Hello everyone, I was wondering of my Ivy League Potential, I am a rising Junior, still 2 full years to go.
My desired schools are UPenn, Harvard, JHU, Stanford, and Yale. So far, here is my profile:
9th: 4.0 weighted and 4.0 unweighted
10th: 4.6 weighted and 4.0 unweighted
11th: Taking 5AP with no on-level classes (Possible 5.0)
PSAT: I’ve gotten in the 1800-2000 range (Have not actually taken it)
Mock ACT: 28 (Have not actually taken it)
Class Rank: 1/354
Currently taking 2 college classes
ECs:
I do 3 sports: Cross Country, Basketball, Volleyball
Boy Scout approaching Eagle Scout
National Honor Society President
Key Club Vice President
Chess Club President
School Newspaper Chief Editor
Interact Club
Link Crew
325 hours community service since beginning of freshman year
All feedback is appreciated, as I’m constantly looking for for ways to strengthen my application, Thanks!
On your way…but scores have to be much higher for the schools listed. The entry point so to speak (this can vary if you have hooks/ecs/ and personal statement) would be a 33 ACT and 2200+ SAT. To be clear, this would merely place you in the ballpark to be legitimately considered–even then, you would be just approaching the mean of accepted applicants. Keep on working.
Your standardized test scores are low right now. You need to bring those up. GPA and EC are pretty much standard of the average accepted student at the schools you’re looking at. Bring up those test scores, and you’ll have a fighting chance at admissions (nothing is ever definite with those schools).
Any ideas of what you would like to major in during college? Ivy Leagues tend to prefer quality over quantity, so if you can devote yourself to some sort of EC/work/whatever, and especially if it relates to what you want to do in college, that will boost your chances a lot more than just trying to do a bunch of random stuff.
You have a lot of good stuff going for you! And yeah, it’s a good idea to make sure you need to bring up your test scores. Just remember that tests aren’t EVERYTHING and there are some people who get in with lower scores… it just never hurts to improve your chances as much as possible.
Also, you’re not there yet, but another important part of the application is the personal statement. They want to hear your voice and opinions shine through, so make sure to polish those up when they come around.
Oh, and try to get awards (especially major awards/good scholarships) when possible. Those will help (along with leadership in your EC’s) to prove you’re good at what you do.
Yep. Grades are where they need to be, so keep getting all As. PSAT score is a 3-digit score, not 4. If you meant the SAT and you are in the 1800-2000 range, that is clearly not good enough. I agree with @boolahi that you realistically need to be thinking of 2200+ to be a legitimate candidate for ANY of the Ivy League schools. At some point (early 2016) the SAT goes back to a 2-section (CR and Math; dropping the writing portion) 1600 score, so if you plan to take that, make sure you are strong in Critical Reading and Math.
Here are some things about the Ivy League to keep in mind:
They are ALL very different, and some are VERY different from each other. Brown University has a VERY different group of people than Harvard does. So, if you want to go to an Ivy League school, do your research about them before you just blanket apply to all of them. There are some EXCELLENT colleges outside of the Ivy League that are arguably as good or better than many of them in the Ivy League, and of course, depending on what you want to study, some would be better because of that. The Ivies offer no athletic or academic scholarships, only need-based aid. If your family makes less than $120,000 a year, you will get very good financial aid. If your family is wealthy (but then perhaps you can just pay for it) you will not get good aid. The schools have graduate schools which means you WILL have classes that are taught by TAs. Some people don’t like that, others don’t care.
Other things to think about when choosing a college:
Location
Quality of dorms
Quality of food
Class size
Academic offerings
Happiness of students
Pressure on students to perform (this varies even within the Ivy League with Brown having a more laid-back reputation)
Not trying to talk you out of an Ivy League education, because those are great schools in that ATHLETIC conference, and you ARE on the right path assuming more high school will enable you to do better on some standardized tests, but just know that there are a TON of amazing colleges out there. Even if you look within the top 100 colleges and universities in the United States, that still averages out to be the two very best per state (though a LOT of them will be in Mass.!).