your time in responding though. Hope to hear back soon with more advice. I’ve seen you on the Princeton forums a lot. While some may see you as more pessimistic; I believe you have the most realistic views on this.

6

@tachyonexist

No problem.

FWIW - Ouch! I’m not a hater, just trying to keep expectations real. HYPSM is a compete and utter lottery.

This could be a great essay, assuming you do some amazing things of your own over there. For example, after your trip talk about the insights you discovered, the people you met, a difficult challenge (note: by themselves these topics are all cliche) but if you write through the lens of that girl’s trip you read about and how you hope that your trip inspires another person - like hers did for you - and how through this unbroken chain, meaningful change can happen. That is a new spin on an old “I went to Africa to save people” essay. Authentic selfless service that produces tangible results will be the key with that trip.

Search for a forum called “QuantNet” if you are into quant stuff and a forum called “wallstreetoasis” Lots of good info on noth (some that I barley understand). My son is in ORFE for the data science / machine learning / machine vision side of the program, but there are tons of kids wanting to go into IB.

good luck!

-psy

7

I don’t believe that HYPSM is a complete and total lottery. But by the same token it is hard to manipulate the system by planning your class schedule four years in advance

8

@collegedad13 “manipulate” is a fairly loaded term. I think OP is looking for advice.

I do think you can improve your chances a little, so maybe not a total lottery, but damn close.

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@psywar After talking it over with a friend, I managed to get him into the Africa trip. Except, we’re going to Haiti because it’s a lot closer and A LOT cheaper. Regardless, we came up with—after having already taken Mechanics and Prob & Stats by then—a plan aiming to help build, or create the blueprints for, an irrigation system. One that’ll provide them with at least self-sustainability for a while.

I’d really like to join a group that is trying to aide in these types of ways—direct ways that allow the Haitians to have some self-sustainability instead of needing constant support from the U.S. by being sent cans in Can Drives all the time. I don’t mind that they need; but teach a man to fish, right?

I realise they probably can do an irrigation system, but I’m looking to help the most obscure of groups who are the least capable, and making it as natural and cheap as possible so it can be spread and help for as long as possible.