Hi guys,
I’m a high school junior and I’m currently creating a list of colleges to apply to. I know that my grades, test scores, and extracurriculars are all decent enough for most colleges, but I’m wondering if it’s even worth it to apply to schools with <8% acceptance rates such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and Princeton, or if it’s just a waste of time and money. I listed some of my stats below, so please let me know what you think - should I bother applying to Ivy schools?
GPA: 3.96 UW, 4.63 W
SAT: 1540 Composite, 24 Essay
SAT Subject Tests: 800 Math 2, 740 US History, taking Physics in August
APs: 5s in Government, US History, and Statistics
Extracurriculars: Editor of school newspaper, creative writing (published in a few places, no major awards), President of a tutoring club, violist in state youth orchestra, reader for a few literary magazines, National Honor Society
Awards: Plenty of regional writing and art awards
Asian Female at a competitive magnet/IB school
Thank you!
You have very good stats, but Ivies will be a reach for anyone. You should apply to a couple Ivies, but also have targets and safety schools. Most Ivies have sub 10% acceptance rates overall, but applying ED can give you something like a 20% acceptance rate. Only worrying aspects about your application are your extracurriculars seem lacking and you have the most disadvantageous demographic for college applicants.
You should probably think of Ivy’s as places where you have a 5% or so chance to get in, and no way of knowing how they are going to decide. Whether this is worth applying to is entirely up to you, but obviously you need to spend significant effort coming up with other alternatives.
Also, you need to decide what you want in a university. Whether any ivy matches this is something that you need to decide (without being blinded by “prestige”).
By the way, congratulations on doing really well in high school. You WILL have many very good opportunities for universities and/or colleges. Whether an ivy is one option is anyone’s guess.
Any idea on major, that would help with the college selection? You may have something unique on the awards for writing and art and published work. That being said, I would limit ivies to one or two and as someone said above if you really like one of the ivies that offers ED, go with that. What other colleges are you looking at?
@cincinatti, my twin DD’s had a similar profile, albeit with a sports EC focus. Regarding ED, many of those spots get taken by applicants with hooks, so those unhooked can’t assume the published ED acceptance rate. That said, you will likely get into several schools with sub-20% acceptance rates, but those sub-10% are a lottery pick so make sure you apply to some sub-30% acceptance rates as well as safeties.
You’ve got a great resume, but it’s generic. Your essays will be crucial to getting in. You need to find a way to stand out by pointing out aspects of your life and personality that are unique. There are so many similar applicants to yourself with great, or even better, GPAs and test scores. It’s up to you to prove that you outshine them in the written component. Because on paper, you’re like the generic brand of Awesome. So use your essays to reflect uniqueness. Do a lot of research about the way to get the best essay out of yourself (I picture it like spelunking in a cave and digging up hidden treasures) and spend a lot of time thinking about who you are. TIME is your best friend and worst enemy. The sooner you start, the better.
Approach it like you’re a creative executive with a marketing company, trying to make an advertisement about yourself. What’s your brand? What are your values? What matters to you? Doing “the right thing” and being the student you think the Ivies want isn’t going to get you in. Being yourself and being your best self is what will. I’d recommend religiously watching any YouTube videos by College Essay Academy, especially this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MaLsIu1vdE
Hopefully it’ll get your gears turning and inspire you to show off your best self! Best of luck!
For starters, a 24 essay is almost unheard of, so congrats on that. Tbh, I’m basically like you; I have similar stats (34 ACT is pretty close to your SAT score; I also got an 800 on math IIC and 750 on us history). I was accepted to Brown and Dartmouth with these stats so yeah go ahead and apply.
pineapplejr7070 - are you also Asian female? as others have said, the OP maybe an ORM so the idea of hooked and unhooked comes into play, except if you’re applying to STEM schools like MIT or Cal Tech. Most Asian females that apply to ivies will have the OP’s stats, stellar as they are.
@theloniusmonk I actually am an asian male with no hooks
@Pineapplejr7070 Congrats. Where are you headed?
I decided to attend WashU because of their care for students, music program, and quality of life.