Hi, I am an Asian female junior in high school right now.
I am highly interested in Columbia University, in addition to most of the other ivys (Cornell, UPenn, Princeton, etc). Also schools like Georgetown.
I am the #1 rank of my graduating class, with a 4.0 GPA and 4.73 WGPA. I’m in National, Music, science, social studies, spanish, and math honors societies. My extracurriculars include flute, volunteer service, and field hockey. I’m also an active officer of my school’s SGA. I take all AP classes. I got a 1990 on my SAT but i plan to retake it in May and break 2200. That is just the gist of me – could anyone tell me if ivy league schools are even in the question for me? And if you have any advice, please tell me! Thanks!
Woah, 1990 SAT? Big grade versus GPA discrepancy there… Have you looked at the ACT?
Assuming you get 2200 SAT and have mostly 4s and 5s and APs, your acedemic profile is set.
But…
The ECs. Maybe you left some (that is, a bunch) of information about your outside of school life out, but if you had to abandon outside activites to get that perfect GPA, we have a problem. Aimless “volunteer work” and “playing the flute” do not qualify as developing a passion or actively pursuing your main interest. Again, I am assuming that you left more specific details out, but your essays will need to be good. This is especially true because you do not have any accolades or awards. Honor societies, with rare exceptions, have no weight.
No way! I had the nearly the exact stats as you- a 4.73 W GPA, 1990 on first SAT, 2200 on second one (in May of Junior year), and similar ECs. I’m a senior, and I’ve applied to Yale, Penn, and safeties.
I wish I had taken the SATs a third time, but I was busy with a subject test in June and it’s not a good idea to take SATs senior year (based on the statistics that they rarely go up senior year), so I didn’t really have more chances. I got the 2200 (730CR,730M,740W) by studying with a tutor, but I may have been able to bring it up a bit more had I taken in one more time. Maybe sign up to take it in both May and June? I wish I had been able to do that. Just a thought.
I also underestimated the importance of leadership to colleges until I did more research on colleges this year. My only leadership is being the Editor-in-Chief of a lit mag, which was a lot of work, but I wish that I had taken on leadership in a school club. You didn’t indicate whether you had leadership roles, but either way, just keep that in mind. It’s not too late to take on leadership, if you haven’t already.
As for your chances, I think if you get 2200+ and have leadership, you will be a competitive applicant at most of the schools you mentioned. The majority of the accepted students on the Yale threads seem to have 2300+, but a 2200+ seems adequate for Cornell, Penn, and Princeton. I don’t know much about Columbia. Overall, you’d probably be a bit safer with a 2250+. Also remember that no one is a shoo-in for Ivy league schools anymore. Even seemingly-qualified students get rejected, but I think you would stand a chance. It would help to apply to a bunch of competitive schools.
Good luck!