Help Prepare Me for Ivy League!

Applying to College
1

<p>Hello. I am a 13 (turning 14) year old girl about to be a high school freshman. I live in Brooklyn, NY, and I want to know what classes I ought to take to have a chance at being admitted into Harvard, Yale, Columbia, etc. These are the facts about myself and my education:</p>

<p>-I am African-American, and my background is West Indian (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)</p>

<p>-I am going to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art & Performing Arts as a vocal major, although I am hoping to be a drama major for sophomore year and onwards. It's one of the nine Specialized High Schools in NYC.</p>

<p>-I play and have played the piano since I was in first or second grade.</p>

<p>-I was an honor roll student in middle school for all three years. I know colleges don't look at this, but I was hoping you could recommend some AP or Honors classes to take.</p>

<p>-I'm taking French as my foreign language.</p>

<p>-I'd like to major in Film Studies, Performing Arts, Drama/Theater Arts, Music Technology, Business, Finance, or Law.</p>

<p>Here is the list of AP classes at my school:
Art History- Biology- Calculus AB- Calculus BC-Chemistry- English Language and Composition- English Literature and Composition- Environmental Science- French Language- Japanese Language and Culture- Music Theory- Physics B- Spanish Language- Statistics- United States History</p>

<p>We also have a National Honor Society (but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere on here that every school has one) and a DaVinci Scholars after school program. </p>

<p>I'm also thinking of joining some clubs such as:
Student Government Organization, Debate Team, Model UN, being involved in the school's annual drama festivals (which usually involve 3-5 shows each year), vocal concerts, the annual musical, Black Student Union, Social Action, the Literary Magazine (LagMag), Independent Film, etc.</p>

<p>And the sports I may or may not participate in:
Basketball, Indoor or Outdoor Track, Cross Country, Soccer, and MAYBE Tennis.</p>

<p>So, if you are still reading this, I am truly grateful, and I will be even more grateful if you can help me turn into every Ivy League colleges' dream student. Please tell me any particular classes I should take, clubs, sports, or any charity work. There is a hospital nearby my house where my parents have worked for years that I could volunteer at. Thank you very much.</p>

2

<p>just take the most rigorous courses you can that you will still earn mostly As and some Bs to keep your GPA up</p>

3

<p>You don’t want or need to be “every Ivy League college’s dream student.” The Ivy League colleges are all very different schools and it’s highly unlikely you would be well suited to, or interested in, all of them. For now, consult with your guidance counselor to plan a challenging curriculum that will prepare you for the many excellent colleges in this country. Choose extracurricular activities, including sports, that you truly enjoy, and commit seriously to a handful (you may need to “shop around” to find what you like best). When you reach the start of your junior year, at which time you will know yourself, your interests and your strengths much better than you do now, start to research colleges and develop a list of those that appeal to you–this may or may not include Ivy League schools. Also, please relax and enjoy your freshman year at Laguardia–my daughter met several Laguardia students at performing arts summer camp, and they were all tremendously talented. You should be very proud of yourself for being admitted there!</p>

4

<p>I go to LaGuardia, and I know for a fact that I am an overachiever (more a perfectionist, but that’s another conversation entirely), but I will tell you that you really don’t need to worry about college at this point. I’m a senior. I’m senior class president, captain and founder of the LaGuardia Science Olympiad, LaGuardia’s first Intel student, a member of the School Leadership Team, I’m a vocal major, I’ve been in Senior Chorus for two years now. I’ve performed as a soloist in Carnegie Hall several times. I’m a part of the LaGuardia Science Magazine, and I am in the Science Honors Program at Columbia University. I interned in two university labs, and intend on interning again after I graduate. I’ve taken AP Chem, AP Comp, and AP Calc and am currently taking AP Calc BC, AP Bio, and AP Literature. </p>

<p>When I was in your shoes, I didn’t worry about college. Relax, take it easy, enjoy high school. Start worrying about college towards the end of sophomore year. Meaning, find something/some things that you like and would want to study in college (in my case, science and music) and zone in on those things. The fact that you have all these intentions is really great, but if they dominate your entire four years in high school, you’ll get absolutely nothing done, and you won’t enjoy yourself. </p>

<p>More than anything, it’s what you genuinely make of your high school career. You can’t let the name of a college usurp the life that should be lived by your interests and what makes you happy.</p>

<p>Good luck. </p>

<p>If you’d like, I can help you/provide some advice in person. Just ask Ms. Bodha about who’s in charge of the science olympiad and she’ll give you my information.</p>

5

<p>Make sure that your academic credentials are competitive:</p>

<ul>
<li>Take English each year, math each year (unless you finish calculus BC earlier), foreign language each year (unless you complete the highest level earlier), 3-4 years of history or social studies, and each of the three major sciences (biology, chemistry, physics).</li>
<li>Take the most rigorous courses in each subject in high school.</li>
<li>Get all A grades in them.</li>
<li>Get top SAT and/or ACT scores.</li>
</ul>

<p>Note that law is a post-bachelor’s degree major. Students major in anything as undergraduates, then apply to law school. By then, LSAT score and college GPA are extremely important to get into a top law school (and law employment is generally considered to be very law-school-prestige-conscious).</p>