Ivy Advice
Looking of some advice, im a sophomore trying to get into an Ivy. I skipped 8th grade something that had never been done in my county/districts history and skipped right into freshman year. Had a bumpy start with a teacher who showed signs of dislike when she saw my ethnic background and in turn received a C in her class. so had all A's in one AP and all honors and then two B's in honors classes. now this year I have all A's one B and taking all honors and AP. Im a student pilot, received a scholarship, academic presidential award, interviewed a hospital system CEO for my district during the height of covid that was recognized in my county and posted, received the very first administrative internship at a hospital system in infection control and patient experience, apart of Student council, volunteer, did an internship at a doctors office, working with a globally recognized company for HRO (patient safety), developing a education game for medical personal with experts, set to present at a national conference with thousands of attendees, Started a business with over $10,000 in sales last year. But im worried that these things aren't enough to get me into an ivy. What should I do?
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1 answer
My advice is that you not rush into graduating high school. Since you already skipped a grade, I would seriously advise you to take a step back and use the extra time you have to either un-skip the grade or take a GAP year prior to applying to college so you have the best academic and EC narrative you can possibly muster.
Skipping a grade is actually a curse unless you are a certified genius. What most college-bound students who are high achieving do not realize is that when they apply to Ivys, Elites, and Top Liberal Arts colleges, they are competing with many private day and boarding school kids that were red-shirted and held a year back in kindergarten or 1st grade so when they graduate from Exeter, Choate, Deerfield, they are 19 years old not 17 or 18. Students who are on the opposite end of privilege such as persons of color or people in lower-income households often graduate earlier because their parents need to work, thus enrolling their kids into public school as soon s possible made the most economic sense.
So when college admissions officers look at your application, the privileged applicants have more course rigor and better ECs and IV/IC because they are older and have a more established support system that facilitated better test prep, better summer jobs, internships, and research opportunities. And if these old students still can't get into their top schools in 12th grade, many of them take a gap year or a post-graduate 13th year of high school to improve their narrative.
Therefore, you have to understand that the college admissions process is very complicated because many applicants are already very late to the game before they even start high school. If you think about your future, it really doesn't matter how old you are when you start college or when you graduate. If your goal is to get into the very best colleges then you have to be more strategic than practical so you stack the odds in your favor.
This is the way, unfortunately.
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