Video summary

stats that got me into the ivy league (tips + my application)

Main summary

Key takeaways

Educational

Main ideas / concepts conveyed

  • Stats matter, but context matters more

    • Admission “numbers” (e.g., GPA/test scores) are not the only determinant.
    • What matters is the context behind those stats—such as the school reporting system, rigor opportunities, and available resources.

  • A college admissions profile is built from multiple components

    • Background credibility is framed through:
      • GPA + school context
      • Standardized tests (SAT/ACT)
      • AP coursework (as evidence of rigor, not necessarily a major admissions lever)
      • Awards/honors
      • Extracurricular depth and leadership
      • Essays/personal statement (especially growth and authentic voice)

  • Application strategy: portray leadership-driven impact

    • A key theme is “creating impact through leadership.”
    • Essays likely played a “large role.”

Detailed methodology / instruction lists

1) Presenting academic stats (as described by the applicant)

GPA

  • Public high school with class size < 400
  • Applied regular decision to most schools as a CS major
  • School reports unweighted GPA out of 100
    • Submitted “some decimal above 99”
    • Maintained GPA through midyear report (updated transcript halfway through senior year)
  • School does not rank students
    • No ranking information entered in Common App (per their description)

Standardized testing

  • Submitted SAT and ACT
  • SAT
    • Super score: 1540
    • Breakdown: 740 Reading, 800 Math
  • ACT
    • 35
  • Speaker’s note: you don’t have to submit both tests (general comment)

AP exams

  • Retrospective claim: APs don’t impact applications “that much”
    • Framed as one additional statistic showing ability to handle that coursework level
  • Advice:
    • Don’t overload APs solely to accumulate more AP scores
    • Take APs if they’re relevant to your major/interests or for credit opportunities
  • AP timeline and example results (from their record):
    • Sophomore
      • AP Euro (3)
      • AP Computer Science A (5)
    • Junior
      • APUSH / “push” (4)
      • AP Lang (5)
      • AP Physics (5)
    • Senior
      • Taking courses (chem/lit, easy/other) but says those scores won’t be part of the application
  • They also state they did not self-study APs

2) Awards & honors section (Common App guidance and their choices)

  • Common App has limited slots (they had 5)
  • Approach:
    • Include only meaningful, non-redundant items
    • Did not include “AP Scholar with distinction”
      • Belief: admissions officers can infer it from AP scores, so it may be redundant
  • Listed items (as provided):
    • Harvard Book Award (junior year)
    • National Honor Society
    • Board of Education Scholastic Award (described as an award for decent GPA)
    • Combined four mini-awards into one entry (academic excellence across AP CS, pre-calc, python, French 5)
    • Scholar Athlete Award

3) Extracurriculars section strategy (10 spots + consolidation + leadership)

  • Common App extracurricular section has 10 spots
  • They consolidated activities to fit the limit
  • Overarching framing: impact through leadership
  • Extracurricular list (examples summarized from subtitles):
    1. Science Olympiad (9–12): vice president → co-president; mediated regional events
    2. Student Government (junior–senior): building cabinet rep → co-president
    3. Varsity Cross Country (9–12): leadership council involvement; captain senior year (communication, booster club/organizing, practices, banquet/dinners)
    4. Python teacher at a local Chinese school (weekly): curriculum created from scratch (junior summer); work with parents and teaching assistants; described as paid work
    5. March for Our Lives (sophomore–senior): met legislators at the NY State Capitol; gun violence prevention advocacy
    6. Photography club (9–12): president most of the time; used it as a creative outlet due to scheduling constraints
    7. Model UN (9–11): secretary
    8. Music/Cello combined: chamber strings + Music Honor Society-related volunteering + self-led quintet performances
    9. Track combined: indoor track (9–10) then cross country/outdoor track (9–12); captain; youth track camp volunteering in summer
    10. Young Playrs in Next Act (sophomore summer): playwriting contest tied to Proctors Theater; winners worked with producers/actors/backstage crew

4) Tips for building a college list

  • Apply only to schools you can realistically see yourself attending
    • Avoid wasting time/resources on schools you wouldn’t actually go to
  • Stay open-minded
    • Some schools became appealing after touring and research
  • Create a balanced list
    • Mix:
      • Safeties
      • Targets
      • Reaches
  • Categorization method (percentile-based)
    • SAT percentile ≥ 75th → “safety”
    • Around 55th → “target”
    • 25th percentile or below → “reach”
    • Also: if acceptance rate < 15%, treat as reach (more unpredictable)
  • Use Common Data Set
    • Understands standardized testing percentiles and the school’s relative importance of academic vs non-academic factors
    • Goal: align your application emphasis with what each school prioritizes

5) Tips for standardized test preparation (SAT/ACT/AP)

  • Core idea: efficiency + practice in the testing environment
  • Three main tactics:
    1. Recreate the testing environment
      • Work on timing
      • Get in the right mental zone
      • Build endurance
    2. Be familiar with allowed tools
      • For SAT digital: be familiar with Desmos shortcuts
      • Use graphing/plotting to save time (e.g., graph formulas quickly, test points, process of elimination)
    3. Maintain a “mistake book”
      • Record every wrong answer:
        • Why you chose the wrong option
        • Why the correct answer is correct
      • Review before the exam to avoid repeating common pitfalls

6) Tips for improving GPA (teacher grading insight)

  • Ask upperclassmen from the same school:
    • They’ve taken similar classes
    • Can share how teachers tend to grade
    • Provide practical guidance based on shared environment/resources

7) Common App presentation tips

  • Use limited space strategically
    • Put top accomplishments earlier in lists
    • The “most important/wow factor” should be at the top since attention fades down the list
  • Use word count effectively in activities descriptions
    • Instead of describing the club, describe your specific contribution
    • Goal: make activities feel more impactful and personalized

8) Essay/personal statement tips (how to write and what to aim for)

  • Start early (they started junior summer)
  • Create a schedule:
    • Count supplementals
    • Group supplementals by topic similarity
    • Reserve time for drafting and redrafting/review before deadlines
  • Example timeline:
    • July: half the applications done by November
    • November–December: finish remaining supplementals
  • Personal statement guidance:
    • No need for an extraordinary topic (they dismiss expectations like “cure cancer” or a “multi-billion company”)
    • Most important message:
      • growth as a person
      • a mindset formed through lived experience
      • showcase personality and what you learned
    • Don’t read too many Common App examples beforehand
      • Risk: your writing becomes “swayed” and generic
    • Authenticity > perfect uniqueness
      • Even if it doesn’t follow viral essay templates, it can still stand out
  • Final advice:
    • Be true to yourself
    • Present your most genuine version of experiences/personality
  • Closing metaphor:
    • Finish, package, and submit; then endure uncertainty while waiting for decisions

Speakers / sources featured (identified in the subtitles)

  • Primary speaker: the video creator/applicant (first-person narration; mentions admissions officers, their own profile, and their application experience)
  • Referenced entities (not speaking):
    • Cornell
    • Carnegie Mellon
    • Georgia Tech
    • The Common Data Set (as a referenced document)
    • Common App (platform)
    • Desmos (tool referenced for SAT prep)
    • Proctor’s Theater (referenced partner in a playwriting contest)
    • New York State Capitol (location referenced for advocacy)

Original video