<p>Here's my typical "Am I good enough thread":</p>
<p>Do I have a fair chance of making it into the Ivy League? Do you have any suggestions for me?</p>
<p>Tests:
-SAT: 800 CR, 790 M, 720 W (10 essay) = 2310
-PSAT: 231, (Yep, great prediction ^) currently a semifinalist for a Nat. Merit Sch.</p>
<p>Grades/Rank/Classes:
-4.0/4.0
-Ranked 2/170 (grrr.... hopefully going to pass #1)
-Taken AP US History, don't know my score yet
-Taking AP Stats next year. This and APUSH are the only TRUE AP classes my school offers. (The others may be called "AP," but they don't prepare you for the test and nobody actually takes the test. e.g. My AP English Lit. and Comp. class is basically a community college class that is pretty much unrelated to the AP test)
-I will most likely self-study for said AP Eng. Lit. test next year, AP Spanish, AP Calc, and maybe AP Chemistry</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
-Captain of Academic Decathlon Team
-Captain of Quiz Bowl Team
-President of the Math Club
-Member of National Honors Society, will hopefully be President or something
-Various sports, but no leadership in them
-Member of my church's "hospitality team" for 8 years. We serve communion, pass the offering plates and stuff.
-Going to El Salvador on a mission trip this July. (I'm paying for it myself. Can I use that?)
-I've had a job at a grocery store for nearly a year now and during the summers since I was 14 I've worked in the cornfields.
-I've also volunteered at various other places, (soup kitchen, elementary schools, etc) but not for more than 15 hours each.</p>
<p>Other stuff:
-I'm a white male
-I live in the midwest
-I'll be a senior next August</p>
<p>Some ideas I have for my profile:
-Join the Spanish Club, although it's a complete joke
-I have a passion and facility for Spanish, so I might pitch my essay around my passion for it and the trip to El Salvador. (Is a mission trip too clich</p>
<p>Just reviving my thread so someone might answer it.</p>
<p>I think you’ll do just fine. It doesn’t seem like you’ve taken enough APs; but that doesn’t really matter, plus it may be the school that’s limiting you.
Oh and AP chemistry is very challenging; if you are able to self study it, then that’s quite impressive.</p>
<p>First off, loving the username.
Now:
The essay idea, passion for Spanish being pitched and truly being discovered as a result of mission trip is quite cliche but that’s my opinion. I for one, would be impressed if you’d started ordering a Spanish newspaper and then presenting that in your Spanish club. That’d be interesting. Try that for an essay idea? Your call, good luck!</p>
<p>You have a chance. Your chance will be higher if you can make yourself sound unique. You can do this with your essay(s) and by deciding which ecs to highlight. So an essay about working in cornfields might be good for an east coast school.
Essays should show not tell (about you.) The mission trip could be cliche- it depends what specifically you write about. Think about what makes you different and stand out from all the others applying to the Ivies. It won’t be the Nat Honor society.</p>
<p>If you are passionate about something, make sure that you write about it and also have your recommenders highlight it. </p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>Maybe I will write about working in cornfields. I can show how I learned the importance an actual hard day’s work. </p>
<p>And how many AP’s should I have? Is 4 sufficient? Although the colleges would only have received the score for 1 by the time admissions decisions are made.</p>
<p>whoops posted the same thing twice</p>
<p>my school doesnt have very good “connections” with harvard; but the two kids who got in both took around 11 by the end of senior year, 6-7 by the end of junior year</p>
<p>btw… </p>
<p>not saying that harvard is your choice of ivy, but those same kids got into Princeton, Yale, etc as well; also some of the kids who got into Cornell and Penn had around 9-10</p>
<p>My school has basically no AP classes though. While it has 5 that are technically called “AP,” only 2 actually prepare you for the test. The others are just called AP so students can say they’ve taken a (faux) AP class. </p>
<p>My school offers:
APUSH - We all took the test
AP Eng. Lit. and Comp. - Took the “class,” no one took the test, although I’m gonna self-study for it next year.
AP Eng. Lang. and Comp. - Haven’t taken the “class,” but no one who did took the test.
AP Stats - No one in the history of the class has taken the test, but I’m going to take it next year.
AP Government and Politics - Not taking the class because I’m taking an Advanced Anatomy class, but the students actually take the test. Plus it just doesn’t sound interesting.
Calculus - Not even called “AP,” but I know someone who took the test anyway and got a 5.</p>
<p>Yeah, my school is kind of lame. How do the admissions committees know what AP classes are offered at your school? How can I let them know that most aren’t really true AP courses? If I’m “working against the grain” and taking the tests in classes where most (if not everybody) don’t take the test, isn’t that a good thing?</p>
<p>in terms of EC’s, I’d present working(at farm and grocery store) and church activities as your two main EC’s. joining school clubs and going on mission trips are cliche/boring activities. definitely write about working on a farm in your essay. i think you can fill the “underprivileged but brilliant/determined Midwestern guy” niche at HYPSM but you need to show yourself in an appealing way that makes people want to help you out.</p>