<p>Hello all, I want to know your experiences or at least your thoughts on how did you get into the Ivy League school you wanted or what is recommended if you want to one day get into one. Thanks a lot. -NG </p>
<p>There are already a lot of threads here discussing that. It comes up a lot. Each year. But what may be useful is looking at the Common Data Set for each college you are interested in to see the mid 25 to 50% scores of accepted students, and the section C7 which lists factors in admissions and rates them in importance. Also here on CC there are individual forums for many top colleges, and students each year make threads to report results and in those threads they give the type of information you are looking for.</p>
<p>Yeah, a ton, thanks.</p>
<p>Technically, no one knows exactly how or why they got in. </p>
<p>^ Really? Do you think recruited athletes know why they got in?</p>
<p>The reason most students get in is “other.” Each student is probably the best at “other” in his cohort, in which h is competing. In each cohort, the finalists’ grades, test scores, ECs, etc. are not that different, but there is something, which makes the accepted student stand out. Whatever that “other” is rarely known or understood on the outside. (Athletes are definitely the exception, as @sherpa says)</p>
<p>@sherpa Recruited athletes get rejected because of a low AI</p>
<p>^ The fact that some recruited athletes don’t pass academic muster is irrelevant to this discussion. I was simply pointing out that, contrary to your assertion that, “Technically, no one knows exactly how or why they got in”, accepted recruited athletes know precisely how and why they got in. They know they got in because they were academically qualified and a coach with pull went to bat for them.</p>