I am a prospective high school student aiming for finance/econ major. My reason for creating this post is hearing different shocking stories
Here are two:
-
Uber-smart Indian nerd with 4.83, 1600, 36, IBO/IMO competitor, USACO gold competitor, managing editor of high school newspaper, Key Club president, etc… gets denied from all the Ivies
-
Dumb*** cousin with 3.6 WEIGHTED, 35, almost no extracurriculars, sh*tty essays, gets in UT. My dad even told me he could only get in UT b/c he was applying for CS (competitor major), could have gotten MIT/CMU if applying for something else like mechanical engineering/materials science
My question is - how hard really is it to get in an Ivy? I am a freshman anxious to get in a good school (preferably Ivy, or my dream school, UChicago)
High school - Competitive Silicon Valley public high school
Basic stats -
Cumulative GPA (1 semester so far) - 3.83
Staff writer in student newspaper
President of environmental sciences club
USACO silver competitor
USABO semifinalist
AMC 10 AIME qualifier
AMC 8 AIME qualifier
Participant in Model UN, debate (parliament), Mock Trial
Music -
Passed MTAC CM level 8 - branch honors/state convention (2016)
Passed MTAC CM Piano Advanced level - branch honors recital/state convention (2018)
Test scores so far -
5 on AP music theory
5 on AP microeconomics
800 on SAT II Biology
1580 on SAT
Legacy -
Chicago (Booth)
Given this information, and assuming I keep going down this path, how likely would it be to get in an Ivy? Excited to hear back from some alumni…
Lesson 1: anecdotes are useless for analysis. You can not know all of a persons application. You will hear, over and over again, that there is more to an application than stats, and it is true. So, you have to run your own race. To that end, read this from the fab MIT admissions team: http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/there_is_no_formula. Believe it.
Lesson 2: math matters. Your chances of being rejected by all the Ivies and UChicago are 90%+. All of those schools accept fewer than 10% of their applicants- which means they reject 90%+ of them. Every year one or the other of them makes the point that they could easily fill 2 or 3 complete classes just with people with perfect stats. Every year one or the other of them notes that the clear majority of their applicants are qualified students who would be great additions to the campus. And yet, they only have so many beds, so many desks, so many places, so they can only accept so many applicants. So, read this other post from MIT- believe it and live it! http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways
Look at your own focus: you say you want to go to an Ivy- old schools whose common denominator is a sports league. If you had said ‘UChic, Columbia, Swarthmore, Pomona’ (all schools with similar admission rates to the Ivies, but all with a strong intellectual vibe), I would have different things to say, because I would know that you had selected schools that have something in common. When you say your dream school is UChic, but you will also take Dartmouth, I suspect that you might be more into the label than the actual school.
As the poster above said, prestige isn’t everything. Some ivies might straight out be bad for your major. It really depends on the school.
Also, as a freshman, please just focus on your schoolwork and clubs/friends/other things. As long as you work hard there’s no reason to start stressing out now. Your freshman year hardly matters on your app anyways.
Ditto to what was said above. The schools you are talking about reject most of their applicants, period. Using individual stories to draw conclusions about a larger process is not a very sound method.
Also, there are factors used in admissions that you yourself can not evaluate. I imagine the two students you described were both interviewed. Character counts as well. You asked for “shocking stories” but the way you wrote about your own cousin, calling him a dumb*** and calling his essays sh*tty, was the only shocking part to me.
Focus on your own growth in high school. Stop chasing prestige. Figure out where your academic interests lie and don’t worry about which specific colleges would help you pursue them until you need to start seriously considering specific schools, perhaps in the spring of your junior year. And for heaven’s sake, congratulate your cousin on his acceptance to a great school. Again, character counts.
@uc20gs25: The two examples that you gave in the original post are worth remembering.
Example #1: Could just as well have been denied by dozens of non-Ivy League schools. Perfect standardized test scores, an outstanding GPA & a meaningful EC, such as managing editor of a student newspaper, do not assure one of admission to any elite university or highly selective liberal arts college. Why ? Because of intense competition from around the world to gain admission to top US schools, & because college & university admissions officers look to build a class rather than to accept just the most academically accomplished. In the US, fit is important. In China, it is different where standardized test scores are the most important factor.
Example #2: Important because UT (university of Texas–Austin) is a great school for CS majors. Better than many, maybe most, Ivies. How do you know that your cousin’s essays were bad ? Your cousin was smart enough & clever enough to get admitted to a stellar CS program while being confident to pursue his passion rather than to adjust his major for the sake of attending a more “prestigious” school.
Your chances of admission to any Ivy League school are probably average to below average because you are applying for the wrong reason–perceived prestige–rather than pursuing your passion & seeking out a college or university that will enable you to better pursue that passion. College admissions officers know the difference.
Legacy at Chicago or any Ivy’s won’t give you more weight, unless your dad’s name is on one of the building’s.
I’m a freshman too! How did you prep for the SAT? Congrats on the 1600 btw!