What kind of extracurriculars do ivy leagues look for




















Look at what your likes and dislikes are. Ask yourself these types of questions:. Every student is different. There are millions of ways to do this. Ok, not millions… but you have a lot of options. To contact a school, you can do the following:. Institutional Research Departments are departments within colleges keep track of mass data for that particular college.

If the school has it, it will be listed below. Usually, contacts are listed for the people working in this department. You can call them or send them an email requesting the information you need. A Data Request Form is a form some colleges offer on their site.

For example, you can request the average of accepted SAT scores for the past year. We do this all the time for our articles and students. This will give you a good idea of how high your score will need to be to increase your chances of acceptance. Some schools may only have one or the other. The idea here is that you want to get as much information as you can about what a specific school is looking for in your student.

This is the profile you will need to achieve in order to get accepted to their dream school. Here is an example of the Ideal Candidate for the University of Chicago.

Notice that the Goals space is still blank in this example. I was also a liaison for several sports teams swimming and lacrosse and coordinated on-campus orientation programs and housing placement. I spent most of my admissions career, however, as an independent college advisor. Students often wonder if their involvements outside of the classroom are impressive enough to help them get into a highly selective college. Is the boy who spends his weekends at yo-yo competitions more striking to the admissions committee than the girl who sits by a tree and writes poetry on Sunday afternoons?

What kind of people do these colleges seek? Did playing baseball lead you to coach a Little League team or learn more about sports statistics? Did playing violin in the orchestra lead you to want to compose music or learn a new instrument? Engaged : How immersed are you in your activities? Do you offer to do research for, and practice with, the other team members in preparation for a debate? How come everyone is doing sports?

Some schools require a certain amount of community service hours to graduate, but I see countless students put in far beyond the minimum number for no advantage in college admissions because their volunteering is too basic.

Clones, clones, clones! This is not to say any of these activities are bad in and of themselves. Now the admissions committee have no special reason to pick you over your virtually identical friend. Admissions officer spend a grand total of about minutes scanning your entire application, so if nothing immediately grabs their eye, you have now been relegated to what I call admissions purgatory.

This is where you are just as qualified or maybe even slightly more so than the other students trapped in the same purgatory, so admission officers begin whimsically saying yes or no. Maybe this student was a basketball captain, and the officer is a huge basketball fan, so that student gets a leg up.

This is why you hear stories of students slightly less qualified than another student get in. Which door should you take? Perhaps the greatest misconception is how important AP classes are.

Maybe they even ace them all and earn a perfect 5 on every AP test. Sounds like an amazing student, right? These students work themselves to the bone to achieve these amazing grades and test scores — to the detriment of other things that are at least equally important! Remember, admission officers are spending only about minutes on your application. They are evaluating you holistically that means, as a whole person. For elite colleges, extracurriculars are the main differentiators between one stellar academic person and the next.

Of course, a weak GPA is pretty much instant rejection unless you are a special case, such as a mega-talent in something, a mega-donor, the child of the President, or something. When I instruct students for the SAT or ACT, I tell them upfront before we start that they need to spend a minimum of 7 hours of productive study time per week.

What could have been accomplished in months drags into 6 months or more. Sure, some students are lazy and unmotivated. Or worse, I hear how they had basketball practice or a swim meet. Or how they needed to go volunteer for community service to help a friend out. Think of it this way. You already got credit for your sports, so more hours there makes precisely 0 difference to colleges.

Now THAT makes an incredible difference! The same problem holds true for your GPA. Even then, it will probably only affect your GPA by 0. Now, I get it. School is important. Sports are important. But I think the REAL reason students almost always choose to focus their time on less important things is because those other things are immediate.

The calculus test is tomorrow. Sports practice is today. Volunteering is this weekend. I see people trying to cram in last minute studying one week or even mere days before the test. At that point, seriously, forget about it. You have no chance. Plan to retake. People severely overestimate their willpower and motivation too. If you really cannot spend 1 hour a day studying, then at least spend hours on the weekend to make up. But if you keep putting test prep off in lieu of less important things like schoolwork or extracurriculars, you are hurting your admissions chances tremendously.

But now I want to talk about HOW students are judged. Why is this? The answer lies in HOW colleges actually evaluate students. Colleges do this by comparing students against similar peers, NOT the entire application pool.

That generally means you are being compared against your friends and classmates from your same high school, or at least your local area. You are not being compared directly to students from a faraway city or state. It may seem unfair that one student has a higher GPA, a more rigorous course load, better SAT scores, and more impressive extracurriculars than a student from another high school, yet the second student is the one who gets accepted, not the first.

The first thing you must realize is that colleges evaluate students on their life context. This is why they ask where your parents and siblings attended college, if at all. This is why they ask for demographic information, such as your ethnicity, city of residence, and so forth. In essence, this is the environment in which you were raised. Clearly, students raised in a better environment with greater resources, finances, and opportunities have an easier time to achieve more — so colleges expect greater achievement from these students.

And obviously, students raised in worse environments, say a gang-ridden territory full of drug dealers and criminals, will find it much harder to do well in school and find amazing extracurriculars to excel in — so colleges expect less of these students. So what colleges are really judging you on is how you fared in comparison to your similar peers, those who grew up with generally the same resources and in the same environment as you.

By and large, that means your classmates in your specific high school and nearby high schools. Be the tall giraffe. If everyone in your class has strong grades and SAT scores, then you should have even higher. If tons of people in your class are participating in the same general activities — marching band, sports, volunteering, etc.

For top private high schools and stellar public high schools, for example, the typical SAT score may be at least in each subject. If you come from a single parent family whose mother already works two minimum wage jobs, so it turns out you have to find a part-time job to help your family, then colleges will appreciate and reward your effort.

From that angle, a lower GPA and lower test scores make sense, so colleges will cut you some slack. Even though this student may have accomplished less than you, he accomplished more relative to what he was given.

Colleges love seeing students who can rise to the occasion. Not bad! Who do you think is more impressive? Clearly, the second guy is massively more impressive. This is the same line of thinking colleges use when evaluating students.

So make sure you are well above average if you want a shot at the Ivy League or other elite colleges. If the average GPA at your school is a 3. If the average SAT score at your school is , then you want to get or more. Colleges do their best to nurture their students, but colleges want to see explosive growth in these students. Many students and parents ask me which activities they should pursue: basketball? Speech and debate? Starting a business? Math Olympiad? Lab research internships?

What matters is HOW you do them. Activities are judged on three main criteria:. If the school cares heavily about scientific research, then students who pursue science may have the edge.

The big mistake is trying to curate your activities towards what you think a particular college may or may not want. Rather, find your true passion and develop that. If colleges want you, great. If not, then there will be other great colleges for you — even those of equal caliber. Just make sure whatever activity you pursue, you show dedication, leadership, and impact. Now, you may be wondering, what if the activity is simply a one-time thing, perhaps a summer internship or project for just a few weeks?

Ever feel like college admissions is just one big lottery? Too many strange cases in which a seemingly well-qualified student was rejected, while seemingly under-qualified students are admitted? Those numbers are simply the fraction of students who got admitted out of ALL students who applied.

There are generally three types of students colleges consider:. The reason most students feel like admissions is a lottery is that most students fall squarely in the middle category.

There are countless students who have stellar grades, test scores, and generally decent extracurriculars. But there are exceedingly few students who are truly among the BEST at what they do. Do you really think those students have only a 4. Of course not! They are superstars. Students with subpar grades or test scores for Stanford or very bland extracurriculars that show absolutely nothing special.

This is where the lottery comes into play. These students have generally great GPAs and test scores maybe even perfect GPAs and scores , and they boast solid extracurriculars and awards.

But nothing truly exceptional. These are cookie-cutter students. It becomes incredibly hard to tell the difference much less remember student A from student B, since nothing really stands out about either of them. Now, what makes the differences between accept or deny is unpredictable. Yet, because her admission officer happened to be a tree hugger, that student got the golden ticket. In fact, some deans of admissions have actually gone on record to admit that if they were to re-decide their admitted class, the accepted students would probably be different.

They are more like fillers, since the automatic yeses have already been accepted. Nearly ALL of the elite colleges will extend offers of admission because they are clamoring for your superstar talent, drive, and passion. You are a rare breed, so just like so many dream of the Ivy League, now the Ivy League is dreaming about you.

There is no lottery here. This is as sure a bet as possible. The goal is not to be stuck in this middle category at all. You want to elevate yourself to superstardom, so you get an automatic yes! Of course, achieving superstar status is not easy. You may not actually make it to this stratospheric level, but you should try your best. In the coming sections, I will be covering practical suggestions on how to become a superstar.

But before that, I want to discuss what NOT to do. These are things countless students pour thousands of hours into for no real boost to their admission chances. This is going to be your hook or personal theme, the identity that admission officers will remember you by. To that end, there are common extracurricular activities I see too many students pursuing that do not serve this purpose. For Ivy League caliber schools, these activities are nearly worthless from a college admissions perspective.

They act as huge time and energy sucks that prevent you from achieving superstardom. STOP in the name of Stanford, hah! If you truly enjoy them, then go for it, but take them to the next level. Do something far above and beyond what others typically do in the activity.

Of course not. The biggest time-wasters include:. This is probably the most nefarious time waster. But to be blunt, sports are a terrible return on time investment. Just think of how many hundreds of thousands of other students are in sports, just like you. Think about how many tens of thousands of other students are Varsity players and team captains.

You need to be a nationally ranked player for sports to be worth it or least the very least, a top state player. Yes, the sheer amount of time you spent shows massive dedication, so you do get some credit for that on your college apps. With 1, hours, you could have easily mastered something truly unique or achieved something else that would have been truly impressive. Music, choir, marching band, color guard, cheer or pep squad. Hundreds of thousands of students participate in these activities, and the time-commitment is absurd.

I know students who spend almost every weekend every school year practicing or going to competitions. Students spend even more hours after school practicing. But for what? Even if you are the drum major or at the very least, a section leader , there are thousands of students who hold the same rank. This is a very generic activity, which is precisely what makes it unimpressive. You may enjoy the activity and the camaraderie with friends, but you should enjoy those in your spare time, not devote thousands of hours to this activity.

Similar to sports, music playing and earning level 10 piano certifications or whatever is not very impressive. Too many students hold this distinction, yet it costs you soooo much time and effort to achieve.

Unless you are going to become the next Hans Zimmer or Yo-Yo Ma, music is not a wise use of your time for college admissions.

I know the great personal benefits of music, and for those reasons, you can pursue it, but when it comes to college apps, music is exceedingly generic. For music to be worthwhile, you need to be putting on shows at Carnegie Hall. You need to be signed by a major recording label. You need to have been nominated for Grammys, or better yet, won some. For Volunteering, especially mission trips, Habitat for Humanity, or teaching English abroad.

Community service is another one of those things that most students are not truly passionate about, but it may be required for graduation.

So they just do it. Maybe hours more at max. Most volunteering consists of low-level work, such as picking up trash, conversing with patients in a elderly care facility, gathering supplies at a hospital, or serving food to the homeless. These are not world-changing contributions, so the impact level is considered low.

Most students who volunteer participate in random, unrelated events too: cleaning the beach, caring for veterans, serving soup at a homeless shelter. My advice? If you truly enjoy volunteering, make the events all centered around a particular theme, such as social justice protests. Become the founder of the club and organize the activities yourself. Or focus on a unique volunteer experience, something that will challenge your world perspectives, such as teaching literacy at a juvenile prison.

There are better ways you can make an impact on the world that will be much more impressive to colleges. Many students also feel joining their church or temple for a mission trip for a week or even a month or two shows compassion, humbleness, and willingness to work.

Things like that are not impressive, not only because so many students are doing this, but also because it does not show any real leadership. Unless you are the one founding a non-profit organization and coordinating everything and consistently organizing these events, you are not doing much for your college apps.

If service is truly your passion, then you need to take it to the next level many levels higher, actually. You need to be like that teen who founded a social justice foundation as a freshman, delivered a TEDx talk about activism for teens, and was invited to the White House to speak with the President of the United States about such issues.

Shadowing internships or entry-level jobs. Not all internships are equal. Work with the credit reporting agencies to have any inaccurate information removed. Store your Social Security card, other identification cards, checks and accounts statements in a safe and secure location.

Do not carry your Social Security card, passport or birth certificate with you unless absolutely needed. Do not share your personal or financial information over the phone or in person unless the information is absolutely necessary and you can confirm that the individual and company are legitimate. Frequently monitor your financial accounts and report any suspected fraudulent transaction immediately.

Retrieve and review your mail promptly. Shred financial documents no longer needed, pre-approved credit offers, receipts, and other documents that may contain financial and personal information. Protect your computers, cell phone and other mobile devices Install and set your anti-virus and anti-malware software to update automatically. Activate all operating system security features on your internet capable devices.

Make sure your personal computer and home network are properly protected from malware by setting up your firewall. Check to see that the firewall has been properly installed — or enabled if it came bundled with your operating system. Make sure to keep your web browser software up-to-date by installing the most recent version. Keep the operating system for your computer or mobile device up-to-date.

Password protect and lock your computers, cell phone, or other mobile devices when not in use. Only download applications from reputable sources. If you believe your mobile device is infected with malware, contact your service provider. Then, be sure to delete the suspicious emails from your mailbox.

Do not click on links or attachments if an email seems suspicious, especially if they tell you the problem is urgent. This is known as scareware and intended to make you react without thinking. Do not give out personal information.

Create strong passwords. Make your password hard for others to guess by using a combination of letters, numbers and symbols that are meaningful only to you. Avoid using the same password for multiple websites, particularly financial websites, and be sure to change your password often at least annually.

Account owners should also avoid using the same password for multiple sites and may want to consider using a password manager software to securely hold multiple passwords to securely manage passwords. Never share your password with anyone. Do not include personal or sensitive data in, or in response to, an email. Monitor your account activity closely and watch for unusual activity.

Promptly review all transaction confirmations, account statements, and any email or paper correspondence sent by your plan. Simply closing the browser window does not equate to logging out. By clicking on the X to close the browser window your online session may still be open.

Shred documents containing personal information. Protect your mail from theft. If you are planning to be away from home, call or go online to contact the U.

Postal Service and request a vacation hold. Be aware of your surroundings when making purchases or using the ATM. Thieves have been known to copy credit card information or take pictures of cards on their cell phones. Practice safe web browsing Only allow pop-ups from sites that you authorize. Only make online purchases using secure sites that encrypt your information.

To help ensure that your information is protected when shopping or banking online, look for an unbroken key, or padlock at the bottom of your Web browser or within the address bar. Never access a website from a link in a suspicious email. By doing this you can reference the bookmark the next time you need to login to the site without retyping the address into your browser. Think before you click. Be cautious about clicking on links, especially in emails, and be sure they link to a trusted website.

Get in the habit of hovering over links to see the underlying Web address. Be extremely cautious when using public computers to access financial and other sensitive personal information online.

If possible, instead use only known devices, such as your own personal computer which you know has the necessary protections and security features installed. Do not save private information onto public computers. Be wireless-wise. Be cautious of clickable advertisements, pop-up windows, or fake dialogue boxes with urgent messages.

These are often tactics that fraudsters use to try and access and steal your personal information.



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