Am I "Ivy Worthy?"

Applying to College
1

I was wondering if I should bother applying to Ivys or stick to good, non Ivy’s. Help me out? :smiley:

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2220
ACT (breakdown): n/a
SAT II: 700 USH, 620 Lit (retaking this!!) and also taking math 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.87 (4.28 weighted)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top decile (330 students in my class), but by no means even close to top 2%/valedictorian/salutorian
AP (place score in parenthesis): USH (4), English Lang (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Econ, AP Art history, AP German, AP English Lit, academic calc, chorus, gym
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

Extracurriculars: FBLA state (3rd place) and national qualifier (didn’t place top 10 in my category), member and section leader of 4 choirs at my school, founder/president of a music club at my school, German Honors Society president, NHS member, GSA member, Writing Club member, national merit (commended)
Job/Work Experience: none officially, but I graphic design for various websites for a commission fee (I don’t do taxes or anything though). Can I still put this on my college apps?
Volunteer/Community service: 400+ hours through a joint church organization and local animal shelter.
Summer Activities: volunteering, taking care of family (I can put this on my app too, right? I have like 500+ hours of taking care of family lol)
Essays: Very good common app, talked about a friend’s death and how it affected me
Teacher Recommendation: 9/10, 7/10
Counselor Rec: Very good, but not super super super stellar
Additional Rec: n/a

Intended Major: Philosophy/PPE at schools that offer it
State (if domestic applicant): won’t say since it’s pretty easy to narrow down (see school type)
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Public, ranked one of the top 20 public schools in the US
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: M
Income Bracket: <100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

2

I think you have a decent shot. You’re deffinately on the fence but I think it is still very much possible.

*If your school uses naviance you can compare your stats from your school and see where you are. Naviance is super helpful with that.

3

Being Asian will hurt you since there are so many Asians with higher stats that they will compare you to, but planning a major in Philosophy could help you. I think I would try to emphasize your passion for Philosophy somehow in your application, and make sure that wherever you apply has a Philosophy major.

Tie in your interests in Philosophy to why you are applying to that university specifically. Also indicate what proves your interest, and how you know you like this subject (books read, courses taken, etc.). You can list this as an “activity” if you can’t find anywhere else to put it on the application, and you don’t want to write about it in your main essay.

4

Yeah, there’s a reading list for Columbia (probably the place where I’ll apply ED) as well as interesting exhibits that you’ve attended, so I’ll probably try to emphasize interest in philosophy/art in there to try to distinguish myself. Thanks!

5

Taking Care of Family: Depends on what stuff you did for the family. You don’t have any EC’s that scream Philosophy so I would want to know where your interest came from.

You are right in the middle in terms of Ivy admissions. Stats are the middle 50% (SAT II’s are a bit lower), 2 AP’s junior year may be a little light depending on your school, and EC’s are good, but not groundbreaking.

Certainly apply to some that you like a lot. ED will help you a bit as well. Keep in mind that some “Non-Ivies” like Stanford, Chicago, MIT, Vanderbilt, Duke etc. are just as hard to get into as Ivies are.