<p>I feel like I don’t have anything AMAZING like some engineering contest winner… but is this enough to get me into top colleges and ivys (not necessarily HYPSMC) if my academics are up to par…? </p>
<p>Sports:
Varsity Tennis Team (9 10 11): 3 varsity letters so far; scholar athlete award every year; coaches award (10); MVP award (11); captain (11); undefeated league champs (10). i also play year round two times a week.</p>
<li><p>Varsity Swim Team (9 10 11): 3 varsity letters so far; scholar athlete award every year; been swimming since i was 6…</p></li>
<li><p>Varsity Cross Country Team (10 11): 2 varsity letters so far; scholar athlete award every year</p></li>
</ol>
<p>~plan on continuing all senior year but NOT in college… do NOT want to be recruited… want to focus on schoolwork in college…~</p>
<p>Clubs/Awards Things.
National Honor Society (11): will be officer (12)</p>
<p>~maybe some more, i know not a lot at the moment haha</p>
<p>Volunteering:
volunteer at an animal shelter a few times a week beginning at start of junior year (5hrs per week); i care for the homeless cats and dogs, feed, walk, play with, travel to the mall to showcase some on weekends and raise awareness of the shelter, recruited a few people from my school to help out there.</p>
<li><p>volunteer making sandwiches for homeless once a week (11)</p></li>
<li><p>tutoring/homework help: once a week (11) : history, spanish, and math</p></li>
<li><p>babysitting (does this count): but a lot</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Work:
work part time at as a certified lifeguard and swim instructor. teach kids of all ages how to swim… 2 times a week (6ish hours… more during summers): (9 10 11)</p>
<p>Also, I will be in the classroom this summer taking classes. </p>
<p>~thanks a bundle, please be honest~ i will be sure to chance back just leave a link=]~</p>
<p>I think you have strong EC’s, but you’re right that they don’t look eye-popping-ly Ivy League. However, if your grades are strong and you do a good job in your interview/essays and are a good fit for the college, your chances are as good as anyone else’s. :)</p>
<p>no, but its not too late (but it’s getting close)
sports mean next to nothing if you aren’t a recruit
you seem pretty athletic though. Could you be recruited for swimming?
volunteering also doesn’t mean as much as people think in college admissions (but that’s not to say you should stop doing any of it), unless you wholeheartedly do a certain thing and show significant passion–not just in volunteering and helping others, but a certain area. It seems like your most potentially interesting activity is your work with the animal shelter. Are you passionate about this? If so, can you work at a vet zoo, national park, or reservation this summer? Could you work at the shelter more often and for more time? Do you have related academic interests? If so, could one of your classes this summer be either environmental, biology, or something related? Could you begin an activist, awareness or service project? Do you have an environmental club at your school? If not, could you start one? The most important thing is to show that you are passionate about something and accomplished in that area.</p>
<p>As you stand now, unless you are at the top of the pool academically, you won’t have much of a chance. Pick up some more activities this summer and if possible, try to get recruited for swimming. That way, assuming your academics are up to par, and the schools will still be hard to get into, but you’ll have a much better chance.
I hope this helps you out!</p>
<p>What you are lacking is some sort of academic club at school (like debate, math team, science olympiad, newspaper, whatever). This is completely understandable, because of your sports’ commitments, but top colleges may not view it that way. Try doing something during the summer. Like an internship, or program at a college, or whatever, besides your summer school. If I am correct, your fall sport is cross country, which I don’t think (correct me if I’m wrong) requires a huge time investment and constant practice throughout the early parts of the summer summer to stay in top form. I think just one academic club in something science/math related either in the summer or next year (right? because you are applying to MIT and Caltech) will go a long way.</p>
<p>Anyways, you stand little to no chance to get in to Caltech. They don’t care if you are an all-state three sport athlete, or if you are an amazing, well-rounded person. They openly admit that pretty much all they care about is unbridled science and math passion. They say stuff like science olympiad doesn’t cut it, and you’re not doing anything really science/math specific, so yeah. You might as well apply there, but don’t except anything.</p>
<p>thanks for the input guys! hahah sorry i am NOT applying to caltech or HYPSM… i know i dont stand a chance at those already… ill probably be applying to more like georgetown, upenn, william and mary OOS, boston college, nyu, tufts… maybe ill throw in princeton for the hell of it actually haha</p>
<p>I’m a junior in high school and I’m also in a similar situation. My academics are stellar but I’m lacking in extracurriculars. Ideally, I want to go to an ivy league school, but I don’t think I’ll be that competitive. Does anyone have ideas that could help me?</p>
<p>Here my my non-academic activities and honors:</p>
<p>*Flying lessons since freshman year (hoping to get licence by next fall)</p>
<p>*Worked at an amusement park last summer</p>
<p>*Volunteer tutor at school for past two years</p>
<p>*Worked as a tutor last summer</p>
<p>*Participant in community service group at school (averaging about 2 hours per week both during and after school)</p>
<p>*Inducted into National Honor Society in junior year</p>
<p>If flying’s your passion, play it up and you’ll have a better chance; your other ECs are good, but most Ivy League applicants will have things like that. What do you mean by “stellar academics”?</p>
<p>I have a 3.92 unweighted gpa in a (relatively) academically rigorous school. My PSAT score is 222 which qualifies for the semifinals in the National Merit Scholarship Program, but my SAT score will probably be higher (I took it 2 days ago so the results aren’t in). I think most of my scores will be in the upper 700’s with a possible 800 in the math.</p>
<p>You have nothing to worry about. You have very strong ECs. An academic award can help you stand out, but keep in mind that even USAMO qualifiers and UPhO medalists are rejected by the HYPMS schools. Just be yourself and hope for the best. </p>
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<p>Perhaps if you really enjoyed babysitting, you could bring up something memorable in your essays. It can help you be more personal in your essays.</p>
<p>I want to point out that my son got into some top colleges with NO academic type ECs. His ECs were all focused on music and theater. I don’t think it matters what kind of ECs you do so long as you show focus, committment and leadership in the ones that you do have. You have demonstrated those things so far in the ECs that you have so I wouldn’t worry too much. The fact that your employment is related to your ECs is also a good thing. I think you will be fine. Don’t try to cram something else in just because you think it will look good on your apps. Continue to do the things you love and let your passion show through on your essays.</p>
<p>i think you’ll still have a tough time with those colleges. It’s certainly possible, but follow the advise in my first post, and show a true passion that you will continue in college, and you’ll be more than an academically strong applicant–they have tons of those at all of the schools you mentioned and it will take a lot of luck to stand out. A passion will make you more interesting to your schools. With your current ecs, you’ll be fine for BU and Villanova and you have a very good shot at a couple others on your list. However, if you want to have a decent chance at upenn and georgetown, your best bet is to use your ecs to get there. As a graduating senior, I just witnessed the importance of this in admissions. Students who had great grades, but bland ecs were waitlisted or denied from top schools. They typically found another great school, but it was a shock to everyone when see one person with so-so grades get an acceptance, and a brilliant student with near perfect grades get rejected. It wasn’t the randomness factor that did this and it wasn’t that one student was a legacy and the other was not. It came down to the students who show passion in their ecs and those who don’t.
I think you can have a really great chance at your first choices if you find a way to make your activities more focused around an area of interest to you, perhaps animals, and preferably write your essay about that.</p>
<p>Like many have echoed, you need an academic EC. Is there a reason why you haven’t picked one up?</p>
<p>You might want to get an insane number of service hours/community hours to make up for it this summer then (that, I have heard, also counteracts not have an academic EC)</p>
<p>the flying lessons & license thing is great–very unique and interesting. I know a pilot like yourself going to princeton next year. That said, she also was a legacy and had a strong academic interest
do you have an academic passion?</p>
<p>I have a strong interest in philosophy. I’ve read several books on it and I’ve probably printed out hundreds of pages worth of articles. I also think almost perpetually about philosophical issues. In fact, when I first became interested them, I distinctly recall being alarmed by the rapid change in the content of my thoughts; in a seemingly short period of time, philosophy went from being something that I never thought about to being one of the most common things on my mind.</p>