Extra curriculars for Harvard/Ivy League Univerisities?

I have the same aims as you, except I'm doing History, English Literature, Biology and Philosophy at AS Level.

For my extra curricular's, I've one a national competition for the East of England, been the Human Resources manager of my own company for two years, doing a skydive for charity next year, LAMDA distinctions in drama - I skipped 4 grades in my first grading and I'm going to take up an instrument at my new college along with other things I didn't have on offer to me at my old school. I'm also a keen rider and have rosettes for competitions.

I think that they just like to see you have taken advantage of what's on offer to you. You have done quite a lot, so just continue to do what you're doing and take up anything new if you can that is relevant to you.

Good luck!

(P.S. Where are you applying to and how comes you have chosen to sit the SAT's this year instead of next, which is what I assume you are doing?)

Hi

Thanks for the reply! Your extra curiculars seem to stand out a lot more than mine aha, I'm worried I won't stand a chance I'm taking the SAT this year because I'm assuming I'll be really busy with A-Level work next year and so might as well get it out the way. And thanks, I will def check out college confidential.

I'm worried that the fact that I haven't entered/won any competitions might hold me back - do you think this will be an issue for unis like Harvard/Yale, etc?

Also, what's this about your own company!?

Thanks!

Co-founded a company that sold clothing aha but I've resigned now so I could focus on my academics.

I think that you should try to enter some competitions, that gives some light on how you are the best of the best at something, should you win. Cambridge or Oxford essay competitions are a good one!

Thank you so much! Aha I didn't realize that there were competitions like these, they're definitely things I'll look into! Which American unis are you looking into?

Once you get past a certain benchmark, everyone has a chance, and there is an element of luck involved at the top American universities.

I would suggest doing all you can, to give yourself the best possible chance, but be aware that only a very small amount of people are lucky enough to get in.

I once read (this was from one of the MIT Admissions people) that a guy who made a working nuclear reactor was rejected from MIT. There are 2 possible things that you can conclude from this. The first is that no normal person has any chance of getting in and you should probably give up. The second is that you don't need to do something absolutely spectacular to get in - plenty of normal students do get in by being really passionate about something and being able to convey that to the universities.

Have you thought about what SATs you will take? I can definitely tell you that Math Level 2 involves basically all of A-Level core minus the calculus, plus a little statistics.

Thanks for the reply, have you yourself been through the American uni application process? Also, is getting into these top American universities a lot harder than getting into Oxbridge, which seems relatively straightforward?

I think I'll probably take Maths Level 2 and World History. It's slightly disheartening though, a lot of posts I'm seeing on the internet seem to be essentially saying that these top universities are so competitive that there's no real point applying unless you started preparing from like the age of 5 - would you agree? :/

Either you're overly confident or you underestimate the competition at both Oxford and Cambridge. If you are exceptionally good at the subject you intend on applying for, it's probably easier to get into Oxbridge - otherwise you'd probably have more luck with the Ivies where you're not likely to be as academically challenged during the admissions process.

As for your last question, it's a load of rubbish that you need to have started preparing from the age of five...

I got the ACT prep guide today and I just do not understand how to do some of the math stuff... I don't even think some of it was studied at GCSE.

I'd suggest the SAT - I only did math GCSE (got an A, so not that great), and the content is pretty straightforward, the main problem being timing. The ACT is thought to have harder, but less questions, while the SAT has easier but more.

I'd be able to make the decision on my own if the websites weren't so US-biased. They know foreigners sit the exams and dont offer any information about the UK/French/Irish etc. equivalents to their math topics. Like, we don't do calculus or pre-algebra so I don't know what that actually is...

If you don't know what something means you can always Google it and find out.

Calculus is covered in A-Level Maths. There isn't any Calculus on the SAT Math Level 2,1/ACT/SAT I.

There are many websites such as this that are specifically aimed at UK Applicants who want to study in the USA.