A non-academic hopes for an Ivy

lu2012 · November 25, 2011, 3:54am

Before reading, I would like to state that I am aware of my non-existent chances at getting into a prestigious university. This is all based upon hope and sheer dumb luck.

Gender: Male
State: Washington
High School is pretty average.

GPA: 3.5
Top 25%
SAT 1960
Math: 700
Reading: 630
Writing: 630 Essay: 12

I’m not very smart…

Notable classes taken:
AP Physics
AP Government and Politics - 4
AP Calculus AB - 5
AP Statistics - 5
AP Psychology
AP Language and Composition - 5
AP Human Geography
College English

Self Studied
AP Environmental Science - 5
AP Microeconomics
AP Macroeconomics

Honors all four years.
Also doing College in the High School

EC’s
Dale Carnegie Leadership Course
-This is a world renowned leadership course. I’m not sure of its take in my application

Internship with Mayor of my City

I learned about local public policy…and had to get numerous cups of coffee

Ambassador to Japan in Sister City exchange
-Went to teach a bit about American culture, extend the hand of “friendship”

Kent Police Youth Board
-This is a small group of students who go around to many high/middle schools in the city teaching about the dangers of drunk driving and marijuana use etc.

Making the Dash Count
-We help with building of community homes for unemployed or struggling families who have lost a place to live.

Editor of School Newspaper
Written for the Huffingtonpost Newspaper
Placed 5th and 7th at Judo Nationals two different years
Won State in Judo for 3 years (hoping for a 4th)
Judo Team Captain Two years in a row

EC’s that I’ve done but not very impressive
Key Club
Vice President of Japan Club
DECA
Volunteer tutoring at the local library
Teaching at a Chinese School

I take up a lot of my time with Extracurriculars. Couple that with average brainpower in the SAT, my GPA took a beating.

Though I’m not sure about the GPA weighting, so my GPA could increase with the AP classes.

Be brutal, please. And if not an Ivy, recommend some nice universities that would be wonderful to attend.

Thanks for any help :)

experientiadocet · November 25, 2011, 5:47am

My brutal response begins with this: you seem obsessed with prestige, and your college search lacks a sense of direction. (I’m making wild, critical assumptions here, but only because I feel obliged.) You begin by noting that you’re hoping for an Ivy, then immediately disqualify yourself for the lot, and then again, at the end, you seem to allude that you’re looking for an Ivy to apply to. Regardless, you’ve lent no suggestions as to what to look for in a college to recommend to you, Ivy or not; I don’t know if you want a big school or small school, a liberal arts college or a research university, I don’t know what you want to major in, I don’t know how important undergrad focus is to you, I don’t know where geographically you might particularly want to look, etc. Given your post, all I’ve gathered is that you want something prestigious-- which is ok, but as I’m sure you know, prestige does not necessarily guarantee you as good an education as you might get somewhere else.

With that out of the way, I’ll try to give you some advice for your chances at Ivies. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia, I wouldn’t bother. Penn, Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth, well, we’re probably equally optimistic about your chances, but I could see you possibly getting into one of these. Do you happen to have a hook (URM, first generation, etc.)? If so, I like your chances a lot more. Cornell is traditionally the easiest to get into. Here are some stats you might want to check out: [2015</a> Ivy League Admissions Statistics](<a href=“http://www.theivycoach.com/2015-ivy-league-admissions-statistics.html]2015”>2015 Ivy League Admissions Statistics | Ivy Coach)

I’ll definitely give you some college recommendations if you could give me a bit more advice as to what you’re looking for in one aside from ones “that would be wonderful to attend.”

A non-academic hopes for an Ivy

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