I am currently in 7th Grade at a public Middle School in the US. I plan to go to Catholic High school in two years. For right now, is there anything I can do to prepare for admissions to an Ivy League school? Thanks in advance!
7th grade is WAY too early to start thinking about college. Just have fun. If you enjoy the arts, participate. If you enjoy sports, compete. Do some volunteer work. Take classes in subjects you enjoy. Become a camp counselor-in-training.
But please know that NOTHING you do in middle school will matter for your college applications. Just have fun!
Leave this website and do your best in school. Come back in 3-5 years.
Study hard in school, get involved in activities you enjoy, and don’t worry if you change your mind about your future. Also be a nice person and don’t get into trouble (feel like this should be a given but you’d be surprised). Also, take a language if you can, it will free up your high school schedule somewhat.
Try to do as many hs courses you can take in ms.
Relax.
I have a 7th grader who enjoys dreaming about future colleges and has done a little fun research. What I encourage her to do is to work hard at school, try out extracurricular activities (all types, some academic, some social, some sport, some volunteering) so that she knows what she likes best for high school. I encourage her to view teachers as people and make an attempt to connect with them so they remember her because that kind of thing will be good practice so that she will have good relationships with high school teachers who may write recommendations (and it’s just good people skills). I encourage her to study and review before tests and quizzes even for “easy” classes because developing study skills is very important. I encourage her to read about and look up many different types of colleges and programs. Sure, Ivy schools are fun to look up but so are some big state colleges, some small but interesting liberal art colleges, etc. I encourage her to look up different programs that are related to her interests. For example, she tends to prefer math and science classes. So she’s looked at chemical engineering, pharmacy, bio informatics, etc.
ETA: something else I do is remind her that she needs to do well but doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s ok to make mistakes, mistakes are how we learn.
Rule #1) Have fun - you are only 13 or so, life is a very long road #2) Keep the Ivy Dreams at bay - going into an Ivy doesn’t mean you get a golden ticket in life or vice versa #3) find your passion - why Pre-med? You want it? or your parents want it? #4) find something you enjoy and can balance the heavy workload on your soul - some doctors are great artists, dancers, and playwrights outside their clinical practice #5) Make friends, lots of them, some can be your peers, some can be your mentors - you never know when you will need help… last thing any top school wants is so high scoring anti-social pscycho who knows all the in and out about differential equations at the age of 16. Last rule which I always tell my students #6) Don’t get burned out. People bragging about a Harvard degree when they are in their 30s mean they have achieved none since the teenage yrs… successful people can from uncommon places or common places, it is all about the person, not the places they went through. I knew a kid went to a low ranking state school (get in with a SAT of 1050 and 3.0 GPA) and became the managing director of a global investment house in Asia. Imagine that. He joked to me once, looked at all those Harvard Biz school kids I rejected and looked where I came from… Life is a very long road… so take the summer off, do something fun and meaningful. JMHO>
The only thing you should do now is stay in the higher math & science tracks if your school offers different paths. Except for that, don’t worry about it.
Have fun and enjoy MS. Explorer different courses and activities and find the things you enjoy. Find your “posse”. You will find through MS and HS that the friends you hang out with will be some of the biggest influences on your success. Find friends that bring out the best in you.
Work hard in school. You may be able to candy stripe at 14. Start networking with other people in Health Professions in your school and in your community. Health Care and Medicine is so diverse. See what you are interested in. Its not too early to volunteer in your community for fundraising or raising awareness of health issues or how to stay healthy. When I was your age, I read my mother’s American Journal of Nursing. I just found it so interesting. Reading some medical journals at your local library may whet your appetite and help you learn while finding where your interests lie.
The best thing to do now is have fun, as others have said. And because I think it’s always best to be honest, you should just stop thinking about Ivy league schools. I can’t even begin to imagine the acceptance artes in five years time, because it’s already insane. Spending five years planning on how to get into any super selelctive school is a very good way to ensure you will incredibly stressed out, quite possibly unhappy, and very likely very disappointed when decisions are released. Do things you enjoy doing and pursue them. Get good grades, and take time to be a kid. Trust us, being an adult isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
7th grade is way too early to start planning for college, however I understand the pressure. It’s too early to do anything you can put on your common app (you can’t do that until you graduate middle school). My advice is just to work your hardest in school, explore what ECs interest you and find out what subjects you enjoy the most and might possibly consider taking for AP.
Work hard to get good grades in all your classes.
Take advanced courses if they are offered.
Explore various sports/extra curricular activities.
Isn’t 7th grade a bit early to worry about this? Just focus on your grades and do extracurriculars.