How to Get Into a Top 20 College

December 2023

Summary: If you want to get into an Ivy League university, or any other top-ranking school (such as MIT, Stanford, Duke, U Michigan, U Chicago, UC Berkeley, etc.), then you need to have two things: 1) a stellar academic transcript, and 2) an extraordinary extracurricular accomplishment (a “wow” factor).

The secret recipe

It’s really no secret at all. Elite universities like Harvard, Yale, Stanford and others are looking for 1) standout students with 2) outstanding extracurricular achievement. And they want both; just having one or the other won’t cut it anymore. The reason they want academic scholars is pretty self-evident: these are institutions of higher-learning who only want to admit students who will excel in their rigorous courses. If you didn’t do particularly well in high school, and you didn’t sign up for the most challenging courses available, and you didn’t crush your SATs (1550+), and you didn’t get stellar teacher recommendations, then you’re probably not Ivy League material. At least that’s how their thinking goes…

But being a perfect student is not enough

But guess what? Top-tier schools like the 8 universities in the Ivy League (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, UPenn, Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell) get thousands upon thousands of applicants each year who all have excellent transcripts: near-perfect GPAs, honors and AP classes, great recommendations, etc. There’s simply too many of them to go around. Maybe 10,000 “perfect” students for only 1,500 spots in their freshman class. So how do these elite universities determine which academic rock stars get in and which do not?

They look for something else: uncommon extracurricular achievement — or what we like to call a “Wow” factor. They want to see that, above and beyond doing well in all of your high school courses, you’ve achieved something interesting and remarkable in your spare time. You’re not just a one-trick pony who can only get good grades. Because let’s face it: that’s kind of boring. No, in addition to being a stellar student, you’re also an amazing “X”… whatever that “X” happens to be.

Your “Wow” Factor can be just about anything

The good news is that it doesn’t even matter all that much what you excel in outside of class, as long as it’s remarkable and valuable to them in some way. The obvious choice would be that you’re a nationally-ranked athlete or musician or debate champion: something that would add obvious immediate value to their competitive community. Harvard would love it if you were a nationally-ranked soccer player, for example, or if you won an international violin competition, or if you took home first-prize at the national debate championship.

But it doesn’t have to be any of those things. It can be something entirely different and unexpected. Maybe you started an innovative business that’s raking in $100,000 a year. Maybe you’re a science prodigy who already published a research article in a top-tier science journal. Maybe you’re an engineering student who filed several patents, and sold one of your ideas to Google. Maybe the children’s book you wrote and illustrated is a bestseller on Amazon, and was just optioned by Disney. Maybe you founded a nonprofit to help local refugees and your work was profiled on CNN.

As long as what you’ve accomplished is rare, impressive and compelling, they’re going to bend over backwards to find a place for someone like you in their freshman class. Because while there are a lot of straight-A students out there, there are precious few who also have the initiative and talent to make a positive, profound impact on their community (whatever that “community” happens to be). But you should also note that what constitutes a “wow” factor one year can begin to feel stale if everyone else around you starts doing the exact same thing. Remember: your goal is to stand out, not blend in with the crowd. So forge your own path instead of copying someone else.

More good news: you don’t have be perfect

Students often obsess about whether their imperfect 3.7 or 3.8 (unweighted) GPA will keep them out of a top school. It likely won’t. If you have a really good GPA (a 3.7 or above is ideal), taking the most challenging courses available at your school, you don’t have to be perfect. It’s far more important that you have this irresistible “B side” to your candidacy that gets them excited. They already know you can handle the college-level work; they’re looking for something interesting and compelling about you that gets them excited. Do you have to be a rock star student? Yes. But does your transcript have to be perfect? Not at all. (Word of caution: if you plan to go into a STEM field, your STEM grades need to be strong.)

Is it really that simple?

The winning formula is that simple, though it’s admittedly not easy to achieve. Simple and easy are two different things. Each year, top schools are hungry to find a new crop of applicants who are both 1) excellent students, and 2) remarkable human beings. The one-two combination of being 1) extremely bright and 2) highly accomplished is rare, and you should use that to your advantage as you plan out your high school years.

If you’re aiming for one of the top universities, our best advice would be to: A) focus first and foremost on your transcript, getting the highest GPA possible, taking the hardest courses your school has to offer, obtaining excellent teacher recommendations, and doing the very best you can on the SAT or ACT. And B) pick one area outside of class that appeals to you, devote yourself to it religiously, and accomplish something extraordinary, so that you’ve have a measurable impact on your community.