Hi, I am a sophomore entering my junior year in high school and I am wondering if I could get into an Ivy League school. I’ll state my qualifications, grades, and EC’s.
4.0 UW GPA
4.84 W GPA
All A+'s so far except for an A in Honors Precalculus
1st in my class
All honors classes freshman year
2 AP classes sophomore year (AP Lang and Comp and AP Biology) and rest honors classes
5 on AP Lang exam
4 on AP Bio exam
760 on Biology SAT Subject Test
Debate Club
Member of Varsity Tennis Team (2 MVP awards)
National Honor Society
Volunteer work for parish and nursing home (30 hrs, not much)
Applying for a minimum 50 hour volunteer commitment at my hospital - hoping to get 100 hrs by end of junior year
Member of JV Soccer Team
Junior year I’ll be taking AP Physics, AP Calc AB, AP Lit, APUSH, and Portuguese IV Honors
I have yet to take my SAT
I hope to join a lot of clubs this year, I most likely will drop soccer. Might get involved into student government or a position in NHS. Definitely joining Portuguese club and considering Science club.
Thank you for the feedback!
You can apply definitely
Thank you
Ivies are reaches for anyone, but you’ll never know unless you apply. You have good stats, just keep up the grades and try to score above at least 1450 on your SAT.
It’s not all about stats. OP, if you learn what the elites look for, you’ll know how to tweak your own choices (in hs, outside the hs box, and the college targets themselves.)
No one should apply just because they can.
If you keep up your grades, then definitely. Just make sure you get some more volunteer hours and maybe some leadership roles
Simply joining clubs to stack your resume is rather commonplace (i.e. destined for rejection). What do you do excellently? Find those one or two things and continue to do them. Do you enhance those around you? (and I’m not talking about vol hours which are meaningless).
I think that ^ means meaningless volunteering, not that volunteering is meaningless. Because it is an expression of your awareness outside your own little world. And, done well, kids can take on challenges other than a few hours here and there, just showing up.
But T26E4 makes a good point about not just focusing on more hs clubs (and not dropping soccer just for that.) Try to get an idea what your college targets look for.
@lookingforward I am not dropping soccer for the sole purpose of joining more clubs. I just don’t enjoy the sport anymore and don’t perform well enough to make varsity. Anyways, I am aware of the entire concept that in order to catch the attention of elite colleges you must find a subject or area hat you really excel at and work to achieve on a state or national level. As for the idea that volunteering and joining clubs is completely meaningless, I am going to have to disagree. It certainly won’t set you apart from other applicants but the lack of hours and involvement will surely mean something, no?
“you must find a subject or area hat you really excel at and work to achieve on a state or national level.”
Nope. That’s what kids think. Partly because they only know what raises a kid’s creds in high school. It’s true that that level of achievement is good. But elite adcoms look holistically, not hierarchically (after your academics.)
@lookingforward I said I was aware of the concept. But as you pointed out, I am not necessarily so sure of how valid it is. After all, I’ve known plenty of people that have gotten into colleges such as Harvard, Brown, UPENN, and Cornell without achieving on an extraordinary level.
I’m not sure why you mentioned it, then. We aren’t saying clubs are meaningless. But you won’t be applying to transfer high schools, it will be for the leap to college- and you mention Ivy level. You need to dig into what they say they value, what matters to them in their campus community, the attributes, experiences and more. This is more than stats and checking off some hs activity and maybe some titles. Or claiming some “passions.” Make wise choices. Have some idea what those are. Even if you know of kids who got into elites, nearly always, something more had to be there.
Not trying to influence you to stay with soccer, but as an example, some kids stay with a sport for the commitment it shows and the sense of team. Just try to learn about what the match is for your targets and how you will show it on your app and supps.
Read [url=http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways]this[/url] before you
If you are changing up your ECs to improve your chances at an Ivy League college you should know that you are more likely to hurt your chances than help. Depth gets more cred than breadth, and real (objective) achievement / growth / leadership counts. “Discovering” a new interest in your college-prep year doesn’t leave you much time to show depth, commitment, etc- and selective colleges keep an eye out for people who are trying to plump up their app with new ECs. Real you > trying-to-impress you.
In the meantime, you should also learn about the differences between Columbia and Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell, UPenn and Harvard, etc. Remember, also, that although a handful of names have good international recognition, there are many other colleges who are viewed as being tippy-top that do not belong to that particular sports league. MIT (cited above) included.
Sorry, depth and wisely chosen breadth is most always the safer bet than the eggs in one basket approach. The elites are not looking for unilateral. The nick is to know what wisely chosen breadth means. I know people feel kids shouldn’t twist themselves into pretzels for a tippy top. But once a kid decides on nearly impossible colleges to target, they need to be on their game. They need to know what that game is.
Note, the nuclear reactor kid, despite his “passion” and the level he reached, was rejected. That alone points to something more being needed.
I suggest only joining clubs in which you’re really interested – don’t just join to pad the resume.
Adcomms are all different people so their preferences will vary, but I imagine most would rather see you get heavily involved in, and be passionate about, one or two clubs than to just skim the surface – “show up” – at 5+ clubs.
And as others have said, yes, the 4.0 GPA is impressive enough for the most selective schools. Doing well on the SAT or ACT is another thing that you want to be able to achieve. I think 1450+ or 33+ is a fair goal.
Also, remember to add some matches and safeties to your app list. Make sure you like each school and can afford it, with a manageable amount of debt at graduation.
@collegemom3717 I know the difference between the Ivy Leagues you mentioned.I live 30 minutes from Boston so I would say I am fairly acquainted with MIT lmao. I only mentioned those universities because those are the universities that my friends attended. Don’t assume.
@lookingforward And yet it seems completely random. This year a student got into Harvard from my school without being extraordinary in anything really. Maybe it was nepotism, maybe it was luck. I don’t know. But you can clearly get in without being a savant.
@collegemom3717 Also, on another note, I am not just joining those clubs for my application. I love science, and the teacher that runs the Portuguese Club has been one of my best teachers throughout my entire education. I also enjoy Debate. Trust me, I don’t force myself to do things to please others. In this case I want to impress colleges, but it just so happens that I enjoy the clubs I am a part of. That is part of the reason I am quitting soccer. I really don’t enjoy playing it anymore. However, I still love Tennis.
Sorry, but Harvard doesn’t say it’s looking for savants. I’m advocating doing a little digging into what they and others do say. Not just local recognition. Your choice.
@lookingforward That is exactly what I said… Please stop with the condescension, this is an online forum. Get a life.