<p>When reading people's profile on CC I feel really overwhelmed.
I want to make it into an Ivy. I'm currently a freshman. I join several clubs. But nothing to special. I also play tennis. But not in the varsity or JV or Freshman. Though, I got perfect GPA unweighted 4.0 (perhaps 4.42 weighted). Award: Student of the month, honor roll. My writing skill is decent, and I'm an immigrant who just got to this country last year. However, I'm in PreAp English-Math-Social Studies- Science. But not a big thing compared to other people here. And yes, Im a low income family. But I'm also Asian. I volunteered a lot. And thats it. I don't have any thing special.</p>
<p>So yeah, I don't know what to make of it. I want to make it into one of the top colleges (one school in the IVY gets my attention). However I cannot afford to see the campus. Is there any way for me? (I'm attending a crappy highschool in Houston- it ranks 500-ish in the state :(( )</p>
<p>As a senior the best advice i can possibly give you is this:</p>
<p>I used to think about getting into top schools and not really what I wanted when I was a freshman and sophomore also. THIS WAS A HUGE MISTAKE!</p>
<p>The most important thing is to find what you love and just do that (and get good grades in school). Whether doing what you love takes you to your dreams of ivy or not, you won’t feel like you’ve wasted it. I basically joined a bunch of activities thinking it would make me look good for colleges. I ended up very lucky because a lot of those activities were sports that I fell in love with, but I also had activities that I dreaded doing for the next four years. </p>
<p>The activities that you think would make me look good did not help at all. I didn’t care about them or have any passion and it was obvious in my applications. I’m not being recruited as an athlete, so you’d think the sports wouldn’t be the ones to help me, but they were truly my passion throughout high school and what I cared about most. My essays about running and tennis, and the way I talked about it in interviews helped me the most. </p>
<p>If I could go back there’s many things I wouldn’t do, and others that I would. My biggest regret of high school is wasting time with things that I didn’t care about at all when I could have been practicing serves or improving my mile time. </p>
<p>I’m starting to ramble but what the basic message of this is, and stolen from Little Miss Sunshine, do what you love and f*** the rest. If you love art take as many classes of it as you can, even if god forbid you miss out on an AP class (gasp!). If tennis is your thing like it was mine, then practice and get on that varsity team. Instead of asking, “what do the ivies want?” ask “what do i want?” and you can’t go wrong. </p>
<p>You’re still only a freshman and have a lot of time to do a lot of great things. Just make every single accomplishment count. Good luck to you bro.</p>
<p>A freshman with a 4.0 is off to a pretty good start. I’d say quit worrying specifically about packaging yourself for college and start focusing on one or two things or activities that YOU really like. Take that activity, whether it’s music, sports, art, even surfing, or what have you and really pick it up and run with it. Take it to a level well beyond what most kids do. Win awards in it. Make it your own.</p>
<p>Do that and keep your grades up, study up and get good SAT scores, and three years from now tie them all together with some excellent essays, and you will have plenty of high-end schools eager to admit you.</p>
<p>find something you are passionate about, and pursue it rigorously. Not only will you reap many rewards, but when the time comes to write something passionate for a college essay, you will have a perfect foundation to write from.</p>
<p>Id like to say that you should never let got of your expectation (wanting to go to an Ivy) but always remember that there are excellent state colleges, also it does not matter where you as long as you get good grades.</p>
<p>My advice to you, forget about your Ivy league dreams until the 2nd half of junior year. If you place those kind of expectations on yourself they will cripple you. I didn’t start thinking about college until 2nd semster sophomore year and I’ll tell you you’re preferences will change mine went from Duke, to Brown, to Upenn, to eventually Cornell where I am now enrolled. What I realized was that once you’ve decided to aim for the Ivy League, school becomes harder as you are killed by your own expectations. Just sit and wait and get killer grades. Don’t worry about being in a crappy high school, I was too. If anything you’ll stand out as a big fish in a small pond.</p>
<p>Yeah I was set on Stanford for my freshman and sophomore year of high school…a few college visits later and Penn was at the top of my list…patience, grasshopper.</p>
<p>And stay off this site and focus on your schoolwork. This site eats productivity like Rosie O’Donnell eats pies.</p>
<p>Just relax and control what you can control. Getting good grades, prepping for the SAT’s (buy a Guide and study), and I agree pick a few activities you are passionate about and go with it (community service, art, music, school paper, sports-whatever) Hey, if you go to a “crappy” school in Houston, then maybe you can do something to make it better. I am sure any university would love someone who took that kind of initiative to try to make the most out of his/her circumstances! Finally, don’t limit yourself to the “Ivy” league. There are plenty of GREAT schools out there that are non “Ivy” some are even in your own home state (Rice, UT-Austin for ex.) Some even have IVY on their building haha. </p>
<p>Also, “race” is a diversity factor, but if you are “low income” or a first generation college student that is just as significant of a diversity factor and income is beginning to trump race in my opinion. There are many Asian students who are part of the questbridge program for instance. So do not limit yourself. Also, there are many schools where the “asian” community is not large, so try not to buy into misnomers and stereotypes. </p>
<p>Finally, I do not know what your family income level is, but of course many schools offer full rides to students who’s parents make less the 60K, 75K and even 100K. Most Ivies, U of Chicago, Northwestern, Stanford and many of the LAC’s offer these deals so do your homework and apply to as many as you can.</p>