<p>So i went to my guidance counseular for the college discussion, i'm a sophmore, and i had to do this little research on colleges thing for her and a lot of the schools that I came up with higher tier schools as my top choices with state universities and the such for safties b/c I thought they were attainable, but she said no, that i wasnt being realistic. So far in my research Brown has been my top choice. So, </p>
<p>Question 1) Are the Ivy leagues realistic
Question 2) What should I do beside wat Im doing now to get in to higher tier schools?
Thanx I'd Apreciate any feedback.</p>
<p>Here are my stats:</p>
<p>GPA: 3.97 unweighted. I dunno the weighted one
PSAT: 2030
RANK: somewhere in the top 10 in a class of 800 </p>
<p>Soph Sched: APH US 1, H ENGLISH, CHEM, ALG 2 H, Spanish 2, Ceramics
Junior Sched: Pre Calc/Trig, AP Spanish, AP US 2, AP ENG, AP CHEM, Physics</p>
<p>Should have about 8 APS by Senior year</p>
<p>ECS
Mock Trial
Debate Captain
JSA
FBLA
Sciece Club Pres./ Founder
Science League
Future Problem Solving
Summer research internship
Columbia U Science Honors Program
Trying to do some volunteer stuff
YDA
Science Fair
Football JV
Lacrosse (Town league, school dosent have one)
School Newspaper
Job
Rep for Student Council</p>
<p>If you prep for the SAT anything is attainable i dont know *** she is talking about.. your GPA and courseload is nice. Your ECs look very solid...</p>
<p>You are a sophomore and are currently doing well. I don't see why the GC is telling you your dream is "unrealistic." Go ahead and prove her wrong! You can apply where you want.</p>
<p>OK, I have a soft spot in my heart now for Brown because it had the wisdom to admit my daughter and she loves it. I'm sure folks looking at the "stats" would have thought she didn't have a chance. But she had a uniqueness that I think came across in the application.</p>
<p>Of course, everybody is unique. The key is letting this come through in your application.</p>
<p>One thing you haven't mentioned is why Brown is your top choice. What is it you want to study there, or what is it about you that makes this the best fit? That is the thing that needs to be shown by your application.</p>
<p>A few ideas you can consider.</p>
<p>If you can afford it, try to take some college courses in the summer. My daughter did this for two summers at Brown. They say that the courses don't get you in. But they can show interest in the school and ability to do college-level work, and can generate some recommendations from college instructors.</p>
<p>No offense (or no, that is usually the preface to saying something offensive ... oh, well LOL), but your ECs seem overly broad to me. You have so many -- how could you devote much time to them? I think a couple that you spend a significant amount of time on are better than a long list. Find out what you enjoy doing and go with that.</p>
<p>Is there anything you could do in your chosen field -- correspondence or summer courses, an internship, a competition, etc?</p>
<p>Realize that at the top tier schools, about everyone is going to be coming in with high grades, test scores, and the usual list of ECs. Come up with ways to allow your uniqueness to come through.</p>
<p>As a sophomore, I would say that it is possible for you to go to one of the top schools, but your SAT score has to be much higher than the PSAT indicates. </p>
<p>You also need to understand that any one of the top 12-15 schools is a reach school for anybody. The 50% SAT Range is 1400-1580 at Harvard. This means that 25% of the accepted applicants have SAT scores of 1580+ (on the 1600 scale). While the average score is around 1500, nearly everyone below 1500 has a "hook". In admissionese, this means that they are a legacy, recruited athlete, URM (under-represented minority), or are attractive to the college in some special way. </p>
<p>It works like this: The number one thing they care about is that you took the most challenging curriculum available at your high school, then gpa/rank, then standardized test scores. They won't split hairs between applicants with outstanding academics (1550-1600). After qualifying on academic measures, they chose between applicants based on personal characteristics. They want well-rounded freshman classes but not well-rounded students. It is best to have one or two EC's where you have shown long-term committment and "passion" (and some achievement) rather than a long list of EC's without much committment in any. After all of that, they still have 4-5 applicants for each slot and they have to choose between them.</p>
<p>You should continue to take the most challenging courses offered at your high school. Study for the SAT by a prep classes or just get some study books and practice tests on your own. Try to package your EC's so that they show long-term committment and "passion" in one/two of them. Make use of your summers in some activities. Try to do some volunteer hours. I'm sure that somebody will think that high school is for enjoying yourself, but you asked about the elite colleges. Try to enjoy yourself while you become competitive for the elite colleges. Also, pick your college by "fit" rather than prestige.</p>
<p>The competition for the top colleges drops off exponentially as you come down the USNWR list. By the time you get to the #20 or #25 college, the process is sane. It is insane at the top colleges that everybody aim for. Brown's 50% SAT range is 640-750V and 650-750M. It is at the low end of the insane category. You look pretty good for a sophomore, but your PSAT was low. Your GC was correct in saying that one of the top 15 colleges is "unrealistic", in the sense that it is unrealistic for anyone to "plan" on going to one in particular.</p>
<p>You guys are really putting too much into the PSAT. I got a 192 my somphmore year, a 211 PSAT and a 2140 my junior year , and a 2260 my senior year (along with a 35 ACT) and I didnt prep at all. He/she has a much better PSAT score than I did, so I would say you have a good shot if you keep up your GPA and ECs. </p>
<p>Advice: Focus your interests on your ECs. Dont do 100, but do 3 or 4 which reflect your interests. Work on a political campaign (I saw you were in JSA and debate) or something political.</p>
<p>just about 75% of applicants who have over a 750 verbal are rejected. just about 75% of applicants who have over a 750 in math are rejected. two-thirds of the valedictorians who apply are rejected. 80% of applicants in the top 10% of their class are rejected.</p>
<p>now what do you mean by realistic? </p>
<p>is it ok to want to go to brown and to try to have the best grades and test scores you can to increase your chances? sure. but be realistic. find some other schools to love where you could be happy. and don't fall into the trap of assuming that there is some magic "thing" you will be able to do to increase your chances at Brown.</p>
<p>brown at least has the good grace to be very up front with these types of stats. most highly selective schools don't make similar stats readily available.</p>
<p>when you look at schools - don't just ask yourself how you measure up to those who are accepted. ask how you measure up to those who get rejected because the ivies (and other highly selective schools) reject an awful lot of very talented intelligent people.</p>
<p>I agree with OSUforme that you shouldn't put too much emphasis on the PSAT. From the first time somebody takes the SAT until the last time, people often improve 200 points. There is typically a big jump between junior and senior year scores.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. Well I know i cant plan to get into an Ivy leauge school but it is a reach for ne1, but she was kind of on the line dont try at all. To answer your question I want to go to Brown because of the location, not city but not suburb its kind of like the town i live in now. Also there is a good precentage of science majors and they are getting a lot of good facilities ect. and then the open cirriculum. I'm not comitted to Brown but so far its one of my favoraites. My ec's focus on science and politics which are my two passions, especailly the cross between them. I'm trying to focus on certain ec's and really excel in them especailly the science ones because they are so underdeveloped at my school, a teacher and i founded the science club. I've done science fair, a program a columbia university and i am an intern a medical lab at UMNDJ. I'm continuing to try to pursue my passions but i'm afraid if I apply as the typical science person then don't have nething to distinguish myself by. Well thanx for everything it was really helpful to get all that feedback. Id appreciate any more.</p>
<p>SAT can easily be improved, i had 1150ish in grade 11, think how devastated i was, but i pulled it to 1400 in less than 1 year. Just work hard :D</p>
<p>Another question, those emails u get from colleges, are they just advertising, my gc sed they were cuz of my psat score, it was 98 percentile cuz im a soph., do they really mean nething?</p>
<p>those emails are ads. colleges want to get people interested in them - even top colleges - the more who apply, the more choice they have in selecting their class. So don't read too much in to these emails.<br>
BUT -- some schools do keep records of an applicant's interest in the school. responding to some of these can be a way of having your interest noted. BUT then again - interest is not as big a factor at the ivies as it is at some other (still top) schools.</p>
<p>Yeah they're ads but they only send it to people with certain PSAT scores. You have a good score for a sophomore. I actually prepped for the PSAT sophomore year and got 210, which is barely more than you. I had around the same stats as you when I was a sophomore. My resume doesn't look too bad now though, even though if I had posted here people probably would have been skeptical of my chances too. Don't lose hope.</p>
<p>Thanks. Do my ec's look to broad and is focusing on science because it so academic a bad thing? I do play football but wont play this year b/c of my lab internship during the summer. I will be playing lax for my town's team probly tho.</p>
<p>
[quote]
She was kind of on the line dont try at all
[/quote]
Bad guidance counselor, bad bad.</p>
<p>It would prefectly acceptable for her to try to discourage you from counting on a super-elite college and to tell you that "fit" is more important than prestige, but she was wrong to make it sound as if you should give up. You have an excellent gpa, you have very good EC's, you are going to have alot of AP's, and you are thinking about it early in sophomore year. She was probably worried about getting yours hopes up.</p>
<p>You might look at a copy of "Acing the College Application" by Michelle Hernandez. There are alot of college admission guides. The problem with most of them is that nobody is ever going to read it. This one is reasonably short (200 pages) and emphasizes what you actually need to know. It is like a how-to manual for the application.</p>
<p>keep up. =) very impressive for a sophomore..you've got more ec's than i will when i graduate (sadly).. why would your guidance counselor be telling u that???
my gc is an idiot too.</p>
<p>I dunno , shes not the best GC neway but still it got me nervous and i thought i was setting my sights too high. Well now i know a lot more. If you guyz have nemore feedback about my stats ect. id appreciate it.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with setting your sights high. Just have some other reaches, as well as matches and safeties you wouldn't mind going to as well. Don't have your self-esteem bound up in where you end up. If you don't happen to fulfill a niche a particular school needs to fill that year, don't take it personally.</p>
<p>About everyone's chances at a super elite place are unknown. That is no reason not to try. Some DO get in.</p>