I’m currently a junior in high school. I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA and I am taking 9 AP classes by the time I finish high school. My dream is to go to a business school, preferably upenn’s Wharton or NYU’s Stern. I would appreciate it if someone could tell me what they think of my extracurriculars/chances of getting in.
Extracurriculars:
High leadership position in high school led investment fund
Started an online store for my own jewelry store
Started my own financial journal with a focus on international finance
I work a part time job at a coffee shop
I play in my school’s very competitive tennis team
I got accepted into one of the most if not the most competitive economics summer programs on a scholarship
I am the president of my school’s investment club with 100+ members
I am a part of a very competitive honor society at my school
I am writing a research paper with a college professor on economics
I tutor elementary school kids
I also write for my school newspaper, and am a part of my school newspaper’s business department
Go back and group your ECs by their importance to you & the time commitment.
Be careful not to over-egg the pudding: many adults will look at that list and wonder just how- if all those are serious commitments- you could realistically be doing them all.
Impressive. Based on discussions with our HS counselor and a friend who is a college president, AOs have gotten wise to students padding their applications with multiple clubs where they showed up for a couple meetings, had no leadership positions, and were only members for a year. What they are looking for is commitment to a sport or activity (ie stuck with it for a long period), advancement or leadership positions (JV to Varsity, team captain, Eagle Scout, etc.), and/or achievement (all-state in a sport, placed at nationals in Science Olympiad, etc.). They also look for maturity and personal responsibility, for example, having a job or taking care of an elderly grandparent.
Based on these criteria, it appears that you are meeting their requirements. I assume that you have stuck with the tennis team, investment club and newspaper throughout your HS career… is this the case? Are you varsity on the tennis team?
Provide more information about your journal. Is it online? What is it circulation? Who is reading it… college professors? Did you just start it, or has it been running for a few years? Is your economics professor providing guidance here? My guess is that you will be applying to either a business or economics program. If you could get some visibility with professors from your target schools that would be helpful, especially if you can have some correspondence with them and build relationships (if impressed, one might make a courtesy call to the AO that puts you over the top).
If you really are deeply involved with all these activities, do not take anything else on. Focus on achieving something within the current clubs or teams, for example getting the research paper published or making varsity in tennis. If you are simply showing up and going through the motions for any activity, drop it and put your energy into the ones you really care about.
Finally, don’t stretch yourself so thin with multiple ECs that your grades suffer.
No, the first one is not related to my school, and aims to build a portfolio that lasts in the long term, similar to what hedge funds are doing. The 7th one is a club at my school.
I’m on the varsity tennis team and have done most activities my whole high school career. The journal is online, and we have a community of writers in addition to myself. In order to stand out for ivy leagues, do you think that it would be in my best interest to take on even more extracurriculars, or is what I have fine? My grades and test scores match those of most students who got in before.
You do a lot and you should be proud of your accomplishments, but if you’re talking about Wharton or other top 25s, much about the process is not in your control. Continue to do the best you can - and it sounds like you’re doing great. Put your best application forward and the see what happens.
EC’s sometimes get categorized into tiers based on impact and/or achievement (see College Vine for one interpretation). I don’t know if this is really how AOs look at things or not, but the recent Harvard case seemed to give credence to the concept. I think my own DC’s several Tier 1 activities helped them gain admission to top schools. If you categorize your activities using this guide, they look like below without knowing much more about them.
Hard to know how to categorize these without more info:
As @DadSays has suggested, the greater the details you can provide the AOs the better.
If you wrote the code, in what language? Did you teach yourself coding, by any chance? How many issues did you have for your journal/blog/ newsletter? How many articles per issue? Are you the only contributor? Who was the audience? How many people were reached? Did anyone comment, review, or email you in response to what you wrote? What did they say? Did you make the jewelry that you sell in your store? Why are you drawn to making jewelry? How did you learn this and how did you choose your materials and designs? If you’re the reseller, why this jewelry? How many sales have you had? What has been your revenue?
Detailed answers to these types of questions will bring your work to life, especially if used in your supplemental essays, and the AOs will have no doubt that you not only did these activities, but did them with care and passion.
If you add EC’s so you can “get in” to a top school, I think that this motivation may show. Your list can already look as if it is geared to admissions, so make sure you make the details clear (as others have said) and show that your interest/commitments are authentic and not just strategic.
I found it interesting that you work part-time in a coffee shop. Are you doing that this summer? I am not sure how you fit everything in!
You are obviously a talented hard-working student and I’m sure you will land in a good school.
If this isn’t in your school, you need to change the wording because it clearly says “in high school”
ETA…in addition to Penn and NYU, I hope you also have a variety of affordable colleges that you also like in your application list where you have a higher chance of acceptance. Having a varied list is important. You really should (in my opinion) build your list from the bottom up…so look for schools where you have a higher probability of admission, are affordable and you like!