Princeton (2022-2023)

[ionic elbow]

they don’t pre screen applications, it’s entirely availability

[peak lantern]

nah its just about availability f

they prolly havent even read ur app yet 💀

[light sandal]

They must to some extent, even if it's just a basic GPA/test score filter. It would be disrespectful of the applicant and interviewer's time for students who had literally 0 chance to get interviews.

[peak lantern]

did any of your interviewers ask for your resume before the interview

mine emailed me and asked me to send a copy before we even decided a time for the interview💀
I thought that wasn’t recommended

[scenic cloud]

columbia did

i dont have a resume tho 😭

[upbeat scroll]

thankfully mine one

didn't ask it

bcz i haven't made a resume even

[shut dawn]

mine didn't. ngl i wouldn't give an interviewer one anyways, they can judge me by who they've met not a list of accomplish

[peak lantern]

fair enough

but mine specifically requested it so

don’t want to disappoint her or smthng lol

[brittle jungle]

thailand!

[peak lantern]

Noice

[vernal flax]

do I just mail my update to this : [email protected] ?

[candid geode]

portal, i emailed and they told me to put in portal

[vernal flax]

yeah but where in the portal ?

[sage hawk]

this may sound evil but if she is pressing you much, just snitch on her

[peak lantern]

She ain’t pressing

[vernal flax]

@candid geode sorry for the ping but I need to ask

[candid geode]

all good! if u scroll down to the bottom you can upload supplemental material

[vernal flax]

yeah But I just want to tell them my paper got accepted into a Journal

is it like a fax thing where I write this in a document with other possible updates and upload that document ?

[candid geode]

yup

[vernal flax]

alright thank you so much

[upbeat scroll]

Just had my interview

Do Princeton send likely letters

it went reallly gr8

Slayyyy

[upbeat scroll]

naaah

Ohhk

[upbeat scroll]

yeah

[hazy lance]

Thoughts on deferral rate and % of deferred applicants that get in RD?

[candid geode]

princeton isnt highly rejective but they don't defer a lot

i think its a decent shot

[minor sandal]

my counselor said princeton and caltech are the two places where deferrals are a hopeful sign, you're good

[hazy lance]

Alright so as long as I submit my loci by the end of the month I still have a somewhat ok shot

[candid geode]

yup

[vague glade]

rea people, when are you sending your locis?

[ionic elbow]

Now would be good, preferably as soon as you can unless you are competing or waiting on a possible award soon

[vague glade]

okay thank you!

[compact cipher]

Sent mine 2 weeks ago

[vague glade]

nice! Who did you send it to? Your regional AO or the general princeton admissions email?

oh also if i have awards coming in in february, would it be okay to send them additional updates?

[compact cipher]

Sent it to whoever was named on the deferral letter (I think the dean) and CCd my regional AO

And then some other admissions officer replied back to it

[scenic cloud]

i dont see why not, part of a loci is explaining what you've been up to lately no?

wait no, i misread, my bad

i would say the awards are pending in the loci

[ionic elbow]

Wdym pending awards? Like they’re guaranteed or potential

[vague glade]

i don't want to come off as cocky if i say they're pending though

since i haven't already received them

[ionic elbow]

Send the LOCI now unless you have an opportunity to get an award this weekend or something. Address it to your regional AO and the Dean

[vague glade]

thank you!

[ionic elbow]

Your regional AO I think will be the one reviewing before it goes to committee, and I think it would be nice if it was addressed to them

At least I’d feel warm and fuzzy if it was addressed to me

[vague glade]

that makes sense

[swift hazel]

all good right? i don’t have to submit through the portal

[compact cipher]

Yea, email is good

[warped notch]

For midyear reports, are you guys sending transcripts or report cards?

[ionic elbow]

Most schools require your counselor to do it. I’d say a report card makes the most sense since they only difference is that one semester. I mean I wouldn’t want an entirely new transcript if all that’s added is a few grades at the very end. Maybe a report card with an updated cumulative GPA is preferable

[warped notch]

my counselor said transcript but i feel like report card would be better?

[ionic elbow]

yea I think so too. Unless they received directions to specifically upload a transcript?

[warped notch]

im not sure. she just told me midyear report always meant transcript

is anyone here writing a LOCI to princeton?

[warped notch]

???/

[plush niche]

do y'all know when the deadline for all supplementary materials to come in is

my counselor forgot to submit my teacher recs 💀

[ionic elbow]

For LORs, there’s no strict deadline. You should be fine since thats not your fault. There is a typically a grace period for materials not submitted by students

[plush niche]

yeah but it's been 2 weeks

[ionic elbow]

yea that is really stretching the 'grace period,' but i think you'll still be okay

it's unlikely they've started in-depth review (at least the depth that LORs would be read under) so it's fine

[random mango]

any princeton interview tips?

i have mine tmr

[mild tartan]

talk about something you're passionate about, provide concrete reasons why you want to come to princeton (mentioned specific professors, classes, or traditions), and ask questions to your interviewer that you can't find the answers to online

[random mango]

thank you!!

[candid fossil]

Mine was today, good luck

[vapid nebula]

For Princeton I have to send official ACT and AP reports right?

It's like diff from other schools?

[obsidian barn]

oh i thought only act scores not ap scores but i might be wrong if you find out can you please ping me

@vapid nebula

[vapid nebula]

Ooo ic

I sent it anyways lmao

Thanks ☺️

For research abstract I just uploaded through the portal

That’s right?

[obsidian barn]

yeah that’s what u did

i

[vapid nebula]

👌🙏

[ionic elbow]

wait princeton accepts research abstracts??

i didnt see it anywhere so i didnt submit one... do they also accept papers?

[barren wigeon]

Just had my Princeton interview! the interviewer was super nice although I felt like we spent more time discussing a subject unrelated to my intended major than anything LOL

[scenic cloud]

do you mind giving a general run through of how the interview went? like questions and whatnot

its fine if not im just wondering

[barren wigeon]

I'd say honestly just prep for the "tell me about yourself" question and the why major/why Princeton questions

Because my interviewer basically focused on specific stuff I mentioned in the self intro qn and asked further questions based on that

Also got asked what I do for fun so you might want to think about an answer for that

It's really chill and they try to make you feel comfortable so I think the most important thing is to just not be nervous

[scenic cloud]

thanks!

im just kinda nervous about my interview bc scheduling was kinda icky

i have smth coming up this friday so im busy after school basically every day (cannot get home and ready for interview until like 8pm) and then the week after that im basically free every day except i have this one linguistics competition on one day

so i asked to schedule that week

with the exception of that day

and my interviewer chose that day 💀

so that was awkward but i just said screw it and scheduled it that day anyway despite very tight scheduling for me

gonna try to just chill out tho

[warped notch]

When do colleges like Princeton begin reviewing RD

[barren wigeon]

Yeah honestly the best thing is to just go in without being too stressed about it since there's always a possibility of like unexpected curveball questions. I know someone who got asked things like "what characteristics do you think leaders should possess" but I didn't get that sort of questions at all so really just go in with an open mind and be earnest with your answers. All the best for your interview!

[barren wigeon]

Also the linguistics competition thing is so cool, good luck w that! The subject that I mentioned discussing a lot with my interviewer was actually linguistics LOL I took it in HS and really liked it + it just so happened that my interviewer did a bit of linguistics at Princeton too

[scenic cloud]

yeah i got the curveball questions for columbia

but i was really relaxed so i handled them okay

so hopefully i just dont stress day of 💀

[scenic cloud]

ooh nice!

thanks so much for the help btw!

[candid geode]

i for real haven’t even gotten an interview request yet 😔

could be bc i went test optional

maybe they just yeeted me that early

[upbeat scroll]

Any international got interview Request??

African and Asian to be specific

[barren wigeon]

me

[upbeat scroll]

me

[upbeat scroll]

African or Asian?

[upbeat scroll]

Asian

[quartz sedge]

dw i went test optional as well and i got mine
it could just be bc there aren't any interviewers in your area, or that it's taking a while to match you up w/ someone :)

there is hope :D

[random mango]

still trauamatuzed from bombing my interview a while ago 💀💀💀

[upbeat scroll]

just got princeton and yale today

[upbeat scroll]

interviews are based on availability, not getting one does not mean they threw your app out

gl to all of you my interview was amazing i was so intimidated at first but he was super sweet

just be yourselves

[foggy merlin]

got princeton interview req today! (demographic: uk intl from south-east england)

should be virtual as he's a london guy but currently works in nyc

[foggy merlin]

which class is your princeton interviewer from so help me God if you say middle-upper? mine is '22 so i'm lowkey thankful

[upbeat scroll]

2021

[pallid notch]

2018. Hopefully it will be more useful than my MIT interview with an alumni who graduated 40+ years ago. He kept responding that he didn’t have relevant information about the school given how long ago he attended when I asked questions.

[quartz sedge]

2018 as well

[naive wharf]

1972 ._.

[upbeat scroll]

LMAO

mine was 2010 i think which was a nice age for sure

[scenic cloud]

my columbia interviewer was '22 and was a vibe

ur hella lucky to have a '22 interviewer

good luck all on your interviews!

[shut dawn]

2021, went to my HS as well so it was an easy W

[civic bone]

My mit interviewer was ‘96

P normal

[quartz sedge]

my interview is today wish me luck

unfortunately i have two music rehearsals so i have about an hour to get home from school and get ready for my interview sadge

[upbeat scroll]

All the best

[civic bone]

Good luck

[sly terrace]

Anyone still not contacted for interview

[austere spade]

no

[upbeat scroll]

Me ☹️ international

[austere spade]

i live rural though

so mayb that why

[upbeat scroll]

True but Princeton tries to reach most applicants so I get anxious sometimes 😫

[simple yew]

i have my princeton interview in 15 min, any tips or things i should know abt princeton

[heavy flower]

gl

[candid geode]

make sure you generally know some stuff that princeton has research & class wise, prepare a few questions & good luck!

[simple yew]

what do you mean class wise?

[candid geode]

like what track you’re pursuing

what the classes and stuff would be like

[simple yew]

oh yea i got that

[quartz sedge]

jujst did my interview :D i think it went relatively ok

did the best i could lol

[rugged ingot]

my friend got an interview but i didn't and we submitted about the same time

confused

[barren wigeon]

happens

I already finished my interview but my classmate still hasn't received an invite yet

no idea why either

[candid fossil]

Oof, you’ll be ok

They say Princeton doesn’t consider interviews too strongly

[eternal cosmos]

how were yall interview

i have mine next sunday

interviews are typically pretty chill right?

its not just them grilling u for 30 mins

[upbeat scroll]

yeah

[upbeat scroll]

have some buffer time too

bcz my one lasted more than an hour

[terse sequoia]

Mines on the 29th

[upbeat scroll]

Mines tomorrow over the phone

[random mango]

mine was bad not bc the interviewer was bad (they were amazing) but just bc of the age gap, my stress, and english not being my first language.

they just really asked basic interview questions and clarifying ones. we talked a bit about a topic we shared interest in too

[spark lotus]

Just scheduled my interview for Feb 2 cuz my interviewer was currently sailing in Antartica 💀

(intl student)

[plush niche]

Just Princeton things ✨

[upbeat scroll]

whatttt

thats so cool wtf

[candid geode]

and i still can’t get an interview 😭

it’s probably because i’m already in the reject pile for going t/o

[bitter crow]

anyone who got in?

[candid fossil]

what’s t/o

[candid geode]

test optional

[candid fossil]

Oh thanks

[upbeat scroll]

i know a kid with a 4.0 and 1600 who has great ECs that has not gotten an interview yet

it does not have any indication of the strength of your application

[candid geode]

idk what’s up but i haven’t been interviewed by any regular interviewers yet

both my harvard and mit interviews were from out of my local state alumni

i’m still going to hope

[upbeat scroll]

where do you live?

[candid geode]

rural mid atlantic state

got interviewed by a guy from montreal for harvard and the vice chair of the region for mit

[upbeat scroll]

about to have my interview tonight !

these back-to-back interviews are kind of tiring but i'm killing every single one so

it's a phone call interview, so that's new

[candid geode]

good luck!!

[upbeat scroll]

tysmm

[upbeat scroll]

so um

ig i know it went extremely well because he said that I'm "exactly what princeton looks for" and the person who thrives there

but we talked for about an hour and we talked about a ton of things

the first 10 minutes were questions to me, then he opened it up for me to ask questions

i took that opportunity to develop the questions I asked into a full-fledged conversation between the two of us where we both (evidently) learned a lot about each other and I learned a lot about princeton

i think i felt this interview the most, which is funny because it was a simple phone call 💀

[upbeat scroll]

thats awesome congrats!!!

my interview went similar we just talked about life and politics for an hour

at the end he told me i was the favorite kid hed ever interviewed i bet it helped my app

[random mango]

i’m so happy for u omg congrats!! hopefully u get an acceptance

[upbeat scroll]

I honestly really hope so

Tysm

[halcyon night]

same

it's definitely based on availability I think

[plush niche]

Bro I just checked my app and I saw a typo where I misspelled "world" for "word" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[candid geode]

ur good

don’t reread

[plush niche]

Nah I'm genuinely proud of my essays and even re-reading I like them

it's just that + a missing comma both in the same essay

and makes the entire essay sound super weird and janky

[candid geode]

you’re good

I made a really weird error on all of my apps 💀

I said the dept i work for wrong

it’s correct everywhere else except for a specific essay i copy pasted

and it’s a 1 word difference

[candid geode]

nah dw

they’re reading over your app in sub 5 min

[candid fossil]

You got in? That’s awesome

I didn’t think they had any early action

[plush niche]

did you apply

[candid fossil]

I applied regular decision

[plush niche]

mmm

[candid fossil]

Did you apply

[plush niche]

Yeah RD as well, evidenced by the discussion above

[candid fossil]

I didn’t read the discussion above lmao

[plush niche]

that's fair

honestly it's wild to me that u didn't know princeton had early action

do u not remember selecting between the choices in the common app?

I'm not saying that in a mean way I'm just wondering

@candid fossil

[upbeat scroll]

yeah I applied REA

i was really regretting it until i got in LMAO

i thought i had reached way too high and should have EDd somewhere more realistic like uva

[candid geode]

REA is hit or miss tbh

btw congrats on princeton and good on you for not underestimating yourself

[plush niche]

Isn't REA even almost harder to get into sometimes

[upbeat scroll]

ty 😭 i still cant believe it fr

idk about that id say its probably about even though

cause princeton takes like 230 recruits in the REA round and the pool in general is more competitive

[ionic elbow]

its like a small boost

2-3% when u factor legacies and recruited athletes

[upbeat scroll]

|| i was a legacy ||

lmao

legacy + URM they had to take me fr

[ionic elbow]

oh then you're a hooked app so u were definitely wise to apply rea

[upbeat scroll]

yeah for sure

[plush niche]

This is me right now. I heavily debated switching to ED2 UChicago but that would mean giving up potential possibility of YPSM for me and I spent a ton of effort workin on those so I just hope me being ballsy and not going the ED route works out for me

[ionic elbow]

i also debated uchicago ed2

[upbeat scroll]

having more options is always better, imo

[ionic elbow]

after being deferred but i dont like uchic that much

[upbeat scroll]

i could never imagine myself going to uchicago lmao

[ionic elbow]

is that a pokemon

[upbeat scroll]

ed should really only be used for your absolute top choice

my pfp? yeah lmao

|| one of my ECs was professional pokemon playing ||

[plush niche]

yeah which is why I ultimately ended up not doing so

[ionic elbow]

yooo auto accept

[candid geode]

that’s so cool

[plush niche]

also my school is a massive uchicago feeder so hopefully I have a chance in RD maybe (?) lmao

[ionic elbow]

do u know the

uh

blastoise

[upbeat scroll]

what

[candid geode]

I know someone like that but one of his ecs is also intl olympiad gold 😭

[ionic elbow]

whalord

[upbeat scroll]

lmao i might know him

[ionic elbow]

waluigi

[upbeat scroll]

my ECs were pretty cool tbh

[ionic elbow]

WALREIN

[candid geode]

you actually might

[plush niche]

did u write about pokemon

[upbeat scroll]

he played vgc?

[ionic elbow]

i used to do pokemon cards. i liked the walrus one

[upbeat scroll]

nah not really i did one supp on it

[candid geode]

maybe? he does astro olympiad stuff too

[upbeat scroll]

i was the number one player in the world but it was freshman year

[candid geode]

sheesh

[upbeat scroll]

so it was more a superlative than anything fr

i quit after covid lmao

focused on school

[ionic elbow]

yea, for me i ended up going from debating ed2 to not even applying lmao. because of how low rd is and how much they admit through ed

[plush niche]

bro one supp about pokemon is enough LMAO

[upbeat scroll]

it worked out so that was cool

[ionic elbow]

wtf

player in what ?

like trading or

[upbeat scroll]

nah the video game 😭

[plush niche]

yeah true, but again there's a lot of people at my school who get into uchicago like every round so hopefully it works out

[upbeat scroll]

on the 3DS

[ionic elbow]

whats the pokemon in your pfp's name

[candid geode]

freshman year i was programming arduinos and jailbreaking my switch to autobattle shiny dens on sword 😭

[ionic elbow]

poly sometihng right

[candid geode]

polygon

porygon

[upbeat scroll]

porygon2

[candid geode]

yes

[upbeat scroll]

its my fav we love it

my first major win was with porygon-z

[ionic elbow]

they really outdid themselves with that name

[upbeat scroll]

scarf hyperbeam bullshit

[upbeat scroll]

fr

[upbeat scroll]

lmaoooo

i think my ECs were lowkey the weakest part of my app they were still pretty good though

[plush niche]

wait duuuuuuuuuuuuuude

[upbeat scroll]

i heard pton cares more about stats

[plush niche]

you konw what I just remembered

[ionic elbow]

whats galactic. is that another pokemon

[plush niche]

do u guys know the game impossible road

[upbeat scroll]

nah thats just the discord username i chose lmao

[plush niche]

like long windy road in space you steer a ball on

[ionic elbow]

rainbow road in mario kart 😎

[candid geode]

i was going to do a little fun fact sup on it but it was borderline legal gray area because of the hacking + selling programmed perfect shinies i did later on

😔

[plush niche]

I heard opposite

well obv they care about stats but like

[upbeat scroll]

LMAOOOO my friend who goes to brown made BANK selling hacked mons

[ionic elbow]

i think they're mid. no more or less holistic then everyone else

[candid geode]

yeah 😭 there’s like 0.5% chance test optional

[plush niche]

I think they care about e ssays more here

[candid geode]

they accept something like 10-11% of their class test optional

[plush niche]

like if u have bad essays u have less of a chance than say harvard

[upbeat scroll]

nahhh they take some kids TO

[candid geode]

and the rest submitted

[upbeat scroll]

i retook a 1500 to get a 1580 though 💀

was committed

[ionic elbow]

mmm maybe. would explain why they have 252 essays

[candid geode]

i did not submit my 32

[plush niche]

lmao mine is like the lite version of this. I retook a 1510 for a 1550

[candid geode]

everyone who applied from my school went t/o

[upbeat scroll]

dang really?

[candid geode]

yup only 2 people applied tho

me and a varsity volleyball girl

[upbeat scroll]

oh lmao

where are you from?

[candid geode]

Delaware

[plush niche]

ik a guy who got a 29 on his ACT and applied TO w/ 7 Bs and got in lol

[ionic elbow]

does delaware even exist

[candid geode]

bruh that’s crazy

dude must’ve been ISEF 20x

[candid geode]

yes

because i exist

[upbeat scroll]

my grandma lives in newark

[ionic elbow]

that screams hook hook hook hook hook

[upbeat scroll]

an ex of mine goes to UD as well

seems like a really fun school tbh

[candid geode]

ugh UD

[ionic elbow]

newark is in new jersey

[candid geode]

my safety is OOS because UD is so expensive

[ionic elbow]

right

cause the newark airport

[candid geode]

i am not paying $35k in state

💀

[upbeat scroll]

theres a newark delaware too

[ionic elbow]

oh

[upbeat scroll]

bruh even then

recruit

must be

[candid geode]

I got UofA down to $19k

so that’s my current safety

[ionic elbow]

why is ud 35k in state what lmao

[candid fossil]

It was like 2 weeks ago and one of like 20 schools I’m applying to, remembering their application ccycles wasn’t something I prioritized

[upbeat scroll]

i had a 4.0 1580 legacy URM and i was still scared lmao

[candid geode]

UD oos is $59k

it’s crazy

[plush niche]

nah not at all, pretty lame ECs (just school clubs and one community service thing), but he wrote pretty incredible essays and was URM + QB. @ionic elbow I guess this also counts as your "hook"

[candid geode]

ohh okay

[ionic elbow]

ima be honest i've nver even heard of ud

[candid geode]

yeah that makes sense

[candid fossil]

What’s urm and qb

[upbeat scroll]

i did not know about it until my grandma moved there

ive visited my ex there though

it seems cool fr

[candid geode]

man i’ve got a 4.0 4.7 with insane course rigor and strong ecs and essays but my test score is an L

[plush niche]

underrepresented minority and questbridge

[plush niche]

wanna trade

[candid geode]

nah test scores are Ls anyway

[plush niche]

yeah 4.0 is much better than good test score

[candid geode]

i’m mad that i got pretty much sucker punched by taking the hardest ACT since like 2017

[plush niche]

I have a 3.7 and a 1550

so ur situation is a lot better than mine

[upbeat scroll]

i never even tried the act idk maybe i would have done better

i am content with my 1580 superscore though

[ionic elbow]

i didnt like the act

[candid geode]

also I got a 73/75 english and got a 35

bro tf 🗿

[ionic elbow]

yea thats why i dont like the act lol

[candid geode]

i was so mad

[upbeat scroll]

is that not normal

[ionic elbow]

38/40 on the science is like a 33

[upbeat scroll]

i missed one math q and one english q and got 790/790 cause of it

[candid geode]

no it’s usually a 36 but i got hit with a really harsh test

[candid geode]

bro the test i took -1 was a 34

for science

😭😭😭😭😭

[upbeat scroll]

goddamn

[plush niche]

harsh as in easy + bad curve or the actual test is hard

[upbeat scroll]

thats so rough wtf

[candid geode]

it was the hardest science since 2017

i missed 3 science

and it killed me

[upbeat scroll]

idk how i qualified for presidential scholar with a 1560 composite tbh

[ionic elbow]

act is easy with bad curve. sat is harder with a better curve

i prefer the sat

[upbeat scroll]

kids in my state sucked this year fr

[ionic elbow]

GALACTIC WE GET IT U GOT A 1580 BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYy

[candid geode]

test was decently hard but the curve was awful

[ionic elbow]

the individual questions on the act themselves are easy

but you have to go fast

[candid geode]

the first test i took was a 1390 and i sent it to fucking mit

😭

[candid fossil]

Lmao

[upbeat scroll]

omg

[candid geode]

MORTIFYING opening my mit app to see a verified test score with a 1390

[ionic elbow]

noooo

[upbeat scroll]

i did not send my scores cause i thought i would fuck them up

[plush niche]

that's gotta be like a death sentence

[candid geode]

good thing my math was 700+ else i would’ve been dead

[plush niche]

1390 @ MIT

[candid geode]

but legit

[ionic elbow]

this^

[candid geode]

nah i submitted my newest act

[ionic elbow]

who cares if i save like 15 bucks

[candid geode]

but literally i’m so mad 😭

[plush niche]

to where

[candid geode]

THEY MADE US SEND THEM

[ionic elbow]

YOUR SCHOOL?

[candid geode]

im in a SAT required state

YES

[ionic elbow]

buhh

[upbeat scroll]

goddamn

that sucks

[candid geode]

the SAT is a grad req and they told us to send them to our top colleges

im not sure who else got what

[upbeat scroll]

as far as ones to send to though mit is probably the best

considering it isnt TO anyways

[candid geode]

i intend on checking eventually because it’s going to massively suck if i went t/o at a school and they’re considering my 1390

😭

[candid geode]

true

but yeah hopefully course rigor and ecs carry (+ essays, proud of those)

[plush niche]

same! Hoping my essays carry me lol

[candid geode]

my why princeton/why major essay was so banger

[plush niche]

whats ur major

[candid geode]

astrophysics

[plush niche]

yoooooooo

same

[candid geode]

oh shit nice

there’s so many astro around here

[plush niche]

yeah it makes me nervous

[candid geode]

it’s kinda uncanny why are we all on a2c

[plush niche]

like I thought it was a unique major

somewhat

[candid geode]

i’m lucky i have research

[plush niche]

ye I hope that pulls thru for me

[candid geode]

but it’s not major or anything

[plush niche]

but honestly astro is so niche that I think most people who apply

have research in astro

it's like math or something

[candid geode]

most people who apply will be cracked anyway

[plush niche]

I feel like

[candid geode]

😭

i have a really strong math background

and have research + course experience in astro and physics but am kinda focusing on space policy and/or orbital dynamics

so i hope the niche within a niche aids me

[plush niche]

I think I put astro + aerospace eng

as the two majors

[candid geode]

ahh i like aero eng too

i applied aerospace to gatech

but didn’t really anywhere else

i was pretty set on astrophys

[plush niche]

I think it compliments my app cause I have both aero + astro research and ECs so

[candid geode]

i think i applied astrophys, 2nd was either public policy or math

ah nice nice

[plush niche]

oh that's cool

I wish philosophy was a minor

[candid geode]

same

[plush niche]

I legit was searching for it

for like

a full minute lmao

cause I applied to yale and others w/ philosphy as a second major

[candid geode]

you could put it as ur third major (was princeton 3 majors? idk)

[plush niche]

nah it was 2

[candid geode]

ah okay

[plush niche]

it was 2 majors

2 minors

[candid geode]

yeah no clue what i put then

ohhh okay

[plush niche]

honestly their minors are cool af

[candid geode]

yeah true

i put planets and life ik that

[plush niche]

SAME

[candid geode]

maybe i applied for astrophys + policy and minors planets and life and math probably

[plush niche]

I wanted to put robotics intelligence as second minor but I'm avoiding listing anything CS related like the plague so I don't get lumped in w/ the CS applicants 💀

[candid geode]

fair enough

i feel like astro applicants are still a cracked pool

you’ve got the nasa kids and the big summer program kids and the lab experience kids

[plush niche]

yeah I'm kinda regretting applying astro

even though I have what u mentioned

like I feel like it'd be better to just do aero and philosophy

idk

[candid geode]

it’s small and hard to get into but i think easier than smth engineering or cs

[plush niche]

is it tho?

about the latter

[candid geode]

probably

[plush niche]

well easier than cs for sure

[candid geode]

less people apply for astro

[plush niche]

but engineering department is huge

at pton

[candid geode]

oh true

i applied to princeton mainly because i could get involved in the specific research i want to do freshman year

[plush niche]

ahhh

yeah I wanna do research there as well

[candid geode]

their dynamics dept is huge

[plush niche]

I rlly liked their independent work

[candid geode]

and they let undergrads in on it

[plush niche]

the research program

[candid geode]

which i thought was neat

ah yeah that too

[plush niche]

I think that was a big part of what I mentioned in my app

cause it's a semester long project

so I could experiment with different aero stuff for building a space station

[candid geode]

sheesh nice

you remind me of someone i know

[plush niche]

what state are you from

[candid geode]

DE but he’s from PA

[plush niche]

yeah you don't know me

[candid geode]

or wait nvm he’s from NJ i think

[plush niche]

ye even then

[candid geode]

i don’t think i know you

[plush niche]

Ah lmao

[candid geode]

but he did a lot of cubesat stuff

[plush niche]

misinterpreted

[candid geode]

and did SEES

[plush niche]

oh same

well not sees but

just regular nasa intern

[candid geode]

nice nice

yeah i’m not that cracked

i did SSP astro

[plush niche]

aren't u the one who has SSP?

[candid geode]

yeah

[plush niche]

well you have that going for u

that's like RSI for astro

[candid geode]

p much but i don’t have any real formal experience other than that in astro

[plush niche]

I mean ssp is still cool!

It's a big deal I've heard

[candid geode]

other than club stuff which i started and then an internship w/ the state for policy

[candid geode]

meh it’s more correlation

unless you’re going into astrophys

i’m not rlly cracked but 10/35 ppl from my campus got into hypsm early

[plush niche]

wdym

[candid geode]

i mean the correlation is that if you go to ssp, you go to a better school but it’s ambiguous whether ssp would actually be the decision maker for that kind of stuff

[plush niche]

yeah I got that part

but the unless ur in astro

what's that about

[candid geode]

2 astro publications and 300+ hrs of declared research helps

specifically for astro

[plush niche]

but the "unless" would imply that it's not correlation?

[candid geode]

yeah that’s fair tbh i mean it helps regardless

[plush niche]

yeah for sure

like I said I'm pretty sure SSP is only bested by like RSI and a couple more, you could argue that it's correlation vs causation but I think the program for sure helps u

[candid geode]

but we were told that if you got in you were already strong enough for top schools (which probably isn’t true in my case, i just come from a title I hs in a low income area)

[plush niche]

esp if u continue it and write about it

[candid geode]

yeah

[plush niche]

I was debating applying for SSP but I didn't really like astro that much in mid-junior year so I decided not to 💀

[plush niche]

I mean there's a reason u got in

[candid geode]

i talked a bit about ssp + my astro club + my curriculum & program development internship with the state dept of education in my sups, the difficult convo one was neat too because i referenced a convo i had in TOK

[candid geode]

yea i literally found out about it through youtube

two weeks before the deadline

wrote all of my sups night of

had a recommendation missing but got it in before the deadline for them

no clue how i got in

[plush niche]

ngl that sounds like u wrote a lot about astro in all ur essays! I hope u varied them at least a little bit

[candid geode]

i did ofc

it wasn’t hugely astro bc i wrote about policy a lot too and adapting that for stem

[plush niche]

ah

[candid geode]

princeton gives me civil servant vibes

so i tried to include some of that

[plush niche]

yeah apparently pton eats up service

and my entire gap year is focused on that so I wrote about that in my supp

[candid geode]

i make curriculum and program development statewide implementation plans to submit to the state board which gets voted on in may-ish so i talked about that research and writing in my sups a bit

[candid geode]

that’s neat!

[plush niche]

o that's cool

second major as policy seems to fit u

[candid geode]

yup

i have some minor student gov stuff too and other involvement to back it up

so hopefully that’s fine

[plush niche]

yeah that's neat

honestly I don't have any ECs to back up my philosophy stuff but it's also hard to find ECs for that

[candid geode]

yeah that’s very true

[plush niche]

my graded written paper was a philosphy paper tho

[candid geode]

oh neat

my TOK stuff was too long so i submitted an IB english A HL mock i did well on

[plush niche]

sorry but what is TOK?

[candid geode]

theory of knowledge

it’s basically philosophy but focused on metacognition

understanding the way we think

[plush niche]

o I just looked it up

[candid geode]

and it’s required for the IB program

[plush niche]

IB stuff

[candid geode]

yeah

[plush niche]

yeah that's cool

that's actually super sick

that sounds interesting

[candid geode]

my school is really weird

we’re a massively underfunded public school who has a half assed IB program and offers good dual enrollment

[plush niche]

yk now that we're having this convo I'm thinking of some philosophical insights I could have put in my PS

shit

[candid geode]

did you do your ps on philosophy?

[plush niche]

sort of

there's a weak theme of it

[candid geode]

ah

[plush niche]

but I'm a sg client and he said my ps was excellent so I'm hoping it's pretty good

so idk if I should have rlly changed anything

[candid geode]

what’s a sg client

[plush niche]

I'm at a feeder 💀

[plush niche]

scholargrade

[candid geode]

oh

💀

[plush niche]

his consultation service

[candid geode]

OHH

the reddit guy

[plush niche]

yeah

[candid geode]

i had my english teacher read my ps then i fixed a few things for clarity and that was pretty much it

[plush niche]

yeah everyone that read my initial PS loved it but I had a feeling it was shit

so I hired sg and he confirmed lol

so I redid the whole thing

I didn't rlly like my first draft tbh it was very academic

it was so bad

[candid geode]

i did a very risky ps

if i didn’t have the connections to the topic that i did it would’ve fallen flat

[plush niche]

I wanna clarify this, I'm not at andover or anything in the same caliber but our school sends ton of kids to T20s every year

[plush niche]

same lmao

it took me like a solid month to develop it well

[candid geode]

ah im at a school which 18-21% of students actually consider college

[plush niche]

💀

[candid geode]

and of those, most go to our state flagship or community college

we had our first ivy this year

[candid geode]

i wrote mine in 4ish days i think

spent a lot of grinding time on it

[plush niche]

honestly I think me goin to a high ranked high school helps my GPA situation a bit cause even though there are a lot of 3.9+s at my school As are hard to come by

in some cases like extremely hard

[candid geode]

yeah i’m glad ib is pretty standardized

at my school 4.0s are rare

only the top 3 have a 4.0

and it declines significantly from there

weighted gpa the same

[plush niche]

oh so ur top 3?

that's cool

[plush niche]

which one

[candid geode]

#1 has a 4.73 i have a 4.709 then third has a 4.5

[candid geode]

dartmouth

[plush niche]

o nice

yeah hopefully gpa isn't too much of a prob for me

3.7 is low but still manageable I think

plus I have insane rigor + extenuating circumstances

4.0 would remove so much of my worry tbh

would be a lot more confident

[plush niche]

ngl dartmouth seems so quaint

I'm kinda regretting not applying

[candid geode]

yea def if youve got grade deflation it’s good

[candid geode]

i shotgunned it rd

but meh

i come from a rural area and it’s basically middle of nowhere

[plush niche]

AIN NO WAY

THEIR PORTAL IS STILL OPEN

[candid geode]

mmm i wouldn’t submit now

you can

but i don’t think they’ll read it

[plush niche]

yeah I'm not but that's actually crazy that you still can

[candid geode]

yeah true

i have way too many reaches

but i was really content with my safety so i just went for it

i feel like astro is pretty shotgun-y

UofA is pretty damn good for a safety in astro

esp since with merit aid oos is way cheaper

[plush niche]

Ngl they probably will

Like AOs legit don’t care if u submit late if the portal is still open I think

This is an extreme case tho

[minor sandal]

i think it's on the rise tho
about 20 ppl from my country applied astro this year which is nearly 2-3 times the last time,
it may be a localised effect but reddit and stuff are filled with astrophy majors too

[bitter crow]

omg hopefully you get in!

[plush niche]

Astro’s gonna be BRUTAL this year 😭

Or maybe it’s just sampling bias here

[bitter crow]

What how

[minor sandal]

i have a 3.7 too
I'm in the top 3-4 but school's grading policy is shit, dont worry tho, if you have apt rigor and/or good rankings, you're good to go (atleast thats what im told)

[plush niche]

We don’t rank

Don’t think it would help me anyways, there’s a lot of really smart people here with 3.9+s that are just built different and beat the grade deflation

If I turned in my homework on time more I’d have like a 3.9

[candid geode]

maybe sampling bias

a2c is not the entire pool

but yea i feel like there’s going to be more people with astro lab research applying

most of my cracked astro friends aren’t even applying astro

[minor sandal]

but that raises the question of why proportion of astro majors on a2c is higher than other majors

[candid geode]

because nobody applies astro in our areas 💀

i know of me and a freshman who wants to go into astronomy

[minor sandal]

thats normal tho, ppl often major in physics for ug and then make a leap into their desired fields later on

[candid geode]

/ astrophysics

yeah

i mean some places don’t even have astrophysics so people apply physics and do astrophysics research anyway

for jhu i applied physics

[minor sandal]

i did physics for jhu and stanford

[candid geode]

didn’t apply to stanford

[minor sandal]

but i still wrote my why major for astro💀

[candid geode]

rip

mine was astrophys related

so it should hit regardless

but yea i applied to like, 10 reaches 💀

[minor sandal]

yeah, i tried writing one for physics but it was so artificial i decided to stick by astro anyways

[minor sandal]

i applied to 10 colleges, all reaches💀

[candid geode]

bro

did you apply to any in your country

[minor sandal]

yeah

else I'd be ruined

[candid geode]

ok that’s good

you can’t bank on getting into a reach 💀

did you apply to gatech?

[minor sandal]

nah

wanted to but I had a time crunch so i took gatech and duke out of my list

wbu

[candid geode]

i did

i applied early

[minor sandal]

cool

[candid geode]

for scholarship money maybe

at the time i wanted to do aerospace

i only solidified that i wanted to do astrophys for rd

i only applied astrophys rd

[minor sandal]

wait you did harvard rea right?

[candid geode]

didn’t want to compete with engineering kids

i did

[minor sandal]

so you applied to harvard for astro or aero?

[candid geode]

astro

gatech was the only school i applied aero to

[minor sandal]

aight

cool

btw someone was saying without mid yrs, AOs dont even read apps
is it true?

[candid geode]

not true

unless you don’t have an update letter

[minor sandal]

whats that?

[candid geode]

did you apply anywhere early

[minor sandal]

yeah

[candid geode]

it doesn’t matter rd they’ll view your app

but for early if you get deferred they typically only reread if you send in a loci

or a mid year

[minor sandal]

oh alright, that wont be a problem cuz cornell rejected me💀

[candid geode]

rippp

lucky? i got deferred

💀

[minor sandal]

we had like 5 or 6 astro majors applying from my country💀

[candid geode]

that’s not bad mf

i’m domestic so i still have to compete with all of the astro majors here

i just don’t think there’s many if any in my state

we didn’t send anyone to rsi either so i think i’m fine for geographic comparison

[minor sandal]

um tbh it is, i dont think a need aware school like cornell would've taken 2 aid seeking intls from the same country for a major with a relatively minuscule class size (which they didnt)

[candid geode]

that’s fair but you still have astroly

[minor sandal]

yeah i'll give it a shot ig

[candid geode]

all you can do is try 🤷‍♀️

[minor sandal]

fair🫡

[fleet badger]

what are your chances if you get deferred REA?

[terse sequoia]

There’s always a chance! (Albeit it’s pretty slim)

[fleet badger]

💀

[pallid notch]

What kinds of topics are typically discussed in the interview? My interviewer was a humanities major whereas I want to pursue math+physics, so I'm not really sure how to approach it(my only previous interview was for MIT where the interviewer and I talked about my research and other projects in detail).

[minor sandal]

based on a friend's experience (he got interviewed yesterday), interview's dont concern your major
what got you interested in that major, what you hope to accomplish by pursuing it etc are general questions any interviewer can ask you
although it is much better to get an interviewer from your major but it doesnt matter much cuz most of it it about personality eval

[cursive sparrow]

pton already sending interviews?

[shy fiber]

completely bombed my interview 😭😭😭

[upbeat scroll]

Bombed as in

What did you do

[civic bone]

^

[plush niche]

He kissed them

[candid fossil]

It’s not yale it can’t have been that bad

[tranquil flame]

Isn't that usual

For yake

[obsidian pilot]

are they sending based on availability or like ones they’re considering?

[candid geode]

availability

[obsidian pilot]

gotcha

[cursive sparrow]

they're sending based on availability and basically in order of submission

[upbeat scroll]

really????

where did you get the submission order thing from

i submitted like a day before the REA deadline and got my interview really quickly

[plush niche]

I submitted my app at 11:41 and my supp at 11:59 💀

[upbeat scroll]

fire

[cursive sparrow]

rea usually have lots of interviewers based on number of rea applicants are few

[shut dawn]

no way in hell, i submitted on Dec 31 and got my interview assigned Jan 2

[peak lantern]

yea they’re just sending based on availability lol

I doubt they even read your app before sending the interview

[shy fiber]

I froze on the first tell me about yourself question and sputtered some gibberish about how I liked physics and wanted to go to Princeton 😭

It ended up being barely 25 minutes long

[peak lantern]

That’s alright

Most interviews are roughly 30 mins or so

25 is good

And anyway remember, 99% of the time an interview won’t affect ur app negatively

It’s just a matter of how positively it impacts your application

[shy fiber]

Maybe I had too high expectations because I had an MIT interview that lasted over an hour a few days before

[shy fiber]

Yeah that’s reassuring

[peak lantern]

Yea that happens sometimes when ur really vibing

[plush niche]

I haven’t gotten any interviews yet and I live in a really big city

💀

[cursive sparrow]

same here

[cursive sparrow]

where u from

[shut dawn]

princeton

[cursive sparrow]

state?

[minor sandal]

he literally lives next to pton, take a guess which state

[cursive sparrow]

ohh

thats why he had an early interview ofc

[cursive sparrow]

why didnt u apply rea to pton

[shut dawn]

because it wasn't my top choice?

[foggy merlin]

my interview was really good! for context, i'm an applicant from the uk - i got an alumni interview ('22) from the uk who's now in nyc. we chatted for about an hour and seemed to click super well which i was happy about - when he asked me what subjects i take and i mentioned that i was into ai, he SPRINTED to get and show me his master's thesis which was so cool 😭

(it was on zoom to clarify)

and yeah it went really well, he kept on saying that he loved my answers and that he could tell i was passionate about everything but not solely just interested in ai and that type of stuff, he said he saw a little bit of himself in me and knew that i would make the most of and contribute to princeton's community which was really sweet 🥲

he spent lots of time trying to convince me to attend princeton which was really lovely but i'm ngl in my head i was like bro i'm legit trying to convince you it is in your hands my brother in christ 😭 but hopefully he writes a lovely report and i actually get offered a place because i've been low-key fanboying over princeton recently

all in all, really good and fingers crossed, went perfectly considering originally i sent him a zoom meeting and google calendar invite entitled 'Princetown Interview' 💀

[shy fiber]

This was my interviewer and I already had my Princeton interview yesterday so I’m really fucking confused

[candid geode]

yeah no clue

[upbeat scroll]

Contact them about it

[candid geode]

maybe it’s just that he hadn’t written your write up yet

and that’s why

[shy fiber]

Yeah but it was at an office with multiple other interviewers and they picked mine at random based on whoever was done at the time

[cursive sparrow]

cool

[candid geode]

i think they do

i haven’t gotten an interview yet

might just be no availability

[cursive sparrow]

yup

[cursive sparrow]

me too............i'm international tho

[candid geode]

i think i’ve said this but the only times i’ve gotten interviews is when interviewers from other regions have been assigned to me

had that happen for mit and harvard

they didn’t have enough interviewers in my area so they gave me one from oos

[sudden sparrow]

Hi

[dapper shoal]

I had my interview in Starbucks and it was super chill

[vague glade]

in my loci do you think it would be okay to briefly mention my older sibling who's doing her phd at princeton? i would connect it back to myself, of course

[sudden sparrow]

why would it not be ok? in all seriousness, i dont see any benefit from mentioning something like that, especially since princeton is undergrad focused

[upbeat scroll]

You probably already reaped the legacy aspect, I wouldn't include it

[candid geode]

i don’t think you should name drop her

you could say that she told you about x experiences or research and now you really want to do them at princeton

[vague glade]

that makes sense, thank you!

[foggy merlin]

princeton's the most goated because i sent my interviewer a thank you note and he actually replied in the most wholesome way

all my other interviewers aired me 😔

[candid fossil]

Oh that’s annoying, I have only had 2 interviews but I’ve been lucky with my interviewers

[pallid notch]

I’m going to be a few minutes late to my interview due to engine problems. Is there any way I can explain that to the interviewer, or should I just not mention it?

[candid fossil]

Did you allow some contingency time

[pallid notch]

Yeah, the engine problems took 30 mins to fix

[compact cipher]

Text/email/call them you’re running a few minutes behind

[candid fossil]

Yeah don’t just leave them waiting, they might leave

Definitely let them know

And just be apologetic and stuff and they should be alright about it

[pallid notch]

Alright. I just did that and it turns out they are running 15mins late.

[foggy merlin]

Yeah mine were really nice too, I suppose they just don't usually reply to thank you notes

[candid geode]

what do you expect them to respond with to a thank you

they have probably tens of applicants left to interview

they likely do read it and smile

[pallid notch]

Damn, I forgot to mention almost all of my most significant extracurriculars in the interview.

I also completely forgot my Why Princeton answer lol.

[candid fossil]

Haha I did that too, I just tied in all my other responses to it as I remembered parts

[candid fossil]

That’s not a bad thing, interviews are for them to gauge personality and fit, not accomplishments

The AOs already know about your ecs

Having the interviewer reiterate them isn’t going to help you

[pallid notch]

It wasn’t really accomplishments. By significant, there were accomplishments, but the extracurriculars in question were significant to me and I didn’t write about them in my essays(I had wanted to but there was no good way to do so that for Princetons questions).

[candid fossil]

Oh I see, I still wouldn’t worry too much

[compact cipher]

All of my interviewers have responded to my thank you notes lol

[upbeat scroll]

Yeah same

[plush niche]

u should email them back to initiate a midwestern style email goodbye 😈

[candid geode]

maybe just a me thing 💀

oh fuck i totally forgot to thank my mit interviewer

[minor sandal]

its fine, idts that has any impact on your report

[candid geode]

yeah he said to remind him in a week and a half if he hasn’t submitted the report

[minor sandal]

maybe hit him up then

[candid geode]

he said he’d email me once he submitted it

i had it last wednesday

i’ll remind him next monday

and send my thank you

i said thank you before the meeting ended (duh)

i always thank them on the spot

[minor sandal]

i'd like to comment further but i've had a grand total of 0 interviews💀

[candid geode]

lmao

i’ve only had 2

dw

total

between rd and ea

💀

[plush niche]

I'VE HAD ZERO 💀

[candid geode]

that sounds like a you issue

jkjk

[plush niche]

well acc I had one for a safety but I ghosted her however

I got in so

💀

[candid geode]

i’m sure you’re an autoaccept

🥰

[plush niche]

plsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

💅

I know there's some damn availability in my area too

I live in a huge city

[minor sandal]

dw the process is gonna go till 31 march, we're not even into feb yet

[candid geode]

idk share that availability with me too

💀

[plush niche]

💀

clearly u need to give some to me

ms. two interviews

[candid geode]

idk i’ve gotten rlly lucky

yea both from out of my region

i’m just an auto accept

🤷‍♀️

[plush niche]

ez

[candid geode]

high priority

ez

I fr thought i was high priority for harvard 💀

i was like why is my interviewer a md phd in physics originally from my state like 20 years ago who did harvard grad caltech undergrad

i was convinced i was special

dude was from another country

[plush niche]

this reminds me of nathan

the dude on reddit

[candid geode]

he fr had me convinced i was high priority

[minor sandal]

whoa, dude sounds cracked

[candid geode]

to GET DEFERRED 😭

[plush niche]

there was this dude on a2c who was convinced he was getting audited @ stanford rea right before his acceptance

[candid geode]

he was and he was very pleasant to talk to

[plush niche]

cause his prof emailed him "good luck" back to his email he sent a month ago

on like dec 1st

[candid geode]

💀

lmfao

[plush niche]

........he was rejected

lol

[minor sandal]

portal astrology sucks fr

[plush niche]

I mean it's not portal astrology

like if u look at it

it kinda makes sense

how it could be an audit

also I got audited 2 weeks ago 💀

that was scary

[minor sandal]

it does yeah, but it could also mean prof liked his app, put in a good word but AOs didnt like him

[candid geode]

wait huh

for which school

bro i’d cry

[plush niche]

colorado school of mines

[candid geode]

do they audit everything

or certain activities

i literally have a lor from both of my top 2 activities

[minor sandal]

what major you applying for

[plush niche]

idk but my counselor told me they called him to verify

[plush niche]

engineering

I got in alr btw

couple days ag o

[minor sandal]

cool

[plush niche]

ya I was SHAKING

[minor sandal]

[plush niche]

I was lookin over my app like "IS THERE ANYTHING I EXAGERRATED"

[candid geode]

💀 “raised $100,000,000 for charity”

oopsie i accidentally added 7 0s…

[plush niche]

but yeah ig that's a reminder that schools do in fact audit ur apps

[candid geode]

yeah that’s cool tbh

one of my friends made a club for college and got in to an ivy

like wrote sups about his club too

like it was a real thing

[minor sandal]

there was a dude on chanceme who had raised 1.2 million 💀

[candid geode]

1.199 million of that was from their parents

[minor sandal]

ofc, but still

[plush niche]

Wait it was not real???

[candid geode]

no

i mean he made it but he never did anything with it

[plush niche]

Oh

[candid geode]

he showed up to club fair and had 40 people join it

and then never did anything with it at all

and said he never intended to

[plush niche]

I thought u meant it literally didn’t exist 💀

[candid geode]

but he monopolized the fact that he had it

[plush niche]

Which Ivy is he at

[candid geode]

dartmouth

[plush niche]

Nice

Also the scariest thing is

I didn’t even know they were auditing my app

And my counselor didn’t reach out

[candid geode]

sheesh

[plush niche]

What happened was that I didn’t get my decision back when I was supposed to so I called the admissions office to ask what was going on

[candid geode]

what did they ask your counselor to provide?

[plush niche]

And they said my app was going through an audit

To verify stuff

[candid geode]

omg

[plush niche]

They were so sweet about it though

She was like “it’s nothing to be nervous about”

[candid geode]

aw

[plush niche]

For some reason, they wanted to verify my senior year courses (because it was legit an unthinkably hard courseload), and then some school awards and positions I had

[candid geode]

i mean they just call your counselor and they say “yes, x person did these things”

ohhh

that’s cool