I see a lot of animosity to OP. All she is asking is to get some guidance in preparation for college application. I believe all you would agree early preparation is the key for college admission. Granted her goal is Ivies and she is Asian, does that make her a criminal deserving such ridicule?
OP, key words are passion and growth.
What you want colleges to see is that, throughout high school, you have found passion and you have grown as a person. Many colleges ask you to write essays about growth, such as overcoming a failure, etc… So don’t be afraid of a social life, stay humble and open to life lessons, not just school lessons, throughout your high school career.
It is good to have good grades, extracurriculars etc but it looks like you have these things by default Also look into community service and getting a job during high school when you are old enough to have one legally.
Passion is important. If you “design” yourself, you will come across as a stereotype. But if you have passion, you will stand out because of it. Find your true love, maybe it is dancing, maybe it is science, and immerse yourself in it, do contests, programs, go above and beyond and show colleges how far you are willing to go to pursue your passion, and they will admire you.
EDIT: I want to give you clear advice that to get the best chance you have to stand out. This is because colleges get a lot of people with identical amazing gpas, who are very close academically. You want to be DIFFERENT from these. There must be something more than numbers. In fact, it is okay to have slightly lower numbers and such if you can put more energy into really being passionate about something.
Sigh. Honestly, this is possibly the worst way to get actual advice and the best way to bring the wrath of “be yourself!” “prestige isn’t everything!” (I mean, duh) idealists. If you want a real profile of what an Ivy (though I think you mean HYPSMC- some of the lower Ivies are easier to get into than some non-Ivies) candidate looks like, go check out some official decisions threads in those forums. For example, the Princeton acceptees generally have breathtaking stats, the Harvard ones seem to be rolling in leadership merit, the Stanford admits usually have crazy groundbreaking research going for them, and so on.
Maintain a perfect GPA, aim for 2350+ (since you’re Asian), get a 800 MathII and two/three more 750+ SATIIs, have 7 or 8 AP tests that are 5s, have at least two top-level leadership positions in nationally recognized ECs (ie debate, Mu Alpha Theta, literary magazine, Model UN), modest leadership positions in couple more community or school ECs…
…prestigious awards (NMSF is minimum, try for AIME too and some Scholastic gold keys, an Intel or Siemens if you’re awesome enough), and be able to write essays that sound sincere, intellectually curious, mature, and enthusiastic about that college’s values. Also, make sure your teachers and counselors love you and can convey those aforementioned values.
Get work experience relating to your talents (ie music lessons, art commissions, coding for businesses, soccer coaching). Make good use of summers at competitive-to-get-into, low-cost camps or programs or internships (those are the highest quality ones).
Form your ECs around one focus (preferably related to your intended major or main academic interest). If that focus isn’t intense enough (chances are, it won’t be, unless you’re an Intel/Siemens winner, etc.), maybe add a couple more academic interests for well-roundedness. But cohesiveness of your app is still key. As people have said, “passion” is a must. You don’t want to look like you’re doing everything for college. And even if you are at first, make sure you take away some valuable lessons from these four years of high school. And choose things you already have an interest in, or could see yourself becoming a superstar in.
Unlike a lot of other posters, I don’t see anything wrong with giving this sort of advice. It may seem vulgar or politically incorrect or whatever to objectively break down the (gasp!) Holy Holistic Admissions Process, but what the heck, since when has students striving to secure a brighter future been evil? A lot of these decent kids get heaped with worthless advice like “do what you want!” or “pursue your passions!”
The thing is, I know I wouldn’t have done 90% of what I’ve done so far (a graduating senior) if I hadn’t been an eager quasi-prestige-whore in freshman year searching the decisions threads for accomplishments I could pursue. Doing things that wouldn’t have naturally been my “passions” or even remotely within my comfort zone (I know I wouldn’t have pursued leadership positions; who wants more responsibility/bragging rights?) helped me develop backbone, gain new skills, and gain adaptability. Today, I’m glad I didn’t just “be myself” as I was at age 14, which would’ve been devouring fiction books all day and being an academically consumed wallflower.
I’m sorry for pouring my angsty soul into this casual post (heh, whatever), but it does irritate me when people don’t give straight answers to curious, ambitious, and improvement-minded kids. What’s so bad about telling the truth? No, you’re not guaranteed admission into HYPSMC no matter what you do or convey. No, you don’t have to follow some “formula” to get in. No, not everyone who gets in has stats above a magic threshold. No, you probably don’t want to waste your time doing things you hate for college, because chances are, you’ll be doing a lot more of it once you’re accepted into that college. But yes, yes if you follow certain objective standards you are, in fact, waaaay more likely to get in. So yes. Here’s my answer.