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ivy league
honestly what does it take to get into an ivy league school, and what are the chances of getting in? anyone who is attending an ivy league college - what exactly did you do to get in? what AP classes did you take and when did you start taking them? how high were your grades and SAT scores? what extracurriculars and community service did you take part in? what was your class rank?
any help will be appreciated greatly, thank you in advance!
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Want to answer more questions in the Work & School category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Colleges & Universities?
I got into Brown and Yale, I currently go to Brown. They are both Ivy. I applied for 3 reaches, those being Brown, Yale, and NYU (which isn't Ivy and not as good as the other two, and I didn't get in!)
Take it from me - Ivy is very unpredictable.
For starters...
You need at least a 3.83, minimum. And although there are many factors how you get accepted and many people will argue the fact that you don't need a 3.83 they don't realize that 90% of everyone accepted to Ivy's have higher than a 3.83. (Most have 4.3's. I had a 4.3. I suggest you shoot for a 4.0)
SAT scores NEED to be high, because on a scale someone who gets high grades and low SAT scores means they are taking easy classes. So you want your SAT score to be approx. 2100 (out of 2400) to match what a majority of the Ivy league students had when they took the SAT. (However, Hardvard you need a 2200) I had a 2120 but I spend like 4 grand on SAT prep courses and tutors which totally paid off.
I started taking AP classes in 11th grade because they weren't offered in 10th. However at museums they sometimes offer AP Art History courses and you can always find outside AP classes to take that are acceptable as a concurrent enrollment and you can talk to your counselor about adding the grade you receive in that course onto your report card so your GPA will be higher. I took AP English classes in 11th and 12th, AP History in 11th and 12th, AP Macrobiotics in 12th. It was a very difficult course load. I suggest only taking two (once science/math and one english/history if you can. if you can't then take whichever two are offered that you can get into.)
I went to an art high school so 2 hours everyday i would do the art that i auditioned to get into the school for. I went for visual art so most of my extra curricular had to do with that. I also did volleyball and worked at the school library. We had to do 100 hours of volunteer work for graduation so I put that on there. But I actually started the volunteer organization at my school which most people signed up for and then several times a month like 30 of us would do volunteer things so that was a biggie. My class rank was in the top 10%.
Any more questions you need, ASK.
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Try to "market" yourself as a certain type of person. They don't want peole who are in a million unrelated clubs and extracurriculars. They want students who know what they want to do. If you're into science, join a science club and find an extracurricular that is sciency. If you like english, submit writing to a literary magazine, take english extracurriculars, and do whatever else you can.
Be involved in clubs and activities out of school. They want someone who will be involved in the community. Do volunteer work as well- lots of it.
Practice, practice, practice for the SATs. If it's not too late, start practicing at least a year before you take them. Not like, every day devoting an hour. But get familiar with how it looks and start learning some tricks.
YOu also have to consider who is around you. The schools try to fill quotas. Theyll take a set number of peopole from a certain place. So if you're from, say, new york city, you'll have a much, much harder time getting in than someone from a small town in the midwest.
And take all the honors and APs you can. Schools look for people who challenge themselves, and they want to see that you're in advanced classes. Take APs the first year you can.
Be a leader. Become president of a club, or start your own. Try for team captain. Just get some sort of leadership position.
And don't start doing all these things the year before you apply. THe admissions staff isnt stupid; they know that people do this jtsu to get in.
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I am not at an ivy league school, but I just wanted to show you how unpredictible admissions can be.
When I was in high school, there were two girls who applied to Harvard. Both at the top of the class. One girl was valedictorian, the other was in the top 5. They both got high SAT scores, took APs through out high school and were fairly involved (although I believe the girl in the top 5 was a little more involved than the valedictorian).
The valedictorian got rejected from Harvard (still got into an ivy league school) and the other girl is now at Harvard.
I was number 13, and I got rejected from Brown. I was a strong candidate in the other areas, but my SAT scores could have been better. There were just people out there who met all those qualifications better than I did.
Really, it depends on who they are looking for. All I can tell you is if you don't feel confident with your SAT scores, then get a tutor (if you can afford it) or make sure you buy the SAT prep books. Take AP classes as soon as you can, focus and do well in school and get involved. Don't judge it by other people because you want to look like you really enjoy your activities, not that you are just doing it or show.
Good luck!
Teacup =]
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