♡ Anonymous

do you think that colleges take absences into consideration? i have a medical condition that causes me to miss A LOT of school (i believe it was around 20 days last year) and it just occurred to me that it could hinder my chances of going to my first choice. i take some honors classes and my gpa is a 3.8 but do you think that the absences would hurt me?

Make sure that your guidance counselor mentions in his/her recommendation that your absences were health-related, and you’ll be fine. They’re not going to penalize you for health issues. 


♡ Anonymous

Are the international students given equal opportunity to do research?

Everyone is required to do research, so yes!


♡ Anonymous

are u willing to edit essays???

No.


♡ Anonymous

do you know anything about the archaeology program at Princeton? thanks :)

I don’t, unfortunately! The department’s website is here: http://www.princeton.edu/artandarchaeology/

I’d suggest you take a look around, see if it can answer any of your questions. If you visit campus, drop by the archaeology building — people are usually willing to talk to prospective students about programs and whatnot. 


♡ Anonymous

I was accepted SCEA to Princeton and I'm so excited! I I'm curious about the foreign language requirements (I'm planning to major in a humanities field). From what I can tell from the website, 3-4 semesters are required--is that correct? Which are considered the "easier" ones? Do you have to have prior experience to begin any of the languages? Thank you!

First of all, congrats!! Princeton’s a wonderful place, and I hope you end up coming! Let me know if you have any more questions :)

I honestly don’t know much about the foreign language requirement, because I placed out! I believe you need the equivalent of 3-4 semesters, but that doesn’t mean you actually have to take all of those semesters at Princeton. I got a 5 on my AP Spanish exam, which was enough to exempt me from Princeton’s foreign language requirement all together. If you’re not taking an AP language class, you can take a placement test via Princeton over the summer, which will let you know how many more semesters you need to take. If you do relatively well on the test, you’ll probably only need to take 1 or 2 semesters.

I’m not sure which languages are considered the easiest, but you certainly don’t need to have prior experience to begin! There are introductory level courses in all the languages. I’ve heard great things about the Portugese department, but I’ve never actually taken any classes there myself.


♡ Anonymous

I got deferred to RD for Princeton :c I see people planning to send in letters to explain why they want to be accepted or additional recommendation. Would it be helpful or would it just annoy the admission office?

It would definitely be helpful. It makes a huge difference to let the admission office know that you really want to be there. 


♡ Anonymous

Hi there! (you can answer this privately if you'd like). I was just accepted early action into Princeton today, and I'm incredibly excited. Would you be willing to answer a few questions about the school for me?

Absolutely! Ask away, and congratulations — Princeton is a fantastic place to be.


♡ Anonymous

Is seventh grade too early to start preparing for the SAT?

Oh my god yes please calm down you are going to give yourself a heart attack 


♡ Anonymous

is it sophomoric to write about how a glee character has influenced me for my common app essay, even if i acknowledge that it's a campy, somewhat lowbrow show?

So long as that character has had a genuinely profound impact on your life, go for it. I wouldn’t recommend writing an essay that’s just “this character means a lot to me because they’re awesome yaaay” - you’re not writing an ad for Glee. But if there’s a story behind your connection to the character, go for it.

The purpose of the essay is for colleges to get to know who you are, so you want to make sure that you’re true to yourself. If you have genuinely been influenced by a Glee character, then that’s who you are and that’s great. Just make sure that the essay focuses on you as opposed to the character. 

And don’t worry about it being sophomoric - I listed Lady Gaga as my favorite source of inspiration on my Princeton application, and they didn’t seem to mind. 


♡ Anonymous

When do accepted students weekends take place? Are they mandatory?

Accepted students weekends are not mandatory, though they are very helpful when it comes to making a decision about where you’d like to go to school. 

After getting accepted into a school, you’ll get information about their accepted students weekends. You get invited to their campus for a weekend full of events: sitting in on classes, attending panels, going to open houses, eating in the dining halls, living with a current student, etc. The point of an accepted students weekend is to give you an idea of what life is like on campus. 

I only went to two accepted students weekends - UChicago and Princeton - because they were the two schools I was trying to choose between. I found the weekends exceptionally helpful in figuring out where I wanted to go.