<p>I'm currently a sophomore in high school. I have a 4.0 GPA, I take ALL Pre-AP classes (I'm also two years ahead in math; precalculus instead of geometry), but I have not done any extra curricular activities or volunteer work.</p>
<p>I intend on going to Columbia School of Business, UPenn, or NYU Stern and major in marketing management. I have all A's and I take my SAT next year. I'm an EXCELLENT test taker, so there's no doubt I'll score in the 2000's. I'm also a write and have written several outstanding essays for an immensely strict English teacher who's very hard to amuse. </p>
<p>My only problem is that I haven't participated in any extra curricular activities. For my junior and senior years, I'm probably going to join BPA (Business Professionals of America), but I'm wondering how far my grades will take me. I want to know if I have a chance of getting into these Ivy Leagues with little to no outside school activities. I'm extremely ambitious and have high hopes and dreams. I crave nothing but success and I refuse to settle for less.</p>
<p>No or one EC for those schools isn’t going to cut it unless that one EC is incredible or you have familial obligations that you’ll address in your app. If you’re ambitious, why can’t you be involved in ECs? Starting now is better than nothing.</p>
<p>Columbia’s school of business is a graduate school, the U has no undergrad business program. I’m not sure what your question is but you have 2 years to build your ECs.</p>
<p>Find some activity then. Some good strong community service will do you some good as a person as well. Will having zilch hurt you? It could. These schools always have more students that are quaified than they can accept and they often have a point system of sorts in terms of whether they accept or not. A big fat zero on ECs is going to hurt you when you know there will be kids with your same resume in terms of grades and test scores, and recs that have a nice EC section as well.</p>
<p>You should look at the common application (you can google it) and see what it requests. I think you’ll agree, you’re going to look very weak with empty boxes where they ask for EC activities. Additionally, I’m pretty sure you have to write a brief essay about one of them. Definitely find something you enjoy. Volunteer some as well. Religious? Do something at church. Like animals? Volunteer at the shelter or with pet adoptions at a local store like Petco (groups are always looking for help). Tutor someone. Join Key Club. National Honor Society will want you to volunteer and have suggestions if you’re lost. Start a club- maybe a Model Wall Street or something where you pretend to manage portfolios; that could be interesting to other future business students. Or, get a job for the summer. There are a multitude of options but the others are right; doing nothing will be a recipe for disaster at schools you want.</p>
<p>It’s going to be hard but it’s not impossible to get your ECs into shape. The one thing I can tell you is that if you don’t get your ECs well-developed, those colleges will be immense reaches. The problem is that there are far more students with 4.0 GPAs and 2300+ SATs than top universities have room to accept, so it often comes down to ECs and awards. If you need ideas, I suggest looking up the Official Decision threads on CC from the universities you’re interested in to see what caliber of ECs it takes to get in.</p>
<p>It would be a longshot without ECs. Ivies have tons of people with perfect scores and amazing GPAs that apply and get rejected because they don’t have any ECs. Since you’re a sophomore, it’s not too late to start. Try starting a business club at your school, join Key Club/Model UN, or something like that, NHS too, start your own business, something.</p>
<p>Because with just grades, there is no way you’ll be admitted to those schools. :/</p>