Im a sophomore in high school.
My school isn’t that good, and neither is the state I live in.
What is your best advice on how to get into an Ivy League school or otherwise good school? (Top 15-20 in the US)
As in, what classes, scores, extracurriculars, etc. do I need?
Thanks in advance!
Assuming you hit the academic marks, the best way to secure a spot in my opinion is by being an athletic recruit.
Top scores, as many AP/honors classes as you can take, exceptional talents or extracurriculars. And then after all that, it’s still a crapshoot.
And if you cannot accomplish the above, fear not: plenty of people didn’t attend Ivy leagues and lead perfectly happy and successful lives.
Having a focus in one or two areas that you love. schools want well rounded classes as opposed to people, so show that you’re really good in your field of interest and that you want to do good with it
For now you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardized tests.
–Getting involved in activities you care about and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.
When the time comes asses your academic stats (including GPA, standardized tests, course rigor) as well as your financial needs and apply to a wide range of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (you will have to run a net price calculator for each school you consider) and that you would be happy to attend. You need to expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.
Hey. So, I think that there are three main things top 20 colleges look for in your application: whether or not you have the ability to do the work, what you will contribute to campus and whether or not you are a good fit. You can show your ability to do the work through good grades and test scores. For grades, I suggest doing your best to get mostly A’s (a few B’s is not the end of the world) and to be in the top 10% of your class. Don’t worry about how “good” your school or state is; it won’t impact your admission. For test scores, I suggest trying to get a score in the 98th or 99th percentile. If you aren’t hooked (meaning something along the line of an underrepresented, recruited athlete, or a legacy), then a 99th percentile score (1460ish+ or 33+) is ideal. However, it is possible to get in with a lower score. In fact, I know someone who got into Wash U with a 22 ACT (but something like that is incredibly rare). For subject tests, over 700 is usually sufficient.
In terms of “what you will contribute to campus” this refers to the quality of your extracurriculars/essays. You want to have a couple of main focuses. These show colleges what kind of person you will be on campus. It’s important to remember that colleges might not be looking for someone with your focuses; they might not be looking for a writer, member of the robotics team, photographer, etc.
The final factor is fit. Some ways to show that you are a good fit are writing really good essays that show you know the school and demonstrating interest. Demonstrated interest can include applying ED, visiting campus, contacting admissions officers, interviewing and applying for scholarships. Top schools that don’t look for demonstrated interest are Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Brown, Vanderbilt, Caltech, Dartmouth, Amherst, and Williams. Top colleges that care a lot are Wash U, Tufts, Rice, Emory, Notre Dame, and U Chicago.
Overall, getting admitted to these schools is such a crapshoot that it’s important not to get hung up on rankings. The ranking or prestige of a school will not make or break you. If you are driven enough, you can be successful and happy anywhere. The name on your diploma does not define your life. I think the poster above sums it up well. Make sure to enjoy high school.
Also, the top 20 schools are all very different. Don’t apply to all. A person who likes Dartmouth, likely won’t like Columbia. Someone who likes Vandy won’t like Caltech. Some questions to consider are: Do you like large schools (Berkeley, UCLA, U Mich, USC, UVA, NYU, Cornell) or small schools (Williams, Dartmouth, Amherst, Pomona, Bowdoin, Rice, Caltech) or something in the middle? Do you like a present Greek presence and party scene (Vandy, Penn, Dartmouth, USC)? Would you like to go to school in a city (Columbia, Penn, Harvard, MIT, U Chicago, Rice, Vanderbilt, NYU, UCLA, Cal, USC, Wash U, Georgetown, Emory) or something more rural (Bowdoin, Williams, Amherst, Dartmouth, Notre Dame)? Are sports important to you (Duke, UNC, U Mich, Northwestern, USC, UVA)? Do you want a strict core curriculum (Columbia, U Chicago) or more flexibility (Brown, Wash U)? Do these schools have the programs and extracurriculars you want? Basically, sophomore/junior year is the time to start visiting colleges to get an idea of what you would like in a school.
Make sure you have safeties and targets that you really like (also make sure they’re truly safeties. A rule of thumb (even for a competitive top 20 applicant) is that a safety is a school with a 50%+ acceptance rate). A few cautionary tales from posters who banked on getting into a reach:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1312785-anybody-else-get-rejected-from-every-school-they-applied-to-besides-safeties.html
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1877282-rejected-by-all-8-ivy-leagues-with-straight-as-and-2270-sat.html
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1313532-rejected-to-every-school-now-what.html
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1876770-what-did-i-do-wrong-p1.html
Please note that these posters had either safeties they didn’t like, safeties that weren’t really safeties (UNC and UVA are NOT safeties for anyone), or had no targets. Be careful not to make these mistakes.
Just realized this is very long (oops) so I’m going to wrap it up. I was recently admitted to a school that I think counts as top 20 so let me know if you have any other questions and I would be happy to answer them.
@justdreaming thank you for the detailed answer! I will definitely take what you have said into consideration. If I have any other questions, I’ll be sure to ask you! Thanks again.
Oh, and congrats on getting into a good college!! @justdreaming
Get the best grades and scores you can. Apply…but don’t have an expectation of getting in. Harvard gets 35,000 applicants for 2,000 slots. It’s as much dumb luck as it is grades. The best school is not the ivy league. It’s the school that fits your personality and interests. Research a lot of schools that have decent programs based on what you want to do. Rankings are subjective and based entirely on opinion. The selective one should be you, not the school.
Don’t aim for certain schools. Find the schools that fit your own criteria. Those will become clearer the more college research you do, and the more you try things in HS.
look up Shan Patel, he was in a similar situation and was accepted into USC, Brown, and Yale
i wnat to get into good school too
First of all, coming from a “bad” state may not be bad! If you’re from a state they don’t usually get many applicants from, you bring geographical diversity. Seriously! Someone who got their Harvard file (after they got in) saw that an admissions committee member had written on it something like, “They fill the North Dakota box.”
If your high school is not academically rigorous, the best way that you can show that your good grades at that school are meaningful, is to get a high standardized test score. For that reason, I would suggest that you start preparing for either the SAT or the ACT. It was my son’s experience that it was easier to prepare for the ACT. If you start early in high school, it is very feasible to achieve a decent score.
Beyond that, think of what you like to do, and get involved in an extracurricular activity that you enjoy, and try to go as far as you can with that - leadership roles, awards, etc.
I want to add one important thing: don’t become another “standard issue” candidate. The most heart-rendering posts on CC are written by seniors who fell for the same stupid and toxic advice. Eagle scout - check. Model UN - check. Debate team - check. Vice-president of the student council - check. Excellent grades. Great test scores. Applied to 15 of the top 20 schools. Rejected everywhere, sometimes after being on the waitlist until August. Crushed. Reflection: this was all for nothing, why did I waste 4 years on things I hated but was told that’s the straight way to heaven, a.k.a. Harvard?
On the other hand, we have all these jazz musicians, chess players, bird watchers, Pacific Crest Trail hikers, and other people who do pretty cool stuff that is their own, getting into the Ivies and similar places for being themselves. And if they don’t get accepted, who do you think is better off?
That is great advice. People get caught up in applying to all the Ivies or all the top 20 and they are all so different. I get if you are going for a specific program, sometimes you overlook differences. But for the most part many are chasing prestige without thinking about fit.
That’s so true. Follow what you love to do. That passion will show in your essays and it will set you part. Mostly you will be happy doing what you love and the rest falls into place.
Top schools are not looking for cookie cutter students.
I’m a Jazz musician, golfer and boxer. The three don’t seem to go together but I wrote about them and interweaved all three. I dropped debate after the first meeting and if I didn’t I would never have the time to pursue these three things that I actually loved.
But. but your hands! Your lips! How could you be a jazz musician AND a boxer? Seriously, every time my kid went to play football with his friends in the backyard (seemed like all the nerdy smart music boys LIVED in my basement and backyard, all weekend and most days after school), I worried about him hurting his hands or lips.
Even the drummer has to watch his hands. How could you safely do jazz and boxing?
Old thread. Closing.