I am a highschool sophomore/junior, (I am skipping junior year) in Austin, Tx, originally from chicago.
I am set to have a 3.7-3.9 gpa once I graduate (which I know is low compared to most applicants), and I haven’t taken my SAT. I scored low on the first PSAT I took in 9th, but I don’t count that, as I am planning on doing MUCH better on the actual SAT. I have a few extracurriculars including, Latinx club, Musical theatre, debate, UIL current events, UIL debate, UIL one act plays, UIL Ready writing, UIL journalism, Writers guild, Drama Club, Newspaper Editor in Chief (8th grade), (hoping to get elected as Sec or Officer role in Newspaper next year.) I run my own News site with 15+ staff, from 10+ countries, entirely teen run, I ran my own summer camp generating hundreds of dollars, I’m a published author, Planning on starting Latinx Club at school next year, ect. I am also a Low-income student.
I am hoping to apply to Yale for english, and to Northwestern for Journalism, and a plehora of other schools for journalism including Columbia, Emerson etc.
I just want to know if there’s a chance I could get accepted to any IVY, most importantly Yale.
At this point it sounds like you only have one year of high school grades, specifically for your first year of high school. This makes it pretty much impossible to predict your chances of getting accepted to a highly ranked and selective university such as Yale (or Northwestern or Columbia). It would also help to have your SAT score before we take guesses on your chances.
To me it looks highly unlikely that skipping a year of high school would improve your chances, and very likely that it would make your chances lower than they already area. Also, if your unweighted GPA is around 3.7, then it seems unlikely that you are just breezing through high school classes without any challenge. If you skip a year of high school then you would need to take the SAT a year earlier than you otherwise would, and this also does not seem like a way to improve your score.
Why are you planning on skipping a year of high school? Life is not a race and they do not award prizes for whomever gets to the end of it the quickest.
There’s always a chance; it’s just whether it is a realistic one. Have you looked at Section C of the Common Data Sets for the schools you are interested in? There is some data there that might allow you to make a rough estimate of your chances.
Those very rare applicants that get accepted while skipping a year of HS have an exceptional application with top academics and outstanding achievements in activities. You admit that you don’t. Plus you need a compelling reason to convince admissions that you are right to graduate early; meeting graduation requirements, looking to start life early, wanting the college experience — none will be viewed as valid. And you’d need to show how, despite these shortcomings, they should pluck you from the 50K applications to attend. Maybe your chances can improve if you graduate on time. Or maybe not.
However, there are less selective schools that will be thrilled to have you, though. Good luck.
Northwestern has one of the most well regarded journalism programs in this country. They are able to accept the cream of the crop of applicants into Medill.
Yale is a highly competitive school for admissions. Better than 95% of applicants do not get accepted.
Why are you graduating early? What is the rush? Your grades at this point in time would not stand out as the top. You don’t even have an SAT or ACT score yet.
It might be smarter to stay in high school for four full years, get the very best grades possible for the remaining years, and THEN apply to colleges.
I’m not sure graduating from high school early is an advantage. Did someone tell you it was?
OP- think of it this way– you will have 25% LESS of everything than the other applicants. You’ll have three years of HS- they’ll have four. So rather than competing pound for pound against thousands of other HS kids- you’re competing with one hand tied behind your back.
Do you have a chance - yes, if you apply. No if you don’t.
Your gpa is low and it sounds like you may not do great on the test. We don’t know about your rigor.
With journalism, think about a second major - many requires it’s a difficult to get into field.
You should have a variety of selectivity levels to ensure you find a home - from NU light Syracuse to UMN to ASU and Oklahoma, Michigan State, and Mizzou.
Do you have to graduate? If the HS has enough classes for you to take senior year and/or offers DE courses, you will be a more competitive applicant with four years of HS. As others have said, it is difficult to compete with applicants who have more courses, more rigor, greater depth in their ECs. And, if looking for merit aid, you will likely qualify for more merit aid at the schools that offer it.