Transcript for:
How to Get Into an Ivy League School

you're in high school you're ambitious I've been studying for AP exams for 5 hours and you want to get into an ivy leak school but you don't know where to start in this video I'm going to reveal every single thing you need to do to get into an ivy leak school this is a fulllength course that college advisers would usually charge thousands of dollars for and in the end I'm going to be giving away my full written course that covers everything in this video plus bonus templates to help you succeed so just a little bit about me I come from a lowincome immigrant background and high school with limited opportunities but through my Approach I have been able to develop a system that secured me no IB League rejections without coming from a background of alumni or a wealthy family as a current Harvard Premed student and fors recognized College admissions counselor with over 700,000 total followers across all of my social media platforms my Approach has not only brought me personal success that has been successfully replicated Time and Time Again by my students in this past application cycle Mii used my system and secured acceptances into Stanford NYU and all of the UC schools with hundreds and thousands of dollars of scholarships Nicholas received a full ride into Stanford Vanderbilt and Emery I even had a student that was attending a community college but used my system to secure acceptances into the Master's programs at Columbia Stanford and wasu and that's only a fraction of my students that have been successful the information in this course had the power to completely alter your life so make sure to pay attention and get ready to learn this is going to be my longest video yet so make sure to take notes and get rid of all distractions before I get started the first thing you need to understand about college admissions is that it's a game of strategy and communication it doesn't matter what background you came from or if the other kid in your class is smarter than you because College admission officers look for specific experiences and qualities with that being said these are the most common misunderstandings that students and parents have about the college admissions process okay let's get right into it so this is going to be the comprehensive free course of how to get into an ivy league so this is everything we're going to be covering today it's definitely a lot of information a lot of value so like I just said make sure to pay attention and take notes and get rid of all distractions okay let's start off with addressing common misconceptions so I want to clarify the true nature of how applicants are evaluated now this is a really common misunderstanding that parents and students have about the college admissions process but in reality the admissions Focus not on reviewing past achievements but on identifying a candidate's potential for future success and this is why it's important to highlight your ability to reflect throughout your entire application and this starts at the very beginning of high school so to demonstrate the value of reflective thinking let's look at two students um we'll call them student a and student B so let's first start off with student a so student a leveraged family connections to land and internship at a popular Athletic Apparel company but unfortunately this student did not really reflect deeply on her role and focus more on the Brand's Prestige rather than her work so as a result she did tasks like unpacking boxes and so she didn't actually gain any reflective insights that she could discuss in her application now let's take a look at student B student B actually proactively sought out a small woman-owned business that aligned with her entrepreneurial aspirations so she communicated clearly with the owner about what she hoped to achieve and learn in this role and so this internship did provide her a very rich experience that she could use in her college application okay the next thing that I want to talk about is showcasing future potential so it's really really important to Showcase your future potential in your college application and the reason why is essentially College admissions officers they're looking to admit the next class and the next generation of Future Leaders so how exactly do you showcase your future potential there are three ways to go about it right first challenging yourself by taking high level classes and pursuing your passion so this would be it like enrolling in like IB classes AB AP classes but again High grades alone aren't enough it's really important to Showcase intellectual curiosity and self-improvement and this can be demonstrated through your extracurricular activities community service research projects or internships and these experiences not only show initiative and ambition but are also crucial for integrating personal growth into an overarch application narrative and then of course the third way to Showcase your future potential is adopting a growth mindset so this mindset involves embracing challenges learning from setbacks and vieing failures as opportunities for growth rather than obstacles so students who adopt this approach are better prepared to handle the complexities of college life and take full advantage of the Learning and Development opportunities at their college institution so that's why this is definitely an important aspect whenever it comes to showcasing future potential and during this free course I will reveal how to effectively showcase these okay let's start off with academics and grades this is definitely a very common topic that a lot of students ask me um every day on social media so remember grades and test scores are only a preliminary filter at IV League colleges let's start off with thinking about how do we choose the the right courses right first prioritizing rigor shows that you're challenging yourself though opt for a mix of AP or IB courses if there's honors or dual credit courses that you're interested in definitely take that as well but choose subjects that you are passionate about and also aligned with your future goals um this demonstrates to colleges your willingness to challenge yourself academically second is definitely balancing your schedule so while it's important to challenge yourself also ensure that your schedule allows for a balanced lifestyle don't take a bunch of courses at the expense of your extracurricular interest and then of course third explore your interest so include electives that will help explore your interest further so let's take a look at an example of an 11th grade course selection for a student that's interested in medicine okay so these are seven courses that the student is taking and if we evaluate it they have some AP courses related to Stem so that definitely shows that they're prioritizing rigor and then they're exploring their interest as well so they're looking at other academic interests that intersect with medicine so like biotechnology anatomy and then they're not forgetting about their extracurricular interest so it seems like this student is interested in tennis so they're taking tennis as well okay contextual overview so what I mean by that is that admission officers adopt a holistic approach to evaluating applications and they consider a an applicant's like achievements abilities and circumstances within the context of their high school so they definitely take into account the resources and opportunities that are available at your high school let's say you came from like a more like underprivileged area you're not going to be compared to a student that came from an area with a bunch of resources right so let's take a look at two different students so student a came from an under school with limited opportunities and student B came from a highly competitive school but with many opportunities and these two students they did different classes and they also did different extracurriculars as well but both are completely fine right so if we take a look at student a they had really limited courses in their high school so they were only able to really take two AP courses in 11th grade and then in terms of their extra curricular involvements they were class president um they did a passion project outside of school but they weren't really able to you know do those like big competitions like ISF or like these bigger organizations like Deca or HOSA for example but because they were still able to initiate a passion project and because they were still able to rise in leadership in a lot of organizations that they were involved in it definitely still shows that they were able to take advantage of the opportunities at their school now student B came from a highly competitive High School right with many opportunities so you definitely see on their course schedule that they took around six AP courses and also an honors course as well so they definitely took advantage of the opportunities at their school and then in terms of their extracurriculars right they did a research project at a local University and this may be because they were able to have that Network or connection since they came from a school with many opportunities and then they were part of like the Science Olympia team um and then they also did a summer internship at a tech startup so all of these opportunities are reflective of what's offered at that student school and both student a and student B while like objectively we might think that student a has a weaker transcript than student B both are completely fine they're both amazing because student a and student B came from two different backgrounds so again application officers they evaluate your transcript based on what is offered in your area okay let's talk about GPA and class rank so GPA again is evaluated within the context of the curriculum at your school for students that are also asking about like unweighted versus weighted GP Pas both are great you can submit both I believe that in my college application I also submitted both as well and then let's talk about class rank so rank is considered if it's available at your school so if your high school doesn't report your class rank I believe universities won't use it against you but if rank is reported at your school make sure to submit it because it will be considered and it could potentially help your application as well there's not necessarily like a rank threshold that you have to meet but if you are near the top of your class right that's great make sure to submit your rank and again it's evaluated within the context of your school's academic environment so like let's say you go to a really competitive high school and you're ranked like 40 but another student who came from a high school that wasn't really competitive is ranked seven both you and the other student will be evaluated at the same scale just because you both came from different levels of competitiveness in your high schools okay let's jump into extracurriculars so what do Ivy Leagues look for whenever it comes to extra cers there's not necessarily like a secret extra curler that you can do and it will automatically get you into an ivy league right extra cers are very diverse so let's for first start off just discussing um the basics of extracurriculars make sure to prioritize depth of involvement and sustained commitment so you could either be that student that does 20 extra curriculars and spends 30 minutes a week on each extracurricular or you can be the student that really takes the time to focus on the extra curric that you're passionate about and you actually make an impact in those extracurricular you want to be that second student second is merging your passions with Community impact so like I said earlier Ivy Leagues look for the next generation of leaders and how they really determine this is by looking for students that can take their academic or extracurricular passion and intersect it with a desire to help the community because this showcases that you are able to use the education that is offer at the ivy league and impact the world in some way now I want to talk about three different types of extracurriculars family responsibility such as like working at your family's restaurant it is definitely valued in the college admissions process but I'm not going to consider it in the four tiers of extracurriculars that I will detail so other than passion projects and family responsibilities I like to classify extracurriculars into four different tiers based on their impact and the level of achievement or leadership that is demonstrated now let's talk about tier one so colleges value tier one activities because they're extremely rare and highly impactful due to their impressiveness such as like you know winning Science Olympiad math Olympiad maybe you were part of like the national ISF competition or maybe you won a gold medal in the Scholastic arts and writing Awards right those are like pretty impressive Awards and so those would be counted as tier one and these are highly impactful in admissions due to their impressiveness and scarcity and these activities help set applicants apart in a competitive admissions landscape because they showcase your unique talent or dedication to a particular interest tier is also highly valued by College admission officers as well because it shows high levels of achievement and Leadership within a specific area and it demonstrates a significant time commitment and personal investment and of course it does require um a good amount of skill and knowledge for the students so that's why it kind of sets you apart in the college application process so some examples of this is holding like high leadership positions in well resped clubs such as like model un debate team Science Olympiad so whenever I was in high school I I was on the board for Texas Model United Nations and how I secured this leadership position was just going on like the YMCA website and filling in the application around like spring or summertime and I got an interview went through that entire process and secured a position so that's how I was able to secure a tier 2 extracurricular activity any like notable success in like sports or music let's say you won like your District track me or something like that's amazing that's definitely a tier 2 activity and then participating in self-driven projects with significant achievements so like being able to win any competitions that are within your region that's definitely a tier 2 activity as well okay now moving on to tier three so tier three activities they're less impactful than tier one and tier 2 but they're definitely still valuable for demonstrating leadership and commitment and this also includes like commitment and achievements in sports and arts as well so some examples would be like holding a minor leadership position such as like being Treasurer or Secretary of a club any athletes that let's say you didn't qualify for the All State team but you earn you know local distinctions like player of the Week player of the month or like you know I don't know whatever player of the year or something like those are great great those are tier three extracurricular activities and any musicians who didn't qualify for like an all state band but got selected for like a regional Ensemble or let's say you did like a solo and you got some recognition for that that's great as well so tier four extracurricular activities they're probably the most basic tier and the ones that like I think most students would be in at least one tier four extracurricular activity these basically just highlight your Pursuits outside of the cloud classroom they demonstrate your consistent engagement and responsibility since they showcase who you are behind just your grades and it's good for displaying a well-rounded personality and interest so this is just like General memberships in any school clubs participating in sports or if you're just like learning piano outside of school right if you're doing volunteer workout local organizations this is tier four as well yeah so anything like I would say like sports Arts volunteering both in and out of school anything where you're just like a general member or you're just like practicing this is definitely a tier 4 extracurricular activity now I do want to clarify that College admission officers they don't look down on tier four extracurricular activities I'm basically just putting them into tear based on like the level of impact and Leadership you always want to try to aim for like tier one and tier two of course but it is definitely not realistic to have only tier one and tier two extracurricular activities in my college application I definitely had a handful of tier three and tier 4 extracurricular activities as well so some advice for extra curlers right aim for tier one and tier two but more importantly you need to be able to reflect on your extracurricular activity correctly and communicate how it's shaped your personal growth in your essays so if you have a bunch of great extra curriers but you actually don't take time to reflect on like how they shaped your values or how they molded your interests whenever it comes to your essays your essays will have no de in the context of college admissions a passion project refers to a self-driven Endeavor that allows an individual to pursue their interest explore a specific topic or make a positive impact in a meaningful way it's definitely not a requirement in the college admissions process but it can show that you have a drive to take your interest to the next level and potentially impact the community with your own interest also pursuing a passion project demonstrates qualities highly valued by Ivy League schools such as like initiative leadership self-motivation also a commitment to making a difference as well and it just provides an opportunity for you to Showcase your personal growth creativity problem solving skills or just a genuine passion for a specific field or cause okay let's think about some examples of passion projects right five different categories I'll give some examples of passion projects in these areas so like potentially an environmental sustainability project if you're a junior and you're passionate about environmental issues you might initiate a project to promote sustainable practices within your school or Community this would involve like organizing recycling programs hosting awareness campaigns or creating like a community garden second idea is stem research project so definitely like an internship or a research project counts as a passion project as well so if you're interested in scientific research you could design and conduct an independent study on a specific topic of interest for example you can investigate alternative energy sources you could analyze data to address a specific scientific question or if you're really ambitious you could develop a prototype for novel technology right third is community service so if you're passionate about social social justice maybe you want to start a community service project to address a local issue such as like poverty homelessness educational inequity um you this would mean that you would organize fundraising events potentially volunteer at local shelters or create mentorship programs so maybe you could go to your local library and spearhead some like mentorship programs involving coding or something like that fourth is an artistic expression passion project so if you are interested in Visual Arts or Performing Arts you could definitely develop a project to Showcase your creativity and talent this could involve hosting an art exhibition you could create a short film you could lead a theater production these are all examples of amazing passion projects and then fifth anyone that's interested in Business and Entrepreneurship could start your own business or social Enterprise right this might involve developing a product or service creating a business plan and learning about marketing finance and operations and again like in terms of your passion projects they don't have to be super successful on like an international scale or anything like that as long as they're making an impact in some way and it also intersects with your interest so with that being said let's go into a step-by-step guide on how to initiate a passion project so first identifying a community issue so start by observing your community to identify challenges or areas that need improvements understand the specific needs of your community and how these intersect with your interests and that goes into step two which is selecting your passion so reflect on your academic and extracurricular interest so this could include anything from science Arts technology education social issues basically just choose a passion that excites you and motivates you in some way step three is finding a unique approach this is probably going to take some reflection right so with an understanding of your passion and the community's needs brainstorm innovative ways to address the identified issue so this involves creative thinking planning making a project that not only addresses the issue but also aligns with your strengths and interests step four is definitely the longer part is project development so planning out the specifics of your projects so make sure to think about your goals expected outcomes required resources and timeline this stage might also involve reaching out to community leaders experts or potential mentors for guidance and support and then with all of that it's time to execute your project so organize your events conduct your workshops develop that product or any other activities that contribute and then this is probably the most important step and I think it's also the most overlooked step as well so after you implement your project make sure to evaluate its impact and reflect on your experiences this is definitely important in the college admissions process because whenever it comes to writing the descriptions for your extracurricular activities you want to be able to quantify your impact so make sure you have that data so you know like what your reach was or how successful you are and then of course in the supplemental essays as well there's always going to be a supplemental essay prompt that will Target an extracurricular activity that you're involved in so if you actually take the time to reflect on your how this particular experience or passion project has shaped your values it will make your supplemental essay so much stronger also this reflection process is going to be really really important in the interview process as well which I will go over in just a little bit also I will say whenever it does come to Passion projects any ambitious students will seek research internship opportunities so there's two options right whenever it comes to research projects you could either participate in a structured program so like a summer program for example or you could cold email now right here I have provided a cold email template for you to maximize your chances of getting a response definitely you can screenshot this use this and hopefully it can help you if you can see from this CT email template it will require you to attach your resume and I have my resume template in a little bit so make sure to keep watching and you will get that as well okay now with that being said let's go ahead and talk about internships I think a lot of high school students feel the need to secure an internship but whenever it comes to securing an internship directly asking University professors can be a bit difficult because they priori Iz undergraduate students but there is a strategic approach to this that can increase your odds of getting a good internship position especially if you're a high school student and you're fighting for one with others that are already in University first I will say before you even try to cold email University professors try to look at local startups as well or like startups that are developed by college students you could even go on LinkedIn and look at this because they'll usually be taking a lot of high school interns and it's probably an easier approach to secure an internship than trying to ask like a university professoring summer programs as a launching pad so enrolling in summer programs that have to do with your area of Interest a lot of the times these programs are run by faculty and administrators and you can network with these faculty and admin and secure an internship from there and then of course I want to give you a strategy for cold emailing right right so cold emailing is a great tool to use but sometimes it's not always successful don't go to the point where you ask them to directly give you an internship or shadowing opportunity you want to first show that you're genuinely interested in their work and then from there you could ask them about a potential internship or shadowing opportunity and let me show you how to do this this is the cold email strategy that I want you to use so whenever it comes to cult emailing for an internship you want to first start off by personalizing the email to explain who you are why you are interested in this particular person's work and if there's something specific like a project that you're really interested in definitely note that as well then you're going to nicely ask the professor or lab supervisor if they would be willing to speak briefly over the phone or video um about their career or about their work basically like funnel them from the email to a brief video call instead of directly asking them for a position through the email right another thing that you want to do is like if they decide that they don't want to do a call with you also provide Alternatives as well so so you might suggest like if there's any upcoming virtual meetings that they're doing with their lab if it's good for you to hop on or if they're doing any public talks you would really like to listen in things like that now once you kind of pitch to that lab supervisor or that Professor to hop on a call with you this is what you're going to do both during and after that call and this could be like a zoom meeting right this could be a Google meets meeting Microsoft teams meeting whatever this could be a phone call whatever is most convenient for the person that you're emailing what you're going to do is during the call it's probably going to be like what 5 to 15 minutes ask sensitive questions about their job their career path their industry this will show that you're genuinely interested and committed in their work and then if if it's relevant towards the end state that you believe that you would learn a lot better by working with them and then like from here if it's natural you can ask them for any potential internship opportunities but let's say the vibe is a little bit off you can definitely ask for incremental opportunities as well so instead of coming right out asking for an internship you could ask if there's any smaller opportunities so this way you're actually more respectful of their time and resources as a mentor and it shows that you're actually enthusiastic about learning and not just like getting that position and then I think a lot of students forget this definitely send a followup to leave a good impression thank them for the time that they spent with you and express a lot of gratitude towards the communication as well and also like let them know like what you learned from the conversation that you had with them this is going to show your genuine interest and then fourth after the call make sure to continue building your network one thing I learned during my time at Harvard is that it's so important to network because networking will get you opportunities so like attend different talks seminars industry conferences where you can actually connect with profession and email them after or like initiate conversations with them because building this network will really come in handy to help you secure opportunities in the future okay with that being said let's talk about summer programs summer is definitely a very interesting time of the year because a lot of students are out of school and you have a bunch of free time and you're not exactly sure how to utilize it it is really important that you stay productive over the summer because it is an opportunity to Skyrocket your College admission chances I remember the summer between my 10th and 11th grade of high school I was working on a passion project that entire time I was also doing a summer program alongside that as well so it shows that I'm really really dedicated to my extracurricular and academic interest and then also summer programs are a great way to network so like this could be the launching pad to securing an internship over the school year or for a lot of summer programs as well it's a great way to get a letter of recommendation whenever I did a research summer program in high school my research Mentor um from Rice University wrote me a letter of recommendation for my college application and it helped a lot in showcasing how dedicated I am to learning biology learning medicine Etc okay so why are summer programs so important here's an example of why literally in Stanford's short answer promt for the 2021 and 2022 application cycle there was a prompt that literally asked how did you spend your last two summers and here I'm giving you my successful response so I said from investigating how to overcome antimicrobial resistance through culturing eoli in my parents' bathtub and visiting museums in New York to early mornings of FaceTiming Grandma packaging art donations and teaching Buddhist lessons to Children over Zoom my summmer is represented an intersection of science sightseeing service and self- reconnection so I want to emphasize the part where I talked about like investigating how to overcome antimicrob bi resistance this is referencing a summer research program that I participated in and I also submitted to Stanford my research paper as supplementary material so they were able to make that connection from like you know I did the summer program and then here is what actually came out of it and then of course just show showcasing my other academic and extracurricular interest as well whenever I said packaging art donations that refers to an art nonprofit that I worked on in high school as well okay important information for summer programs whenever it comes to summer program programs they're mainly open for upcoming Juniors and upcoming seniors and their applications open in the fall/autumn before the summer so if you want to do a summer program in the summer between your sophomore and junior year of high school you'd be applying to the program during the fall or winter of your sophomore year I will say there are there are some programs for freshman students as well but they are limited since they're mainly tailored for older high school students um in addition try to apply for summer programs that are selective and tailored towards your actual academic or extracurricular interest so for example if you're interested in like science or medicine there's the research Science Institute it has like like I like it says right here it has a 3.3% acceptance rate so it's definitely very prestigious and competitive so that shows that it is a great summer program to take a part of there's also other ones as well like Carnegie melons Sam I did that for both the summer between my sophomore and Junior and then Junior and Senior year there's like MIT mites or MZ I they're both the same thing but yeah there's a lot of credible summer programs out there but there's also a lot of summer programs that are scams for the summer programs that are scams they'll try to charge you like multiple thousands of dollars like $10,000 to attend this program definitely avoid that and apply to the summer programs that will actually help your application so if you want to know like is the summer program credible usually if the application process is selective if the summer program is free or both of those that's how you know it's credible I want to go ahead and talk about the digital sat and standardized test scores in general so how important is the digital sat in college admissions it is a standardized way of measuring your academic ability and so colleges used the digital sat to compare students that come from different educational backgrounds and at the time that this video was made most Ivy League schools including Harvard have reinstated the requirement for standardized test scores including like the SAT or act and the reason why is because these tests are seen as predictive tools that help admission officers forecast your ability to succeed in a rigorous academic environment and I know there's been a lot of debate over like fairness and accessibility with the digital SAT but still many Educators do believe that it's a decent way to kind of add a different dimension into the admissions process plus standardized tests provide a common measure to evaluate academic preparedness and potential across a diverse applicant pool okay let's talk about the structure of the digital sat as well since it recently changed from a paper sat to a digital sat in the past few years okay the digital sat is shorter than the paper sat right so it's 2 hours and 14 minutes instead of 3 hours and 15 minutes including rest time it is adaptive which means that as you answer more questions correctly the difficulty of the questions increases that's why it's important to still prioritize even the easy questions and answer them correctly so that the algorithm doesn't lower the cap to your score also in the digital sat there's two modules of like reading and writing and then there's two modules of math in the paper sat there was just like Reading Writing and then like a calculator and no calculator section for math in the digital sat reading and writing are combined and then you can use your calculator for the entire math section now what exactly is a good score so for most Ivy leak schools a composite SAT score of 1520 or above out of 1,600 is considered competitive and this typically breaks down to around 760 or higher in each section um if you want to be in the more like Competitive Edge this often means aiming for an almost perfect score especially for really selective schools like Harvard Princeton Yale Etc um if you want to fall into the 75th percentile that basically means that you're scoring higher than 75% of admitted students for that school so if we take a look at Harvard's SAT score this is for the past application cycle so like the 75th percentile was a580 the average was a 1520 and then the 25th percentile was a 14460 so definitely like if you're aiming for a 1520 or above that's great if you want to be super competitive you want to be super competitive applicant in terms of like your SAT score aiming for 1580 to 1600 now in terms of when should you start studying for the digital sat I would recommend that by at least sophomore year you begin familiarizing yourself with the SAT and PSAT format and content as well casual practice can start here especially with just like learning your basic reading and math skills and that's because the National Merit Scholarship qualifying test is typically taken in October of your junior year of high school and if you can score really high on this exam you could potentially qualify for National Merit recognition and and earn a scholarship which can also be beneficial for your college applications as well um in the summer between your sophomore and junior year definitely this is a good time to begin ramping up your studying having a more structur um consider using the summer to like take a diagnostic test to identify your strengths and weaknesses and then ramp it up in the months leading to the PSAT and then after the PSAT try to take the SAT during the winter or spring of your junior year this allows you to retake the test if it's necessary in the summer after your junior year or if it's really really necessary like taking it in the fall of your senior year but we do want to try to avoid that since we want to use that summer before your senior year and also that fall as well to really focus on your college applications and if you can really nail down the format of the digital sat and memorize the necessary strategies to tackle the topics that college board seeks the target with the digal sat you should be on your way to success and like just FYI all of my one-on-one students do get access to over 500 pages of like updated digital sat strategies practice questions and examples now we're at part eight which is what you've all been waiting for crafting the application and this is obviously one of the most important parts of the entire College admissions process so what I did for you guys is I put together a comprehensive detailed written version of this entire course for you for free so if you want access to that and if you want full confidence that you can get into a top tier School make sure to click the link in my description so you can check that out but yeah let's go ahead and get started with crafting the application okay developing a central theme whenever it comes to the college admissions process it's really important that you have a central theme that ties every aspect of your application together together and a lot of students have the misconception that this needs to be like an academic or an extracurricular Spike but that's not necessarily true you really want to have a value based theme now how exactly do you develop a value based theme right first identify your core values so like here's a bunch of core values that I'm laying out for you reflect on like your personal experiences your key achievements or your passions and identify the core values or strengths that have really pivotal in your development um these are some examples of core values but of course you can use other ones as well I just wanted to give you 30 so like you know get you brainstorming a little bit but step two what do you do you choose a unifying theme so you select a theme that naturally connects with different aspects of your life and your aspirations and this theme should resonate through your extracurricular activities through your personal experiences and academic interest so for example look at a student who had this particular extracurricular list so they founded a club to explore eco-friendly Business Solutions modernized technology in local libraries they did a school event on social entrepreneurship did things with like renewable energy they donated tech devices to underprivileged schools they did some more volunteer activities and recycling right this is a bunch of like very diverse extracurricular interest so how exactly do do we relate this to a unifying theme let's take a deep analysis into this right so this student did diverse activities like business ventures they did science research community service so we can say that this students theme is innovative leadership for social impact and so once you identified that theme now you can embed it throughout your entire application so step three is consistency across application components so make sure that your theme is subtly reflected in every part of your application so from the list of your activities and honors to your personal statement and even letters of recommendation as well and I will talk about how do you make your theme evident in your letters of recommendation even though you're not the one writing your letter of recommendation there is a strategic way to go about this but before I get into letters of recommendations I want to talk about the key framework regarding supplemental essays very simple past present future it's so simple but so many students get it wrong now let's try to apply it to the four most popular types of supplemental essays first the extracurricular essay definitely a very common one that's in many college applications how do you show the past present and future right make sure you in the extracurricular supplemental essay you talk about how you became involved or passionate in thatt curricular that's the past for the present you want to talk about any leadership roles or initiatives you have taken on and then you want to also discuss how you plan to continue this engagement or apply these skills in your future and that's the future so we have past present and future okay the personal challenges essay also a very common type of supplemental essay prompt so this is whenever you're sharing a story of a significant challenge you faced or a significant growth moment so for past present future let's take a look the past would be talking about the context of your life and then focusing on that Turning Point present is talking about how your experiences influence your actions now so like how exactly did that challenge motivate you to explore your current extracurricular or academic interest and then of course finally how will that personal challenge inform your future decisions or actions so like how did the value that you learned or like the experiences and lessons you've learned from that personal challenge how will that change the way that you approach your college Journey the Y us essay so the Y us essay is like the school basically asking like why do you want to apply to our school right and this includes being able to think about specific programs resources or opportunities that this school has that aligns with your theme and goals so how do you really disc discuss the past present and future in this aspect first identifying your own values right so whenever it comes to the Y us I say make sure to establish your identity and values first before you even answer the prompt and start talking about the school so establish who you are and then after that what you're going to do is relate your own values to the features of your school so for example I remember my Ys essay for Colombia so Colombia is in a closed campus but it's also in New York city so there's a balance of like a very close-knit Community but it's also very adventurous since it's in New York City and I remember in the introduction to my yssa for Colombia I first started talking about how I valued close relationships but also in my childhood my family we would really like to explore the city and so there's that balance of like close relationships buttion and then I was like okay that's my childhood it relates to Colombia because Colombia is also in New York City where you get that adventuress but it also has a closed campus so it's also that tighten Comm Community aspect as well and then third how do you showcase the future in your yssa you talk about how you will utilize the school's opportunities so that's like clubs professors classes programs whatever to further your future goals and then the identity SL cultural essay is definitely a very important one as well whenever it comes to supplemental essays so for the past reflect on your background for the present discuss how these experiences um or how your cultural identity has influenced your current life or your perspectives and then of course third talk about how these experiences will guide your contributions to the College Community and then it's really important emphasizing your theme right like we just said you want your theme to be coherent throughout your entire application so make sure to connect your essays with your theme so let's say a student's theme is innovation but their essay discusses cultural tradition that's a little bit difficult right because how do you really connect Innovation with cultural tradition this is how you can do it right in your essay about cultural tradition you can discuss how you innovate within or reinterpret traditional practices and again that showcases that Innovation theme okay now I want to talk about letters of recommendation choosing your recommenders this is really important important part of the letters of recommendation you want to choose an academic recommender and you want to choose a personal character recommender so the academic recommender should focus on your academic prowess they should focus on your intellectual curiosity your classroom contributions um choose a teacher from a core subject that aligns with your major if it's possible and if you can probably choosing them from junior year is best but of course like any year is fine as well and then for your personal recommender you should choose a teacher that can provide insights into your personal qualities so this might be like how you've interacted with peers or how you contributed to the school Community this could be a teacher for a class that you've really demonstrated your leadership your empathy or collaboration in some way now let's talk about preparing the list what do I mean by that so whenever you ask your teachers for a letter of recommendation you usually email them or you can ask them in person but you want to provide them your resume and also the list and what do I mean by the list so for the academic recommender you want to provide them notes on your study habits maybe like really good test scores that you've had in their class or specific instances where you're really proactive with like asking questions or maybe a time where you led a group project make sure to provide those points for that academic recommender because this will help them a lot whenever it comes to writing your recommendation letter for the personal character recommender you can provide them a list of examples of whenever you've LED group projects whenever you explained a particular like really difficult concept to some peers or whenever you voluntarily helped your classmates outside of just class time and I do want to emphasize whenever it comes to Preparing the list make sure to be specific and connect to your theme so let's look at an example let's say a student's theme is Innovative leadership for social impact so I'm taking the theme that I just discussed a few slides earlier so this might be the list that they're preparing for the academic recommender and the list they're preparing for their personal character recommender so for the academic recommender they might note a time whenever they achiev the highest grade on like the sustainable development exam or maybe whenever they achieved innovator of the year or they leted a class discussion over the impact of economic policies on environmental sustainability maybe a time whenever they really inspired their peers to think about socially responsible business practices right these are all great things to provide to an academic recommender if your theme is innovative leadership for social impact for the personal character recommender that student might think about times whenever they organize study groups for peers maybe they were focused on topics like civic responsibility they created study guides for classmates especially like those that were related to the intersection of economics and environment or maybe they started the first schoolwide recycling program definitely tell that to your personal recommender these these bullet points will help your recommenders so much in writing your letter of recommendation and again it will help make your theme evidence in your letter of recommendation as well also whenever it comes to letters of recommendation you do want to give these recommenders your resume I provided my resume template here you can definitely use this it is a very comprehensive and organized resumé template um I give this to all of my students I just feel like it's a great way to make your experiences concise and put it all together in a very organized format then of course like if your resume like the descriptions for your activities aren't specific enough you can also provide additional notes for your teacher letters of recommendation requesting a letter of recommendation here I've provided you an email template as well definitely use this this is just a kind way to ask your teacher for a letter of recommendation and also show them your appreciation for their class as well and then whenever it comes time to send them a reminder you can definitely use this email template that I've provided on the screen here okay let's jump right into interviews so how significant are interviews in the college admissions process in the college admissions process the interview allows for more of a personal interaction between the applicant and the college representative which is usually an alumni and this interaction basically helps the college see you as not just your application but like a three-dimensional human also an opportunity for you to Showcase your interest in that particular institution and if you have anything that you want to clarify in your application or expanding on particular information that you put in your application such as like a unique family situation your educational path or like an extracurricular commitment you can also use the interview as an opportunity to do that okay what are you analyzed on in the interview I think this is a very common question that students ask and I'm going to reveal it right now these are the five things that you are analyzed on first your love for learning so like interviewers will look for students that show a genuine passion for learning so they might ask about your favorite books challenging courses or your academic interest to really understand your enthusiasm and intellectual engagement second is your extracurricular profile so you guys might discuss your extracurricular activities so that they can understand your commitments outside of the classroom third intellectual curiosity so they might ask you about how you're pursuing your academic interest Beyond just your classes so thinking about Hobbies research projects self-initiated learning or like trying to really identify that growth mindset that shows you want to seek out new knowledge fourth is values the interview can reveal a lot about a student's values and ethics which are important to align with the values of the institution so like you and your interviewer might touch on topics like leadership experiences personal challenges Community involvement so they can really understand your character and priorities and fifth is fit and aspiration so the interview can really determine how well a student's goals and aspirations align with what that college offers right so let's say a student is really interested in both Medicine and Community Service like Harvard for example has a medicine and Society track and that might align and fit really well with that applicant's interests okay now I do want to go over some practical considerations for the interview first off not all applicants will be offered an interview and whether you're offered an interview really just depends on the availability of alumni Volunteers in your area so if you don't have an interview it won't be used against you in any way whatsoever for context like whenever I applied to Stanford they didn't offer me an interview but I was still accepted into Stanford second is preparation is key so for those who are offered an interview make sure to familiarize yourself with the college's programs um make sure you know what your personal academic and career goals are and consider what aspects of the campus's community are crucial to you and this means that you want to make a list of unique reasons why this college appeals to you I did this very early on in the Summer where I opened a spreadsheet and I basically just listed pros and cons of every single College I was applying to and this helped me so much in the interview process because like before each of my interviews I would quickly review that spreadsheet and it helped me so much especially with my Harvard interview too second is making a story for your top extra curlers and if you have a passion project make sure you have a story for that as well and what do I mean by making a story I will explain that in just a little bit on the next slide essentially every interviewer will probably ask you how you're engaging in your interests outside of school and you want to be able to Showcase your passion through a story if you have a story the interviewer Will Remember You The reason why is for all of these interviews what happens is the interviewer will interview you and then after that they write up a report about you and if you have a story the interviewer is more likely to be able to remember you and actually recall the story and whenever they write up a report report about you and of course make sure to send a thank you note to all of your interviewers as well because it can reinforce a positive impression and show your appreciation for the opportunity and the time that they spent with you okay let's talk about making a story so let's say let's take my art nonprofit that I talked about earlier this is what I would basically answer if an interviewer asked me about my nonprofit right so I'm going to read this first and then after we're going to analyze the summer before my freshman year of high school my family traveled to the Dominican Republic where we visited an underprivileged elementary school that lacks art supplies because I was an artist throughout my entire life and I understand the importance of art for mental health I thought about how these children lacked a creative Outlet therefore I found it Inspire with colors an organization that donates art supplies to underprivileged communities as the president I spend 10 hours a week working with five board members to plan fundraisers package art supplies and coordinate donations to this day we have donated 1,600 art kits throughout Dallas Fort Worth Tanzania and Vietnam in college I hope to expand this reach even further and get students involved in service and art advocacy I just realized I have a grammatical issue right here this is supposed to be um therefore I founded inspired with colors and organization not and organization but essentially you get the point right let's analyze this first I explain the context so we're using the past present and future framework again so I explained the context of how I got involved in this extracurricular right we visited an underprivileged elementary school and I thought about how these children lacked a creative Outlet then I talked about the present which is my involvement and impact so I'm the president I spend 10 hours a week I work with five board members and we've been able to donate over 1,600 art kids and then finally I end with the future so in college I hope to expand this reach even further and get students involved in service and our advocacy so we still have that past present and future framework to our story and this is a compelling way to answer an interview question about an extracurricular that you have and finally for the last part part 11 financial aid so need let's start off with need-based financial aid I League schools predominantly offer need-based Aid which means that they assess your financial situation based on the information that you provid in FAFSA for any domestic students and also College board's CSS profile and ID do which is where your parents will upload like all of their tax returns um any asset information things like that unfortunately Ivy Leagues do not offer merit-based scholarships so they don't offer scholarships based on any like academic or extracurricular achievements so all scholarships and grants are awarded based on your financial need I will say though that like families earning between 65,000 to 100,000 per year are usually expected to contribute little or none towards tuition for Ivy League schools now for my International students I'm sure you might be worried about financial aid but don't worry Ivy Leagues are committed to meeting 100% of demonstrated Financial need so what do I mean by demonstrated Financial need this is how they calculate financial aid first they take the cost of attendance which is like your tuition room board fees and any estimated costs for books travel and personal expenses then they take your expected family contribution and this is determined through FAFSA CSS and ID do and then demonstrated Financial need is cost of attendance minus expected family contribution from your demonstrated Financial need that is how the calculate your financial aid so I'm going to give you an example of a financial aid letter so you know what it looks like usually whenever you apply to a college after you submit your application they'll send you like a follow-up email asking you to fill out like CSS profile upload your documents to ID do and then from there whenever you receive your decision letter if you're accepted they'll also send you your financial aid letter with your acceptance letter and here is an example of my financial aid letter um from my freshman year of Harvard so you can see here that they included like the amount for tuition and fees housing food um and then you see like the unbuilt expenses so these things are not built to you so like books and supplies personal expenses and transportation but they still put that on just so you can estimate your budget and then scholarships and grants so for financial aid Harvard just calls it a Harvard faculty scholarship and I also got a National Merit Scholarship for this semester as well and this was external this was from Harvard but they added that to my overall scholarships and grants and then at the end it gives you a net cost to your family so that's how much your family is expected to contribute to your education for that semester now what if financial aid is not enough don't worry you can always appeal to the financial aid office so if your family's financial situation changes or if the initial Aid offer is not enough you can definitely like call email the financial aid office with updated information and request a re-evaluation of your Aid package so look the information in this course genuinely has the power to alter the course of your entire life and these are just some of the students that have gotten into their dream schools with my Approach so if you want the full confidence that you are on the best path possible to get into a top tier School click the link in my description to get some more bonus material Plus the full written version of this course so if you made it to the end of this video I hope you enjoyed and that you found some value from this course thanks so much