I have some questions about applying to colleges

Chance Me / Match Me!
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I have some questions about applying to colleges. I am currently a freshman and have a 1480 on the SAT and a 32 on the ACT. I take AP classes and have a 4.0 GPA. I am also part of many extracurriculars, including tutoring, martial arts, academic competitions, and nonprofit fundraising. What are the chances that I get into Brown, UPenn, UNLV, UMKC, and Penn State?

I heard that Ivy League colleges want to hear unique stories from their applicants. I want to be able to do something that stands out in my resume and applications. Any suggestions?

Thank you for your time!

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You’re a freshman. It’s great you’re thinking about these things now, but also realize that a lot can change in the next three years of high school. My best advice is to find your passion. You have a lot of great activities already, which do you love the most? Figure that out and pursue it as far as you can - whether through internships, leadership positions, research, etc. Now is the perfect time to do this.

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Thank you!

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Are you a high school freshman? If so, is your 1480 SAT score actual, or what you are hoping to achieve?

You might want to read the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions website. Its basic message, as I understand it, is to do what is right for you, and do it very well. Several people I know have used this approach with significant success. However, what I did is very different from what my wife or my children have done. We each just did what was right for us.

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My SAT score is actual.
Also, thank you for the resources!

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One daughter was invited to take the SAT as a freshman in high school. She did well, but definitely way below 1480. She is currently studying for a DVM at a university with a very good program.

One thing that comes to mind is that if you are a strong enough student to get a 1480 as a high school freshman, then depending upon where you are there might or might not be a lot of other students who are “like you” in your high school. Depending upon how this is going you might want to see if there is a Mensa chapter for high school students in your area. Also, you should know that when you get to university you will meet a lot more students who are “like you” in ways that matter, such as your interest in education and learning and doing well.

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UNLV is a very easy admit - so not sure why it’s lumped in.

If you have a 1480 as a Freshman, you’ll be near 1600 when the real time comes.

Get good grades, take rigorous classes, get involved outside of school and repost in two years.

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Good advice. In today’s competitive world for elite schools, don’t ignore the “get involved outside school.” In the current cycle, I’m seeing a lot of great students who thought their stellar academic records would carry the day, but they are getting rejected from their elite ED choices if they don’t have something that stands out beyond the academics.
Being a member of some school clubs just won’t cut it. Demonstrate active leadership and accomplishment, especially in something related to your future field of study. Activities that show measurable, provable accomplishment.

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That!

I see lots of chance-me’s with a long list of school clubs and “leadership” in those clubs. While I do appreciate (and seen with my daughter) that for some clubs, being involved in managing it does involve a certain personality and of course extra (sometime extraordinary) commitment, it is too common a sight in applications to stand out.

Fewer clubs, but instead one solid, persistent, outside-of-school commitment, could be more distinctive.

She had been fun-volunteering for a local non-profit since being child, and her involvement grew/changed with age to be increasingly relevant to that organization. Not only was she awarded a (very modest, unexpected) scholarship - but most importantly, she received a very good letter of recommendation from that organization’s president, and from a second, public-safety organization, to submit with her applications.

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Warning - long post.

Do not dedicate the entire four years of high school to increasing the chance that you will be admitted to a “prestigious” college.

College is a way to prepare for the rest of your life. If you spend your entire high school doing stuff because they may increase your chances at a “good college” you are not only missing out on the many wonderful and enjoyable things that you could be doing, you are also missing the chance to help yourself prepare for the 40+ years that you will work and the 60+ years that you will live after you graduate from college.

Moreover, focussing on “college acceptance” even ignores the fact that acceptance to a college is only the very first step for the four years in college.

What you should be doing is deciding what classes to take in high school. Figure out whether you have interest in particular direction (life sciences, engineering, history, art, etc), and choose classes in that direction. If you don’t yet, take a wider set of classes. Your counselor and student handbook will help you with that.

The point of your studies is to provide you with a strong basis in general knowledge and skills, as well as the foundations for the acquiring further skills and knowledge during college or whatever track you choose. For students who are on a college track, the classes are not to help a student be accepted to a college. They are to provide the foundations for the courses that they will take in whatever college they end up attending.

The purpose in taking the most rigorous classes is not because “colleges like this”, it is to build studying habits and skills. That is why a student should take the most rigorous classes that can deal with, rather than the most difficult classes that the school offers. The colleges which prefer students who took the most rigorous classes that their high school offered are not accepting these students as a “prize”. They are colleges whose own courses are extremely rigorous, and they need to know that students have the ability to do well in such classes.

As for extracurricular activities.

You should not really be looking at ECs from the point of view of “what are the colleges looking for in my extra-curricular activities”. Your main focus on ECs should be what YOU want to achieve from your ECs. You find martial arts enjoyable and helpful in your life - go and do martial arts. You care about the homeless? Go and volunteer in a homeless shelter. You enjoy learning advanced math or science, and then competing with others on these topics? Do that, and do it well.

Your ECs are for you, not for college AOs.

My advice is, therefore: choose classes based on your interests, make sure that they are as rigorous as will allow you to succeed in those classes, and engage in extra curriculars that interest you and help you now. I promise you that, in the spring of your junior year, you will be able to figure out which colleges are the best for YOU. Which colleges will help you achieve what you want to achieve in life. Maybe not the most prestigious colleges that you can imagine, but colleges which with help you succeed in college and in the rest of your life.

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And there’s many colleges, maybe most, that don’t care about your ECs at all- but obviously the elites will.

UNLV, which you listed, won’t.

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Wow! I love that you are starting early and that’s in no way a bad thing. I would recommend dual enrollment courses, if available at your school. These are one of the best ways to show colleges you can handle their rigor and pace - and it’s a great GPA boost if you do. I would also recommend continuing those extracurriculars for your remaining high school years as it’s highly beneficial to pursue quality over quantity with regard to time commitment and level. Overall, I hope this helped and keep being competitive!

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Frankly, no one can decide what story is considered unique. What considered unique for me, might not be for you and the others. Remember that usually you have at least 2 people reading your essays and they might have different opinions on your essays. If you ask the admission officers to re-read the essays from admitted students from 5-8 years ago, probably some of them might have a different sentiment on those essays. This just to show that there is clear definition of what makes things “unique”.

Being smart, having a rigorous classes never hurts. However, I’ve seen a lot of kids trying to do things haphazardly to tick all the boxes. Which brings me to the next point:

All the suggestions from the other members are right: try to apply sideways that you won’t feel that your hardwork is in vain if you don’t get into your dream college. Do whatever excites you and challenges you. Write essay that represents you, not the one that you think will fit in the college because it will look fake.

And your fellow competitors / students, will have their own achievements and unique stories too. Look at who got deferred at USC, Fordham, Notre Dame, Chicago, etc. They all excellent students with tons of ECs, APs and achievements. Almost all of them founded non-profits, volunteered, helped with fundraising, etc . So, find your passion, do it consistently and I always believe that there is a higher power deciding where we end up at college.

Good luck!

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This is only the case if OP’s school doesn’t have a good selection of AP classes. AP>dual enrollment in terms of perceived rigor in college admissions.

For OP, I agree with the others who said focus on ECs that you love.

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Here is what you need to get admitted to UNLV:

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What he said. Get involved in a few activities - sports, clubs, volunteer work - and stick with them, show advancement and demonstrate leadership. A student who is an Eagle Scout or was on a varsity sports team is more impressive than someone who joins six clubs and shows up to a couple meetings just to pad their application.

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I agree with all that.
I’d never encourage my children to go in a directly solely because it looks good for college, if it has no interest to them.

But often, doing things for yourself will simultaneously help you in college applications. Maximizing your rigor in a manner that meets your interests and capabilities helps you grow and learn, AND helps with college applications.
Seeking extracurriculars that are focused and where you can make a difference help you in your personal development, far more than just joining a bunch of random clubs.

So I agree totally with mwolf – Do things for yourself, not solely for college applications. But in doing things for yourself, including pushing yourself within your own abilities and interests, will help you later on in your college applications.

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Honestly, with your ability and determination thus far as demonstrated by a high SAT and high ACT, straight A’s, and being in AP classes, all by the middle of 9th grade, I would say that you have the right stuff, and are well-started on the path to do very well in college admissions.

Take the most rigorous classes available to you that have good teachers, that you can do well in. Every year, try to get into the best-taught AP classes, because that’s how you get the most out of high school. If your school has a horrible teacher for a particular AP, think about not taking that one - maybe take it as a dual enrollment at a nearby college instead. Many colleges will allow a high school student to take one class for free each semester, so this may be an option for you as you exhaust the options for good APs at your high school.

What do you love doing? Try to pour yourself into becoming very accomplished at that. The most selective schools are often impressed by someone who had followed their extreme interest to a pinnacle of achievement. As a 9th grader, you’re maybe at the “trying things out” stage, and that’s fine. But if there’s something that you’ve already found that you really love, feel free to concentrate on that EC, rather than trying to spread yourself thin on many ECs that you’re not very interested in.

You will take the PSAT in the fall of 11th grade. You can and should prep for this, because the score for it is used for the National Merit competition. If you score highly on this exam, it can open doors to full scholarships at a few flagship state U’s (Alabama, Oklahoma, Arizona are ones that come to mind now), plus it is a way of telling test-blind schools (UC Berkeley, UCLA, and the other UCs) that you have very high test scores.

Go visit schools that are near you, just to walk around and get a feel for them. This may help you to realize whether you prefer a suburban campus, an isolated rural school, an inner-city school with not much campus. When you travel with your family, ask them to take you to visit a school or two there, to help you start to get a feel for campus atmospheres.

Look into summer programs for your areas of academic interest.

Consider a semester or even year abroad during high school, if possible to a third world country that is not commonly chosen, especially if you can learn a valuable language there. Doing this demonstrates extraordinary maturity and resilience. Not many students choose to go to a third world country for a year of high school. It sounds as if you are so far ahead on the academic track here in the US that it wouldn’t harm you to have a year abroad, academically.

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Some general thoughts on your application process…

How are you building your school list? The schools you listed vary greatly in size, ranking and selectivity. Do you have some idea of what you want to study? Have you visited any of the schools you listed, even just to walk the campus to get a feel for the school’s “vibe”? I don’t know where you are, but it might help you get a feel for what you want by visiting some area colleges, big and small, private and public (if you are in the Boston area this is easy, if rural SD, not so much).

Top tier schools receive far more applications than they have available seats, and many of these applicants are extremely impressive, high stat students. For every student a UPenn or Brown accepts, they might turn away 10 students that are just as accomplished. Being qualified, in some ways, is just the first cut, but it is what you can control. Schools are trying to build classes that meet the school’s goals in terms of background, geographic origin, demographics, etc. - all things you cannot control. Brown may have too many students from New England, and not enough from the upper Midwest so the kid from WI gets in while an identical student from the CT does not. My point here is if you do not get into your dream school it almost certainly isn’t because you fell short; don’t beat yourself up.

So, back to your initial question… the Ivies are a reach for everyone and there are no guarantees, as discussed above. I don’t know anything about UNLV or UMKC, but you are an extremely strong candidate for Penn State. As for standing out, I don’t know what specific achievements or hooks you have (Are you all-state in soccer? Are you a refugee from Ukraine?) For starters, don’t be the student who belongs to six clubs, but has done nothing of note at any them. Instead, show commitment, advancement and leadership in whatever you do. As others have noted, if you are doing something you love this will come naturally.

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The OP is a high school freshman, and these are their first semester grades. They are still a couple of years away from anybody being able to tell how strong a candidate they will be for any college.

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