I'm a freshman in High School and for the past 6 years, it has been my dream to get into an Ivy League School. In 8th grade, I took the SATs and I got a 1680 but I hope to do better by the time I take them late Junior year. I practice word questions every day. I also have 100 percents in all of my classes. I have been swimming competitively for the past 8 years. Too, I have been taking piano lessons since 1st grade. As well, I am in the Girl Scouts and have spent hundreds of hours helping my community. Some things I have done are visit shut-ins, host a week-long day camp for younger girls, and host a weekend camping trip for scouts in the area. I am on my school's tennis team as well! Once a week, I volunteer at the local hospital. I have over 200 hours now! Do you think any Ivy League school would consider me?
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oh my yes - they will look at you strongly. you dont say what major you are looking at - as a female you will have your pick of the litter if you go for maths especially engineering.
HOWEVER,
i would like to point something out. Money -- i know i know nasty thought that. BUT if money is an issue you must also consider that. there are thousands of scholarships out there but they are not the easiest things to get. you have to start thinking about it now.
Ivy League Schools are really awesome but they are NOT the be all and end all - consider your major.
i am speaking from recent experience here. THE MAJORITY OF SCHOOLS dont have money - period.
as an example: of the 10 schools my daughter applied to and was ACCEPTED by. 5 California universities (UCLA, UCSD, UCDavis etc, the ONLY thing they had to offer was a maximum of $3000. which was basically useless. Off the other schools A private engineering school offered a full ride. Northwest offer a 3/4 tuition scholarship (that was a really good offer 25k of the i think it wa s35k tuition- did not include housing, food etc) the school that offered the best money, best housing best SCHOOL program turned out to be a private school called Harvey MUDD. truly awesome school that offered nearly all tuition AND 4 yrs of housing (it IS a big deal btw)
Many of her classmates found similar issues and solutions. turns out the smaller private schools have incredible curriculum and MONEY to offer scholarships.
the point i am trying to make is that you are doing FANTASTIC and should be able to pick just about any school you want - but dont make the mistake of ONLY looking at the big Ivy Leagues - there are schools out there that are actually better. Mudd is known as the west coast MIT and its getting better reviews!
Let me preface this by saying I attend an ivy league school. To be perfectly honest, you haven't done enough for me to tell you if an ivy would take you. You don't have a real SAT score yet that you would submit, although the score you got in the 8th grade was above average for seniors, so I'm guessing you're a pretty smart girl. Also, having the drive and motivation to already be looking into colleges is definitely indicative of you being ivy material. You're putting way too much weight into the volunteering. They want to see that you kept busy, but prefer to see this in the form of awards and leadership positions in clubs. I'm going to give you a point of reference because I feel like I'm pretty average for an ivy guy. Here are my stats:
GPA: 4.2-3.95
SAT: 2190
ACT: 33
ECs: worked for a congressman, won several national and state level awards and competitions, 500 hours of community service, president and founder of a club, vp of another club
Just keep up the good work in class and in tests and I'm sure you'll go places in this world. Feel free to message me if you have any more questions
You're barely into your HS career, so it's hard to tell, but you have a very good start.
Volunteering - Great
Swimming - Great. Keep that up.
SAT - Not very good for Ivies; you need to get it above 2000 to be a competitive candidate
Grades - Great, keep them up.
Classes - You need to take at least 4 or 5 AP classes and be in Honors classes if you can.