<p>You do not sound like someone who has a snowball’s chance in hell of getting into Harvard, Columbia or Stanford, and I’m not basing this judgment on your grades.</p>
<p>@Ghostt
Of course you aren’t basing this judgement on my grades, you’re basing it on what I can only assume is your interpretation of the level of my communication skills and command of the English language, in what I understood to be a relaxed setting. I’m sorry I didn’t insert an SAT Word of the Day (rather than my chosen vocabulary for 11:00 PM on a school night) into every location imaginable, you pretentious ******bag.</p>
<p>@Radicalness
Ghostt was talking about your s**ty attitude, bro. If it’s this hard for people to communicate with you on the internet I can’t even imagine how hard it is in real life.</p>
<p>"I ****ed myself as a freshman. I didn’t like school, didn’t like my teachers, thought that the work was stupid, etc. I did not complete many of my assignments, and ended up with like a 92.7 AFTER Pre-AP bonuses. "</p>
<p>That *<strong><em>es me off. Since when has 93% been *</em></strong>? WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO THIS WORLD WHERE ANYTHING OTHER IVY LEAGUES IS FROWNED UPON?</p>
<p>If you get into a top 100 school, and you do well, you will do fine! It doesn’t matter if you can’t get into an Ivy league! Your attitude in your replies in this thread also shows how weak you are. Buddy, reality will hit you. You have NO CHANCE at the Ivies.</p>
<p>That said, there are SO MANY AMAZING colleges that you can get into. UT Austin, UIUC, Umich etc. are all GREAT schools. Be realistic and forget about the ivies, and realize that not going to one will not hurt you one bit.</p>
<p>If you get your grades up and get a solid SAT, you’re going to have a good shot at a lot of great universities. Schools like Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford are worth applying to if you really love them, but it’s a long shot for everyone, and even a longer shot for you with a lower GPA. </p>
<p>Like others have said, there is no mold. They like valedictorians, but they also reject 82% of valedictorians that apply. They like perfect SATs, but they also reject 2400s all the time. I would say the BEST ways to increase your chances is to win prestigious awards and competitions, and get some impressive internship/work experience under your belt. These things obviously aren’t easy to accomplish, but that’s what makes them really helpful to an application.</p>
<p>As for things to your profile that ANYONE can do- joining clubs, volunteering, etc- while colleges like to see you doing these and being well rounded, it’s not going to set you apart or sway any admission committee an an elite school. These things are practically expected of all applicants. If you aren’t doing them, you probably should, at least a little. Look for things that will make you unique, rather than the status quo activities.</p>
<p>Anyways, if you manage evens some of this stuff, you’ll increase your chances at top 20 schools and practically secure a spot in a top 100.</p>
<p>@AsianFaiI</p>
<h2>You think I have a <strong><em>ty attitude because you imagine me furiously typing these responses, as if I’m actually angry, as if I am actually trying to be an </em></strong>*. Your opinion of my attitude can only be the result of two things: first a sample bias, in that you are receiving a very tiny sample of what I am really like as a person, and second, a complete misreading of what I am saying. </h2>
<p>THE ONLY TIMES that I have had anything derisive to say to someone (with the possible exception of my response to MommaJ, however I don’t think calling someone cliche is particularly derisive, and I wasn’t actually dismissive, it’s just that what she had to say was obvious) were when they acted as if they were an Ivy League admissions officer, as if they understand the intimate details of these schools’ admissions processes. If you don’t know, you don’t know, there’s no need to spew trite ******** or manipulate my questions to make it sound as though I am asking something that is fundamentally unanswerable. Just because you (particularly those of you who are not alumni, as I take it most of you aren’t) don’t know whether I stand a chance does not mean that no one else has anything meaningful to say. I’m not even looking for a direct answer, necessarily, to this question, but don’t waste your time and mine by giving a meaningless, and in all probability, unfounded, response. Let it be clear that I’m not looking for positive responses, either. I would actually much rather hear from someone that had something critical to say, so long as they provide a basis for their criticism</p>
<p>It is a simple question: what can I do to better my chances at my dream schools? </p>
<p>The basics are obvious, and I’m doing my best right now to cover those. I’m currently holding a 99 unweighted this semester. I’m studying a lot more than I used to, completing homework early, making 100s on quizzes, and I’m confident that this trend will continue when we get to our unit tests, and high grades on unit tests will, in turn, help me secure my goal grades even more easily. I’m about to begin a study group with some of my closest friends (one of them is currently the #1 class rank in my class, another is #4) specifically with the goal of a 2300+ on the SAT. We’re essentially going to take about 20 practice tests (studying over our answer choices thoroughly, both correct and incorrect, of course) and make a ton of DH flashcards, studying over these as well, until we have all 400 down (possibly continuing to Barron’s 3500). I’ve been planning a lot for the SAT I and SAT II’s, and I think with the right preparation, high scores on these tests are well within my reach.</p>
<p>I’ve also got several ideas in the works for organizations/clubs for myself and my friends mentioned above to start that would meet several needs in our local area that I do not see being met (tutoring, among other things).</p>
<p>Having said the above, let me make it very clear: I do not expect to go to these schools, I dream of going to them. I have fully prepared myself for rejection from all of them. My motivation is not based on any kind of faith that I will be accepted, only the hope, only the possibility of attending. I regret the past 1 1/2 years of my academic career, and honestly, I know I could have done much better, even in middle school when I did make straight A’s. If I could do it all over again, I would, in a heartbeat, but I can’t, and that is one of the central points I want to get through to these schools, if nothing else. All I can do now is precisely what DrGoogle mentioned: look forward. I am making the best efforts I can right now, and this is all I can do. In the event that I am rejected, which seems likely at this moment, I will come away from it, knowing that I made steps to better myself, whether they resulted in achievement of my ultimate goals or not. If I don’t go to Manhattan or Palo Alto, as others have mentioned, I still have decent-great chances at other fantastic schools (Carnegie-Mellon, Duke, Rice, UTA is essentially a safety school).</p>
<p>So, at the end, this all comes down to one final question: How can I best channel these efforts, with respect to my goals? I’m not asking which classes I need to take, the answers are obvious, and I’m not asking what EC’s I need to have, this is not for any of you to answer. The best advice, as I see it right now, has already been given, and I have put it to good use. I’m in the process of climbing to 2200 Elo rating (chess) to become a FIDE Candidate Master (CM), with the goal of later become a FIDE Master (FM). This game is one of the few things that I am passionate about, so it only makes sense to pursue it.</p>
<p>A thank-you to those who tried to be helpful, you were.</p>
<p>@Pancaked
Thanks for your reply, very insightful. I’ve actually spent quite a lot of time thinking about what I could do in this area, with the main problem being that there aren’t a lot (roughly 0) of Fortune 500 companies in Central Texas that I can intern at, which essentially forces me to take some sort of unorthodox approach to this. While this makes the task slightly more difficult, I think it makes it equally more impressive. The way I see it, starting a successful organization like those that I’m considering would seem a far greater feat than being an intern at Dell. I don’t know. I need to read my WHAP chapter and prepare for my essay…</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You should improve because you want to be better for your own benefit. Not to get into a specific school. Unfortunately, none of us can say if anything mentioned here will get you in. So are you saying that, if you do everything suggested and don’t get into one of those schools, you are going to look back and regret it and think it was worthless? Because even kids with incredible stats don’t get in, so your chances are pretty low. But being a better student and becoming involved in extracurriculars will benefit you in many ways going forwards with your life, so they are good goals to have regardless. Chances are you won’t get into Stanford/Harvard/Columbia (though you never know), but you’ll have a good shot at schools like UMich, some UCs, and top LACs like Vassar and Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>@born2dance94
Read reply #26 all the way through, specifically the 6th paragraph. I don’t plan to be accepted, and I essentially say what you said.</p>
<p>However, I disagree that you shouldn’t improve to get into a specific school. Maybe this shouldn’t be the only reason, but you can’t discount someone willing to go to great lengths to get into a school, for its own sake. If they have weak, superficial reasons for wanting to go to that school, then sure, but I want to go to these schools, not because H and C are Ivy League, or that they are all top schools in the nation, rather it is the correlative of them being top schools; no other schools boast quite the entourage of amazing, interesting, and unique students and faculty of these schools, and very few would provide the same experience. I’m all about experience.</p>