Ivies?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>What should I do from here? I'm a rigorous honors student at Oak Hills High in Cincinnati, Ohio. My grades aren't fantastic, but I am in like the top 5% of my class. I'm only a sophomore, but what should I do (like classes and ECs) to improve my chances?</p>

<p>GPA: 6.1 w/ 3.7 u (6.1 is not accurate, they have a system to make it like a 3.6 so that the level 3 kids have a chance at a 4.0)</p>

<p>Freshman Classes:
Gym I (Mand.)
Legal Issues
Graphic Arts
Civil War/Reconstruction
German II
Honors Geometry
Honors Physical Science (Counts as ColPrep Lab Course)
English I Honors
Classical to Age of Enlightenment (Honors History)</p>

<p>Freshman ECs:
Mock Trial - Outstanding Attorney Award received (given to one of four attorneys in trial), 2 wins, 0 losses. OHHS MT program is fantastic and we make state yearly. I had to memorize a lot, because we have to present both sides of the case. I was one of the two people on the team that was an attorney on one side and a witness on the other side. Continuing throughout high school.</p>

<p>Cross Country - I wasn't the greatest, but I got a JV letter. My grades suffered dramatically in the first part of the year, so I did not continue this year.</p>

<p>German Club - Got a cool shirt, monthly meetings, field trips. Accepted into UC (University of Cincinnati) German Day, came in 3rd over 200 people in a Culture Quiz. Actual Germans took the quiz and I beat them.. haha.</p>

<p>Just getting my feet wet that first year!
Soph Classes:
Honors America/Global Community
Honors Advanced Algebra (Alg II)
Honors Biology
English II Honors
German III
Col/Career Prep (Honors Elective!!)
Gym II/Health (Mandatory)
Intro to Comp Apps</p>

<p>ECs:
Mock Trial - Same
Academic Team - Self Explanatory
Newspaper Staff - Self Explanatory
Key Club - Service Projects and such... self explanatory
Student Council - Chair of Homecoming Chaperones Committee, typical student council. The leader said I may be the first person to ever be on the executive council as a junior, and definitely as a senior. Very involved in this.
OMUN - Ohio Model United Nations, an awesome program that owns. Basically UN. Memorize speeches and such.
German Club - Same
Generating Awareness of Politics - Politics Club, basically, come debate, meet senators, etc.</p>

<p>Summer:
Went to a 3-credit college course in JavaScript. (06)
Nominated for a People to People Leadership Summit in DC, accepted and going. (07)
Trip to Germany with the German Club and the German program at our school for three weeks in an exchange, then an exchange student comes here during our school year. (08)</p>

<p>Taking the PSAT/NMSQT in October, possibly ACT and/or SAT.</p>

<p>Intended Majors: Triple Major Possible - PolySci and Computer Science and Criminology. Wanting to go to Law School after Yale. Possibly do PolySci and Criminology major, CS minor, and then law school. But I know I want to do PolySci and Criminology. </p>

<p>What should I do to improve chances?
How many APs should I take? Like quality over quantity or what? If I take eight, get seven 4's and one 5, thats great, but if I took five and got all 5's? Which one is better?
Next year, I'm going to be in AP US History, and I'm hoping to get into AP Gov't, althought that is normally a senior class. I'm going to see if I can get the principle to allow it. Possibly AP CS I next year.
How am I doing so far?
What SAT/ACT/PSAT scores should I look for?
How should I study for AP/SAT/ACT tests?
What other ECs should I get into, or is this good?</p>

<p>I know I'm only a soph in my first quarter, but I have wanted to go to Yale for a long time. Yeah, I'm obsessed but I really really want to get in, and I'm ready to look at colleges.</p>

<p>Just give feedback and stuff I should do.
THANKS SO MUCH!</p>

2

<p>First of all, if you think you can triple major like that at Yale, you're probably out of your mind.</p>

<p>Secondly, no one's going to be able to tell you much until you take those tests. Your junior GPA and rank after that year is so much more important, and a GPA as unintelligible to most of us as a 6.1 doesn't give us much to work with. I can say that except Mock Trial, you lake serious ECs that require time devotion. You should've stuck with XC and dropped some clubs instead.</p>

3

<p>To keep it simple, get your grades up...aim for straight A's. Also, take the hardest schedule possible THAT YOU CAN HANDLE. I can't stress that enough. Do not overload yourself. As for AP scores...they don't count in the admissions process, so don't worry too much about those. Take the AP classes that interest you and that you can do well in. I would recommend taking a prep course of some kind right before junior year or early junior year for the ACT/SAT. Probably focus on one or the other.</p>

4

<p>to clarify, col/career prep spends 60% of the time working for acts and sats...</p>

<p>its college/career prep</p>

5

<p>to clarify again, yale doesnt have a criminology program...</p>

<p>damn.</p>

6

<p>i didnt go into as much detail, but student council not being good? being the first junior on executive board every?</p>

<p>key club and comm service like that isnt good?</p>

<p>academic team and model UN isnt good?</p>

<p>you said i lack serious ECs but in my mind i hit them all.. academics, comm service, no athletics, but thats it..</p>

7

<p>i mean, like i have speaking things, community service, leadership things, academia things... lacking time devotion? i spend a lot of time on these things and work through my lunch bell to get them all done. i work my ass off for all these things... you make it sound like i go to a ten minute meeting and then leave...</p>

8

<p>You could fill up your schedule so fully with ECs that you can only sleep 4 hours a night. But if you don't have ECs that individually. demand a large amount of time commitment, you don't have fantastic ECs. 5 hours a week for an EC is not impressive, even if you have 5 ECs that you do 5 hours a week.</p>

<p>Lots and lots and lots of unimpressive ECs is not impressive.</p>

9

<p>your GPA is confusing... and you said your grades "aren't fantastic." the only people who get into yale without donating a gymnasium have stellar grades. aim for straight A's with a challenging schedule if you want yale. that means as many ap/honors as you can (handle), but challenge yourself. </p>

<p>your EC's... um. they're not bad, but i don't see anything there that really stands out. everyone's going to have community service, remember that.</p>

<p>they're not bad, don't think they are. they just don't really pop out or anything. </p>

<p>good luck :)</p>

10

<p>Look carefully at your post: most of it is about your ECs, now look at some statistics, for example on Brown's or MIT's website, and you will see that it is the ACADEMICS that comes first. Concentrate on your classes, because without it no matter how good you are in ECs, chances of getting in are slim. Good luck.
Homecoming Chaperones Committee may sound good for a hs student, but is totally insignificant for an adult. Sorry.</p>