Ivy League Dreams

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I know it’s a bit early to be thinking about college chances, but I’m a sophomore and I’m wondering how my stats look to others and where I could improve.

Background info: I’m an asian american male and I go to a relatively competitive school in NJ

  1. GPA

Freshman Year (Weighted Core): 4.43

Sophomore Year (Weighted Core): 4.57
I should be ranked either #2 or #3 in my grade for GPA

  1. Course Load

Freshman Year: My school doesn’t offer APs freshman year

Sophomore Year: AP Calculus BC, AP Physics 1 (Expecting 5’s on both)

  1. Test Scores AP Calculus BC, AP Physics 1 (Expecting 5's on both) PSAT: 226 (will take for real next year)
  2. EC's

Math Team (2 years)
New Jersey Science League Team (2 years)
Science Olympiad (1 year)
Future Business Leaders of America (Sophomore Vice President) (2 years)
Wind Symphony (Clarinet)
Forensics Team (Current Debate Vice President) (2 years)
Fencing Team (1 year)
Key Club (1 year)
Organization of Student Tutors (1 year)
Model UN (1 year)
Student Government Association (Currently a class representative)

  1. Awards

MathCounts Nationals Qualifier (It’s prestigious, but it’s 8th grade, so idk if this still counts)
National Beta Convention 1st Place Quiz Bowl (from freshman summer, so idk if this still counts)
AMC 10B 1st in New Jersey 2014
AIME Qualifier 2014&2015
FBLA NJ States Introduction to Business 1st Place 2014
Science Olympiad NJ States Entomology 1st Place 2014
Science Olympiad NJ States Water Quality 3rd Place 2014
Science Olympiad NJ States Solar System 4th Place 2014
FBLA NJ States American Enterprise Day Report 2nd Place 2015
FBLA NJ States Business Math 3rd Place 2015

I also got gold medals for National Spanish Exam both years, but I don’t think that counts for anything. Most of these awards are pretty small imo, but I’ll probably get an award at nationals for FBLA this year. Next year I’m shooting for USABO for biology and ToCs for debate.

  1. Other

I started a politics website last year with two friends and our staff is currently 40 writers strong, with ~3000 likes on our FB page

I know I’m an asian male, so that decreases my chances of getting into college quite significantly

Current list of colleges I am thinking of applying to (most of them are reaches):
• Harvard
• Yale
• Princeton
• UPenn
• Duke University
• UC Berkeley
• MIT
• University of Chicago
• Cooper
• Rutgers University
• Stanford
• New York University
• Columbia University
• University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Sorry for the massive wall of text. My expectations aren’t really that high, but I’m still thinking of applying to those schools even though they are extremely competitive. Feel free to be as critical with your assessments as you desire, I like constructive criticism.

2

Most of the schools you name are reaches for everyone. Be careful to have a few safeties in the mix. However, as long as you continue on the path you’ve traveled to date, there is not a school on the list for which you’re not a competitive candidate.

3

You seem to be doing well. I think your plan sounds good and that you have a OK chance at competitive schools. Keep up the good work

4

I’m going to do you a favor and tell you that I’m finding your EC list difficult to believe.

5

@JustOneDad I’m curious as to what you mean. Could you indicate what is strange? I looked over again and I came up with a few possibilities 1. The website with 40 writers (I too was alarmed by this) 2. Spanish gold? 3. Scioly state? 4. Math? 5. You mean it sounds robotic?

Btw, if you checked the scioly winners and it didn’t match up, that’s understandable.

I’m just curious and I mean no negative intent. I just thought the EC list seemed pretty normal for a high achieving student as many people I know have comparable resumes.

Sorry if this sounds negative (tone is more difficult to communicate online) and thanks for offering your view (just an FYI, I’m not OP since people who post like thus often are).

Edit: I understand you are more experienced than me and most of us on this forum so I may be missing something. If you could help clear it up, I’d be very grateful

6

@JustOneDad @andyis
Sorry about the confusion!
Some clarifications:
40 writers are student writers who contribute political opinion articles. We’re not like NY Times or anything, just a group of high school students who like politics. Most of the writers are from a politics camp that my friend and I attended.

The Spanish gold medal is given to the top 10% of students who take the test, so it’s not as prestigious as it may seem.

7

“I know it’s a bit early to be thinking about college chances”
Yes.

“PSAT: 226”
This is the most interesting credential you list, to me at least. You have a good shot at NMS semi-finalist or better if you can keep up this level of performance this fall. Get there, then back it up with a comparable performance on the SAT in the spring, and you are well on your way towards your lofty goals.

Grades, course rigor, etc, look good.

As other have noted, that’s an awful lot of EC activities. I would say you should think about narrowing that down somewhat. Better to be a real standout or leader in one or two areas than to look like Max Fisher from Rushmore.

8

I understood the website and the writers, but the overall problem is that I am familiar with what top students are capable of and when I see an avalanche like this, I know that it’s either not true or made to appear inflated by someone more concerned with sparkle than substance. With top schools, either way, you’ll lose.

9

Oh I see, so with so many it’s hard to distinguish sincerity with EC grabbing. Maybe focusing on a few specific and reaching new heights would be good? I agree that a multifaceted approach in science, math, etc. May be excessive

10

Your Stats look great. However, your resume isn’t extremely diversified, and you seem very STEM oriented. If that is the case, you really need to place nationally in order to have a solid chance getting into the top schools on your list like Stanford and MIT, not saying you do not have a chance. If you are seriously aiming for Ivy leagues, I would suggest applying ED to UPenn or Cornell because they are your best bet. You are a solid candidate for all of your schools, but as you know, getting into an Ivy is a lottery. Good luck with everything!

11

Hi Cyber. Don’t let anyone here diminish your EC’s, they’re excellent, and you’re clearly very intelligent and very involved. Shoot high on your SAT/ACT, but you know that. Otherwise, you’ve got all the stats that not only get a foot in the door, but a leg.

I would encourage you to take a look at yourself and your experiences and think about things that would make a good essay. Everyone applying to these schools is just as amazing on paper as you are, and the essay is what is really going to make you stand out. Prepare well for that, and be honest with yourself and who you are.

The second piece of advice I have for you is to do some research into what college you REALLY want to go to. From your ECs, it seems like you’re very STEM oriented, and you have a list of schools that are very good in those areas. I would suggest you dive even deeper and look into the culture of these schools, and location (New york city and Chapel hill are VERY different places, for instance) until you start seeing some patterns. This metaphor might not be very apt, but think of it like plotting a graph. Prestige is a couple of points on the graph, but in order to really see the shape of whatever you’re plotting, you need some more points (Greek life, geography, research opportunities, specific clubs you might be interested in).

You’ll find that the more discover what schools you REALLY want to attend (And maybe you have done your research and really do LOVE all of these places, but the general trend is to pick places that are highly ranked and shoot for them with regard to little else) the easier it will be to write about these schools, which in turn will make it easier to get into these schools for you.

Good luck. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a message.

12

Thanks for the advice everyone! I’ll definitely beginning focusing on the ECs that I feel the most passionate about (biology and debate) and do some exploring next year and visit these schools and others to see which schools I love.

13

As the others mentioned above, focus in the ec’s and the schools. You are doing fine and well on track for those top tier schools. Keep the hard work up

14

Bump

15

Would you be able to afford Berkeley out of state?

16

The tuition would be comparable to those of the other schools on the list, and I will try to find a way to make it work. I know it will be around $50,000 a year, so I will most likely work during the summer and apply for scholarships during the second semester of my senior year if I am accepted.

So in short, yes.

17

Can you elaborate on the NJFBLA American Enterprise day report award? As far as I know, the only thing we do for American enterprise day is an essay that students write about the capitalism and free enterprise, and only the first place winner is given recognition. (I’m im nj fbla and my friend won the first place)

18

At the state leadership conference there was a chapter event called American Enterprise Day Report, and competing teams had to submit a report about what their school did for American Enterprise Day and then give a presentation. Due to the power outage this year, the teams did not have to give the presentation, and awards were given out based solely on the report.