1520 SAT (though only a practice test so not official. Taking a real one soon).
2 AP courses as a sophomore (chemistry and world history), highest honors math, Spanish and English
3 AP courses as a junior (US history, biology, English language), highest honors math and Spanish
3.97 on 4.33 scale unweighted GPA as a sophomore. Need to work on this! Not sure how this translates to other scales. GPA confuses me.
EXTRACURRICULARS
Crossword publisher: I publish crosswords in my local town magazine. I have submitted one to NYT (rejected) but it is a goal of mine to have a crossword published in NYT.
Varsity Cross country and track and field: Top 10 in state in 2022 XC state championship, MVP award, best newcomer award 2021, state champion team 2021, national qualifier for track, section and league champ
National History Day: Top 10 in the world for our documentary on Fritz Haber and nitrogen fixation (competed at school como, then regionals, then states, then nationals/worlds and place top ten out of all)
Kids Run Club: founded a nonprofit run club for kids. Two teammates and I do fun running-related activities for an hour once a week with a small group of kids. Trying to expand but struggling to spread word efficiently!
Photography: have won a spot in a local calendar, in which photos are voted on by citizens, 6 times in a row
Summer job: work at a general store, in fact the only retail establishment on a certain east coast island (it is on an island off an island, separated by ~500 feet of water and a teeny ferry ride away). Helped transform store from run down to prosperous with new management and an a cashier and mentor junior employees
How do my ECs look? Recommendations? I think they’re pretty weak but I don’t really know. Any suggestions on how to attract more people to the run club? The current kids seem to have lots of fun but we haven’t gotten many new sign ups. Have hung up flyers.
Also want to do a puzzle/crossword workshop for seniors at a nursing home or something—-any ideas on how I could go about this? How would I make it fun for them?
Or any other suggestions of good ECs or how to strengthen these ones? Please help. ECs are a huge stressor for me. I feel like mine are not strong
This isn’t something to game. You need to be yourself. You want to build tenure and impact.
Ivy Leagues schools are not the same Which do you prefer and why? And what other campuses are similar? Ivy is an athletic conference - but where do you want to be and why, etc?
There are many great schools and depending on the Ivy, there’s a 90% + chance you’re not getting in. They’re also $90K a year - can your family afford that? Do they want to afford that when your stats might get you into great schools at $20K a year?
So keep being the best you - and you’ll find many schools, Ivy or otherwise, to get into.
I know many here post the blog from MIT - and it might be a good read for you.
The first thing that occurred to me when reading your post was the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. @tsbna44 posted a link before I got to it. As I understand it, it recommends that you do what is right for you, and do it very well. This sounds like exactly what you have done.
One recommendation would be to just keep doing what is right for you, and keep doing it very well.
A second recommendation would be to pay very little attention to university rankings. Instead look for a university that is a good fit for you. Of course this means that you need to think about what “a good fit for you” means in your case.
And the third recommendation would be to pay attention to your budget, and make sure that you apply to safeties. Schools in the Ivy League are not safeties.
In terms of GPA calculation, different high schools in the US do it in wildly different ways. Here on CC many of us prefer a calculation based on A=4.0, B=3.0, C=2.0, D=1.0, and F=0. Just add up the total number of courses in each category and find the average.
And I think that you are doing very well up to now.
Are you wanting to run in college? There is a separate process for being recruited as an athlete. If this is something you are considering, you need to get started asap.
I agree with others, your ECs are fine, just keep developing them naturally.
Also do not forget that first and foremost, you are a student. I don’t mean you have to be perfect, but obviously devote the time and energy necessary to do your best work in your classes. Including time to get proper sleep, to socialize, and so on, all of which is necessary to help you maximize your academic outcomes.
Finally, I also agree you should not get caught up in the concept of the Ivy League. There are many great colleges in the United States. Your goal should be to find the ones that will be affordable for your family and great fits for you as an individual. If one or more of the colleges in the Ivy League ends up fitting that description, great. But there will surely be others not in the Ivy League, and you might find you prefer some of the ones not in the Ivy League to most or indeed all of the colleges in the Ivy League.
I also think your EC’s are fine. Try not to do things for the purpose of admissions. Do things you are genuinely interested in and enjoy.
I hope, along with Ivies and little Ivies (you can google “little Ivies” you will consider other schools. I always recommend the website for Colleges that Change Lives.
EC’s look great. Varied, from sports to personal passion to volunteerism, with founding or leadership positions in most. I would particularly emphasis the personal passion project (crosswords).
Some other thoughts, if you’re chasing highly rejective schools.
Have you also taken a practice test for the ACT and determined you do better/prefer the SAT? Many end up doing better on one or the other, and both are accepted and equally valued at any college, so you should find which one best represents you. All of my kids started out assuming SAT and two ended up using their ACT scores.
How were your AP scores Sophomore year?
I’m guessing by this you mean your school grants 4.33 for A+ grades? I would try recalculating your GPA on your own assuming and A or A+ are both 4.0 and then you will have a sense of how you compare to the typical UW GPA.
At your HS the highest math available to a Junior is not one of the AP Calc course (and doesn’t sound like you took Calc previously)? Does that come senior year?
To be clear, I’m not suggesting this is a problem in any way – it is not. Just curious based on the way it is described.
Good luck! Just keep doing what you’re doing and enjoy it.
Hi, thanks. How could I turn the crosswords into a passion project? Everyone admitted to an Ivy I see has some insane thing that I don’t see myself having.
I have taken the ACT. I actually have done more ACT practice than SAT practice. I wasn’t getting better at the ACT so switched myself over to the SAT and am seeing improvement over a few months and it is way better relative to my ACT scores. I think the time pressure on the ACT was worse, which is a huge issue for me!
AP Chem I got a 4. I was kind of upset about this because I did so well in the class and on every test. AP World I got a 5.
I guess I have a 4.0 GPA then!
My current math course is differential calculus. I took Algebra I 8th grade, Geometry/Trigonometry 9th grade, Algebra II Precalc 10th grade. Continuing on this track I am set for AP BC Calc 12th grade.
By the way, I do actually have legacy at Princeton. Both parents and my brother is a freshman there.
I’d keep in mind it is highly unlikely you are seeing a representative sample of admitted student profiles.
The closest we got to a real look came out of the Harvard admissions lawsuit, and the data indicated a lot of Harvard’s admits just had “normal” outstanding combinations of academics and activities and then also very strong personal ratings.
I think you are putting way too much pressure on yourself.
Keep being you. It’s never easy to be someone you aren’t.
When the time comes, Princeton and wherever else you apply will see you for you and they’ll decide.
Here’s an interesting article. It seems like it helps (at least in the past) and that’s great - but of course, you still have to be prepared.
Do you like Princeton - that’s the first thing.
I’d say this - just be the best you that you can be. Keep doing well in school. Continue with your crossword puzzles - I don’t think getting published by the NYT vs. not matters - that you’re doing them matters.
And you’ll end up where you should.
No needed for the pressure you’re putting on yourself. And ECs are just one portion of the app - they review so much more from rank, rigor, gpa, test score (you’ll need to deliver that score you mentioned and actually even higher).
Have a great Junior year and then you can reassess. Best of luck.
As others have noted, it’s not the case that every Ivy+ admit has done something “insane.” Sure there are some that have, but that’s not the norm. It’s easy to think that since there are plenty of kids with perfect stats and great ECs who don’t get in, so the logical leap is that those that did must have been even better. The truth is a double edged sword, which is that most of those that got in were not better or worse than many of the kids who did not. On the one hand, comforting because it means your stats and achievements are in the ballpark where you will be considered. On the other hand, yes it means there is nothing you can do that assures your outcome because the difference between some who don’t get in and some who do is subjective.
As for your passion, my take was it already was your passion. It’s a unique activity for someone your age, you have worked to by published locally, are working actively to achieve the penicle of your craft (the NYT crossword is like getting into the Olympics in your sport), and you have converted your passion into community service. What’s not to love? Sure if you want to you could also try starting a club for it at school or creatively weave your passion for it into your college essay in a year, but that’s all totally optional. Selective colleges like seeing true passion. Achievement is nice too, but passion can be compelling whether you win awards or not. If you can make your love for it come across, it will be positive for your application. That’s still not a guarantee of admission, but as we’ve established, nothing is.
BTW, what was your’s “something insane”? Since he’s at Princeton and you believe something insane is a prerequisite, presumably he had something. And if so, perhaps that is why you have confirmation bias that everyone needs to.
We know well qualified double legacy kids (more than one) who did not get accepted to a Princeton.
Just make sure that you have a list of criteria you want for college…and find a variety of colleges that meet that criteria.
The ECs you posted are great…and more important, they sound like things you enjoy doing…and that’s what matters…for any college that considers ECs…not just the Ivy league.
I note to me the definition of a passion project is something you do not because of any extrinsic award, but just for the intrinsic value of it to you.
And given this definition, when you are doing it for college admissions, to that extent it isn’t a passion project.
The irony of all this is that if you actually do stick to what truly interests or moves you, then that is also good for college admissions. This is actually a deep philosophical issue that goes back at least to the Ancient Greeks, but long story short, what AOs will say echoes what like-minded people have said for millennia.
Do what you love, for your own reasons, with energy and boldness. Do that because that is a life well lived. And trust it will work out, because that is part of being bold.
And very likely it will work out, although not always in the way you expected. Which is actually even cooler.
One thing about participating in the ECs that are right for you: Even if this does not get you into an Ivy League university (or into MIT, Stanford, Chicago, or somewhere similar), it is still very likely to get you into a university that is a good fit for you, and you will have done something that was right for you.