how to get into the ivy league (it's not that hard): realistic stats + ECs that got me in

Intro I got into the Ivy league, Berkeley Haas, Rice,  and CMU Tepper. Here's how. I went to a really   Background good public charter high school. It had a lot  of APs, but it was nothing that was typically   a feeder for top schools in general. For all my  applications I either applied as a business major   or an economics major. I come from middle class  family in a midsize town in Indiana. I'm Asian   and Latino though I didn't talk about either in  my essays or my college applications at all. I   didn't get any Legacy and didn't have any sort of  special circumstances that I could write about in   my college application anyways let's get to the  stats. So yes I actually had a 3.7 GPA unweighted   Stats by the time that I applied to college and that  was mainly because I spent the first two years   of my high school career trying to go pro in  Fortnite. No I did not put that in my college   applications my weighted GPA was a 4.3 by the time  that I applied and I took a total of 23 AP and IB   classes this is them here this is my freshman year  sophomore year junior year and Senior year. You   just need course rigor, I took this stuff that's  interesting to me. So in my state we all take   the SAT I took it twice actually the first time I  took it at school it was free it was digital and   so I got a 1510 I wasn't really familiar with the  format but then I took it again on pen and paper   and I got a 1570 in one sitting and so that's  what I ended up submitting but anyway stats are   really really boring let's move on to Awards and  recognitions. Okay so you're probably wondering   Awards and Recognitions how did I get into the colleges that I got into  with having such terrible stats that's where the   extracurriculars come in now they're not crazy but  these are the extracurriculars and awards that I   submitted at the time that I applied to college  applications which was around the first semester   of my senior year so this is not everything that  I've done this is what I did throughout junior   year essentially anyways let's move on to so on  the commmon app you get to use five total honors   so I'm going to go from the lowest all the way  to the highest the first one is National Hispanic   scholar this was fifth I don't know why I put  it I don't know how National Hispanic scholar   actually made it on the list if I were to go back  in time I'd probably take it off fourth was the   UE Changemaker challenge top six finalist. This  was actually really really cool opportunity I had   a lot of fun doing it and I worked really hard  on it I would explain it further in detail but   essentially it wasn't talked about at all in my  application because we only placed in the top six   so I didn't make too big of a deal out of it but  essentially me and my friend wanted to create a   solar panel parking lot for a local hospital and  we ended up actually meeting with the board of   directors for that hospital as well as me with  a whole bunch other people like the CEO of the   hospital so that was really really cool I didn't  talk about anyway though third on my list was the   2023 Spirit of the Y award it was given to one  Indiana student for exemplifying YMCA core values   this was because I was a part of the Indiana Youth  and government program I just added this on there   because it was cool that it had something that  could speak to my character and some sort of award   that I got for it number two I put the Coca-Cola  scholar finalist this is actually really cool it   doesn't mean I was a Coca-Cola scholar I was the  final 250 out of 105,000 applicants and so I put   it there because it showed that I was somebody  that another committee had reviewed and chosen   to be part of a very selective cohort in hopes  that the schools would assume the same thing the   top one that I had was the White House Hispanic  heritage Business and Entrepreneurship Gold Award   it was really really cool I think there's a total  of 10 people that got that specific Award of like   34,000 applicants so I was very happy about that  as well as it also showed that I was Hispanic and   so once again I didn't really write about it but  it once again just showed that I was Hispanic I   probably would have done a better job of talking  about my Hispanic heritage if I were do it again   but anyways these are all the Honors that I had  that weren't counting any extracurricular so any   sort of awards that I had with extracurriculars  I put it in with the activities so I know that a   lot of you guys are now wondering wait so if his  honors are so mid what extracurriculars did he do   Extracurriculars okay so I'm going to do the same thing that I just  did with my honors with my extracurricular so I'm   just going to go from the lowest ranked to the  highest I was able to submit 10 and I used every   single space but I'll go through the ones that  don't really matter that much pretty fast at 10th   place I had alto saxophone I did it for my school  it was personal enjoyment mostly I did it for 7   years I was first chair Alto in the jazz band and  I was also the first chair Alto in the orchestral   band which is two times a week and I also put  that I play at home with my sister for fun   I thought there was just something that I could  just add as like little like oh and he does this   too but I don't think anybody cared and I don't  think it impacted any of my missions decisions in   ninth place I put the summer school facilitator I  actually did this for two summers I don't know if   I recommended a ton but I did a summer job where  essentially I taught second and third graders   about math reading and we also did a whole bunch  of little fun stem games and activities it was   nothing insane I did do some sort of facilitator  level activities the second year but I also don't   think that this in any way impacted the way that  people looked at my application the eighth one was   club co-president for mock trial Club there were  like roughly 50 students at his Peak so I put that   so once again this was for junior year so I said  that we made state finals cuz we did it for junior   year we ended up doing it against junior year but  that didn't go in my college applications I earned   the outstanding attorney award twice as well in  my junior year once again doesn't matter that   much it just shows I guess that I'm a good speaker  or at least I'm able to debate so that's something   I might be able to catch I just don't think  any of this stuff really influenced my college   application I put that I ranged to the club to  Shadow the prosecutor that was kind of true I did   and then ended up getting vetoed by the principal  because she was upset at me so that never ended   up happening but I did arrange for it and it was  networking and it was cool and I also put that I   recruited around 20 members because as a business  major I think what's more interesting to them is   seeing that I'm actually sociable and I'm able to  get people to do things okay now we're approaching   the things that are actually interesting  to my application this one was co-founder   of international Club it was actually really  really cool I enjoyed it I put co-founder though   technically what happened was I was just the first  officer but I helped of shape what the club looked   like with the person that actually founded it and  so she said that I could put co-founder which I   thought was really nice of her the club itself was  a culture sharing and community service Club every   other Monday during lunch I would invite a ton  of kids and we'd eat food from a specific country   that somebody made it was really fun I actually  got to learn a lot about cultures and I really   enjoyed that General Vibe it was a lot of fun we  were basically just eating a ton of cool ethnic   free food and I actually used this club quite a  few times in my essays to talk about how I helped   take it from two members in its first meeting to  some somewhere like in the 60 members total which   was exciting and that was really exhilarating  and once again showing that I'm able to recruit   people and socialable the sixth one that I  put was political field organizer for a local   politician I recruited volunteers and I arranged  for a Democratic party donor dinner and door to   door campaign for the largest neighborhood in the  county and I said that I helped to get additional   7900 votes I don't know how true that is because  he just increased in 7,900 votes I don't know how   that was me but I put it there you know maybe that  helped maybe it didn't the fifth one on the list   actually mattered a lot to me it was the president  of Southwestern Indiana delegation it was for   Indiana Youth and government the total conf had  about 120 delegates and at its peak my delegation   had around 40 I led bi-weekly meetings I mentored  a lot of kids helping them create Bill and   legislation stuff like that and I traveled across  the state to help form other delegations and I   also helped us win $3,500 grant for the delegation  as well by the way I promised that the interesting   extra are coming soon the fourth one that I put  was being the chair of the Indiana delegation it   was 25 students per state that were allowed to go  this is the national level version of the Indiana   youth in government and so it was actually a  really really cool experience what I put was that   I reached plenary session which was the final 13  out of 55,000 people that do Youth and government   programs Across the Nation I was given a 30-minute  slot to present my plan to end period poverty to   roughly 800 attendees and I also helped fund raise  about $2,000 for Indiana to go that was a really   cool experience I think I might have ruin about it  more if I knew how much Ivy League schools wanted   to see advocacy and people that are politically  engaged and active but I know about it so I didn't   write out too much this is all I said but it was a  really cool experience I enjoyed it okay now we're   getting into the interesting stuff the third  one was The Innovation ambassador of Indiana   this is a sort of unofficial title that was also  kind of official it didn't mean that I got paid   or anything like that but I was technically on  Ambassador Duty for Indiana's Innovation for like   2 years and so what I wrote for that was I helped  Indiana create an Statewide entrepreneurship   curriculum I discussed education with governor  hokom and I was flown out to DC to speak to   congressmen and Executives and overall I think  that that was a pretty cool extracurricular that   probably helped me get into some schools and the  second one I actually I I really liked and I don't   think I talked enough about it and got enough  recognition for it but I was the founder and   executive director for the stem lab volunteering  program so what I wrote was that I led 18 High   School volunteers to teach stem and tutor around  150 kids year round I recruited and created   the daily volunteer system to bridge High School  YMCA and Community needs this activity was really   impactful so for some backstory the YMCA was given  this massive building that was given to them by   the boys and girls club and when I came to visit  it for the first time right after they acquired   it the ceilings literally had holes in the roof  and it was leaking and so there's water buckets   all over the gym it looked absolutely desolate and  that Center ended up getting over like a million   dollars in Grants to help refurbish the whole  area and make it look a lot prettier and a lot   more accessible to the community so it eventually  turned into the community center and so what I did   was I spearheaded the initial volunteering program  that they needed so I got a lot of really really   talented and passionate high school students to  teach tutor and play with the kids and so I think   that what I got to do was actually very impactful  there it added a lot of vibrancy and life to the   center and I got to write about this quite a bit  as well and the final activity that I put as my   number one this one was my Pinnacle activity was  that was the co-founder and CEO of a legal Tech   St startup we actually called it legal tech there  was a B2B SAS startup and it was valued at $1.5   million there was a total of 10 team members  in that too and so I said that I led them the   startup itself though was an AI based Equitable  legal matching service and so it qualified as   social entrepreneurship and that was really really  cool because I was able to talk about that a lot   especially my interviews that a lot of people  were really curious about as well as the essays   that I wrote and one thing that I added on top  of that was that I won $3,000 as a finalist which   was like the top 10 of 2500 teams in the innovate  within high school pitch company Edition which is   the largest in the US once again this is all in  junior year in my senior year I ended up winning   the competition as well as doing like another  startup that did a lot better but this is what   I put for my college application and so I think if  I would apply like one year out from now I might   have gotten into more schools but once again  it doesn't matter I'm very happy with where I am overall though I probably wouldn't have ended  up doing all the random extracurriculars that I   Final Advice ended up doing if I ended up just doing  the startup and I did it well and I also   did like one or two leadership positions  I think I would have gotten the exact same   results that I ended up getting so don't  feel like you have to do the random list   of extracurriculars that I just showed you  because honestly that stuff doesn't matter   engage with one or two things and engage with  it really really deeply and do a great job   and get recognized for it because engaging with  activities engaging with them deeply and having   them actually impact you and shape you lets  you write about them talk about them in your   essays and talk about them in interviews and  that is actually what ends up making the most   of the difference so yes you can have a 3.7 GPA  you can have played fortnite constantly for for   the first 2 years of your high school life you  can come from a middle class family and have   absolutely no hooks to get you in and I promise  you you can still get into the ivu league don't   stress it just do what you love but also like  do it really really well like I'm not saying   just Do What You Love cuz like that's not going  to get you the iy league do what you love and   also do it really really well like at the at the  national International level okay all right bye