<p>Hi guys!
I'm wondering what my chances of being accepted to an Ivy league school are.
I'm a sophomore at a high school of 2,200 students. I'm in the top 81.7% (97th of 530).
It's a fairly competitive class (so far) there are 23 people with a 4.0.
My GPA is 3.669 UW, and I transferred from a private school after the first semester of freshman
year, so those grades don't count for my GPA.
Second semester of freshman year I took 2 Pre-AP's, this year I am taking 1 AP and 1 Pre-AP.
Both years I have been a year ahead in math as well as taking advanced Spanish classes.</p>
<p>I went to a Spanish Immersion elementary school, and I speak Spanish fluently. My HS has a
program specifically for both students from this school, and for
students who speak Spanish fluently because they were raised speaking it.</p>
<p>I have also played soccer all of my life and am hoping to make varsity my junior year, and maybe
captain my Senior year. I have played guitar for 3 years now, and volunteer regularly at Church.
I am on my Churches YLT (Youth Leadership Team) and am planning on going on
mission trips with them for the next 3 years.</p>
<p>Assuming I pick up a few more extra curriculars and more volunteer opportunities, raise my grades
to straight A's, and get good ACT and SAT scores, what do you think my chances are of being
accepted to a prestigious Ivy League school?</p>
<p>I know it's a bit of a long shot and I don't even know if it's possible, but I've heard stories of people
making it even though they haven't even had a GPA of 3.8. I'm willing to really step up my game. Any advice would
be greatly appreciated, as well as any suggestions as to what colleges/universities I could make it into.</p>
<p>Thank you in advance and good luck with your own personal admission goals!</p>
<p>Your class rank is abit low and I think you’re aiming a little too high. Theres nothing wrong with being ambitous, but be realistic. I think you’re more in the range of say Tulane or University of Miami, not Harvard or Yale. Essentially, you’d probably have an above average shot at alot of Top 100 ranked universities but not the elite. You don’t need to go to Ivies to get a good education and quite frankly you probably wouldn’t get in. Try to get above a 2000 on the SAT and you’ll be in good shape for schools in the 30s even such as Boston College or Lehigh.</p>
<p>Don’t give up on your dreams and apply to the ivy leagues. I would suggest you open up your choices a little though- rather than look at just the ivy leagues, look at schools that will fit you. When I went to prep school, I based my decision on prestige, and found myself in a place that I hated. Do a little bit of research and apply early decision to the school you like. </p>
<p>Also, don’t be afraid just because your GPA or SAT score doesn’t match up with the “average” ivy league student. More than 25% of Ivy league students get ACT scores less than 30 (about 2000 on the SAT) and I’m sure the admissions board will take into account any strong reasons why your GPA would be low. You just got to work hard on what you can do. </p>
<p>It’s really hard to say without any test scores. With your GPA, however, all Ivy’s are going to be reaches. Then again, you still have a year to get it up. The fact that you speak Spanish is really cool but it isn’t going to help you, UNLESS you use that gift towards a beneficial EC, which is very possible. </p>
<p>Yeah I’m hopind to tutor spanish.
My plan test said 25, but as I’m sure you know it isn’t very accurate. I didn’t even know I was taking it and didn’t know what it was.</p>
<p>DMagnific, work hard on your grades and aim for improving them every year. As for SAT’s, if your first scores aren’t as high as you would like then some studying always helps. Otherwise, focus on your extra-curriculars activities! Get some honors, awards, and really dedicate yourself to some school clubs.</p>
<p>To be honest, your chances are quite low because of your GPA. You are in the top 20% of you class and Ivy League colleges usually only accept 2% from the range; those people usually have amazing hooks.</p>
<p>The bright side is that you are only a sophomore. Try and hit those A’s in junior and senior year so you can bring up your GPA to about 3.85 or 3.9 UW by the time you send those applications, and try and get a 2250+ in the SAT. You may also want to get 750+ in all your SAT IIs and keep doing what you are doing in terms of ECs as you will have leadership roles in those ECs by senior year and have 4 years of commitment (more in some cases). </p>
<p>Honestly, Ivy League, probably not. But there are so many schools just as good! Maybe a little less prestegious, but still great for higher learning. Being fluent in spanish will definitly be a plus, especially when your looking for a job in the future! Good luck (and chance back )</p>
<p>In general, is top 20 out of a class of 500 students considered acceptable for ivyleagues? Just wondering because I always hear people say “your class rank is too low(not to me, but on chance threads)” but I never know what is “acceptable”.</p>
<p>^It’s subjective. A unique extracurricular (spelunking, for example), a national award (Siemens/Westinghouse), etc. could make up for a class rank for, say, 20-30.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that these kids usually have hooks of some sort–legacy, athlete, URM. For the average unhooked applicant, you should be aiming for the 75th percentile. Also remember that the SAT breakdowns are for each individual section, so while 25% of a given freshman class may have, say, math scores below 690 or whatever, it’s unlikely one applicant falls into the lower 25% on all three sections.</p>
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<p>The general rule of thumb, is top 10%, but without a fantastic hook and being from a large public means you should probably be in the top 1-2%. This is largely anecdotal evidence, though it’s worth mentioning one outlier, a kid from my school ranked 30-40 out of approximately 450 got into Columbia, but he’s easily the most intelligent person I’ve ever met. </p>
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<p>Spelunking, lol. The goal is not only to be unique but to be able to offer something to the college community. It’s best to be unique in academic areas that are traditionally underrepresented (linguistics, anthropology, classics, that sort of thing). And remember that plenty of Intel/Siemens/Westinghouse/TASPers/etc are rejected from top schools, even with top scores and grades. It comes down to what you offer to the community, and it’s much harder to be an overeager pre-med asian or a girl who is a prospective English major than to be interested in something more obscure.</p>
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