CC Bootcamp: How to Create a Stellar College List - Live Session w/ Ivy League Potential on Aug 22 at 7pm ET

[CC_Sorin]

Join us for the third session of the CC Bootcamp line-up on Wed, Aug 22 at 7pm ET and learn how to create a stellar college list for you. This session is hosted by our partners at @IvyLeaguePotential.

Learn how to do in-depth research and find colleges that will be a good fit for you. Learn how to research size, location, academic programs, internships, extracurricular activities, salary data for graduates, and acceptance rates. Learn how to use net price calculators to estimate the true cost of attending a university, understand college rankings, and find universities that have the most research opportunities. Our goal is to help you create a college list with a good balance of safety, target, and reach schools.

About Ivy League Potential

Since 2011, Ivy League Potential has been providing world-class college admissions counseling for high school students throughout the world to help them get into America’s best universities. Founded by a former Harvard admissions interviewer, we have a 90% success rate and 100+ years of team experience. We are also proud pioneers of a number of unique and innovative programs:

 Our research program allows students to work with top university professors and researchers from Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and other top colleges to complete their own research project within 8-weeks.

Many students publish their work and enter competitions as a result of the program.

 Our leadership academy helps students start a club, nonprofit or community service initiative while studying the lives of Nobel Peace Prize winners.

 With the advent of AI in our world, 21 st century skills such as creativity will be highly valuable in the future. Our creativity incubator is a program where students and parents work together as a family to create an environment that encourages creativity, thinking outside the box, and emotional intelligence.

Our motto is “college admissions from the inside out." Grounded in positive psychology, students learn to reframe the otherwise stressful college admissions process so that it’s a meaningful journey. They also learn to proactively design their life so that it’s balanced, focused, and open to creative ideas. With well-being as a core guiding principle, success is not achieved at the cost of good health.

“As a parent, if you are EVER going to invest in anything, THIS IS IT. Your
child’s future!” - Proud Father of a Stanford University Student

To learn more about Ivy League Potential, please visit ivyleaguepotential.com

About Sonia Lal

Sonia Lal, M. Ed., is a former Harvard admissions interviewer who has worked in the field of college counseling, education, and human development since 1997. Her expertise on essay writing was featured in AdmitSee’s book “99 Successful Admission Essay Excerpts”. She has served as a judge for the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), as well as the Illinois Math and Science Academy Admissions Committee. Sonia graduated from Harvard University cum laude with a
B.A. in Social Anthropology and has a masters degree in education.

"Ms. Lal provided invaluable advice on my college application … She has a strong ability to evaluate different applications and identify aspects that need improvement. I am thankful for working with Ms. Lal and would highly recommend her services!”

-LinkedIn Testimonial from a student who was accepted to All 8 Ivy League Universities, Stanford, MIT, Wharton’s Undergrad Program, and Brown University’s PLME

[CC_Sorin]

@CCBootcamp_Aug2024, have any questions on how to create the best college list for you? Make sure to ask them below.

[nwflow]

@IvyLeaguePotential, I also heard parents/counselors talking about creating a theme in the application that leads to the intended major or area of study. How does that fit if the theme and the hook are in different areas of activities?

[CC_Sorin]

Thank you all for attending the third session of our CC Bootcamp for Incoming HS Seniors! We’ll go live shortly and I’m excited to welcome again Sonia Lal from @IvyLeaguePotential who is going to teach you how to create a stellar college list.

@CCBootcamp_Aug2024, do you have any questions on how to create the best college list for you? Make sure to ask them below.

[IvyLeaguePotential]

Hi everyone, I’m looking forward to answering your questions today!

[IvyLeaguePotential]

Let’s start the presentation!

[IvyLeaguePotential]

The first step is to remember this is about YOU! Make a list of what you’re interested in doing in college based on what you know about yourself.

[IvyLeaguePotential]

The main question you want to keep in mind as you make your list is “where will I thrive?”

[IvyLeaguePotential]

Then start considering what you want in a college.

[IvyLeaguePotential]

The first thing we want to do is make a list of your top three criteria. What are the top three criteria that a college must have in order to be on your list? This will help you narrow down your list to 20 colleges.

[IvyLeaguePotential]

Here is an example of the top three criteria that a student made when she was researching colleges a few years ago.

[IvyLeaguePotential]

Once you start researching colleges, we recommend you track everyone on a spreadsheet and give each college points depending on how well it matches your criteria in various areas.

[ammi76]

Hello has the session started

[CC_Sorin]

@ammi76, yes. You can ask your questions by replying below.

[IvyLeaguePotential]

One thing to keep in mind in terms of cost is not to look at the sticker price at face value. Many universities have huge endowments even though they are private and can match the tuition at public schools! Here’s a few sites you can use to estimate the cost of attendance - you have to put in a few details about your family income and then it will give you an estimate.

[IvyLeaguePotential]

One question we get a lot is how many colleges should be on the list. Nowadays because of how competitive it’s become, we recommend 15-20 schools if you’re applying to highly selective schools. Here’s an example of how you should break down your list, based on average test scores.

The way you know whether a school fits into that category is you look at your ACT score or your SAT score, and you find out if it fits within the range of that college’s average ACT or SAT score. So for example, you may have an ACT score of 29, and perhaps you’re applying to a college where the average ACT score is 26 to 30. That college would be in your target school range.

If you were applying to a college where the average ACT score is 19 to 22, well, it’s very clear that your ACT score is much higher, and that school would be considered a safety school for you, and then if you applied to a college that had the average ACT score range of 31 to 34, then you know that that school would be a reach school for you.

This is just a general rule of thumb, as the college admissions process is holistic and admissions officers look for a lot more than test scores - but it’s a good place to get started in creating your college list.

[IvyLeaguePotential]

There are a variety of different ranking lists you can use to start the research process.

[IvyLeaguePotential]

But remember that the data is usually self-reported by colleges, so don’t take the lists TOO seriously!

[IvyLeaguePotential]

This is a great website in case you’re interested in doing research in college and want to see how much each university spends on R&D.

[IvyLeaguePotential]

This is another site that we recommend because it provides quantitative rankings on issues that are often hard to quantify like diversity.