Hi!
I’m a high school Junior working on a college list, and right now I’m trying to gauge how many T20 and Ivies I should apply to (and which ones).
I have a lot of different activities so I’d also appreciate advice on which ones to focus on to make a cohesive “story” for an application.
STATS:
SAT: 1540 (800 M, 740 R) essay score was pretty trash lol
Junior PSAT: 1490 so might get NM
Depending on the COVID-19 situation, I might be able to take two subject tests (Math II and Bio).
AP tests: Calc BC, Spanish, Biology (I’m taking them this year so don’t have scores yet).
side note: I am a dual enrollment student for 11-12 and take all my classes at a local college, so I’m not able to take AP classes (they also didn’t offer them at my school in 9-10 grade).
GPA: 3.98 UW, college GPA is 4.0
My high school is a choice school with advanced courses, ranked highly in my state.
ECs (short descriptions):
- Founded a local branch of an international non-profit organization for disability justice. (the cause connects to me personally because I have a sibling with a disability). Had to postpone some big community events because of COVID ):
- (recently started) Part of the board for a youth-led org that connects youth with computer science through events and hackathons (planning for one this fall).
- Intern at a research lab, will be in charge of a project by summer.
- Event Coordinator of a community service club, raised almost $1,000 during a fundraiser.
- On the Fundaising team for an international non-profit org for gender equality.
- Lead attorney for Mock Trial team, nominated for individual award (sophomore year)
- President of the Biology Club at my college, we work on research projects
- Volunteering at a hospital, ~100 hours
- Placed first at the state level for two events in a CTO club
- Placed Top 20 in the nation for National History Day (a competition with theme-based history projects).
- Purple belt in martial arts (been doing it for ~3 years)
- Volunteered at a kids’ summer camp for the past few years.
@spring1nal I don’t think anyone can tell you how many or which “T-20 and Ivies” you should apply to. We know which schools are in the Ivy League, but which “T-20” list are you referring to? More importantly… why? Please don’t base your college search off of trying to fit “T-20 and Ivies”. Instead, find the schools that fit your actual requirements; some “T-20s” (whatever that means to any one person) and an Ivy League school or two might make that list. Maybe not.
At any rate, gather your meaningful requirements. Would you put your time and effort into applying to “T-20s and Ivies” if they don’t have what you want to study? What if living in certain areas in untenable for you? What if undergrad university requirements are undesirable? What if you can’t afford it, even if you were admitted? What if the campus culture is a turn-off? What if the chances of you graduating in 4 years are greatly diminished? Would you still use “T-20s and Ivies” as a key consideration in your college search?
Even for reaches, and high reaches, look for fit first. If you find fit in what you consider to be a top school, awesome! If you find true fit in a school that has a very low admission rate, simply put it in your reach or high reach column, and keep looking for matches and safeties that you would love to attend. You’ve got to make your search about meaningful qualifications and affordability, though, IMHO.
Rankings are about the single worst thing you can use to find a university. It’s just a big subjective list of schools, comparing apples to onions and calling one “better.” Also, prestige, no matter how deserving, is rarely affordable. Pick 2-3 reach schools. The rest should be solid affordable target and safety schools you’re serious about. And NO…it’s NOT worth paying triple the tuition to go out of state.
I agree with the above posters.
In addition, start by figuring out with your parents your budget. Run the NPC calculators on some schools and see what’s affordable.
Then research schools based on your intended major.
Start taking some virtual school tours and try to get a sense of if you like LACs vs Universities, small vs large, rural vs urban, preferred geography.
IMO, you are also starting this backwards. You should start by finding safeties that you love and can afford and then building your list. I also think 20% of the list should be safeties, 20% reaches, and then the other 60% various levels of match schools.