What are my chances to get into an Ivy?

Question

What are my chances for an ivy league or stanford and how can I improve them?

I'm a homeschool, high school sophomore.

I have a 4.0 GPA.

I have a 2010 on my sat.

I am an eagle scout.

I am a regional champion debater.

I am part of my church's choir.

I am part of the home school honor society.

I go on a lot of mission trips.

I plan on taking some community college courses all the way to my senior year.

I'll probably be an intern for my congressman next summer.

I'll also be taking a lot of ap tests next semester.

I play tennis casually

I help out it my church's Sunday school.

I am the chief of my church's av.

I take Arabic.

I work for my church.

I participate in the Harvard model un and congress.

I founded and am the editor of a home school yearbook.

I take yearly trips to Egypt with my church, and my knowledge of Arabic really helps out there.

I volunteer at a homeless shelter monthly

i attend eagle projects (community service projects) monthly.

I initiated a service project where we built a playground for a school.

Each summer, I am the assistant adviser for our church's vbs.

I do a random service project each month with the home school honor society.

I teach debate to beginner debaters.

I travel a lot

I work art AMC movie theater during the summer.

I also take an SAT/PSAT/ACT prep class during the summer.

I know 2 harvard alum who know me very well who could write recommendations.

I am Caucasian and my family's annual income is under $100,00

Keep in mind, homeschooled applications are a little different. just like you guys are compared to students from your high school, so am I. I think I have a boost their since I do a lot more stuff than most of my home schooled friends.

Please list as reject/waitlist/accept.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, scores really do matter when it comes to places like Harvard, Yale, MIT, etc, and your SAT score is not quite there yet (but you've got a full year for that, so you're on the right track), you have an excellent shot at getting accepted just about anywhere you apply. Colleges are looking for applicants who have unique backgrounds, are passionate, and will bring something different with them. How many people speak Arabic? Not very many, especially if you're caucasian. Your work in community service sounds outstanding, and your extensive travels and missionary trips will give you a lot of material to work with when it comes time to write your essays. If you can just bump your SAT score up 90 points or so and score 4s and 5s on your AP tests, I think you could get in just about anywhere you want to go. Now that high test scores and good grades are a dime a dozen, more and more colleges are looking at your essays, interviews, and extracurriculars as the deciding factor, so I'm pretty sure you're good to go.  

Answer 2

you don't even need school!!

start your own religion. get a p.o.. box.

put some late night commercials on tv and wait for the money to come piling in.

i started a 976 phone number after high school and made my first million within 4 months.

Answer 3

Scores are very important for homeschoolers to put their performance into perspective. An ivy will want to see at least 2200 on the SAT, several 750 plus SATIIs, and lots of good AP scores, Even if your classes were not called AP, just take the tests.

As far as accept etc., with current score I can't see you getting into any ivy. Your score is well below average for even a hooked applicant (athlete, legacy, minority). Your Ec's are below average for any ivy with your best being a regional champ and Eagle Scout--things that are a dime a dozen at ivies. Unhooked Ivy candidates have national level awards and honors.Top home schoolers have taken increasingly hard college classes all through high school.

As for Harvard alum letters, unless they gave millions and really want to go to bat for you, they're worthless. 75 plus percent of Harvard alum can't get their own kids in!

In my opinion, with the scores I mentioned you would have a shot at Cornell and Penn and maybe the mid tiers with a great application but I think Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Stanford aren't going to happen.