<p>Serious question: How do you get into an Ivy League school when you have no idea what you like to do/what your passion(s) is/are? I'm desperate for an answer.</p>
<p>******** like you’ve never ********ted before.</p>
<p>Edit: Male cow’s feces.</p>
<p>I would talk about how you’re motivated to learn or something like that and explain why. I don’t think anyone can expect you to know your passion as a 17 year old.</p>
<p>^Jersey13’s advice won’t work, FYI.</p>
<p>It’s mainly crappy talk. And of course, marvelous essay :)</p>
<p>I’m a rising sophomore. I have plenty of time to do other things; just not enough time to find a passion, develop it, excel at it, enter and win competitions, etc…</p>
<p>@rainbowrose: I know a lot of people who have passions at my age; there are plenty of kids who love music, for example.</p>
<p>Post questions like this in the College Admissions forum next time, but if you’re not an underrepresented (as in, Black, Hispanic, American Indian) minority, extremely poor or rich, or have stellar scores (along with a solid GPA), you better have that passion. Actually, it’s not the passion itself that gets you in. It’s the fact that the passion makes you stand out as a unique person.</p>
<p>Having a decent essay/interview helps: in other words, writing skills and charisma.
Know that no matter how good of an applicant you are there are ten other people (maybe hundreds) just like you.</p>
<p>There are also tons of other great colleges that aren’t Ivy Leagues, so I would examine why you want to go to an Ivy League (all of which are different from each other, by the way) in first place.</p>
<p>EDIT: If you’re only a sophomore, the only advice I can give you is A) don’t worry about college until junior year, for the most part and B) get out there as much as you can; join clubs, explore opportunities, find summer ‘things’.</p>
<p>Sex as a weapon.</p>
<p>hm…</p>
<p>read Cal Newpor’ts newest book.
You will replace “passion” with an interesting life and hobby. ^_^</p>
<p>Many find their passions accidentally. But no, the number of sophomores’ having found their passions is insignifant. It generally takes a great amount of time, energy, and, sometimes, misfortune.</p>
<p>@Unconfidential: Okay. How do I get into a top-tier college without a passion?</p>
<p>If there was ever a group of people who could tell you how to get into an Ivy League college, it would be current high school students.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: Post may contain copious amounts of sarcasm</p>
<p>This is a trite advice: participate in several activities you find might suit you - not necessarily your passions, just some activities you can pursue in the long run. Be actively involved.
For example: if you enjoy writing, and your writings are decent, you might consider joining the literary club, school magazine, and essay competitions. Or do some community service to teach underprivileged kids English.
It’s the quality, not the quantity, that counts.</p>
<p>I agree with BillyMc. We may be somewhat knowledgeable about colleges admissions, but as high school students, we do not have the insight that older posters on other forums might have. My best advice is to join a couple of clubs, play a sport, get great grades and test scores, and write a stellar essay. Basically, be as perfect as possible.</p>
<p>You get your rich parents to donate large sums of money</p>
<p>Srs answer is srs</p>
<p>Alternatively, you can get your parents to enroll in an Ivy, and then apply as a legacy.</p>
<p>Send the adcoms a letter confessing your endless devotion to college admissions. Make sure to focus on how “getting into college is your passion”. Adcoms are sure to remember you. </p>
<p>Okay seriously…the best schools are filled with the best students who lead interesting lives. If you don’t even know what you like, what makes you think you belong there anyway? If you are indeed a rising sophomore, you need to stop worrying about college admissions and start exploring the opportunities within your school. Try new clubs and see what you like. Come back with some direction of what you like to do. It is sad to hear that a rising sophomore does not want to discover her own interests…and instead is willing to go great lengths to “get into an Ivy League”.</p>
<p>Top schools want good students with interesting backgrounds and unique passions. If you’re only passion is getting into an Ivy, you will not fit in with a pool of dynamic and passionate people.</p>
<p>Well I’ll answer seriously since I was accepted to Stanford and Yale '13 with no specific passion (even applied Undecided). </p>
<p>I went to a bad public, took the hardest schedule possible and was valedictorian, 34 ACT ~ 2300 SAT (when next best person got 1800 and most get <1500), 4 years of band/marching band with leadership and cool honors, leadership in math club and a history team competition thing, I read my 2 letters of rec and they both said I was the best student they had. To “stand out” though I tried to focus on what I thought would keep me interesting in the admissions process…my military kid upbringing. I wrote my main essay about how I’ve changed with each place I’ve lived (over 10 schools K-12, 4 states). My second essay was about my mom’s Filipino family, emphasizing the culture and how they all immigrated. Both Y and S specifically mentioned my essays and my “interesting life” growing up as part of the reason I was accepted.</p>
<p>So to answer your question, you need to have all the academics and ECs up to par. You need to stand out in your high school. You need to seem like you take the initiative. To top it all off you need to have some kind of hook, whether that be URM, first gen, recruited athlete, or just something interesting about your life like I did. </p>
<p>Hope that helped.</p>
<p>Oh, just read that you’re a sophomore. I highly recommend reading Cal Newport’s new book “How to Be a High School Superstar.” I just read it myself so I can better advise high school kids applying to top colleges. It’s a great read and should help you make your life “interesting” to admissions officers.</p>
<p>@drunkofdreams: I would like to discover my own interests, and I have to an extent. I just have no idea what I LOVE to do. But anyway, here is a little synopsis of my high school life:
-Main interests are reading, math, piano, chess, science
-Chess: Joined a nearby chess club outside of school which I frequent (somewhat), joined the chess club at school (co-pres next year), I plan on going to a few competitions next year and studying more. I wonder if I could teach some kids at an afterschool (grades 1-5) about chess…
-Piano: Not much. I’m in the band class at school (played trumpet last year) and I’m joining jazz band next year. Started piano around April. I also take lessons from time to time.
-Reading: Hobby, nothing to talk about…
-Math: Math is really interesting to me. I just finished studying the basics of calculus and summation.
-Science: Science olympiad, trying to get a mentor for a science project ATM…
-Other ECs: I volunteer at a library once a week and I just applied to be a docent at a famous concert hall. I was in the community service club last year, but I’m planning to start my own robotics club this year. I did some after-school science classes at a museum last year and I plan on doing some more this year.
-Summer: CTY this year, nothing really worth mentioning last year (went to some week-long Shakespeare class, learned how to swim…)</p>
<p>You may find your passion in what you keep doing in your free time.</p>
<p>For me, this is learning languages and writing. ^_^</p>
<p>Seriously, read “How to Be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport. It WILL change your outlook… really I’ve read it 3 times, on a 4th. (I’m weird though!)</p>