<p>I am currently a sophomore in high school and am already obsessing over Ivy Schools and how to get into them... here's my rap sheet:</p>
<p>Freshman Year: all A's and got me ranked 13th in the class (out of 500) at the beginning of sophomore year</p>
<p>Sophomore Year: started out well, but by the end of the first semester I slipped to 26th. This has been the roughest year of my life with family drama, being absent for funerals, working my first job; all of which explain my lowered grades but does not justify them. I am working to be all A's in this last stretch of the school year and will work as hard as necessary...</p>
<p>Junior Year: I will be living in Belgium for 11 months on a high school study abroad program during which I will become fluent in French but will also miss out on my most regarded year of high school, academically speaking. I am, of course, going to continue to pursue my extracurricular interests over there, and to a somewhat greater extent, but may only receive pass/fail grades as my final grades for the year. </p>
<p>I will be in the top ten my senior year because I know I am capable of achieving such a goal, however, if I must apply to most school prior to the end of my first semester then I will not have a rank which concerns me greatly. Also, how, in general, will they view a record like mine? Without Junior grades to prove my academic strength, what will they have to go one? Might I just die now? </p>
<p>Why don’t you also expend some energy de-fetishizing a list of eight schools? Unless you do so, you’re bound to 1) miss out on 40-50 other excellent colleges, 2) face big disappointments w/o any happy recourse.</p>
<p>Super selective colleges look for students who are excellent scholars and can add tremendously to their communities. They aren’t looking for a list of interesting dos and donts. They don’t admit resumes – they admit interesting people.</p>
<p>Not all Ivies are made equal. Instead of obsessing over the idea of going to an Ivy, pick schools you actually want to go to. I will be attending Columbia in the fall, but I only applied to one other Ivy - you need to look for fit over prestige. Each Ivy has a number of characteristics that define it in the Ivy League: Columbia has the core and is in an urban area, Harvard and Yale have a lush residential living community, Princeton is very undergraduate and humanities based, Brown has an open curriculum and the option to take classes on a pass/fail basis, etc. So pick the characteristics you like and consider applying to a non-Ivy LAC or university as well. In addition, if you apply to schools because you like the school itself (and not just the name), that enthusiasm will show in your application, making you a stronger candidate for admission.</p>
<p>Have you checked the recent statistics for 2012 admissions at the Ivy League schools? I am currently working with a student who had a perfect SAT and a 4.7 GPA. His extra curricular activities were excellent and showed passion and commitment. Apparently, the Ivy League schools to which he applied had applicants who impressed them more because he did not get in. Stop looking for a brand name school and pay more attention to some of the wonderful colleges that will fit your academic, social, and financial needs. You are too obsessed over too few schools and it isn’t worth the risk. Have a balanced list and apply to other colleges in addition to a few Ivy League schools.</p>