I want to know what I can do to strengthen my resume and become more appealing to Ivy League schools (my goal school is Stanford, or something of the same academic standards. I don’t want to become hung up on the name, but I do have VERY high goals.)
I am only a sophomore in high school, so I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing yet.
Academics:
I’ve maintained an unweighted GPA of 4.0, and weighted of 4.2.
I’m taking all the AP classes that my school offers, but as it is a small private school, there aren’t many.
I am in the running for valedictorian, and am in the top 1% of my class (but once again, it is a very small school).
Extracurriculars:
-I’ve been a Girl Scout for 10 years, and am planning on earning my Gold Award (equivalent of the Boy Scout Eagle)
-I’m in student council, am running for ASB Vice President this year as an incoming Junior and planning on President next year as an incoming Senior.
-I have been involved in theatre and competitive improvisation for years
-I’m in National Charity League and work with various philanthropies
-I have taught English at summer camps in China 2 years in a row with my church
Jobs:
-I have a paid position as a mentor at a cotillion with children
-I’ve been a background extra on numerous TV shows, so I have some experience with film
-I’m trying to get a summer job
I’m really passionate about education and have a unique schooling past (being homeschooled, charter schools, etc.), and want to become a teacher, but first I want to learn all that a university has to offer me. I plan on majoring in education (secondary) with a minor in history.
Thank you so much for reading through and giving me advice, I appreciate it so much
Honestly, keep doing what you’re doing. Keep the GPA up, and take the hardest course load possible (if you do end up getting a B, it’s not the end of the world, it’ll be okay). Maybe join a couple clubs that interest you, with hopes to get leadership positions in the future. If your school has none, start your own! Next year, maybe you can talk to one of your old teachers, from when you were younger about helping them, and being an assistant, if the timing works out. If you want, you can begin studying for SAT/ACT, but don’t go too crazy yet. You have time. Take it slow, but be prepared. Make sure to take Subject Tests as well, when you’re ready.
You’re on a pretty solid track, and I like your commitment to education, but you should know that once they peel away some less competitive students, there are 4 or 5 like you for every seat in the class. You really need to stand out in some way in the next few years to raise your chances further.
You’re on the right track but your EC’s aren’t amazing or anything. They are pretty average and very common from what I’ve seen, especially on these forums. I recommend you doing even more EC’s involving education.
Keep in mind that academics isn’t everything I met someone a few days ago who got into Stanford last year with around a 2.0 GPA and played no sports.
You are doing very well in preparing for – and eventually in accomplishing – your goal of most-selective school admission. Your one unknown, obviously, is standardized test results. I urge you to really prepare for the SATs and/or ACTs. You want them to confirm and to complement your outstanding academic results. When you achieve this, the final important hurdle will be stellar essays. Please understand, you have massively succeeded at the most difficult and enduring part of the process, just do as well in these remaining – and actually less daunting – areas and you’ll have an exceptionally strong probability of admission.
People on this site really like telling everyone that no matter what they do they’re just never quite good enough. Quite frankly just make sure you do really well on your SATs and/or ACTs and keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll more than likely get into one of the top tier schools you desire. There’s a good chance you won’t get into your top choice just because of chance, but if you apply to all the Ivies, Standford, and similar caliber schools, you have an extremely strong chance of getting into at least one. Still though I did like the suggestion of maybe starting your own club, would probably be fun too. But yeah, just keep it up and apply to several schools (10+ if you can afford it would be my advice or save now if you can’t). You’ll get in
Maybe it has more to do with realistic appraisals by experienced adults. There are 35,000 hopeful applications sitting at both Harvard and “Stanford” right now and a thousand of them will get admitted at each.
You also have to take into consideration the number of those applicants that literally have no chance. Each applicant is obviously not equal and thousands apply without even being close to being competitive. This means your actual chance is greater than the US News percentages. When I was graduating high school I had several classmates who applied to Ivies with good stats, but clearly not very competitive (3.5, minimal APs and ECs). Straight out of high school I got into several schools people here are saying are “high reaches” for someone with stats like mine at the time. If you’re putting your hope into a single top-tier school then yeah it’s a high reach no matter what. If you apply to several, then your chances are pretty good.
@wibblywobbly What is the point of stressing over “elite” colleges for a noble but common major track. The paycheck is the same either way with the difference being stress.
True story. A lady right here at home earned her masters in ed at Harvard. She doesn’t qualify to be a principal in our state because the degree is not from an in-state school.
@wibblywobbly - You are a strong candidate. About as strong as they come through sophomore year of high school. Since you are just a sophomore though, you have a LOT more hoops to jump through. Keep that 4.0 unweighted GPA and of course watch your weighted GPA climb. You still need to take the SAT and/or ACT, and you will need to do very well on one of those. I think your ECs are actually pretty strong. The Girl Scout Gold Award is a big deal, so keep that goal. Do know that Stanford and the Ivies are incredibly difficult to get into, and they are a reach for EVERYONE.
I think saying you have experience with film because you were an extra on some TV shows is a bit much. I would actually NOT say that in a college application. You want to list it as a “job” then fine, but I wouldn’t add anything about it giving you any experience in or with film. That seems way too big of a leap and might make a reader of your application think that perhaps you have overstated things elsewhere.
Finally, when choosing your ultimate school, do make sure it has everything you want. Stanford and some of the Ivies might not necessarily have what you are looking for. For example, you say you want to be a teacher. If you go to Stanford, you can’t graduate in 4 years with an undergraduate degree and be certified to teach. Their certification program is at the Masters Degree level. Make sure to check their website for details. Also, you may be surprised to learn how few universities today allow you to get through 4 years and come out the other end with certification in hand (you still would need to pass the Praxis or other equivalent test depending on the state). Perhaps that’s not your goal. You can teach at private schools without certification, and you can acquire certification after graduating in a couple of different ways, so if you really want to go to Stanford, you can get your certification later either from Stanford in a Masters’ program or from another school.
Many schools simply don’t have a path toward certification (even though they may offer an Education major and/or minor), some require a 9th semester to get in the student teaching, and still others only offer the certification path in a Masters program. Today, more schools are dropping their certification program than adding.
Oh…Brown has a 5-year program that includes the Masters degree and certification. Something to consider.
@cfadame Actually most elite schools say that about 90% of their applicants are competitive. So let’s not pretend that 1/2 of the people applying to Harvard have 3.0 GPAs and 1410 on the SAT. Because they don’t.
OP, you should really focus on finding a school that’s the best fit. Not just creating an arbitrary list based on a schools prestige and ranking. Each Ivy is distinct and different from one another and very students would be equally and genuinely happy at even 4 Ivies, let alone all 8. You are getting hung up on the name. Remember. The Ivy League is simply an athletic conference. So in the same way you wouldn’t say “I want to go to an ACC school!” and wouldn’t say, “I wanna go to a Patriot League school!”, because they are all so different, you can’t just say “I want to go to an Ivy League school”.
PS- Stanford isn’t an Ivy League college. It’s PAC-12 and they have some really amazing schools out there in PAC-12.
Harvard is a fully accredited institution. It’s some other part of the credentialing or recent teaching experience that would delay that, but not a Harvard degree.
What @CaliCash says is very true. Some BIG differences between those Ivy League schools. Last year a kid made the news because he was accepted to all 8 of the Ivy League schools. I thought that was odd that he would apply to all 8 of them since there are so many differences there. Brown University is more like the non-Ivy League Vassar College than it is like any of the other Ivy League schools. Do NOT just focus on the name…you may be miserable if you do.
Some things to consider:
Do you like bigger schools? Stanford and the Ivies mostly are decently big schools, and some of the classes will have a lot of students in them?
Do you thrive in a very cutthroat academic environment (competition with other students)? MOST of the Ivies and Stanford would have that. Brown would be the least cutthroat and can even be considered “laid back” in some ways.
Do you mind being taught by TAs? All of those schools (at least I think so) will have some classes taught by TAs. If you went to a college without graduate students (lots of the top Liberal Arts Colleges fit this mold), you would NOT have classes taught by TAs.
Do you like the idea of fraternities and sororities? Not all students like that. Something to consider.
Warm weather year-round at Stanford, but not so at the Ivies. Does weather matter to you?
Then there’s the political climate, food, housing, stuff to do, etc.
@JustOneDad and @rednecktiger: It’s not unusual for individual states to have relatively minor certification/licensing requirements that are generally not addressed in the curriculum of out-of-state universities (even the very best ones). This is not limited to educational certification, it also happens with JDs (probably with others), who want to take the Bar Examination and to be licensed in other states.
Two example follow:
Texas (for obvious reasons) requires (or, at least, required) lawyers to have a course in “Oil and Natural Gas” law. Therefore a splendid brilliant young JD from Yale, Columbia, or even East Swampy State has/had to take an approved course in Oil and Gas before they could sit for the Texas Bar (this actually happened to a good friend with a BA from Richmond and a JD from Duke). Sometimes, this also occurred with state-focused legal ethics courses.
At one point (this is decades ago) ordinary public school teachers in Ohio had to have some sort of Ohio History instruction (probably, not a full course) to receive a provisional license. Once again, that shinny, new, bright BA from every other state had to spend a Saturday morning and $X to receive an approved document, indicating that they now met this requirement, which they provided to the Board of Education (along with their transcripts) for licensing (this actualy happened to my brother).
I am sure there are MANY other examples and in several professions.
I met someone a few days ago who got into Stanford last year with around a 2.0 GPA and played no sports.