How to Get Into an Ivy League School 

This is my first long-form video in a LONG time. Hopefully y'all enjoy!

As a sophomore in high school right now, this was extremely informative. I want to go into marketing or business administration in the future and I'm going to cater my interests and classes toward that. I love these videos! 😁

As a senior who just committed to an ivy league, there is a lot of truth that was said in the video. In my college essays, the overwhelming idea behind them was, what is a story that can only be told by me. As a first generation college student, being born from immigrants parents, with little money coming in for us, a lot of people suggested me writing about that as my themes. However, I felt as if that perspective is told to much, and I had no control of being born in poverty, to immigrants, or that I was the first one heading to college in my whole family. I pushed all those ideas aside, and instead wrote about a personal narrative that couldn't be replicated by anybody, a narrative about a pen in second grade that shaped my view on life. Yes, an essay about a pen, but hay got me in some top tier colleges, and trust me you wouldn't believe the amount of unique essays I hear of people getting accepted from. Even had a friend of mine write an essay about SpongeBob, and got into Yale. I feel, if you're capable of creating a unique story about your life that involves whatever field of study that you're interested in, that you'll do fine in the college application process.

I just committed to one of my dream colleges, and I will say- this admissions year was completely insane! Some of the lowest acceptance rates, and kids were getting rejected from safeties and accepted to reaches. Ultimately, remember, as clichéd as it sounds, to be yourself and truly represent the person who you are in your essays. Because that is what will shine through a sea of similar activities, extracurriculars and grades. All the best to incoming highschool juniors and seniors!

If you're looking for a month-by-month breakdown of what you should be doing to prepare for college, check out the High School Roadmap! 🗺️ nextadmit.com/roadmap/

Can we just thank him for all this free advice! Thanks, Gohar! You always give such great advice!

Thanks for the video Gohar. I have 4 semesters left and I feel like I wasted most of my potential. I have good grades and take the harder APs for my grade level but there is nothing else appealing to admission officers about me.

0:10 *me in 8th grade wanting to get into MIT*

You may never see this, but next year I have to start applying for colleges, and when it comes to my “narrative” I feel very weak, because I’m pretty much a basic white guy and some first generation Asian immigrant from Laos. If anyone had any ideas on how to improve my narrative it would be great.

Hi Gohar , I'm studying 10th grade in India. You have said that joining a lot of co and extra curricular activities make a lot of difference in our application. But in our school, they only focus on studies this year because unlike other countries, in our place, high school is divided as 9th 10th, and 11th 12th. In 10th and 12th we'll write an exam whose marks will be useful for a resume. So this year in 10th we don't even have a sports period! In the sake of concentrating more in studies. And there is no such thing as clubs in our place. But we choose a 'group' in 11th grade which is like choosing a path from medical, engineering or business management. So I request you to learn the condition of us and tell the hopes for us to join at a top college. P.S. I live in the state of Tamilnadu. My condition is different from students from other states in India.

So very helpful, would love to learn at MIT someday this is really good advice. thank you

7th grade and watching this

Thank you Big Bro. At present I am a 9th grader in India( same as USA). And I was in a state of confusion before but now you have laid out the path in front of me. Thank you again. BTW coincidentially you took biology as your example and I also want to do major in molecular and celluar bio.

im already a junior and i didn't do anything useful during high school, none of this extra curricular shit (i didn't even know they existed or were required for college) so im basically fucked

Please make more videos discussing college admission in a regular video format! I've learned so much from you, things I didn't even know until I came across your content!

meanwhile me being killed by JEE 🤕

I'm in 8th grade rn and I want to go to MIT. I feel like I'm behind because I want to major in CS but I haven't coded a bunch of websites like he had in middle school. I only took python for a trimester this school year and I had a lot of fun in it but I don't know a lot about coding. Do you think I still have a chance

hi, what about international students applying for ivys? bc some of us that do like gcses or ib don't have that much time to do loads of extracurricular stuff like american high schoolers might... does this hinder international students' chances or is that taken into account?

I’m not even in high school yet and I’m thinking about college, it’s never too early to think about it as long as you don’t over stress about it (I’m in 8th grade)

Please make more videos like this. This was as useful as a month of your other content (not to put those down). This was great, please make more. I'd love to see them and I'll watch them all the way through.

Thank you this was very helpful. I’m not going to be applying to college for college for a long time but it’s gives a more defined path to follow and I also can relate because I also am extremely interested in machine learning and coding.😀😁

Thank you for making this video!! And damn you are smart look at the list of colleges you got into!! Great to have an inspiration like you on RU-vid! Keep up the amazing work ❤️

Let's all attack the 1% of Black and Hispanic students that get into Harvard and the other Ivy Leagues, who by the way mostly meet the cut off for SAT scores, a lot of them are also top 1% in their high school class, and have impressive extracurriculars and leadership position, with top notch GPAs. Let's conveniently ignore the 25% of White students at the Ivy League students who got in because parents were rich and donated money to name a building after themselves, or got in due to legacy (parents had been prior students), are athletes, or have connections with the admission board members. No Let's attack the 3 Black and Hispanic students out of a thousand students at these Ivies. Common people. Asian student make up at least 25% of all the Ivy Leagues schools. I know an Asian girl who got into all 8 Ivies at once. Affirmative Action is not the problem. Legacy Admissions is the problem. Asians score above 140 points on the SAT compared to whites and still get rejected. A legacy admission white student scores much lower on the SAT compared to the average Ivy student and do not need to be as accomplished. Stop the race-baiting tactics of attacking the few blacks who got into these institutions with great credentials and stats. I personally know many of them, with some even scoring perfect SAT scores (1600), National Merit Scholars, Valedictorian. But oh, the first assumption you make is that you're black, all you need to do is write your name in an application and you get in. Give me a break. And Asians who get into many Ivy League schools at once do things that set them apart (not the usual play instruments, math team captain, study all day with no life and get good grades kinda student). The Asians I know who got in did unique leadership community service initiatives, loved journalism, were writers, focused more on social sciences and are not all I want to be engineer and doctor vibe sorta student. Harvard wants to admit a future leader, not a robot test-taking machine that follows orders very well and unable to think outside the box or be creative enough to come up with unique initiatives to change the world around them. You just need to meet the minimum cut off for SAT and GPA to prove to them that you can handle the intellectual rigor, after that, they will look deeply into your application to figure out what makes you standout, a future leader. Anyone can get straight As and get good SAT scores if they study hard enough or get quality tutoring, but NOT everyone can be a leader or trailblazer that has the potential to change the world, industry, or any particular field of interest you are interested in. Your personal statement matters A LOT because it let's the admission committee evaluate if you have leadership potential or if you have something extraordinary that sets you apart (sorry grades don't count lol). Do something that will set you apart. Get into Politics, Community activism, travel to a non-Asian country and create social change there...be unique. And one last thing: CLASS MATTERS MORE THAN RACE! There are Black Private School-bred students with stellar scores whose parents are uber rich and influential. So don't think every black person that gets in is from the hood and only got in by affirmative action. A lot of smart black students don't even bother applying to those ivy league schools.

ivy league schools are not practical financially in anyway

This video is really helpful. I'm actually planning to study medicine and get into a very selective school , but I live in India my high school does not have all these clubs we only had sports club till the 10th grade and no universities that carry out biology research. So do you have an idea about students who want to get into competitive schools but do not have the means to do all of these things that you listed?

Since I'm just fairly decent with a dream of getting into MIT this was helpful thanks, if there's any more things we should focus on maybe another long video might help

Gohar, I have a doubt. I'm an Indian and I just finished my 10th grade in India and for 11th grade I wanted to move to US. So, its a complete different education system. BTW I'm not staying alone, my mum is there. So, what do I do? like how to cope up and what about my social life ? or should I stay in India? will I get to do extracurriculars because you said(in another video) that you should apply to colleges in spring of 11th grade. So after all it's a hectic process. And India would provide me comfort but I will have to get into a community college in India. there is no chance of getting in an Ivy League after 12th grade in India

Thanks for the help :) I love your channel -high school freshman

I’m gonna be in highschool next year and I really want to lock in. My dream school isn’t really and Ivey but it has a less than 20% acceptance rate. So I’ve been binging this guys’s videos since 7th grade. I got A-honor roll this year because of gohar, thanks dude. I’ve got one more grade to go before high school but you have my thanks for the advice you’ve given. Love you dude. 🙏❤️

Now I feel stressed. What should I do in middle school to help my high school application and my college application?

Gohar im going to a magnet program next year with a block schedule... can u review my course list pls Magnet Bio (required) Magnet Chem (required) Spanish 2 Honors Lit AP Human AP Comp Sci Principles (required) Acc Geo B/ Alg 2 --FIRST SEMESTER Acc Precalc --SECOND SEMESTER P.S. for reference this year im taking Algebra 1 Geometry A and I A's in every subject

Thank you man! This is so helpful.

As an 8th grader, whos stressing about college, because your sister is going to college and is going to really good one, and want to go to a BETTER one, this helps :))

We don't have much of that EC stuff in the UK... so idk what to do.

thank you so much for these videos :')

I’m a sophomore in the US and have a lot of interests that I want to continue doing. I do three sports, am one of the top students in my class academically (all 95%+ grades), do debate and forensics, Spanish (will do 4 years +AP), am taking AP Calc right now, plan to do AP Lang and AP Gov, maybe AP Lit (I really don’t like English classes), and compete in many math competitions (which is my main interest). In middle school I got 1st both individually and on the team in Mathcounts at the local level all 3 years and was 11th in the state my 7th grade year (8th grade canceled due to Covid). I qualified for the AIME my freshman year and barely missed this year. In college I want to double major or major/minor in math and CS. Since I am interested in a lot of things and am not directly focused on one specific area, what do I need to do to stand out to top colleges? If you read all of this and have suggestions I would greatly appreciate that!

Gohar make video on , now to apply for masters , like a master's in economics and data analysis and marketing , how to write the application in , and what to add

I'm aiming for MIT... acceptance rates are wild though.

Well I am in 6th grade and I’m already doing something to get me into west point

THANK YOU GOHAR! ❤

Him: comitting to geting into an ivy leage during freshman year is a bit to much Me being a 6th grader watching this

as a freshman trying to get into princeton- this gave me so many good tips and a good plan for my future.

I am wondering what it is like to apply to a college and what kind of things you have to do to get there. My goal is to get into MIT . If you have any advice Ty.

I wish I could watch this in my freshman year but now I'm a junior who did pretty much nothing except for some math competitions 😢

I really want to do lots of things but where I live we just dont have as many opportunities, for example we dont have AP classes, you can only join 1 club at a time and people are getting less and less interested, not a lot of olympiads or science fairs... Any advice is appreciated

Idk why I watch this lol. I just graduated and I’m going to a non Ivy League. I want to go to MIT for grad school, though

Thanks, this is really good advice to help think. I'm not too close to uni yet, but this will help me get ready for it. Really a fan of your work.

I want to be economist but my TikTok video focus on food preparation. What is your advice on this idea

Love this!

This is really good information, wish I had this when I was younger lol

As a 12 year old this was very helpful

Hi Gohar, currently I'm in tenth grade and my grades since freshman have been steadily increasing from B- to B+ and I am aiming for an A+ but this doesn't erase the fact that I was a B student during these two years ,further more in my country there's nothing such as clubs or extracurricular activities that schools offer so I haven't really participated before in any however I am going to do them alone starting this summer so does it count ? And if it does do my past grades affect my chances into enrolling into any ivy league?

Very informative video for a freshman in high school. Please keep it up!

Any tips for people outside of the USA, about how they could apply for a american college, is it harder ect

Gohar i am in 10th standard now because I didn't join in any clubs or discovered something new what should I do ? Please help 🙏

OMG that’s so helpful have been waiting for these vids

I wish i can go back .. ive done nothing but only get good grades in honor classes and thats it. Im a junior and school ends in less than a month. I hate myself

Does owning a business help? I am in ninth grade and own and operate my own business. Will this help if I continue the business through my senior year?

im not even in highschool (in a few years I will be) and im worrying about college XD || Thanks for the advice I will defiantly use it in the future.

Just typing this video in so I can see a RU-vid short on why a ivy league education don't matter.

As somebody who’s been dreaming of Princeton and working my heart put this helps, thanks.

69th comment

Hello I loved your video, very helpful But I still have a question, how can an international student get into and ivy league college

I'm a junior in high school and haven't taken an ap class (not taking one right now too) so what should I do for my senior year?

Hello Gohar, thank you for making this amazing videos, they really help me get a different perspective on this topic! Would it be possible to make a video about how to apply to a college (in US) if you are a foreigner/come from a different country, since other countries‘s high schools have a different study programs, and some don’t even have extracurriculars, like clubs. Thank you in advance, keep up the good work!

Me: started preparation in the last few months in senior high school.

I Dropped Out. 99% Of The Things U Learn U Dont Use But Good For You

This is very helpful

If you did some really cool, impactful passion projects during middle school, can you include that in your college applications? Would colleges even care?

Thank you Gohar, I am a rising sophomore who dreams of going to UPenn for biochemical and biomolecular engineering. This video has been very informative and so have the rest of your videos.

I'm not near high school, but let me get this straight: you need to focus on a unique talent that a college will find interesting like Gohar did coding. I like debating, so would debating count as one of those skills?

Why didn't you apply for harvard?

Hey Gohar! How did you learn how to code and where? Thanks for info!

Hey, I have some questions. First of all, I would want to study something technology related ( most specifically computers and coding ) but in my school I do not have clubs or extracurricular activities to do. Does that have a great impact on my profile as a student? Another thing I’m curious about is if I can get a scholarship without having done any external courses yet. I’m a 9th grader but I’m already preparing for my college applications, I want to get into a good school and I’m really worried about what I should be doing, any tips?

I had gotten accepted into Yale about a year prior to this video. I just want to say thanks for this video. It really is an awesome video and very informative

In German Gymnasium Clubs exist but are really rare so what should I.

Since I am a powerlifting lover and most Ivies have them, would it be good to mention this in my essay?

I plan to apply to US universities for graduate school. I plan to do my Ug in India. Would you be able to give me any advice on how to impress admission officers at unis. I have no idea since entrance exam scores are the only thing that matters here in India

Very informative video 👍

This was soo helpful

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Me seeing the notification for this video: RU-vid sends notifications for shorts now?

gohar i am a 5th grader and i watch you videos all the time

Bro, I'm in 7th grade. Am I too young?

d

am i seeing things correctly, how tf did every single ivy league accept you?!

Hi pleaseee help me with this What's tha difference between computer science, software engineering and engineering and how do I know which one is better for me??

I'm interested in many subjects especially science, math,computer,history,and English so all of them.

Can someone tell me my chances. (currently in grade 10 but predicted grades) Freshman: 84 Sophomore: 92 Junior: 95+ Senior: 95+. SAT: Above 1400. (What is my GPA?? So many scales I got confused) About 100 volunteer hours (Many leadership), leadership position, Biology UofT winner, DECA provincials, Investment competition winner at school, write a book. I also will try to create a highlight tape for basketball, and hopefully get ranked. Might take a couple AP courses, and aim for a 4/5 or higher. (how hard is it to get that firstly.) What are my odds: BYU, NYU, Princeton, Brown, Cornell?? Please someone help me out!!

Something special

This video is sooo good. Please make more videos like this !

Thank you this was super helpful!

I’m happy to see these great pieces of advice. Keep the good work 👍

Hope you reply to this.Do you know anyone who got into ivy league without extracurricular activities?

Theres nothing about university entrance exams here bro u wasted my time 💀💀

I am a sophomore, rising junior. I have had good grades, mostly A’s some A-, but this year my second semester killed me, and I have B+’s and B with some A- and A grades. It isn’t what I want. I have good EC’s so I need a strong junior year.

have a high iq, stop lying to people. There's a limit on every human,

hey gohar! thanks for all your amazing vids. Youre also helllaaaaa cuuute

I Love your videos. Do you have any advice for applying to public/moderately selective schools?

Should I go to community College?? If I Target IVY league?