Can I make it into an Ivy League School?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm probably a little different than most people that want into get into the ivy leagues. I want to get into a business program. I dont have perfect grades and perfect attendance and perfect test scores but heres what I will have by the time I send in my application.</p>

<p>Public School 9-11 grade: 3.5 GPA with a really heavy courseload. Hardest courses include Calc 2, Human Anatomy, Chemistry II, Physics, Advanced Biology. My GPA is 3.5 but my grades go down to a C sometimes mostly because I got bored in highschool. </p>

<p>Senior Year: For my senior year I am taking correspondence classes and I will get an accredited diploma. I'll have 5 courses with A's. They arent extremely hard courses: English, psychology, computer animation, environmental science, art.</p>

<p>College courses: I am taking 3-4 classes at Penn State as a non degree student with A's and maybe a B or two but hopefully A's. I haven't scheduled these yet but I will be in April. I was accepted to Penn State but I really want to get into Yale, Harvard, Princeton, or University of Pennsylvania next year. </p>

<p>Work Experience:
1 year at Larson Texts as a Math student working on The best selling calculus book.
1 year as a kitchen staff manager/cook at a restaurant.
A few other miscellaneous restuarant jobs.
I have been working my ass off since I was 14. Right now during my senior year I've been doing anywhere from 35-60 hours a week on top of school and I hope they look at this especially.</p>

<p>Extra Curriculars:
I did Cross Country in 10th grade and went to states. Our team took 2nd.
I attended Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week during my sophomore year.
Swimming in 10th grade.
Track in 9th and 10th grade.
I had to stop doing sports after 10th grade to work.</p>

<p>Tests:
I only got a 1230 on the SAT. I only took it once. 710 on the math and 520 on the verbal. Not as good as I wanted.
I'll have some pretty good scores for these by the time I apply: ACT, SAT II tests in Physics, Math Level II, Chemistry, AP Calc test. </p>

<p>Letters of Recommendation:
I'll have one from my calc teacher and one from my physics teacher.
I'll also ask Ron Larson (Author of the best selling Calculus book) to write one for me since I know him personally and have worked for him. </p>

<p>I want to apply to Yale as early desicion for the 2006-2007 school year and to Harvard, Princeton, Penn and Cornell as regular. Like I said I havent got impressive grades or test scores but they are good and my courseload was pretty good in highschool and I've worked my ass off since I was fourteen and have pretty impressive jobs for being 17 years old and if I get an interview I'll definitely do a good job with that.</p>

2

<p>The Ivy Leagues will definitely be a reach for you, but you never know.</p>

<p>Some tips to help you get into Ivies or other good schools:
-Improve your verbal score to at least 600, 650 would be better...
-If you are not in the top 10% of your class you will have a really hard time (esp if that 3.5 is weighted)</p>

<p>Some schools that would be more reasonable that you should look into for business are:</p>

<p>-Super Reach: Northwestern, UChicago
-Reach: University of Michigan, USC, UCLA (if youre in Cali), Carnegie Mellon, University of Michigan
-Match: UWisconsin</p>

<p>I do not know how they would respond to your phenomenal work schedule. Maybe you can shoot higher, but this is my guess.</p>

3

<p>Yale, Harvard and Princeton do not have undergrad business programs. All of the ivies will be major reaches.</p>

4

<p>This is a little off-topic, but..I have been wondering about the value of a job. How much would having a part-time job help me in the app process? I mean..any job I could get would be a menial one, like scooping ice cream or something. Is it that valuable as an EC?</p>

5

<p>Thanks, that 3.5 is definitely not weighted. I always hated the kids who pussied out and took easier classes so it wouldnt hurt their gpa. My school was really screwed up and i wish they would have had weighted grades. I'll definitely look into the other schools that were mentioned. I haven't looked into the Ivy league schools too much in depth because I've been lost in what I want to do with my life and after reading a number books and websites I know that I want to get into the best school I can get into and if I cant make it into an ivy leage school now then maybe I can make it into the Harvard MBA program after I get a bachelors. After looking more into some of the schools I'm looking at are University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, (both of these are really stretches but its worth a shot) Carnegie Mellon, University of Chicago, MIT. I'll look into more schools but this is a start. Like I said before Ive been kind of lost. The past few years I've been in out of states of depression and I didnt put effort into school. I pulled off a 3.5 with 25+ hours of work minum while at school without ever stuyding. I really am bright. I'd say the smartest or at least 2nd smartest out of the public school I went to. I was always bored and unsatisfied with school and the ****ers wouldnt do anything for me despite numerous attempts to get more out of my education. But college will be different. I'm hoping that my work experience and taking a few tough college courses will help me get into a really good school next year.</p>

6

<p>Ivy, the thing you have to understand is that top colleges have so many very qualified candidates that they are not forgiving of most lapses during high school. I think you would be wise to focus on some great schools below the ivies and keep your dream of Harvard or a like business school. Also, don't mention your depression in college apps! Good luck!!</p>

7

<p>hey, don't get discourage, i have similar stats, and i still applied, these people do give great advice, but i am optimistic, we'll see the results on march 31-april 1st, if i get in, you'll definitely get in.</p>

8

<p>I dont know whats going to happen and I may end up just hoping for Harvard Business school after I graduate. I know not to mention my depression on apps or interviews. I was treated when I was younger but Ive stayed away from treatment for the purpose of not having any records of it. I've read a lot and talked to a lot of people to help pull myself out of it and I'm finally on track with my life. Maybe I can't make it right off that bat but at least I have goals and a plan now which is much of an approvement over where I was in the past two years. The best I can hope for right now is to get an interview with a pretty good school next year.</p>