Will I ever be able to get into an Ivy League School?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Alright then, so I moved to the United States in sophomore year so I had a tough transition and had to adapt to this whole new system, so obviously I was not granted with a blessed opportunity right at my tippy toes.
I’ve always wanted to get into an Ivy League School, my best one being Brown, but I’ll be honest and say that with my grades I’m probably not going to get into it, unless I have tremendous luck. At the end of this I’ll post my stats and everything but yeah it’s unfair cause like what am I supposed to do in a short matter of 2 years to accumulate extra curricular activities, volunteer work and leadership roles. I came from Cape Verde, a place where nothing happens, poverty runs the country and I just happen to be very grateful that I moved in the United States.
So I feel like my grades and stats don’t reach my potential because I was put in regular classes at regular level in my sophomore year, even If I knew Trigonometry at the back of my hand they still put me in Geometry or even If I had taken Chemistry in 9th grade I still had to take it AGAIN in junior years and now I am in Junior year, regretting everything because I could have said something back then, but oh well… nothing I can do now…

I’m heading for senior year graduating in 2017, and I’ve been trying to do as much as I could to get into honors and such but I feel like it won’t even matter cause it’s just too late, when I see that people have taken freaking 2843947 ap classes in junior year and I’m over here that managed to get one ap class this junior year. I will be applying for college and the one that I feel like is a somewhat of a reach but If I work hard I might get into is Northeastern, so that is my top choice for now.

I want to know if I get into any college, get a fresh start and work really hard, reaching my FULL potential will I be able to get into ivy leagues for a master’s or possibly medical school (undecided)

So here are my stats
Freshmen year transferred grades:
PE- 85 Health - 88 (count as one credit)
World History - 87
English - 97
Keyboarding- 95
Math - 95
Science - 95

Sophomore year (even though I transferred a month later still got good grades)
Am History Part I - 96
Computer Literacy - 99
Concert Band- 93
English II- 94
Geometry- 96
Health - 96 PE - 100
Intro Biology - 93
Math Skills - 100
Spanish I - 99

Junior year grades so far
Algebra II - 98
APUSH - 92 (I had a 95 average but my midterm exam caused me to have a panic attack and I got an 80 lowered my average :/)
Business Skills - 98
Chemistry - 98
Physics- 96 (I doubled up in sciences yeyyy +crying internally+
English III - 96
Spanish III - 94 (I skipped a year, also what sucks is that I took french for 3 years but since they didn’t offer it I had to take spanish now… smh now I know like 5 languages…)

Senior Year Courses what I hope
AP chem (double period teacher said i’ll get a recommendation)
AP Physics
URI Writing AP (I’m also getting a rec but its tough cause sophomores future juniors get a priority)
Precalc Enrich (also getting a rec)
PE and Health and Senior Skills
Last remaining slot or period might do (AP Bio, AP Psychology, AP Art, AP Worl History or AP Music Theory) whichever one is available really… (schedules might differ but I’m almost positive that i’ll get three ap classes for next year)

Rank: 18 out of 264
W. GPA: 3.88
PSAT; Had a major panic attack had to go to the bathroom for at least 30 minutes didn’t complete some parts but I got a 1000 out of 1520 which isn’t that bad but I def need to work better

EC: Nothing impressive have 10 EC approximately
Applied to National Honor Society (hope i get in lol)
Secretary of International Club (gonna try to be president next year)
Treasurer of Angel Network
Volunteered at Library for 20 hours which led to the manager recommending me for a part time position (which I got :slight_smile:
Just started volunteering every friday teaching spanish in elementary school
Peer Mentor of freshmen (help a freshmen transition into high school offering counseling and help)
Anything special about me?
I love languages and am currently on my 5th language I hope to be fluent in all of them (spanish, portuguese, french, creole and obvsly english lol)
I had broken english at around 12 before I decided that before I moved I wanted to become fluent so I got into music and would sing a lot so my accent has vanished by now and I am sixteen now.
I play the sax, guitar and piano (guitar being self-taught, also taught myself to sight read)
I love drawing I do portraits, I wish i could start an art club in school but i don’ know haha

Ethnicity: Capeverdean (africa american/mixed race/ black and white)

Downfalls
I’m still not very familiarized with the american system and also don’t have as much knowledge and ability in english grammar and vocabulary (although ironically I got the award of Excellence in English II for some reason, I think my teacher just felt bad for me lmao)
I have panic disorder, developed in 8th grade which has led me to have muscle spasms, accelerated heart beat and difficulty speaking and breathing (it is a horrendous experience and tend to have them less now with therapy and medication) it also might happen randomly or just by overthinking

THANKS FOR READING ALL OF MY BIBLEomg I wrote so much but yeah.
My ultimate questions are :
What are my chances for colleges like Boston College/Uni, Northeastern, Brandeis and Babson kind of schools for an undergrad?
Is there anything I can focus more specifically (I can already tell it’s my SAT’s and GPA, I think my strong point will be my background and struggle in my essay)
Do you guys think that regardless of the college that I get into, if I work hard enough based on my criteria, will I be able to get into Ivy League Schools (nothing fancy like Harvard, but maybe Brown or Tufts??

Thanks AGAIN xx

2

For my last question I meant Ivy Leagues for graduate program or medical program in the future haha

3

Are you female (maybe I missed your gender above?)

4

yeah i cant even remember if put it up there lol

5

You got a real mixed bag here.
There is no such thing as a “BC, BU NE, Brandeis, Babson kind of school” as these schools cover quite a range of selectivity.

Brandeis and BC are a tougher admit than BU or NE and Babson is pretty far back of the pack for all of them.

6

If you have panic attacks maybe a less rigorous school would be advisable.

7

I don’t see what is wrong with your GPA. Do you mind me asking why you say it’s low, considering you only have one grade in the 80s and the rest 90s? What is it unweighted? You also have a solid rank in the top 6%. That’s nothing to scoff at.

8

fishgill I’m very happy with my school rank, sorry if i sounded kind of snobby haha. I want to bring my gpa up to a 3.9 or 4.0 because i think that the schools i’m applying to are looking for a higher gpa and more rigorous classes. I think that my unweighted gpa is around the same around 3.7 because I only took one ap class.

bodangles thanks for the advice, I hope I don’t resort to lower classes, I definitely don’t want my panic disorder to pull me down.

soze Sorry if i’m not being specific i’ve only recently started to look at colleges and these are the ones that I like. What would you say my chances were for each one, btw my safe school is either RIC or URI.

9

On the topic of panic disorders, choosing the “easier” route tends to make attacks worse. Don’t settle for less rigor, you will end up allowing youself to have attacks more easily. I have anxiety/panic attacks and my psychologist advised me to not go for easier colleges/environments. (Of course, anxiety is different for everyone though!)

10

To be perfectly honest, except for your SAT score, you seem on par with most applicants, especially with ECs and GPA. Maybe the rigor is lacking. But Ivies aren’t everything. Find schools you really like because they’re good fits for you, not because they sound prestigious or fancy.That way you’ll be happy rather than striving for a school that you may not even like.
Btw…you said Brown is “nothing fancy” like Harvard in your OP. But it is just as well regarded , selective, and difficult as Harvard!
Maybe see if you can get special time for standardized testing because of your panic/anxiety disorders.

11

Panic attacks make you a liability at a school. Only mention them if you have truly surpassed them and they no longer affect your academics in school.

Check which standardized test you do better in but I think SAT is the way to go for you. You really need to be on top of your game and go fast on the ACT even if it is the “easier” test.

You’ll be fine, stay away from the Ivy forums though, those guys are ruthless.

12

@GiaBarbz as a female with ambitions for Ivy graduate school, you should seriously look at the Sisters. Wellesley (my alma mater) is just down the road from Babson and is a top 3 LAC. All the Sisters provide amazing undergrad experiences for women and really advocate to get their students into the best grad schools. Bryn Mawr has one of the highest percentage going on to Ph.D programs in the country.

13

Thanks everyone!! If anybody else adds up more things I greatly appreciate it! I might just apply to Northeastern and see what I get because i really like the program that they offer.
Standardized testing is my weakness I can tell, but I’ve already started to go to coaching with my english teacher and bought books and such, I really want to get it up to the 1300’s or something.
I can’t wait for next year, I’m anxious to see how much I accomplish. In all honesty fishgill is right I shouldn’t focus so much on colleges because of their prestigious names. I’ll thrive to do better, but I’m not going to kill myself over not getting into Brown haha.
Let’s see in a year what I accomplished.