Am I Ivy League material?

Applying to College
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<p>I am currently a junior in high school! Can you tell me if you think I'm on the right track for an Ivy/whether I have a chance of getting into one? My DREAAAM school is UPenn or Columbia, but I also really love Princeton, Brown and of course Harvard. Other than Ivies I would love to go to a top private college on the east coast, such as UChicago, Duke, Georgetown, etc. I'm from California and think I have a pretty good chance of getting into top UCs but I really do not want to go to a UC or stay in CA for college...an east coast private school is my dream! I go to a very good public school in a pretty wealthy suburb in the Bay Area.</p>

<p>Grades: All A's so far with a few A-'s here and there (one frosh year, two soph year). The classes I took:</p>

<p>Frosh year-Band, PE, Biology, Health, Spanish 2, Honors English, Honors Global Studies, Honors Algebra 2</p>

<p><em>Took Honors Chemistry over the summer</em></p>

<p>Soph year-Band, Spanish 3, Honors english, Honors Precalc, AP World, AP Biology</p>

<p>Junior year-Band, AP Spanish, AP English Lang, AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry, AP US History</p>

<p>Senior year (what I plan to take)-Band, AP English Lit, AP Statistics, AP Gov/Econ, AP Psychology, AP Physics</p>

<p>GPA: UW 4.0, Weighted no idea but I have straight A's so it can't be anything bad...</p>

<p>Test Scores: SAT I: 2330 (One sitting, Oct 2011) Ughh wanted a 2350 :'(
SAT II: Biology-760 Math II-800, going to take Chem (hopefully better than 760 so I'll replace the Bio one) and Spanish
PSAT-237, probably going to be NMS
ACT-Going to take in June, pretty confident I can get a 35-36</p>

<p>ECS: Marching band all 4 years, first chair flute soph year, got into the highest band at our school this year, trying to get first chair again next year in the highest band, also trying out to be a section leader next year (I think I will get it)</p>

<p>Volunteer work-I have 50+ hours at the local soup kitchen, also I volunteer at our hospital every week and will probably have 100+ hours when I apply.
I really want to take a trip to somewhere in Latin America this spring break and volunteer there, helping out the people in a small town. (Also hopefully it will help improve my spanish for the AP test hehe). In the process of planning the trip.</p>

<p>My BIG EC and main focus in high school was DECA-I joined the club frosh year and have regularly qualified for the International conference, and have won many awards (1st, 2nd, 3rd) in numerous events and district and state level every year. It would be long and boring for me to list out every award so I am not going to. Also, soph year I tried out to be a state officer and got the position, so I have been state officer of CA DECA (Northern California VP) this past year. My term is almost up, not sure if I am going to re-run because of how busy I am + how much it conflicts with other activities. </p>

<p>Part of other small clubs in my school like UNICEF (do a lot of volunteer work with them too), Linguistics, and helped start an MUN club at my school (was VP of it last year)</p>

<p>Soon going to start Interning for my city's local Newspaper, shadowing, writing articles, etc</p>

<p>Last thing whoo! Currently applying for summer internships such as SIMR (Stanford), BLIPS (US Berkeley), COSMOS (UC Davis), one at UPenn, etc, so hopefully I'll get into at least one of those.</p>

<p>My main interests are Business/Media communications, and Biology. My absolute dream job is to work in media (be a sportscaster for ESPN, hehe I love sports) but I know that's not very realistic...since I also love biology, I'll probably end up going to Bio research or Biotech or something.</p>

<p>Sorry this is so long...what do you think? Where do I have a chance?</p>

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<p>Yup, you are East Coast private college material. However, you seem to be more “cooperative” rather than “competitive” judging by your writing style. If this is so, I would choose schools with a supportive atmosphere rather than a competitive one. This will require you to deeply research your options and choose a school that fits you. I would also visit these schools personally rather than go to one sight unseen based on reputation. My kid got into the top UC’s and we would have sent him to one until we visited them. As a result of experiencing the schools directly, we actually chose another college after those visits that matched his goals and learning style. It is too far and too much of a change not to visit the schools. Here is a tip, you may want to visit them in Winter. For a California girl, you really want to see just how cold it can get back East.</p>

<p>Another big tip is to focus on your passions for the future in your essays. Yes, your track record is a great help. But what they want to see is that combined with a vision of your future and what you want to create in the World.</p>

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<p>What do you mean by cooperative vs competitive? And so you think I have a good chance of getting into those top schools, even, say, Harvard?</p>

<p>I have already visited the colleges, last December. UPenn, Columbia, and Princeton really stuck out to me the most and were places that I immediately could see myself going. As for the east coast, one of the reasons I want to get out of California so badly is because I hate the weather here! I want the experience of snow, rain, wind, chilly winters, etc, and also the East Coast big city feel. Visiting last December really made me fall in love, and it’s been my dream and goal to go there ever since.</p>

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<p>

Lol can we trade places? It was 15 degrees today here in NY. I’d gladly live somewhere warmer. ;P</p>

<p>Are you Ivy League material? Yes. Unfortunately, that does not mean you will necessarily get in, because there are more qualified students than there are spots. Good luck!</p>

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<p>I’d LOVE to be in New York right now!! Haha thanks, is there anything you suggest I focus on/any advice for applying to the Ivies? Do I even have a shot at places like HPYMS, or are the lower Ivies/privates a better match (well, reach, I don’t think they are a match for anyone) for me?</p>

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<p>Your best bet this summer would be a free, competitive summer program like RSI or TASP. They go a much longer way to impressing than a paid for program.</p>

<p>You have abnothing here that would keep you out of an ivy or peer. The question is-what will get you in? You need to stand out from the pack of very qualified unhooked (and probaly ORM) applicants from CA. That’s a tall order. Think. Plan.</p>

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<p>Stand out…isn’t that what the entire application is for? Could you be more specific? Do you mean through my essays…or what exactly do you mean?</p>

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<p>an intelligent girl who likes sports… nice :)</p>

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<p>no i believe they are not just talking about your essays but for you to look for a program such as the ones she mentioned in which you can participate and help yourself stand out from the many others who have all A’s and have volunteered much time aka most the people on the Ivy League Forum</p>

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<p>Have you visited the East coast over winter? It can be hard to adjust from CA. It is cold from like Oct - May. I used to live there :)</p>

<p>Anyway, jokes aside, your resume is impressive. Hope you get 5’s in all AP and continue to get As. The only thing is you will have to find a way to tie in DECA and your Bio major together. I think internship is the key this year. You said you are writing for a newspaper and then you are in DECA and you like Bio. So my only thing would be make sure you have a clear passion next year when doing your essays. And from what I’v heard, get stellar recommendations. Sometimes when all things are the same, a not 110% recommendation can break the deal. Good luck.</p>

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<p>and i definitely agree with seahawks506 lol</p>

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<p>Nah. Colleges are looking for bright, accomplished, interesting people. Passion, however, is overrated: it’s amorphous and immeasurable. You don’t need to tie everything you do together in a neat little box. For what it’s worth, my main ECs were debate and creative writing. Some schools latched onto the “girl in debate” thing, others onto the arts. Many of my peers had similarly diverse interests (and, hey, Natalie Portman was both a national science award winner and an actress before attending Harvard–hardly compatible interests).</p>

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<p>Natalie Portman would have gotten into harvard just for being Natalie Portman :)</p>

<p>We have also been told that you need to show like a T…clear spike in one area but conversant with other areas. I see DECA in the OP’s post. And she likes Bio…and then she wants to be sports caster. I dont know…unless the essay reflects some cohesion one way or other…it may seem like she is indecisive. Though I heard UPenn has dual major combos that would be great.</p>

<p>And why are you taking ACT with a 2330 score?</p>

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<p>My DREAM is to be able to get into UPenn’s dual program at Wharton and CAS (Business and science schools)…that’s how I would fit in both my passion for biology and business. Like I said the sportscaster thing is kind of a far off dream…haha I guess my main problem is being interested in too many things. But I do feel like I’ve accomplished significant things in both business (DECA awards, state officer) and science (research, internship) to show them my passion.</p>

<p>I’m taking the ACT for the hell of it, I think I can get a perfect so why not? It wouldn’t hurt me in any way. If I don’t do well, at least I have a solid SAT score to fall back on.</p>

<p>Thanks for the opinions! Any other advice guys?</p>

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<p>I don’t understand why applicants who know that they are very qualified and almost physically cannot improve (4.0 GPA, 2330 SAT, great ECs), somehow come off as sounding like they have no chance at any top 10 college. I mean, if they are that smart, shouldn’t they realize that they are great candidates with those stellar stats?</p>

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<p>Okay, well where I have grown up it is VERY competitive and people with “stellar” stats like me and much better get rejected from the top schools! So how can I not be unsure? My school is one of the toppers and we barely have 1-2 people get into Ivies a year, and a few more get into top privates. I wouldn’t even consider myself stellar when compared to what some of my classmates are doing. But your post was definitely a confidence boost for me…so you would consider me a good candidate in comparison to the rest of the nation? I only have perspective of myself chances in comparison to my school and local area, which is why I view myself and my chances much differently than a neutral observer might.</p>

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<p>Your SAT/GPA/EC are all in ballpark. Then it is a toss up between other candidates in your school and region. The reason I was mentioning passion and sure, that is not always what gets you in, but clearly I think the ivies are looking for an excellence in something other than pure academics. Your band EC is great to have. I think you have a great chance in at least one of the ivies. Like I said, Essays and recs will matter a lot.</p>

<p>Having said that, I see lots of kids out here obsessing over an Ivy. It really is not a make/break situation. I have seen a bunch of kids who really really wanted to go brown or Northwestern or Carnegie mellon but then actually chose their state flagship even after they got admitted to one of those private ones. Aim for your dream colleges but be aware that it is a toss up (go check out the admit threads) and someone like you will shine where ever you end up going.</p>

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<p>Exactly ugotserved834. They just want everyone to tell them they are smart.</p>

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<p>The east coast winters lose their whimsical “chilly-ness” pretty quickly hahaha. </p>

<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC App</p>

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<p>Thanks…anyone have any other advice?</p>