Chance a High school Sophmore

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello I was wondering CC’s opinion on my chance of getting into different ivy league schools depending on my stats and what I should be doing in the next couple years to get into a college I would be happy in. Some schools I were looking at were Harvard, Cornell, Yale, and MIT.

Female, Hispanic, Texas
Interests: I love math, science, art and music. When I go to college I think I want to persue a math degree. I am in AB Calculus this year (meaning I am three years ahead) and would love to do more “math” things but there is no math club at my school. I would love to participate in the doing some of the math olympiad tests and math olympiad style questions but i do not know how to get started. This year I am in AP Bio and Chemistry at the same time. My honors biology teacher asked me to be in his AP class this year. I do 3D art, I am hoping one of these years I will go to state for one of my art pieces. I am in band, play percussion, I am not the best, but next year I do have a pretty good chance of becoming front ensemble/ pit captain during marching season, however i am not sure yet if i want to be on the drum line next year.

APs: First time taking APs, AP bio (good chance of getting a 5, solid 4), AP calculus AB (good chance of getting a 5, solid 4), AP world history (maybe a three? The AP world history teachers are really bad and get primarily 2s every year. I am taking it mainly for the GPA boost)

Grades/ Rank :
Right now I am 16th in a large city public high school. However, I do not know of any other sophomores taking 3 APs this year so hopefully at the end of this semester I should get a very high boost in my ranking. I am an all around A student.

Future Testing : I plan to study for both the Math 2 and Biology SAT subject tests and try to get them out of the way by the end of this year. This year I took a school sponsored PSAT, i have not yet got the scores back, so i am wondering how much an indication of my scores on the PSAT will be if i took an actual SAT.

Worries: I am worried I do not have enough extra curricular and leadership positions. Like I said I want to get more involved with math things but I am not sure how. I am not involved with any clubs, except jazz band, which is bad, but then again i have heard you don’t have to be involved with a ton of clubs.

What I want to do in college: Like I said before, I want to study math. In addition, I want to study more science and maybe do a research project? I heard some schools sponsor undergraduate research. Honestly I just love academia, I really just wanna learn more about everything and become a more educated and cultured person, thus college is extremly exciting to me! I love the arts, and would love to study film (though I have never done before) and continue doing portfolio art.

Any suggestions on what I should be doing are greatly appreciated. Thank you :slight_smile:

2

The biggest thing you can do right now is get involved in more extracurriculars. As a sophomore, you shouldn’t be worrying about standardized testing or even college chances yet - do some sports, academic teams, join clubs like student gov/newspaper/whatever you’re into, be a tutor, volunteer at your local shelter, etc. (Starting a math club would look really good since your school doesn’t have one yet.) If you’re 16 you should even think about getting a job. Since you like math so much, do a cool summer program in it this coming summer (app time for those is generally mid-to-late winter.)
No, EC’s are not as important as your transcript, but they’ll be the next thing colleges look at after seeing your numbers and you do need to have a few things on there including leadership positions. You don’t want to look like all numbers (and I know you’re not!) Good luck, you’re gonna go somewhere great don’t sweat it too much :slight_smile:

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I’d like to preface all of this by saying you are a sophomore - it is too early to know any concrete chances and you should come back when you are a junior. I am a senior applying to schools now so this is some advice from experience.

The PSAT is good for ballparking your SAT score. For me, my PSAT was always slightly lower than my SAT, and I think it should be because you should be studying a lot harder for the SAT itself. Do well on these standardized tests, but they are NOT something to obsess over.

Take the most rigorous courses possible. Taking several AP courses is a good start. Continue doing this, make the best grades you can, etc. Rank is definitely not the most important factor when it comes to schools, it’s just one of many things that go into consideration.

Since you want to pursue STEM in college, participate in more STEM extracurriculars and summer programs. If there is no math club at your school, my suggestion is to create one, which looks good to colleges. There are several free summer programs that are available - some are on a state basis, so I suggest doing research about what is offered in your area/state/region. You would probably have a good shot at these since you are Hispanic and female.

Just remember to do things that you are genuinely passionate about. It is better to have a few activities that you devote a lot of time to over having many activities that you are “only doing for college.” I think ad coms can sniff out your true intentions in your essays.

Good luck! You are on the right track!