Should I push for an Ivy League School? If so, which ones?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey all, I’ve been wanting to “chance myself” for a while here but couldn’t because I felt it was too early (I am a junior in my second semester). But I saw someone else ask for ED 2020 chances, so here I am.

Background:
Ethnicity: Asian
Sex: Heterosexual Male
Where from: Suburbs of Atlanta
Income Bracket / Type: Slightly under 85k / year. My family is single income and I have one sibling.

Test Scores / Academics:
SAT: 1570 One Sitting (770 Reading / Writing, 800 Math)
SAT II: 800 Math 2. Haven’t taken any others, but looking into SAT II Literature. Science is not my forte.
ACT: Took the Feb 8th one, and I don’t know my results yet.
GPA (Unweighted / Weighted): My school just averages all your grades and gives you that. It’s a 101.27, and predicted to be 101.7 by the end of this semester.
Ranking: Our school provides percentages instead of rankings. My class size is 600 and I am in the top 2%, which means I’m sandwiched between 1% and 2%, so anywhere from 6-12th.
Additional Notes: I have a weird transcript because I took the IB Diploma. A lot of things are weird, like how many credits I have as well as how everything is calculated. I took 5 APs (Gov, Calc BC, World, Compsci Principles, Lang) before beginning the IB program as a junior. Right now I take 7 credits a year, so I’ll graduate with 34 ish credits (acceleration programs in my middle school allowed a few kids to get high school credit early). Important thing to note: out of 600 kids in my class, only 20 are in the IB program. Me and my IB friends are all the guinea pigs for IB in our county because the county wanted to pioneer the IB program at our school. We’re known as “Cohort 2.”

Subjective / Extracurriculars:
Work and Leadership:
Founder and CEO of SWAVE Solutions, a media marketing business geared towards local franchises / businesses. Clients have included Smoothie King, Sankranti (local restaurant), and UI Dynamics (a web development company), Bruster’s, and Maji (local bar), so a mix of large franchises / local businesses.
CMO at LearnLink, LLC; my friends and I started this company two years back to provide online video solutions for our county system. It lets users collaborate on live video channels hosted over multiple connections to get rid of annoying lag time. We also have a platform on there to sell / distribute old textbooks. LearnLink is widely used in a number of schools in our county because we were able to franchise the business out to other high schools.
Founder of FAST Tutoring: FAST is a program I started to help kids who couldn’t afford private tutors (a rare but unfortunately necessary commodity where I live). I run it at the local library.
Assistant Coach at my old middle school. I love this position because I get to coach at the school I used to attend; I teach debate and public speaking after school.
Coach at IBA: this is a paid job that I go to on the weekends. I teach debate here.
Student Council Member (2017-Present)
FBLA Member (2017-Present)

Debate:
1st place team, Harvard Nationals 2019, Cambridge, MA
1st place individual speaker, NSDA 2017, Birmingham, AL
3rd place individual speaker, Harvard 2019, Cambridge, MA
Quarterfinalist, Georgetown 2018, Washigton D.C.
Octofinalist, Georgetown 2019 Washington D.C.
Quarterfinalist, NSDA 2017, Birmingham, AL
Semifinalists (ranked 3rd), International Public Policy Forum Championships, NYC

Music Composition:
Published Artist on Spotify (I’m an Asian that makes Spanish reggaeton! Weird but my Spanish teacher likes it and I think its pretty funny myself :slight_smile: Find me on Spotify @Cafeina)
1st place Classical Composition, NAfME 2017
3-time All-State Composition Contest Winner (in GA), 2017, 2018, 2019
Two-Time Senior Representative for MTNA and one 1st place MTNA Composition Win
3-time NFMC State Winner, 1st in 2017, 2nd in 2019, and 1st in 2020
8-time GA PTA Reflections Winner (2014-2020)
Debuted original piece “Nightingale’s Anthem” with the New Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra at Infinite Arena Energy Center.
Debuted original piece “Midnight Flurries” with the Alpharetta Symphony Orchestra; proceeds from the concert were donated to charity.
Piano player of 13 years
Violin player of 8 years (never made All-State tho :frowning: Concertmaster at my school, but always failed at second round at All-State)

Other Things I Couldn’t Categorize ?:
I love video! I have a YouTube channel where I upload cool things I do in my free time like sing, make art, crafts, work on business marketing campaigns, etc.
I’m trilingual! I was born and raised in a Korean household, and I was sent to Korean school every Sunday until I was 12. One of my closest friend’s mom is a Spanish teacher, so I picked up Spanish to a fluent level by sophomore year of high school (she’s been teaching me since Pre-K).
I currently hold a certified 4th degree black belt in Tae-Kwon Doe after 13 years of testing and training. Random but thought it was worth including.

What should I work on over the summer? What subject tests would be best for me, given that science isn’t exactly my thing?

Thanks all!

-B

2

Ay ay ay I forgot to mention that I recently got the President’s Volunteer Service Award (Gold). I had 280 something hours, and I got most of the hours from coaching debate at middle schools. I spent a summer at a local music academy to help the summer orchestra prepare to debut my piece.

3

I’d say your chances are looking pretty strong!

If you aren’t going into a science major - and you’ve already aced Math II - you have alternatives to the science subject tests. Why not try the language subject tests, since you said you are trilingual? There is one for Spanish and Korean.

4

I will be taking the Spanish one then! As for the Korean one, it is a Language with Listening SAT II test meaning they administer it in November and no earlier dates are available. Would it still be worth it to take Korean and just use it to submit into my regulars if I were not to be accepted ED / EA?

5

Yes, you certainly have the scores and grades. But just realize that ivy admissions is like a lottery. I would suggest to apply to one of the ivies with binding ED. They tend to have higher ED admit rates. The ones with SCEA are a lot harder to get into.

The RD admission rates are very low, even for someone with your stats. So pick one and apply early. You might even consider ED2 Chicago if your Ivy plans during the first round don’t work out.

6

^ Apply to one of the Ivies with a binding ED that you are 100% sure is your dream school. Note that the upper-level Ivies (HYP) don’t offer ED, so I personally wouldn’t go the ED route unless you are heads over heels in love with Cornell, for example.

7

Nobody can offer a reasonable recommendation for target schools without knowing what you plan to study and/or your career objective.

P.S. It’s okay to state that you are undecided on a career and/or major if true.

8

I agree we cannot tell you what college is for you. You’ve listed all these stats and activities and tippy top colleges don’t rate you solely on that. It’s lesson #1 about holistic. Not a flat resume of what you’ve done. They want to see the traits you offer, how you’ve pursued drives, the sort of person you’ve become. And, all in the frame that matters to them.

They want to see you’ve explored their college, on your own, come to know them and your fit (different from just what they offer that you want.) They want to see the consideration. Keep in mind that you can choose any colleges to apply to. But they choose the kids they want in their class. You have to know what that is, in order to make your best presentation.

You need to learn all this. Because no matter whether you apply Early or RD, take one language test or another, YOU have to be a match to what THEY want. I don’t think you have that sense yet.

9

Yeah, all that…and of course the often overlooked “why”. Your title asks SHOULD you PUSH for a particular group of schools that are in a sports league together. Why “should” anyone “push” for that group of schools? IRL there are only two answers: need-based financial aid (in which case they should also be applying to the big scholarships like Stamps and Morehead, b/c that is the calibre of student who gets them) or prestige (specifically, the label). So, if either of those are your motivators, I suppose the answer to your headline question is “yes”.

On the other hand, your opening line asks what the CC community thinks your chances of success are, and to that

  1. You are a competitive candidate- and you already know that. No need to be coy about it.
  2. IRL that is all anybody is at this stage- even the famous names that everybody assumes automatically get in. Some do, some don't.

Since you are asking for opinions, here’s one from me: go look hard at the 7 schools in your fantasy league. Figure out which one is closest to a fit for you- as a person. For example, Brown students are generally not interchangeable with Dartmouth students. Take the best-fitting ‘it will take a lightening strike to get in’ one and work on finding other colleges that are similar, at several levels of selectivity, all the way to the ‘it would take a lightening strike not to get in’ level. èt voila! you have a balanced college list, which will fit you and will leave you with a happy outcome a year from now.

10

Pointing out that "competitive " has two phases.

First Cut. Yes, OP seems to have that. But the subsequent rounds are where one is distinguished as a possible finalist (or call it semi finalist.) That hinges on the full app and supp package, how you actually “show” your match, not just proclaim it, what THEY see in you that they want. It’s more than the bare bones of a resume. It needs an understanding of what those colleges are about, how they tick, what they offer. And the ability to nail the Why Us and supp questions, show the right “more.”

How does one do this if they’re only looking at prestige and their own accomplishments? How does one even know how to present this best without digging further?

11

You look to be a competitive applicant with academics and ECs that should get you a serious look at any college. The rest will depend on things we can’t see such as your essays, LORs etc.

Certainly apply to some elite/Ivy level colleges. Which ones? That depends on you. You are clearly very bright. Do the research needed to distinguish between Ivy and similar level schools and find your fits. To do this I suggest you look at college websites in depth and try to get your hands on some good college guide books such as Fiske or Princeton Review from your guidance office or library. For example would you enjoy a large core curriculum or not? do you prefer urban or rural environments? what do you hope to study?

But please don’t make the mistake of limiting your focus to the Ivy and equivalent schools. Any elite college (with acceptance rates often in the single digits) should be considered a reach for an unhooked applicant. Be sure to spend the time and energy to seek out a group of match and safety schools that appear affordable (run net price calculators) and that you would be excited to attend.

12

agree with @happy1 with the slight modification that any college with single digit acceptance rates is a reach even for most hooked applicants- not saying it doesn’t make a big difference, but there are very few hooks that are slam-dunks for admission.

13

Do Ivy League schools offer, and excel in, what you want to do? Don’t apply to a school just because they are in a particular athletic conference.

What exactly will you do differently to “push for” a particular conference?

14

Thanks for the response :slight_smile:

I really want to work in marketing and finance. I was thinking UPenn? I know that I wouldn’t be applying to schools with weaker econ/business programs.

15

Thank you for the response!

If I were to be looking into UPenn for business (specifically Wharton), could you help me get a nuance of the type of student they’re looking for?

16

@collegemom3717 Thank you so much!

I guess I was very confused because I am not on College Confidential too often (found out just a few weeks ago), and I go to a very, very competitive school.

ECs and grades are really the base for at least 150 students here, so I wanted to know what it was like and if it was worth it to “push” for these schools.

Given that I would want to study business, which schools would be the best to reach for?

17

@lookingforward Thank you for the response!

Would you recommend that I spend the money to go visit a school that I am looking into (UPenn, Columbia, etc)?

My family is not low income, but a trip to Philly is a bit out of our budget but could technically be done. Is that a good idea to get a better idea of what Penn (or whatever other colleges I may visit) want specifically from a prospective student?

18

The best undergraduate business programs :

Penn-Wharton
MIT
UCal-Berkeley
Michigan-Ross
NYU-Stern

Univ. of Texas at Austin–McCombs
Carnegie Mellon University
Cornell-Dyson
UNC-Chapel Hill
Univ. of Virginia

Indiana University–Kelley
Notre Dame
USC-Marshall
WashUStL
Emory

Georgetown
Ohio State
Univ. of Illinois
Univ. of Minnesota
Univ. of Wisconsin

Penn State
Univ. of Arizona
Univ. of Maryland
Arizona State University
Boston College

University of Washington
Florida
Georgia
Purdue
Michigan State

These are 30 of the best undergraduate business programs in the US according to US News.

Do not confuse the study of business with the study of economics.

Business covers such areas as accountng, finance, marketing & sales, management, operations, human resources, chain supply management and logistics, real estate, international business, insurance/risk management, & quantitative analysis as well as data analytics/analysis.

19

@Publisher - great summary…you have a view between OSU Fisher and IU Kelley?

20

Both are very strong undergraduate business programs, but IU-Kelley seems to shine in more areas than most undergraduate business schools.