Applied to 6 out of the 8 ivies two years ago and got into NONE of them! I had a 4.39 weighted GPA, 9 AP classes (pre-IB for 9th and 10th grade and then switched to an AP school), and a 33 ACT. I did competitive gymnastics all 4 years of high school and also played cello in a highly regarded youth orchestra. I did 20 hours of gymnastics per week, practiced cello almost every day with orchestra rehearsals on weekends, and went to a preparatory school. All of that and I did not get into any one of the ivies. So even if you have everything this article says, you still might not get in. It’s all luck.
@Cazoon just curious, where did you get accepted? Seems your stats are stellar as well as your dedication to gymnastics. Were you being recruited by any of the Ivy coaches?
I was not quite good enough at gymnastics to be recruited, gymnastics is a really hard sport to get recruited for. I actually ended up using what I learned in gymnastics to compete track and field the summer after senior year and was pretty decent at that, good enough to walk on a division 2 or 3 team. I ended up at the University of Florida and really did not like it at all. So this year I am transferring to Wesleyan University. It’s not ivy league, but it is a small school that is ranked very well and I get to be on their track team, so I am super excited! I reapplied to Brown also and still did not get in, but I think that I will be very happy at Welseyan. They have a similar open curriculum to Brown and actually gave me aid. So anyone that did not get accepted to ivies or is planning to apply, there are lots of schools that are also ranked very well that have a lot of the same things as the ivies.
Outside of a hook which for ivies include private boarding school, trying to figure out what it take to get into an ivy is going to be tough to answer, too random a process.
@encadyma so my EC’s were very leadership and service oriented! I lector and altar serve at my church and have been for many years now. I do NHS and Student government at my school and I was also sure to mention some community service I did too.
@Cazoon: I consider Wesleyan an Ivy-equivalent (because they are by alumni achievements):
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1893105-ivy-equivalents-ranking-based-on-alumni-outcomes-take-2-1-p1.html
It’s amazing how many people focus on the Ivies when there are an even larger number of schools out there that are just as good by any measure.
I wouldn’t turn to “■■■■■■■■” blog for anything substantive. The blog is just trying to sell its services. BTW Who would hire a company that publicly (and often unfairly) attacks the very colleges you’re trying to get into? http://m.ripoffreport.com/reports/bev-taylor-the-ivy-coach/nyc-and-roslyn-li-new-york-10023-11577/bev-taylor-the-ivy-coach-took-the-money-and-ran-nyc-and-roslyn-li-new-york-378003
Agree with @PurpleTitan the ivy’s started as an athletic league. It is not synonymous with “best in class.” Although I went to an ivy, I have a student at Berkeley and another at Pomona. Couldn’t be more proud. My student’s roommate in high school from abroad was afraid to go to Berkeley thinking all publics are low in prestige so chose a private middler college instead. Let’s figure out how to move off the ivy is best kick. They are not all that–and there are so many great universities and colleges, I am tired of chancing on only a few that can be pressure cookers and not nearly as great as so many others.