I am a high school freshman, and I began to think about college. I was wondering what does it take to get into an Ivy League or Ivy League caliber school. Also, I’m Asian, and I want to do something with business.
Academically speaking, I feel like I am good. In my high school plan, my weighted GPA by the end of 11th grade would be around 4.76. I will be taking 9 APs and 2 DEs (by 11th grade) in that same plan. Also, I am pretty certain I will be 1st in my class out of ~350 students. Assuming I get a 4.0 unweighted GPA and do good on my ACT/SAT and my AP tests, I feel like I would be sound academically.
What I am wondering is what is needed extracurricular and award-wise. The only major thing I have done is start (I am also the president of) a non-profit that has donated $50,000+ to homeless shelters and has started many chapters across the world (I spent a lot of my middle school focused on this). I have been doing this for three years so far and have gotten the PSVA all three years. I also plan to continue this and get the PSVA for the rest of high school. Other than that, I have joined a few clubs and have gotten to states in one (hopefully, I can get to nationals too). A few friends and I have started a chapter of the TSA club in my school too. Also, I am probably good enough to get into varsity tennis, but tryouts haven’t happened yet.
I know what I have done in extracurriculars is nowhere near enough to get into an Ivy League caliber school. How much is really needed, and what suggestions do you have for activities I can do? Anything STEM or business-related would interest me. I’m pretty good at all parts of STEM except the technology (I suck at CS). Depending on what you guys tell me here, I will decide if I want to focus for an Ivy League caliber school, or something lower.
Unless you’re a recruitable athlete, there really is no secret ingredient (if there was, every high achieving kid would be doing it). There’s a reason why kids with insane high school resumes don’t get in. Don’t just try to keep up with the Joneses. Find something you really like and care about and delve deep into that. Personally, I think the more unique you are the better. You wanna make yourself stand out from the crowd.
Great that you are thinking about things as a Freshman, but try not to worry about getting into an Ivy. Start thinking broadly about what type of college is going to be the best fit for you. If you are interested in business, start thinking about when you might want to go to get your MBA? Are you looking to go right from undergrad or get a few years of work experience first? Keep up your grades, and your test scores. Find something you are passionate about and explore all your options. Personally outside of UPENN I think you’ll find better options for undergrad business schools from outside the Ivies
Yeah, I understand, but I made this post because I don’t know if I want to pursue an Ivy League school. I don’t know how hard it is and how much work I have to put in. Like for someone to get into these schools how much hours of work do they need to put in everyday. My dad said to get into these schools I would need to put like 8 hrs every day outside of school. I feel like if it is that much I can aim for something lower because I want to enjoy my high school.
I second the posts above. There is no secret formula because everyone is different.
But here’s what I suggest in any case:
Get the best grades you possibly can without compromising your mental health, whether that be 8 hours or 3 idk. There are always those “genius” kids who don’t study at all and get 100s and those who have to work twice as hard to do the same, so giving you a quantitative measure wouldn’t be fair.
“Ivy league caliber” schools/schools in general want students who will impact the world and they find those students by accepting people who are already doing so. Whatever you’re passionate about, lean into it. Be excited about it to the point where those around you and those who will eventually read your letter can tell that you were dedicated to contributing all you havd to what you love.
Make sure what you’re doing is genuine, don’t do anything with the purpose of getting into a good school. Somehow they’re always able to tell (they will reject you if that’s the case) and you don’t want to be left four years from now feeling like you wasted your highschool years for nothing.
I’d recommend you to check out the book, A Is for Admission: The Insider’s Guide to Getting into the Ivy League and Other Top Colleges. It was written by a former Dartmouth Admissions director. She talks about things like what to put into your application, what classes to choose, and other things. The catch? This was published and updated in 2009. This was during the time when Harvard had an 8% acceptance rate, and Cornell had a 20% acceptance rate. While this is the case, this still provides a bunch of valuable information. You can also get more info on the internet. One good site is Reddit’s r/collegeresults page. You can gain a sense of what colleges are looking for. Good luck!
It is more that they are really difficult to get into without work experience. A brother of my my son’s friend got in UChicago straight after undergrad. Lat time I checked, the M7 were still worth attending.
Extremely rare and likely connected to the pandemic. I know UChicago offered discounts/scholarships at the end of last year to students wanting to stay to get a grad degree because they didn’t have jobs lined up or jobs were rescinded and they extended the application deadlines. I know someone who took advantage of this option. I just can’t recall whether MBA was one of the options. I suspect it was.
I checked and it was. Not happening under normal circumstances.
Also a lot of UK universities specify in different kinds of Business so you can collectively niche down to either management, accounting,HR and so on. And it is a lot cheaper, 3 years not 4, and you’d be more competitive as an American Applicant.