Case studies of kids from my school who got in:
My son got into a few, I believe, due to his natural talent in violin that was well developed through hard work and dedication since he was 5, as well as having done very well academically. Trying to excel in both was very very difficult not just for him but for me as a parent, as well. Lots of sacrifices and lots of hard work and perseverance. Although an Asian-American parent, I absolutely detested the “Tiger Mom” (or Dad, in my case) approaches to raising my kids. I’d say my approach was the best of my Asian culture and American style combined. Although my son had no time left after academic and EC pursuits, he hardly ever missed going to parties, homecomings, plays, football games and even 3 proms. There was no way that I was going to prevent him from experiencing the full extent of what high school years had to offer. Of course, something had to give and indeed he did pull back a bit academically (finished 6/350 with 3.93UW and 4.64W in IB Diploma Program) and even more in violin pursuits (often having to apologize to his private teacher for arriving to lessons without having prepared all week!) In order to accommodate all of his socializing, he had to sacrifice a couple hours of sleep a day. But that was his decision, so he had no complaints.
He also competed in Taekwondo in local, state and national levels, earning bronze and silver medals mostly, and he was #1 singles and captain in varsity tennis. But I think it was his achievements in violin that got him noticed more than anything else. He had numerous concerto competition wins starting at age 10 and was concertmaster at local, regional, all-state and national youth orchestras.
His high school typically only sends 1 or 2 at the most to Ivy schools each year (never Harvard, though, except one outstanding swimmer recruit some 5 years ago) and one every other year to either Stanford or MIT and Duke. The school sent one student each year to Princeton for three years in a row which, I believe, is a record. I don’t believe that’s any sign of a trend, though. But it’s interesting to note that Princeton had picked only the IB as opposed to the AP students (the high school has both).
Of the two students who were admitted to Princeton before my son, they were academically excellent with garden variety ECs, so I do know that Princeton doesn’t look for only those with a strong spike in their resume. So being a well-balanced applicant is good, too.
(Harvard Early Action Admit) I was well rounded. I did everything at school and held leadership positions and varsity positions. I also had a spike though and two very unique ECs. I was passionate about everything I did; I never did anything for a college app. I did it because I loved it. My school also has a history of Harvard admits choosing Harvard, which helps reputation.
I got into Penn with the usual hooks. Legacy and URM (Hispanic). I worked a “real” job (landscaping) and wrote about it for my common app essay. I worked a career-oriented job (VC firm in Peru) and wrote about it in my supplements. I had the privilege of going to a small school where teachers knew me well and were able to write (I think) stellar recs. My activities list (freshman prefect, farming, rock climbing, etc.) was quite different.
I’m no expert here, but I think that at these schools with 40,000+ applicants for 1500 slots, the goal should really be to stand out. You wanna be the kid that the admissions officers are discussing at their lunch break because something piqued their attention, and that something is definitely not going to be a good SAT score or a 4.0 GPA. The dean of admissions at UChicago said that he talked about “cannibal girl” for days. Maybe you don’t want to be that off-the-wall, but you have to find some way to make them remember you.
I agree with @ethanrimes that having “something (that) piqued their attention” can be a big help for admission to highly-selective universities. The following thread deals with this subject and calls it “finding the AND.”
@ethanrimes well put. I also think your well developed self-awareness probably helped 
@HyperTurbo A very good general description of 3 groups who get in without hooks. There is something to be said for a well put together application that ties in the applicant’s academic and life experiences with essays. However, all your efforts might not be appreciated if the adcom reviewer does not appreciate your story. You have to get a reviewer who really appreciates your application and will fight for you. That’s luck. My kid definitely had that luck in having an adcom who connected with him for Stanford REA application. I never imagined he would make NMF and get into Stanford if someone had asked me about the possibility when he was a sophomore questioning why he had to even go to high school. I told him he didn’t have to and no one was making him, but he should learn some trade to make a living. If someone had told me when he was a Junior he would be going to UCLA/Berkeley, I would have gotten on the floor and kissed that person’s feet out of happiness for my kid.
The two friends of my son who got into Yale and Harvard are just bloody smart. The Harvard accepted kid in particular is unusually bright. Both had perfect ACT’s and perfect GPA’s. The Yaley is smart, and also a hard worker. Neither is particularly athletic, though one could have been if given the encouragement. The other could be a comedian. Both are Asian…one of Indian extraction, one Chinese.
Couldn’t of happened to nicer kids. Both self effacing, and not a trace of arrogance. In fact, they are trying to keep it quiet that they were accepted so other kids who were rejected won’t feel bad.
Happy for both of them.
no way! Would you mind sharing that essay? I would love to read it
One more thing, my DD is at UChicago (applied early and was accepted and done) and her friend is at Harvard, neither had any hooks or did anything on the national level. However, like others have said, there is no formula, her friend was REJECTED at Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Brown, and Columbia. Not that she was perfectly qualified to attend all of them, it just seems that she was a fit for Harvard.
P.S. The good news is my DD just made $20 for a Stanford research project (15 min interview) on kids who get admitted to highly selective colleges. Maybe they will have some answers when they finish there research.
I was accepted to Yale SCEA for the Class of 2022. I think I’ve learned that objective stats that so many people stress matter very little in reality. Writing and the special talents you possess matter far more. I did not have the highest SAT or GPA, though they were solid. My essays were very, very polished and I had incredibly strong teacher recommendations. I am also a trained classical musician and submitted a music supplement. Plenty of people with higher stats were rejected. If you had to pick between higher SAT/ACT and something enriching, like music lessons, a sport, theatre, drawing and visual art, choose the “less objective” one.
Also, summer prep programs strike me as a waste of time and money. You’re better off going to some sort of camp that centers around an extracurricular (like debate, polsci, theatre, STEM, music) than something generic. I’ve had the privilege of meeting a number of admitted students from my class, and they are VERY colorful characters with a lot of personality. They don’t care about grades, they care about niche subjects and have rich senses of humor. I’ve discussed 19th century Russian novels, literary theory, US foreign policy, and nationalism and Trump all within the span of one evening. Find what fascinates you and dig in hard. In some ways, I feel bad because I think that the whole test prep college machine is lying to people about what will get them in. After a certain level of SAT and GPA, those become irrelevant. I wouldn’t be surprised if once you pass the cut off they throw those out entirely and just discuss character.
Congratulations @jayofbrooklyn. You may be right about ‘objective stats’ in your case, but I wouldn’t generalize. Yale students have high grades & and SATs well into the 1500s, which means most of those Tolstoy lovers and violinists took the objective criteria seriously.
@jayofbrooklyn congratulations and I really like what you said about “after certain level of SAT and GPA, those become irrelevant”, it is sort of like once ur IQ is above certain level, it becomes less important whether ur 135 or 140, what is more important is soft skills like interpersonal skills, communication skills, ability to face difficulties, etc.
@LadyMeowMeow Oh, yes, absolutely. I didn’t think I generalized: after a certain level all those numbers become irrelevant precisely because everyone has good SAT and GPA. They’re obviously important, because ultimately you are applying to an academic institution, but once those past muster, (we can probably talk for weeks about what the sweet spot is for those numbers) focus on something else. I’ve met way too many people who obsess about SAT and GPA and fail to build a character or personality in high school. The Yale kids have high SATs and GPAs, but they’re Tolstoy lovers and violinists with high SATs and GPAs, in my opinion, not the other way around.
@makemesmart Yes, exactly, it’s sort of that same thing. They even say this: most kids can do the work, but obviously not everyone is admitted. I think the distinguishing factor becomes interests, character, and personality. From what I’ve gathered about Yale, the people are silly but also very intense. I’m lucky to have met a number of alumni, students, and of course admitted people from 2022 and that’s definitely the golden thread. A levity and a deep fascination with something.
This is how four people got in: http://www.workingmom.com/ivy-league-college-admission-tips/
I was blessed to be accepted to Yale SCEA class of 2022. My scores and grades were strong but not perfect, so I think I really got in based on what I did in school and what I want to do. For one, my school has a massive problem with racism so I worked with the principal and the ADL to establish a 3 year diversity workshop. The second reason is far more political. I want to be a professor!! Minorities, particularly African Americans, are underrepresented drastically in tenured positions; especially in what I want to do (American History and Politics). As such, I think Yale wants to be responsible for me for whatever I produce as a PhD student elsewhere; kinda like a “we groomed him with our programming” kind of thing. Of course there are probably more factors than that and part of it was just God’s blessing but I think those two had the most to do with it.
To any anxious people out there reading these, everyone applying to these schools have great credentials - just make a difference!!
Daughter was accepted EA to Harvard for class of 2022. She has 4.0UW/1580 and 800/800/790 on Subject tests. Her high school does not rank but I am pretty sure her GPA puts her either number 1 or 2 out of a class of 500. School always came easy for her and she never had to work very hard in high school compared to many of her friends and to stories that you hear about on CC.
Her primary EC is music. She plays 2 instruments at an All-State level and finds any opportunity to play music because she absolutely loves it. She actually spends 2 or 3 hours a day playing music just for pleasure and not for auditions or for competitions. She sent in music supplements with her application and received a hand-written note from the AO saying how much he and his colleagues enjoyed her supplements. She does not intend to study music at Harvard but does want to play in some of their ensembles.
I think what got her into Harvard was that she was able to express her personality in her application. There was a sense of cohesiveness in her application where she was able to blend her academic interests and music into her essays and effectively describe her personality.
I was accepted ED to UPenn Wharton’s class of 2022. Although I may be redundant, I’d like to give my two cents. Other than academics (which you don’t have to be perfect in, just very strong), what I’ve discovered is that colleges really care about focus. I was only in 1 CLUB in all of high school plus two varsity sports teams; yet, outside of school, I co-founded a nonprofit and was nationally ranked (top 30, as of now) in a certain EC (non-recruitable). Every single one of my extracurriculars were focused and interrelated with one another, thus making it easier to sell my package.
My advice: Don’t strive for being an officer and/or president of 10 different, already existing clubs in school. Founding a club in school is a good start, but you have to truly do something meaningful with this new establishment (not the traditional “made states” and “fundraised $1000” type of thing).
Also, I spent two months on my common app essay and UPenn essay. I think those were extremely important, and it’s imperative to express your voice in those. Hope this helps!
“I’m looking for the post that says “daddy’s money.””
That’s a factor for sure, the wealth at the ivies, especially HYP is staggering, and this is coming from someone in silicon valley. The other thing is ED for the five ivies that offer it, definitely helps chances. Many kids in the bay area get in via ED.