Which 4 Qualities Can Help You Get into the Ivy League?
Like a wondrous spell cast in a Harry Potter book, students continuously ask me year after year if there is a “magic formula” that they can follow in order to successfully gain admission to Ivy League and other top U.S. universities. This type of conversation between my students and I often also takes on the form of the following question and answer response:
Student A: “Noah, what is the most important quality that I need to show in order to get into an Ivy League school or another top U.S. university?
Noah: “Well, to be honest, there is no single, all-important quality that Ivy League schools look for above all others when evaluating students’ applications. All aspects of your background and of your applications will be evaluated and scrutinized for admission.”
This response is often met by bewilderment and a look on students’ faces that shows a mix of shock and disappointment. However, if getting into Ivy League and other top U.S. universities was as easy as following a formula, or as easy as knowing and demonstrating one specific quality that all top schools are looking for, then the admissions rates for these top schools would not be nearly as low as they in fact are in reality(see below for the Ivy League schools’ admissions rates for the incoming freshman Class of 2023):
· Princeton University admissions rate (Class of 2023) = 5.8%
· Harvard University admissions rate (Class of 2023) = 4.5%
· Yale University admissions rate (Class of 2023) = 5.9%
· Columbia University admissions rate(Class of 2023) = 5.1%
· University of Pennsylvania admissions rate (Class of 2023) = 7.4%
· Dartmouth College admissions rate (Classof 2023) = 7.9%
· Brown University admissions rate(Class of 2023) = 6.6%
· Cornell University admissions rate(Class of 2023) = 10.6%
That being said, having now worked with high school students in China for 6 years, helping them with their undergraduate applications to top U.S. universities and liberal arts colleges,and having seen my colleagues’ and my own students receive offers from numerous Ivy League and Top 10 U.S. universities (such as the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, Dartmouth College, Brown Universityand Cornell University, among others), I have observed first-hand that these “elite” students do indeed share some fundamental, crucial qualities which in my view have helped them to gain admission to these globally prestigious universities.
So what are these “elite” students’ qualities that I’ve hinted at above? Let’s take a look:
■ 1. Passion
No, I’m not talking about a sappy, romantic love story from the latest Chinese TV drama (for instance 我的真朋友). When I talk about “passion”, I’m referring to students who have a strong, demonstrated interest in a particular hobby, activity, or endeavor, and to which they have devoted not only a great amount of their time, but also their physical, mental and emotional energy. Accordingly, I will now briefly mention an example below through the lens of an Ivy League offer that one of my students received several years ago:
· Cornell University (College of Engineering)
For one of my former students who is now attending Cornell University’s College of Engineering, designing, building and flying UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), otherwise known as“drones”, is one of her big passions.
Prior to and after submitting her U.S. undergraduate applications, she pursued this interest through taking part in drone building winter camps, competitions, summer college courses, and personal research. Moreover, not content to only be a “science”oriented student, she also devotes much of her time and energy towards pursuing the traditional Chinese art of calligraphy, having now studied and practiced this elegant artform for many years.
■ 2. Intellectual Curiosity
When I mention this particular quality, I don’t mean being a “学霸”, being able to obtain extremely high scores on TOEFL, SAT and/or AP exams, or always maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA. While being a “good” student is certainly admirable (and a quality that all top U.S. universities expect prospective applicants to possess), “intellectual curiosity” means something more. It means having aconsistent drive and passion to seek out new knowledge, to challenge one’s own preconceptions of the world, to engage in debates and discussions of varying ideas and issues with others, and to appreciate and explore how different academic subjects and realms of inquiry interact, intertwine and complement each other. Regarding this particular quality, here I would now also like to highlight a specific example of one of my other former students:
· University of Chicago
Interdisciplinary research and an appreciation and love of well-rounded study is one of the hallmarks of this former student of mine, who is currently attending the University of Chicago.
For instance, with her combined love of musicand physics (she plays piano and violin, and sang in many choir groups while in high school), she conducted a research project on the acoustic properties of violin strings, utilizing a variety of physics concepts to underpin her research. Furthermore, I strongly believe that her application to (and eventual offer from) the University of Chicago was also aided by the fact that she is extremely well read (a “book worm,” to use a particular English expression), having a love for books such as:
§ Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut)
§ All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr)
§ In the World (Maksim Gorky)
■ 3. Proactiveness
Getting into Ivy League schools and other top U.S. universities is not only about being an excellent student, possessing tons of international level awards and impressive extracurricular activities, or writing mind-blowing application essays. In addition, a student’s personal character and qualities are equally important in the eyes of admissions officers at top U.S. universities. So if you are lazy, impolite, disorganized, selfish, bad at communicating, or arrogant, don’t expect Ivy League schools’ admissions officers to warm up to you or drop everything to immediately write you an offer letter.
Accordingly, one of these personal qualities that is highly emphasized and positively evaluated by Ivy League schools and other top U.S. universities when reviewing students’ applications isproactiveness, and in my opinion this is a quality that is often lacking in many of the students that I have met over the years while working in China. In other words, I’ve met many students over the years who either expect others (their parents, their teachers, their friends, their consultants, etc.)to do everything for them, or who expect others to seek them out and appreciate them even when they put in a “bare bones” (minimum) amount of their own individual effort to showcase their uniqueness, talents or strengths to others.
Conversely, a proactive student makes his/her own concerted, individual efforts to seek out specific ways to improve his/her own personal background (such as extracurricular activities). Additionally, this kind of proactive student seeks out new knowledge and information on his/her own, rather than expecting others to automatically provide it. This can involve a student conducting his/her own school research of specific U.S. universities to which he/she intends to apply, taking the time to personally learn more about the undergraduate programs in his/her intended major at the specific U.S. universities to which he/she wants to apply, or even taking the time to look up the background information of a U.S. university alumnus/alumna with whom he/she will interview for a specific undergraduate application.
I would therefore now like to elaborate upon a specific example of one of my close colleagues’ former students who frequently demonstrates this quality in her everyday life:
· Yale University
Now currently attending Yale University, this student consistently displayed a sense of proactiveness in her everyday life while attending a U.S. high school, for instance in the following ways:
§ Creating a Student Union at her U.S. high school entirely on her own, after observing that the relationships between students, teachers and the school administration were quite strained, and thus yearning to improve the communication and cooperation between all three sides.
§ Creating a Self-Defense Club at her U.S. high school, using her skills and years of experience in Taekwondo in order to help her classmates to learn to effectively defend themselves against bullying.
§ Helping her mother to deal with day to day responsibilities while she lived together with her in the U.S., such as going to the bank, the post office, paying bills, and so on.
■ 4. Making Contributions
One final quality that I would like to mention in this article, and which I have universally seen among all of my former students (as well as my close colleagues’ former students) who have received offers from Ivy League schools and other top U.S. universities, is the desire to making positive contributions to their local communities, society, and the world. Moreover, this particular quality is highly sought after by Ivy League schools and other top U.S. universities, who often seek out prospective students who will go on to “change the world” (as clichéas that may sound).
“Making a contribution” could be as simple as helping to cook meals for and spend time with elderly people in one’s own neighborhood or community, or as grandiose as volunteering at the United Nations Development Programme to explore the intersections of poverty and disease, and thereby improve public health policies which could directly benefit millions. In this regard, I will now highlight aspecific example of this kind of “making contributions” type of character, which one of my former students clearly demonstrated in her U.S. undergraduate applications:
· Brown University
After a devasting earthquake ravaged the country of Nepal in 2015, one of my former students who is currently attending Brown University spared no time in booking a flight to Nepalin order to volunteer and assist with the country’s reconstruction efforts.
In terms of her own personal contributions, she volunteered in the reconstruction of an orphanage and of several houses in a rural village, and also taught children at a local village school. She didn’t “need” to this kind of volunteering work, and she wasn’t “required” by her high school to do so. Nevertheless, she performed these acts merely out of the goodness of her own heart, as well as her strong desire to help other human beings, no matter their culture, country or background.
So as you go about preparing for your TOEFL, SAT and AP exams, writing your application essays, researching various top U.S. universities and liberal arts colleges, and working hard to maintain your highschool grades and GPA, try to remember the importance of demonstrating these above qualities not only when applying to Ivy League schools and other top U.S. universities, but also in your future life as a whole.
Best of luck to you all with your applications！
