<p>where is music on this highschool planner???
Excelling at a particular instrument, dance, or vocals is a huge plus for getting into ivies, as long as you are really good at your activity.
Keep in mind though, most music related groups are extremely competitive and it takes a lot of practice and focus to succeed.</p>
<p>Well this advice is pretty misleading. You should focus on outstanding AP’s and SATs and a decent GPA coupled with a national Olympiad (if you have the time to study), not forgetting a few ECs showing school involvement. Colleges look for what you are passionate about and what you do well in. You want to make yourself stand out but that doesn’t mean that the couple thousand kids who get into top tier schools are genius in its purest form. From this list there are plenty of options, but unless you are very determined and hard working, achieving everything on this list in nearly impossible (not to mention unnecessary).</p>
<p>The original post was also more than 3 years ago. Things change.</p>
<p>
Then it probably wasn’t a good idea to revive this long dormant thread.</p>
<p>This thread is very amusing to me because 1. I did moderately well enough on the AMC, AIME, USNCO, USAPhO, and USABO such that by the above criteria, I can be considered a general science intellect and 2. I didn’t have sports but I did compete in music at the state and national level and 3. I pretty much blew away junior and senior year playing video games (Starcraft, League of Legends, etc.) and I still made it into Harvard (fortunately or unfortunately I’m still very interested in E-sports and other time consuming hobbies). Point is, you can be very close to this model of a “general science intellect” or you can even defy it; there’s no way that Harvard will ever admit an entire class of science geniuses, or even decide to admit 700-800 potential science concentrators (out of 1800 accepted). When you make it to the semifinal round of USAPhO, USNCO, USABO, you’re already the top 150-300 students scoring in each of those competitions. And of those 150-300 in each competition, maybe 20-30 get admitted into Harvard (because the competitions are open to all 4 high school grades). When you run the statistics, it’s still a crapshoot. Aint nobody got time for that.</p>
<p>To the people who have gone to these competitions: how did you prepare, where, and how long did it take?</p>
<p>There are a lot of “fee for service” college counselors that claim they have an inside tract to getting students into Ivy’s. Is this true or a waste of money? Has anyone used these services? Did they help?</p>
<p>^
There are plenty knowledgeable posters on this forum that can help you out. Many of those “fee for service” college counseling are scams.</p>
<p>I would like to get in as a Science Intellect… actually more math/computer science orientated. You said you needed 3 of those national olympiads but as I take AMC 10/12 that seems beyond reach as they accept around 400 people a year for even just the math.</p>
<p>Please use old threads for information only, use the New Discussion button if you want to ask a question.</p>