Sup guys I’m a sophomore in HS, and just wanted to see if I am on track to get to the Ivies/High-Tier Schools.
Stats:
15 years
Male
Black (First Gen American)
3.9 UW GPA
4.5 W GPA
Took 1 AP last year, taking 4 this year
Scores:
1380 on Sat
720 M
660 CR
PSAT 10
1430 Composite
750 M
680 CR
ACT taken in 8th Grade:
28 Composite
29 R
27 M
33 E
23 S
ECs:
Job at a tutoring center
Various volunteer oppurtunities
DUKE Tip Scholar
Varsity Tennis
etc
Instead of saying yes or no, ill give some good advice.
Raise your SAT score to 1540+, take some subject tests and get 770+, OR raise the ACT score to 33+
Those EC are not focused. For Ivys, well rounded = rejection and failure.
You need to have large spike in a specific field to get in. For example, If you love English, try to publish some novels. If you like to cook, start a youtube channel and reach 10000 subscribers +. If you like coding, compete in USACO, hackathons, code in, make an app, solve real world problems with IT, publish a paper on AI. If you like science, get a research internship and publish some papers, participate in olympiads, make youtube lecture videos etc…
Many people are duke tip scholars and this was a middle school program so its not too impressive. The summer programs are all paid so they don’t add value to your app.
Volunteering is good but not that important.
Tennis is a good activity. Try to get ranked in state and aim for national rank. This shows that you are the best at what you like to do. Think about it - millions of people play tennis but only a few are nationally/ state ranked. This is what ivy want to see: drive and results.
Hope this helped
Raise your SAT to at least a 1500 or get a 33+ on the ACT. Your hook really helps, but you do need to meet certain thresholds for stats. Your GPA is great! Keep it up. Take the hardest curriculum available to you at your school.
Regarding your ECs, you want passion and skill. You want depth over breadth. You want leadership. Start a club, become a president of a club, compete in national events. Find what you are good at and what you like, such as science or writing. If you like science, start a Bio club. Join the Science Olympiad team. Conduct research at a local university. Apply for state science fair competitions. You want most of your ECs to be related and to show that you are both interested and amazing at a specific academic field or two. I recommend checking out results threads for the schools you are interested in and seeing what other applicants did to get accepted