Getting into the Ivy League: A long-term Game
Getting into the Ivy League is the dream of all bright and high-achieving students from all across the world. Insanely competitive, yet providing unmatched educational opportunities, Ivy League colleges have a rigorous selection process to ensure only the most promising students get admitted.
Going through the admission process comes with an intense mental and emotional toll. The later a student decides to attend an Ivy League school, the more exacerbated is the tension. That because getting into the Ivy League is a long-term game which starts years before the application deadline.
The Importance of Extracurricular Activities
Ivy League schools want students who go the extra mile when it comes to showing passion and motivation. The way they’re testing a student’s depth of commitment towards a chosen activity or field of knowledge is asking for proof of his involvement in extracurricular activities. A strong application must show involvement that spans over a long period and is in line with the student’s self-professed passions and interests.
The earlier students decide to apply for an Ivy League college, the easier it is to be proactive about it and ensure they have relevant things to add to the application. Relevance is a crucial aspect when it comes to extracurriculars. Playing a sport will not make a powerful argument if you want to study theatre but acting in a school play will.
The Need for An Impressive High School Record
To get into an Ivy League college, a student needs to earn the highest possible GPA in high school. Most students who get accepted to Cornell, for example, are in the 10% of their class in high school. Students also need to give priority to difficult classes where top grades have a greater weight on the application.
A student who’s been diligent about getting good grades from the first year of high school has thus a bigger chance to be considered as a viable candidate for an Ivy League school. Students can salvage their records in the senior year, but in this scenario, the college application is unlikely to be as convincing as that of a student showing sustained effort throughout all years of high school.
The Long and Rigorous Admission Preparation
An Ivy League college admission board will pay thorough attention to all aspects of a student’s application, including extracurricular activities, jobs, community involvement, academic prizes and any other relevant accomplishments, in addition to grades and SAT or ACT scores. Every detail of the application matters when it comes to proving the student’s commitment to its academic interests.
Naturally, to strengthen their applications, students need to put prolonged effort into every aspect of it. From writing a thoughtful and compelling personal essay to preparing a list of subject-specific supplemental essays, this can take months if done right. Students aspiring to an Ivy League college focus all their energy into the admission process because half-measures don’t work in this case.
Getting admitted to an Ivy League school depends on a student’s ability to determine his academic interests as early as possible and also become proactive about demonstrating these interests. This goes to show that students who have early support and guidance from professors and parents, even as early as middle school, have a higher chance of being admitted.