How do I get into a Top 10 university like Harvard, Standard, Princeton or Duke? Or even a Top 30 university like Rice, UC Berkeley, NYU, USC, Notre Dame, or UVA?
In years past, the answer was fairly straightforward: just be a great student. In the past, if you took challenging courses in high school, got very high grades, and topped it off with glowing teaching recommendations and strong SAT scores, then you were practically guaranteed to get into a top 30 university. It was that simple.
More than anything else, leading universities were looking for pure academic scholars. And as long as you had a few extracurricular activities on your resume to prove that you didn’t spend all of your time hiding out in the library, then you were a shoo-in for a top school.
But times have changed. These days, star students are everywhere. Overachievers are everywhere. With 20,000 high schools in America, there are 20,000 valedictorians graduating every year. A good portion of them apply to Harvard, but Harvard only has room for 2,000 freshmen. That means 90% of these “perfect students” are not getting in.
Being a great student just isn’t enough anymore. It’s impressive, yes, but it’s also fairly common. You need something more.
So how do you get into a top university these days? The answer is that you have to combine being a great student with being an exceptional member of society.
That means you have to accomplish something remarkable outside of class, something that positively and profoundly impacts those around you. You have to demonstrate that you’re an interesting person, who’s a leader willing to take the initiative, with an insatiable intellectual curiosity, a resilient never-say-die spirit, and a really compelling passion for something that speaks to you on a deeply personal level.
Just showing up to school every day and earning good grades isn’t enough; there are too many applicants like that. You have to show that in addition to doing well in class, you have a side of you that is unusual, admirable, authentic, unexpected, and pretty darn cool. You’ve got an undeniable personal spark: what some might call an X-factor. In fact, this is typically far more important than having a perfect GPA. A perfect GPA, by itself, is quite boring.
Maybe you launched a business that nobody had ever thought of. Maybe you solved a problem in your community that no one else could seem to fix. Maybe you have a strange hobby that you turned into a massively popular online course for underprivileged students. The trick is demonstrating that you’re actively engaged in the world, and that you’ve had a profound impact on your community. And what’s most important is that it’s not something common, or something that anyone could have done. It’s something rare and distinct that makes you extraordinary. It’s signature proof that you’re not like anybody else… because you’re not! And that’s what every college wants: someone smart, yes, but also compelling and unique. That rare gem who’s going to add immediate value to their campus, and then go on in life to make their university proud.
Okay, you might be saying. But how am I supposed to achieve something like that when I’m only a teenager? That’s where we come in. Our job at Ivy Scholars is to help you become the very best version of yourself, so that you tap into your full potential and accomplish something remarkable that only you could have done. That’s something that’s well within your ability. That’s a great story. And that’s what grabs the attention of every admissions officer. When you get ready to apply to college, you’ll be competing against other applicants who have those types of remarkable stories. And if you want to compete with them, you’ll need a great story of your own. Ready to get started?
One of the single best ways to differentiate yourself from the tens of thousands of other applicants you’re competing with is to come up with a signature capstone project. The idea is to tap into your natural strengths and interests, and to focus your time and energy on one big project that will provide the perfect showcase for your leadership abilities and your social values and the profound impact you’ve made on your community (whether that’s your school, your town, the scientific community, an online community, or some other group you’re involved with).
The good news is that there’s an infinite number of possibilities for what that project can be. And more than anything, you want it to be something that’s deeply meaningful to you. This is important not only because the project will take a lot of time and effort and you don’t want to lose steam, but also because college admissions officers want to know the real you, and what makes you different from everyone else. Copying someone else’s capstone project won’t help your true self shine, so it’s key to think about what’s something you’re uniquely positioned to achieve. What’s something that’s perfectly suited for your combination of strengths, interests and abilities? That’s the project for you.
If you’re a STEM student planning a career in computer science, a compelling capstone project might be to conduct independent research on bias detection using existing AI data sets, and then publish your paper in a top-tier IEEE journal, which demonstrates you’re already making contributions to the scientific community on-par with graduate and PhD students.
If you’re a budding entrepreneur, you might launch a profitable business that collects recycled waste products from schools and then sells them back to the state to be recycled into sustainable products. If you’re an aspiring immigration lawyer or social activist, you might spearhead a local campaign to provide food, shelter, and educational opportunities for disenfranchised groups or displaced communities, and perhaps you speak before your state legislature on behalf of a new hate-crime bill. If you’re a music enthusiast, you might launch a popular web channel where leading musicians provide free instructional tutorials to anyone interested in that instrument, regardless of where they live around the world.
Our job as mentors is to guide you every step of the way with your capstone project so that you’re never at a loss for ideas, support, connections, or encouragement. We help you with every phase of development: from skills assessment, to project ideation, to time management, to expert outreach, to impact evaluation, to project completion. We want you to tackle a project that excites you, but maybe even scares you a little bit, because it will challenge you to grow and develop in new and unexpected ways. And make no mistake: the ups and downs of your personal journey will provide excellent fodder for a gripping, original, persuasive college essay.
There’s no substitute for experience. College admissions officers know that one of the best ways to demonstrate intellectual vitality and explore a career interest is to participate in an internship program, either in-person or remote (both are valuable). But not all internships are created equal. The best internships are the ones that provide opportunities to do meaningful work and make significant contributions to an organization, rather than relegate you to busy-work. Helping to file papers, fetch lunch or simply answer phones can certainly teach responsibility and professionalism. But it’s not going to challenge you intellectually or stimulate your curiosity, and it’s certainly not going to lead to a professional reference letter that makes colleges sit up and take notice of your accomplishments.
Ivy Scholars offers select high school students the opportunity to intern (either remotely or in-person) at a variety of hand-picked, cutting-edge startup companies that provide the student with the rare opportunity to engage with senior-level staff and conduct meaningful work. From the heart of Silicon Valley to the East Coast, exciting opportunities abound for ambitious students who are hungry for a challenge. Students might be assigned to perform data analysis, create infographics and Powerpoint presentations, draft a plan for revenue expansion, or build the company’s social network platform from scratch. The possibilities are endless, and they’re all based in real-world applications, happening in real time.
These are not simulations or theory. This is you joining a small team of highly-educated professionals who are all bright, ambitious business innovators. Many of them obtained their undergraduate and graduate degrees from the same schools you’re hoping to attend. In success, you will gain enormous insight and experience into the business world, and ideally, you will earn a glowing reference letter from a senior member of the company, if not the founder personally. As mentors, we will match you with an appropriate internship, track your progress and contributions, and learn feedback from your employer to maximize the benefits of your experience. We will also assist you in obtaining a world-class reference letter that underscores your unique skills, personal traits and contributions, and adds impact to your college application.
How This Works
Here are two examples from past students, and how we helped them find success through internships.
Student 1
Student 1 approached us with a keen interest in machine learning. With a strong desire to learn more about the field, as well as some experience in programming, this was the perfect role for him. However, he was looking specifically to implement his ML interest in a field where he would be able to write a meaningful essay about community service in the field of education. We found him an internship with a United Nations-backed startup founded by UC Berkeley and the University of Waterloo alumni. They accelerate the learning process for youths in developing regions through a gamified adaptive-learning interface, and have won numerous awards.
Student 1 is working directly with the CTO of the firm to gain mentoring on the technical side, learning about ML while developing a project that will directly impact 1000s of underprivileged students in Indonesia.
Student 2
Student 2 approached us looking to learn more about either the worlds of either finance or medical technology – two of his primary interests. Rather than settling for one or the other, we sourced him a role with a private equity and venture capital investment firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area, which would allow him to explore both fields by working with industry experts in leveraged buyouts and MedTech SAAS acquisitions. By combining his interests in an interdisciplinary manner, Student 2 can learn more about two of the most prestigious industries to break into. He is likely one of just a handful of high schoolers with real work experience at a private equity firm. Not only will his work be used to evaluate investment decisions in the order of seven figures, but he is on track to obtain a fantastic letter of recommendation that will allow him to stand out in any finance-related role he may apply to in the future, beyond just his college applications.
We start by learning about each student. Specifically, we want to know what makes you “you.” What makes you different from everybody else on the planet? We all have different strengths and skills, even if we haven’t identified them yet. What are your hidden superpowers? What things come to you far easier than they do to most people? What are your deep-seated passions, joys, or personal causes?
Once we’ve identified your core strengths and interests, we help you build them into formidable skill sets. By tapping into what you love, and what you’re naturally good at, we come up with challenging projects that push you outside of your comfort zone, and provide you with golden opportunities to grow, learn, and flourish. Not only will you be growing as a person, but you’ll be developing into an impressive candidate who shines. And when we identify your weaknesses, for example time management or public speaking or creative writing, we’ll work with you one-on-one to turn them into newfound areas of strength.
More than anything else, leading universities are clamoring to find college applicants who are naturally curious about the world, and have an insatiable appetite to explore and learn. The first evidence of this is your mastery of high school course material, but that’s not enough. Top universities are looking for students who go above and beyond the courses offered at their high school to find opportunities for intellectual enrichment. We help you make this a key part of your extracurricular involvement. Whether it’s publishing research in a top journal, securing a patent on a new invention, or earning an exhibit in a leading gallery, we help you rethink what’s possible and mentor you every step of the way.
What kind of impact do you want to have on the world? Top universities are betting that the impact you have in high school is a preview of what you’ll accomplish later in life. So we help you identify a social cause that’s near and dear to your heart, and we help you map out a plan to accomplish something substantial that helps other people. No one expects you to cure all the world’s ills as a teenager. But if you’re conscientious and concerned, and you apply the skill sets you have to make a meaningful difference in someone’s life, then that’s a remarkable story that speaks to your values, determination, and capabilities. You want universities to get the sense that once you set your mind to something, you’re unstoppable.
At the end of the day, our most critical job is to help you identify where you should be investing your valuable time, money and energy, because those are precious and limited resources. Should you take summer classes at Columbia? Should you join a mission trip to Mexico? Should you study for the SATs if most schools are test-optional? Many students spend untold hours, weeks, months and years on seemingly worthwhile pursuits that either won’t help their college candidacy, or worse, will rob them of valuable opportunities to accomplish something impactful. We are your partners and guides, and we are all personally invested in your long-term success.
more likely to get into their top-choice school.
Here’s how we’ve helped our students explore their passions, and build themselves up academically and through extracurriculars
Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.Zara Dhar2021-12-21Before coming to Ivy Scholars pro bono program, I was overwhelmed with how many aspects of college admissions I needed to consider and perform well in. I was particularly worried about how I would have to go through the process during the COVID-19 pandemic since it was unprecedented, and I was unable to take the SAT or ACT. I’d accomplished a lot, but I felt like my application wouldn’t be enough compared to others. For my community service and leadership, I’d been active in my school’s Key Club, actively participating in almost all community service events and meetings, which led to me being elected President of Key Club in 11th grade. I also spent five years working my way up in my town’s Youth Advisory Committee, a program involving students in local government. Starting as a Secretary, I became a Vice President and then a President, leading all meetings, organizing projects, and keeping in contact with city officials to pursue our goals. To prepare for pre-med, I interned at a local doctor's office for 100 hours in 2019 for two months in the summer. I set appointments, took vitals from patients, shadowed the doctor, and helped organize patient charts with the CMAs in the office. I also worked on my communication skills by founding my school's speech and debate team, and serving as president. We attended several competitions and I won second and third place in some of the Lincoln-Douglas debate competitions. All this sounds great, right? Well, describing my accomplishments was one thing, but writing college essays was another. I’d tried a few drafts on my own, but I could see they weren’t what they needed to be. I was terrified that all my hard work wouldn’t be recognized because my storytelling fell flat. Since I had been there for all of the events in my writing, it was difficult for me to see the places in which context and necessary information for new readers may have been left out. My Ivy Scholars mentors helped me recognize those areas and develop my writing so it was ready for admissions readers to review. I worked mainly with Mr. Cruz. His essay review was the most impactful aspect of my college admissions process. Since essays are what make you stand apart from other applicants, I considered them to be the central part of my applications and appreciated his insight from an outside perspective that made my voice come through more clearly. It was interesting to gain another perspective on my essays and application and to see what context I was leaving out in my writing. I’m glad I reached out for help. I’m immensely grateful for Ivy Scholars for offering me free assistance. I am currently attending UC San Diego as a Neurobiology major. While UCLA was my first choice, UC San Diego was my second choice. When I got my acceptance, I was very excited since UC San Diego had been one of my top choices for a long time. I called my mom at work immediately and then we had a celebratory family dinner that night. Mr. Chada, Mr. Cruz, thank you for making that possible.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.Alex Roa2021-08-23Before meeting Sasha and the Ivy Scholars team, I was frightened by the college admissions process. Admissions nowadays are ever-so competitive, and I was worried I may not be able to stand out amongst the thousands of applications from around the world. I’ll be honest and share that I was not the most academically structured or organized, not knowing all that I was supposed to do to make my college application make me stand out as a candidate for America’s top-tier universities. I was struggling to get a desirable score on my standardized tests, and couldn’t seem to get an effective test-taking strategy to boost my scores to the top. I worked with Sasha personally on creating the effective strategies needed to consistently score 1400+ on SAT practice exams. Sasha showed me the path to confidence not only in my test-taking experience, but also as he helped me build my resume to include activities I would not have dreamt of before our working together. Sasha inspired me to think outside the box and use what resources I had in front of me to create something new and intriguing not only to impress colleges, but to help me find my sense of worth in a world similarly competitive with challenging philosophies on how to find a meaningful life. Now an entrepreneur with a successful online business, I credit Sasha’s guiding hand in helping me find my path in this crazy busy world we live in. After receiving unbelievable scholarships from various top-producing institutions across the country, I ultimately decided to attend Texas Christian University, for their small class sizes and close proximity to home. As a computer science major, I have close connections with all of my professors, using some of the relationship building techniques Sasha taught me in our many interpersonal sessions together. Sasha’s guiding wisdom and discernment on my life as he listened to my challenges made all the difference. It is for these reasons I can confidently recommend Sasha and the entire Ivy Scholars team as the premier test prep, candidate building, and admissions coaching company. Through Ivy Scholars I have met some long-term mentors, like Sasha, who I will continue to hold dearly even though it's been years since our program together has ended.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.Jacob Psyk2021-04-17Before I reached out to Ivy Scholars, I was absolutely nervous and afraid of the whole College admissions process. I truthfully did not know where to start, and or how well I would present myself to the admissions committees. As a current student, I would definitely describe my strengths as a motivated and encouraged learner, however, definitely not the most refined student there is. I tend to succeed in test settings as opposed to having to write essays that count towards academic progress. Working with Ivy Scholars helped me fine tune my writing skills and allowed me to present myself as best as I could. Having worked with them for several weeks, I was able to craft my work into something that stood out to the Admissions Committees. As a result, I was admitted into my dream school and given the opportunity of a lifetime. Throughout my childhood, Harvard College was seen as nearly impossible to be accepted to, however, through hard work and perseverance, this dream become reality. This was not done alone. Thanks to Ivy Scholars, I was able to be seen as individual who was unique and stood out from the rest, and am forever grateful for the work that was invested in me from this fine company. If you are struggling with College Admissions and where to start, look no further. You will have no regrets when choosing Ivy Scholars and be able to turn your dreams into reality.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.Sharad2020-12-21A big thank you to Sasha and his team (Charly, Mateo and others) at Ivy Scholars who were helpful in preparing my daughter for her college admissions. She got admitted to the school of her choice. My daughter’s junior year when she started thinking about colleges we were skeptical about any outside help. Nevertheless we met Sasha and he was extremely helpful and detailed in laying out the process involved in getting prepared for college admissions. I was impressed by his thoroughness, thoughtfulness and insights. Over the time that my daughter has worked with Ivy Scholars, I have noticed that they follow a structured rigorous process, be it helping the student articulate their own strengths/interests, to helping them with standardized tests and other aspects of polishing themselves, allowing the student to put their best foot forward for the college admission officers. Thank you Ivy Scholars.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.Ayush Krishnamoorti2020-08-14Ivy Scholars was instrumental in helping me understand more about myself, and improving my ability to describe myself to a new person. While the workload featured many hours of development, coming back to the drawing board a couple times, and slowly finishing every college supplemental, Ivy Scholars was great at navigating the process for a family that was applying to US colleges for the first time. I would extend my recommendation to anyone who needs help with the writing process as well, as I was able to make my essays captivating and they are testaments of my accomplishments thus far. I am glad to be reaping the results of such a process, getting my first-choice school, and that is thanks to Mateo and Sasha.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.Quazi Rahman Shomu2020-08-11It’s a true pleasure for me to write about Ivy Scholars who helped my son get into some top-tier universities. After early admission failure in mid-December, Faizan was scared and we contacted Sasha to ask for his help with personal essays. He had only two weeks to apply without much preparation. Sasha and his staff immediately jumped in to help Faizan. Charlie, Mateo and Nick were all phenomenal to work with Faizan to make sure every parts of the essays were taken of. What makes IvyScholars better than others is their layered approach of supporting and reviewing process by multiple staff members. Every essay that Faizan composed was revised and edited by ALL of them. That helped him to get different perspectives and and come up with amazing set up write ups. Faizan got his admission to Stanford, Rice and UT to name a few. A big shout out to Charlie especially, who challenged Faizan with many thought provoking ideas till the final day of his applications. I highly recommend ambitious kids to call Sasha if they dream about great schools. Good luck Sasha and team!Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.Nika Filippov2020-07-14This process - from the day I first met with Ivy scholars in 10th grade to reminiscing with my mentors today as I graduate high school - has been a whirlwind of progress and self realization. I knew nothing about the college application process before starting with Ivy Scholars and never dreamed I would be accepted to an Ivy. I was a good student with all As and participated in a few extracurricular activities, but I lacked vision for my future and the doubted my abilities nonetheless. Two years after starting with Ivy Scholars, I got into my #1 dream school (Columbia University) and developed a new set of skills, including self confidence, great time management and organization, and an open mind to the world’s opportunities. Ivy Scholars has taught me more about myself than I ever expected and through the process I have made valuable connections with my mentors, whom I now consider my friends. Thank you all so much for this experience, team. You guys rock 😊Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.Filippov Law2020-07-02We have worked with Ivy Scholars to develop a plan for our daughter's college admission. Sasha and his team worked with her on SAT/ACT prep, SAT subject tests, and college admissions essays. In addition to college preparation, Sasha was instrumental in helping her adjust to transfer to a new school mid junior year. Sasha's dedication to our daughter's goals, positive encouragement, deep knowledge of the college testing and admissions process, and experience in working closely with children and families, all greatly contributed to her admission into an Ivy League university. Charly and Mateo are also incredible coaches who know how to relate to young people much better than any school counselor or college advisor I've ever met. It has been a real pleasure working with them. We are now starting to work with Ivy Scholars again to help develop a plan for our son's high school education and ultimate college major. We highly recommend the Ivy Scholars to anyone who has a child in High School who is planning on applying to college. Sasha and his team are very easy to talk to, know how to approach children and young adults and understand complicated family dynamics. Every member of Ivy Scholars is a talented and outstanding individual who is not only a pleasure to work with but is also a privilege to know.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google.Gauthami Moorkanat2020-07-01I can’t thank Sasha and Mateo enough for their advice and assistance throughout the entire college application process. When I first began working with Sasha, I was like any other student: stressed and confused. I had no idea how to approach college applications, as no one in my family had gone through this process. Through numerous phone calls and emails, Sasha demystified college admissions, by explaining to me what colleges were looking for, and he helped me create study plans for standardized tests. He truly listened to my interests and aspirations and encouraged me to find opportunities to pursue them and solidify my extracurricular activities. He helped me discover who I was as a student. When the time came to select colleges, he helped me find schools that were a good fit for me. He created a massive list of reach, target, and safety schools, highlighting each one’s academic programs and clubs that aligned with my interests. At the end of my junior year, I began working with Mateo on my Common app and early decision essays. I was so scared that I wouldn’t be able to find anything interesting to write about. He spent multiple sessions interviewing me, doing brainstorming sessions, and just talking to me about literature, culture, and other topics, to help me recognize the unique aspect of my identity that I had never even considered before. He pushed me to become a better writer, giving me honest feedback on each of my drafts, and taught me to be introspective in my writing. With Sasha and Mateo’s guidance, I was able to craft a compelling application that told a unique story about me. I gained admission into my top schools (UPenn, Cornell, and UCLA), and I was able to grow as a student and writer. Their sincerity, unique insight, and genuine care for their students really sets them apart, and I would highly recommend them for anyone who wants to be prepared for college admissions.Google rating score: 5.0 of 5, based on 25 reviews
Ivy Scholars is the leading educational consultant in Sugar Land, Texas, providing admissions coaching, test prep, and more to help students enroll at top tier schools.
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