39 replies to this topic

[Donaldmax]

I was wondering. I go to a school that is in the top 5 in California. It is near Stanford. Well, basically, my school is almost ALL asian. 80% or so? only like 15% white and ive only seen a handful of black people and mexican. There are lots of people who go to Harvard, etc Ivy leagues from my school. By a lot, I mean a lot. At least 10+ for ivy leagues.
I basically fudged up my freshmen year, but I learned a lot from it. I learned to not overload yourself with hard classes (I learned this the hardway) . I learned to manage my time and not procrastinate. I also picked up lots of study tips and how to be successful. I got 6 A's and one B this semester. (im a sophomore) . Do you think it is still possible to get into the Ivy Leagues? I think next year I can increase to a 4.0 GPA. I will try hella hard and devote my life to high school. And is high school really about the teachers you get? Do you graduates have any advice on how to get maintain good grades despite a difficult teacher? I also heard about teacher-student relationship. Why is that important? And what about clubs? Are they important?
Thanks a lot!!
PS. I havent touched a mmporg/fps or any game for like 1 year now and all games just seem boring to me since in my freshmen year, I had no time for it. Im proud of this
Also, i learned not to think about girls THAT much. no im not gay -.-

Edited by donaldmax, 31 May 2011 - 05:15 PM.

[Random]

I have friends in the Ivy's and is isn't as difficult as one may think, but you still really do need a great GPA and some good award or honors.
Race plays a big part in the factor as well, sadly. Anyone who tells you otherwise is silly.

However, as I've said in threads before, prestigious schools are all about old money anyway. If your family has alumni or has donated extensively, instant acceptance.

Regardless, you can still possibly get in. You just need to really impress them with your grades and an interview.
Try to make a lot of connections, consider maintaining a solid correspondence with a dean of admissions starting this year.

Best of luck.

[Domokun]

Win some kind of drawing/writing/science competition which will help your chances of getting in. Good at sports? Or try to get a role in a movie ( besides extra ) and it will probably look good as a credit. You are in California anyways

[Junsu]

I don't think MVHS is one of the top 5.
And there aren't a lot of people who go to Harvard, Yale, etc. Maybe 10-50 each year.


Freshmen year shouldn't be hard. It is basically the easiest year of all. You can just leave freshmen year behind yourself because it doesnt count for that much.
With a competitive school like MVHS, you need either extremely good academics, extremely good extracurricular activities, or have both at the same time, but doesn't have to be exceptional.

Unless you somehow manage to get any of the 3 above, you won't get into something like Harvard.
No matter how hard the teacher is, you just try your best and suck up and you'll get an A.
The teacher-student relationship is good because its impossible for him/her to be unbiased not matter how much they try, and its good to let the teacher know that you, at the very least, try.
Yes, clubs, sports, etc are very important. Even if you get 2300+ with a 4.0, you will not get into something like Harvard. They don't want some unsocial kid who studies at home everyday.

And just not playing games doesn't make your GPA go any higher. Its not bad to go relax sometimes, otherwise your stress just builds up.
And thinking about girls is normal.

Check out:
http://talk.collegec...hat-my-chances/
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com

Edited by Junsu, 31 May 2011 - 05:27 PM.

[Eggy]

There are much better places to get an under graduate education besides the Ivy league, you shouldn't limit yourself because honestly they are over rated.

From personal experience I can tell you that what you do outside of school is more important than your GPA. If you are a 4.0 student who does nothing but play starcraft all day, you are nothing special.

Edited by Eggy, 31 May 2011 - 05:50 PM.

[ZKK]

If you can, try to be outstanding in certain areas instead of being well rounded. Write interesting and innovative essays.

lulz college applications... a pretty crazy experience. I stressed over that shit so much and read so many pieces of advice/help.

[Marukozu]

I live in Argentina, and all I can say is, just be sure to give the teacher what he/she wants, and then just work on that, it happened to me that I handed great work with a lot of effort and it didn't reflect it, and try to enjoy a bit, is very important trust me, I know is very important about your future and stuff, but when you look back at time, you are going to just remember you studying, maybe try to find a balance? is just my opinion you don't have to listen to me

[Donaldmax]

so teacher to student relationship is actually really important? also, is being president or officers of clubs important?

[ZKK]

Everything is "important" if you're aiming for a decent school. I'd say alumni interviews are overrated in their importance though.

Personally, I think ECs are only important to a certain extent
If you have very little they will hurt you for sure.
If you're a president of several clubs + decent community hours etc. then you'll be no different from most of the qualified applicants. So once you reach this point it wouldn't matter if you have a little more than someone else, it'll then depend on your other factors such as score/recommendations. If you're aiming for a lower tier elite college though, it definitely helps a lot.
However, if you show that you're incredibly dedicated and interested in a certain activity/area e.g. Teaching kids, inventing stuff, and you sort of reflect this in your essay or recommendation, it will stand out more than president of many normal clubs.

just my two cents. Don't know if this is true or not but this is from my own experience

[Joanna]

SATs are also REALLY important (for ivy schools). My class' Valedictorian, who basically got a %100 on his entire HS career, was involved and all that pretty shiny stuff you need on your resume.. and he couldn't get into any Ivy schools because his SAT scores were just too low. He was one of those guys who memorized everything and didn't actually learn anything.

Thats just my experience.

[Tetiel]

One of the most important things you can do is REALLY concentrate on your personal essay portion. There were a couple students from my high school that had it really impact their chances of acceptance. People who have perfect SAT scores and 4.0 GPAs... there's at least one in every 3-4A high school graduating class. You need to make YOU stick out from those tens of thousands applicants and that's where the personal essay comes in. In one girl's case, she wrote about what it was like to grow up having a severely disabled older sibling. It caused her to grow and become more mature. In your case, you might talk about why you messed up your freshman year, why you decided to do better, how you changed yourself. You might even have something completely different in your past which has changed your life. Just don't bullshit it because they'll be able to tell.

Clubs are important, but volunteer activities are more important. And no, not bullshit volunteer activities which some schools force you to do in order to graduate. You need to prove that you care about your community and that you want to make an impact in the world. Volunteer at a food bank, collect donations for a charity, do... something. There are a lot of ways to impact your community, even at your age. Find something to be passionate about.

As far as teachers, no matter how hard they are, they will appreciate you having the balls to come up to them after a hard test or assignment and saying hey, what did I do wrong with this and how can I improve? If you ask for help and are earnest, they will usually be happy to oblige. Student teacher relationship is important because you might need reference letters from teachers. A lot of them would also be happy to give glowing reviews if you're a good student. There's a reason why they're teachers, you know. They take joy in helping their students succeed.

I didn't try to get into an ivy league, but for my volunteer activities alone, I got a 9k a year scholarship from the university I applied to. Not enough students do it beyond the requirements because a lot of students just don't give a shit. Prove to them that you do.

[Junsu]

so teacher to student relationship is actually really important? also, is being president or officers of clubs important?

Yes yes yes yes. Esp at a school like MVHS

[Donaldmax]

MVHS? i searched it up and it said mission viejo high school . i dont even know where mission viejo is.

Do you guys have any advice in the remaining high school years I have left? I do sports and Im in some clubs.

[Seven]

And remember, these are people who are screening about hundreds and hundreds of applications a day, so if you're making your essay into something worthwhile, make it something a person wants to read. The admissions officers at Ivies/high-tiered schools by default know that the truth is stretched out a bit by a majority of writers (the college admissions process is a RAT RACE, you see), so you have some leeway in writing. Don't think of it as lying about the experience per se, but a simple dramatic (but not OVERTLY dramatic) retelling of experiences you've had. Kinda like The Social Network. Except not as gratuitous and more sincere sounding. And end it on a great note too. It has to be consistently good, check for that especially if you have the time to. A lot of essays deflate somewhere in the middle.

Also yes, being the president of multiple clubs/organizations helps. Not saying you have to be, it's not as big of a determining factor as your essay, so do keep that in mind.

[Donaldmax]

And remember, these are people who are screening about hundreds and hundreds of applications a day, so if you're making your essay into something worthwhile, make it something a person wants to read. The admissions officers at Ivies/high-tiered schools by default know that the truth is stretched out a bit by a majority of writers (the college admissions process is a RAT RACE, you see), so you have some leeway in writing. Don't think of it as lying about the experience per se, but a simple dramatic (but not OVERTLY dramatic) retelling of experiences you've had. Kinda like The Social Network. Except not as gratuitous and more sincere sounding. And end it on a great note too. It has to be consistently good, check for that especially if you have the time to. A lot of essays deflate somewhere in the middle.

Also yes, being the president of multiple clubs/organizations helps. Not saying you have to be, it's not as big of a determining factor as your essay, so do keep that in mind.

so the essay/ brag sheet is one of the most important . is it true that they like sort you by the gpa? like they will ignore you if your gpa is low?

[Seven]

so the essay/ brag sheet is one of the most important . is it true that they like sort you by the gpa? like they will ignore you if your gpa is low?

Yes. Unless sports. Ivies need sports.

And somewhat if you have an arbitrarily rare or unique skill like oboe playing. Not saying you should take it up but they look for weird stuff like that.

[Jake]

PS. I havent touched a mmporg/fps or any game for like 1 year now and all games just seem boring to me since in my freshmen year, I had no time for it. Im proud of this
Also, i learned not to think about girls THAT much. no im not gay -.-

10 bucks says you play Neopets and you're gay.

[luvsmyncis]

10 bucks says you play Neopets and you're gay.

Maybe he's thinking about baseball when he's not thinking about girls. Leave him be!

[RWS]

I think your grades are fine. Freshman year grades count less anyway during the admissions process. They would much rather see vast improvement. That said, you need something to distinguish yourself from the crowd if you want to go to an Ivy League school. Do you have any strong extracurriculars, passions, interests? Ivy League schools want to see devotion to and excellence in other areas besides academics. Good luck - you are definitely on the right track to be thinking about this so early.

[Volition]

If you don't take IB or AP they usually don't even look at you, my friend's uncle is a prof at Yale, and I have 2 friends going to the Ivy Leagues in september, one to cornell and one to uPenn (he's gonna troll and be like "im so glad to be here at PennState")

[jcrdude]

Yes. Unless sports. Ivies need sports.

And somewhat if you have an arbitrarily rare or unique skill like oboe playing. Not saying you should take it up but they look for weird stuff like that.

An oboe is actually a pretty cool instrument... D:

[Donaldmax]

ah. no wonder that person got into stanford. she seemed so dumb she was an olympic so lol.
so I would need to take lots of AP and honors?
and what about leadership. i heard thats important.

[Random]

ah. no wonder that person got into stanford. she seemed so dumb she was an olympic so lol.
so I would need to take lots of AP and honors?
and what about leadership. i heard thats important.

Yeah. It is. I got a full ride to a college in Boston because of my leadership positions.
All colleges look for leadership, not just the Ivy League.

Passing your AP tests is helpful too, not just taking AP courses

[Volition]

ah. no wonder that person got into stanford. she seemed so dumb she was an olympic so lol.
so I would need to take lots of AP and honors?
and what about leadership. i heard thats important.

Well, might be different since I'm in Canada and my friends had to apply as international students. But extracurricular activities are needed, my friend who's going to UPenn headed math club, yearbook committee, and did track and field. When applying to the Ivy League schools they had to report what rank they were in the entire school in terms of grade, UPenn guy was 1st or 2nd, Cornell guy was 4th, the girl ranked 2nd or 3rd is going to stanford.

[hawkeye28]

do well in school