Should I apply IVY? Which ones?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>hey, i posted a similar thread a while back, but this time i would like to know if anyone thinks i should apply to any ivy league schools. i have a lot of other schools on my list, so i would rather only apply if it is somewhat reasonable, and thus not burn energy for nothing. which ivy's, if any, should i maybe look towards?</p>

<p>male caucasian junior
very competitive public high school (top 300 by newsweek)
southern california</p>

<p>Academic</p>

<p>-GPA 9-12 projected = 3.66 unweighted; 4.23 weighted
-top 10-20%
-SAT 2150
-CSF scholarship qualified, but moved out of state
-Honor roll several times
-8 AP courses</p>

<p>I had a rough sophomore year because my family (single mom, father committed suicide many years ago) went through a financial crisis and we were basically undeclared homeless for months. We stayed at a family friend's home. Sometimes I did my homework in our car full of newspapers, where I would then sleep. this brings my GPA way down, otherwise I have always been a straight A student...</p>

<p>(My junior and senior years, I carried complete straight A's, so my grades went way up.)</p>

<p>EC's</p>

<p>-Cross Country 3 years, "MVP" as a freshman.
-Track 4 years. 1600m, 800m, long jump.
-Fluent in French. I have Corsican + Persian + American ethnicity
-French club 2 years. (president)
-FBLA club 1 year. (went to state)
-Debate Team 1 year</p>

<p>-I educated a 9 year old autistic child during all of 10th grade on my own time twice a week. I taught him how to speak correctly, write, think and express himself. Over the year, his family saw improvement, and I am very proud of this. In my essay I want to compare his obsessions with an elaborate train-set he built, to my obsessions of constantly thinking of how I could better teach him during my daily life, and help him "build" himself, and then connect this to my new-found desire to possibly major in cognitive science.</p>

<p>-I single-handedly made a website (e-commerce!) for someone else's product. you can see it here if you like.</p>

<p>-This summer I plan on going to Ghana and helping for a few weeks over there. I will take pictures with my dSLR and create a portfolio/story and maybe get a photography scholarship.</p>

2

<p>Yeah, do it. Unless $60x is too much.</p>

3

<p>Your rank is going to make it very hard. On average, about 6% were not in the top 10% of their class at ivies. And given all those with definite hooks, it makes it very unlikely to be an unhooked candidate outside of the top 10% of his class and be accepted.</p>

<p>That said, it happens, so there’s no harm in throwing in your hat.</p>

4

<p>If I told you to apply to Southeastern Conference schools or SWAC schools or Mountain West Conference schools, would you apply? If your answer is no, then the answer to your initial question is also no.</p>