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Chance Me: Are my extracurriculars good enough for an Ivy League?
TeresaMead
27 replies15 threads Junior Member
Here is my profile:
I'm from Wisconsin, top-rated public school, graduating class of about 600. We don't do class ranking but probably top 5-10%. I'm applying under PoliSci and History.
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Classes:
6 Honors: Biology, English 9 & 10, Chemistry, Algebra II, Pre-Calc, Physics
10 APs: - Freshman Year: World History (5)
- Sophomore Year: US Gov't and Politics (5)
- Junior Year: Environmental Science (didn't take exam), Calculus AB (5),
Psychology (5), US History (5), English Lang and Comp (5)
- Senior Year: Calculus BC, Comparativ Gov't and Politics, English Literature and
Composition
SAT: 1550 Composite, 790 Reading, 760 Math
ACT: 34 composite, 36 English, 36 Reading, 31 Math, 33 Science
Awards: 1st place in a state Chinese speech competition (non-native speaker)
Extracurriculars:
- Orchestra (cellist): 7 years, played in an audition-only group sophomore year, got too expensive and we moved, so now I'm playing with my school orchestra
- LGBT Student Group (Co-President)
- Co-founded a local student political initiative summer of junior year
- Newspaper (Section Editor)
- National Honors Society
- Work at a local gym
- Spends 15-30 hours a week babysitting my siblings (I come from a single-parent household with 6 kids), so that's my major time commitment
I'm applying to (in order of preference):
Harvard (top-choice, applying REA), University of Chicago (strong second), Yale, Dartmouth, Wellesley, Northwestern, UMichigan-Ann Arbor, UVA, UC-Berkeley, UNC-Chapel Hill, UW-Madison
14 replies I'm from Wisconsin, top-rated public school, graduating class of about 600. We don't do class ranking but probably top 5-10%. I'm applying under PoliSci and History.
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Classes:
6 Honors: Biology, English 9 & 10, Chemistry, Algebra II, Pre-Calc, Physics
10 APs: - Freshman Year: World History (5)
- Sophomore Year: US Gov't and Politics (5)
- Junior Year: Environmental Science (didn't take exam), Calculus AB (5),
Psychology (5), US History (5), English Lang and Comp (5)
- Senior Year: Calculus BC, Comparativ Gov't and Politics, English Literature and
Composition
SAT: 1550 Composite, 790 Reading, 760 Math
ACT: 34 composite, 36 English, 36 Reading, 31 Math, 33 Science
Awards: 1st place in a state Chinese speech competition (non-native speaker)
Extracurriculars:
- Orchestra (cellist): 7 years, played in an audition-only group sophomore year, got too expensive and we moved, so now I'm playing with my school orchestra
- LGBT Student Group (Co-President)
- Co-founded a local student political initiative summer of junior year
- Newspaper (Section Editor)
- National Honors Society
- Work at a local gym
- Spends 15-30 hours a week babysitting my siblings (I come from a single-parent household with 6 kids), so that's my major time commitment
I'm applying to (in order of preference):
Harvard (top-choice, applying REA), University of Chicago (strong second), Yale, Dartmouth, Wellesley, Northwestern, UMichigan-Ann Arbor, UVA, UC-Berkeley, UNC-Chapel Hill, UW-Madison
This discussion has been closed.
Replies to: Chance Me: Are my extracurriculars good enough for an Ivy League?
Babysitting for siblings in a single parent household is actually fine as an EC if the parent is the main support of the family and there is nobody else to take care of the family.
I would take out Berkeley from your list. 65,000 a year for OOS and no financial/merit aid.
Would you qualify for a Questbridge match? It sounds like you are qualified.
A lot of poli sci kids don't get this more direct experience, it would be noticed. And you do need to be careful about how you note time babysitting- you don't want the impression that you can't leave home, no one could take care of the other kids. IF there is a next-age sib who could take over some babysitting, maybe he/she could help now.
I would consider adding private DC schools that may potentially give you merit money as well as great political exposure, namely Georgetown, GW, and AU. With the same aim in mind, I would also add smaller private schools known to be connected to the political world - i.e. a few more 7 sister schools, not just Wellesley. I would consider writing your essay about babysitting your siblings, and how that shaped your character, both from the stand point of loving your baby siblings, as a community service, and as sacrifice. Someone, somewhere, is going to dig it.
I would consider taking out UVA, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Berkeley unless you have specific merit opportunities in mind. State schools do not readily give scholarships to OOS students. Academically, UW-Madison is at least as strong as all of them, including in your specific area of interest.
Also, just because you are not low-income in Wisconsin, you may well be low-income for those top schools. I would expect that your financial aid package in those schools would be significant.
Good luck!
I think your essays will be most important; you need to show them who you are. If there is anyway you can participate in a national essay contest or something similar, that would help.
An earlier poster made a great suggestion to get real political experience.
Pretty much everyone I know who has recently been accepted to Harvard met one of the following criteria: (1) ranked nationally or internationally in something; (2) famous due to their parents or their own accomplishments; (3) has an absolutely compelling personal story such as being homeless or DACA; or (4) brilliant and with a legacy preference.
The most important thing for you is to be strategic with your safeties. Harvard is just a crapshoot for anyone. You have great stats, and could easily get some nice merit awards at very good schools, but Ivy League is never a sure thing.
Congrats on a great high school career!
You may be thinking of Posse, for which nominations are due between the late spring and August, depending on the city.
Your candidacy comes down to your essays. I think you can write a brilliant one. Have you come up with ideas?
The only slam dunk on your list is UW, but with a decent essay you will get into more than half the schools on your list.
Each kid needs to figure out what those targets want and self-assess whether their record and thinking matches that or not. The whole.