Seven Steps on How to Get your Student into an Ivy League College

By Trevor Ramos (Co-Founder and COO of Total College Solutions) There are really only two ways to get your child into an Ivy League School: connections or a strategy. Im going to write assuming that as the parent you arent Ivy League alum, but you want to support your child and help them create the best future for themselves and you understand that part of this involves the best education that will open the most doors for them. Here are the myths I always hear at my workshops about getting your student into an Ivy League School:

If my student isnt a valedictorian , we have no chance get into an Ivy League Im not a minority, the chances of my student getting into an Ivy League are slim If my student doesnt have a perfect SAT Score, he or she cant get in If my student isnt a genius, he or she cant get in If Im not an alumni of an Ivy League myself, my student has no real chance of getting in Because I couldnt send my student to a really expensive college prep school, he or she has no chance of getting in now

Im not going to cover these myths, just know theyre not true. This article will lay out in 7 steps how to get your child into an Ivy League School. My name is Trevor Anthony Ramos and Im an advisor and speaker on getting students into college and figuring out how to pay for it all. And Ive gotten 24 students into the Ivy League Schools, more if you count the schools that are not technically Ivy League, but are still super competitive schools like Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgetown or Harvey Mudd. By the way, the students I mentioned were both high school students and community college transfers students. Im going to explain in seven steps how to get your student into an Ivy League School. Of course there are other things you need to do, but these are definitely the most important ones. First Step: Make Sure the Student is Taking Challenging Classes Your student should only be taking Advanced Placement (or AP), International Baccalaureate (or IB), or Honors classes. They should be taking all core Liberal Arts classes each and every year. Make sure their course list or reports cards dont have too many electives, especially trade electives like Business, Home Economics or Clinical Research, etc. Heres an example of a solid list of college prep at your typical public high school: Pre-AP/Honors Algebra II

AP Biology AP United States History AP English Language Pre-AP/Honors Spanish III Second Step: Make the SAT your Best Friend Unless your student is gifted and he or she can score within the 95% percentile of people who took the SAT without studying, youll need to make sure they study. There are tons of resources on this, just make sure the student is learning in a way that his consistent with how they learn before you waste money on all these resources. Third Step: Be Realistic with your Student Yes there are strategies if your grades arent perfect, but an excellent GPA and SAT ccore are pretty much a prerequisite. As a ballpark, your unweighted GPA should be a 3.75 and your SAT score should be a 1530 between Math and Critical Reading. Fourth Step: Encourage your Child to Do Activities that will make them Unique This means that if your student is an excellent break-dancer, inventor, entrepreneur, ventriloquist or anything else unique, encourage them to take this as far as theycan. The better they are at the activity the better their chances of standing out when they apply to colleges. Ivy League Schools arent looking for nerds that can just get straight As and a perfect SAT score. They are looking for students with personalities that will also be leaders. Fifth Step: Make Sure your Student is Involved in a Extra Curricular Activity that Involves Other Students The idea goes back to leadership, the bigger the organization and the more influential the position the student has the better. If the student is the President of the Key Club chapter at her high school, thats great, but if she works for the organization on a national level, then thats better. Sixth Step: Make Sure your Student has a Good Reason for Applying to Each School on the Personal Statements I would be honored to go to Columbia University because it offers such a great education or Columbia is in the heart of New York City and its a great school. These lines never work, and honestly if youve heard of anybody getting in using these reasons, I can assure you this was not the reason why they got in. You want them to write something like, Ever since I was twelve, Ive had a passion for Investing. And when I was in high school I interned for a Private Equity Firm in Dallas, TX. Columbia has the academic program; alumni relationships and

student activities that I feel will prepare me for the Finance world. The college is also so a short train ride away from Wall Street, so I take advantage of the location to further my career as a Financial Professional by doing more internships on Wall Street You have to teach them this, and part of what this requires is researching the schools and programs they are interested in doing. Seventh Step: Give them a Chin Check if theyre Cocky, but dont let them be Meek When the alumnus interviews them, he or she has been told by the Admission Department what the university is not looking for. And the alum also understands what kind of student will probably be a good fit. The student needs to be confident and communicate exactly who they are and what their intentions are, but they should not be cocky, because the Ivy Leagues have no problem rejecting anyone regardless of their accomplishments just because of their attitude. Do you need to do all of this to get your student in? Of course not, but if were talking about having a strategy and good information, versus crossing our fingers and hoping we get in, then these steps will highly increase your chances.