do you think a high level university (stanford, harvard) will accept me?

Question

Hi guys
i'm a freshman in highschool right now, but i'm really concerned about my chances of getting into a good college. my current gpa is 3.6 and i am in math club and going to do soccer in the spring. i am currently taking all periods and no off periods and plan to do that for my entire time at the high school. i am going to join key club next year, and play tennis and either basketball wrestling. i think this will help my chances in getting into a good college. also, i'm only a freshman, so i still have time to raise my gpa and get in community service hours. i know colleges are looking for people who stand out from the crowd. i have a youtube account and make vlogs, and now everyone in the school knows me. does that count? what else should I do?
please tell me all the advice you can give me!!!

Answer 1

I agree with Adam. Fact is no amount of community service or tennis will get you into Harvard. Believe it or not, the youtube/video stuff will help, but you need to turn that into something productive - a business, non-profit, something that no one else has thought about. A very average Harvard student will have led student government, volunteered in her community and church, participated on the debate team and academic decathlon, and graduated in the top 2% of her class after taking the hardest possible course curriculum. And this (hypothetical) person is only average because she did not do something truly extraordinary.

Fact is, the way you're going, you have very little chance at an top Ivy League (Stanford is a hack school so who knows). But I wouldn't worry about it - just do the best you can in school, enjoy HS, and apply to top 50 schools, especially in your area. But if you must, continue with the hardest classes you can possible take, and get A's in them all.

Answer 2

You will need to have perfect grades from now on, and you need to take the toughest classes possible if you want to go to an elite school. The extracurricular activities are important, but only if your grades and test scores are good enough, so be careful not to focus on those to the detriment of your grades.

Rather than focusing on some particular school or schools, which ends up being a great frustration for many people, you would do better to focus on creating as many options for yourself as possible. By the time you are a junior, you may or may not want to go to Harvard or Stanford; however, what you definitely want is to be in a position to choose to do whatever you want to do, rather than having to settle for what is available to you.

Answer 3

Um... are not you the Harvard guy too? properly back, Stanford is a substantial attain for you. Why not objective at decrease Ivys, or non-Ivys... there nevertheless are wonderful colleges. How do you get 11 solutions, and that i'm getting none on my Cornell thread :*(

Answer 4

Those schools are massively over-rated. Don't even bother. There are dozens of wonderful schools aside from Harvard and Stanford. I suggest you focus your efforts on those instead.

As for what you should do - you should enjoy your high school experience. You're only a freshman. Do those things you are most interested in, work hard in your classes, and don't get involved in the thankless rat race for the small handful of Ivy League schools - waste of time.