How to Get Into an Ivy League School: 4 Tips From A Yale Grad

You’ve probably heard the usual advice: get good grades, do well on your standardized tests, and participate in several extra-curricular activities. However, while all of that advice is true, it will not be what gets you into Yale or another Ivy League school. Pretty much everyone who applies to Yale meets that criteria. Good grades, test scores, and extra-curricular commitments are just the baseline, not anything that sets you apart. 

In this blog post, I share advice that will help you build a compelling application so that you can increase your chance of success in the Ivy League application process.

1. Don’t be the “Jack of All Trades”
2. Demonstrate Academic Excellence Beyond Getting Good Grades
3. Tell a Cohesive Story With Each Part of Your Application
4. Highlight How You Intend To Contribute On Campus

 Don’t be the “Jack of All Trades”

The most common myth about ivy league admissions is that they are looking for “well-rounded” individuals or students who are “the jack of all trades”. However, in reality, that is one of the last things Ivy Leagues want because, after all, the jack of all trades is the master of none.

Ivy League schools want a well-rounded student body, and the way to get that is by admitting students who excel in different areas. Many of my friends at Yale were essentially prodigies in one thing or another. Some were incredible performers who sang, danced, and acted in high school. Therefore, naturally, they got to Yale and continued to be the leads in theater productions, singers in various a cappella groups, or dancers in a range of companies. Others were community leaders who had founded organizations in their high schools and hometowns. Therefore, as Yale students, they spearheaded movements on campus, started or led service organizations, and used their resources at Yale to contribute to communities outside of campus. Meanwhile, those who had excelled in science and won awards for their research in high school came to Yale and took their research even further by working in labs for all four years, publishing in scientific journals, and using their senior thesis as a launch pad for the research they would pursue during their MD-PhDs. 

The through line with most successful Ivy League applicants is that you can see how what they did in high school shaped what they went on to do in university and in their career thereafter. Yale and other Ivies want students who show great promise to succeed in their chosen fields. Ultimately, the best way to show such promise is by demonstrating a strong dedication to a particular interest and already having various achievements related to that interest. 

Demonstrate Academic Excellence Beyond Getting Good Grades

Many people think extracurriculars are the only way to go above and beyond in school, but that is not true. You can excel academically beyond just getting good grades. 

I, for example, was determined to use my transcript to tell a story and show dedication to my academic discipline. I took every single AP social science class offered at my high school (APUSH, AP Gov, AP Comp Gov, AP Human Geography etc) in addition to every honors social science elective I could fit on my schedule. Of course, I also took other AP classes related to world culture and language including both AP English classes and AP French. I earned A’s in every single one of these classes and also scored 5’s (and a few 4’s) on every AP test. This resulted in me winning department awards for my excellence in the history and social science department.

My curriculum was very much focused on the social sciences, but I did not neglect math and sciences. I was very advanced in math as well but, because I wanted to focus on my area of interest, I doubled-up on math classes during my first two years of high school so that I could finish calculus by my sophomore year. After sophomore year, I took one math and one science class each year and then overloaded my schedule with AP social science, history, and literature/language classes. Yes, at a baseline level, I had to be “well-rounded” in the sense that I did well in all my subjects at school. However, because I ultimately wanted to study global affairs, I made sure the admissions committee could easily see that from my transcript.

Further, I took my academic exploration beyond the classroom. I applied for and was awarded a scholarship to study abroad in France for one summer. I also attend Yale Young Global Scholars– a program officially hosted by Yale– where I spent part of my summer studying International Affairs. 

Studying abroad, conducting research, doing an internship relevant to your field of interest, or even just taking extra classes in your discipline not only deepens your knowledge: it also demonstrates passion. Your passion is what makes you unique because, even if you share the same interest as someone else, the extent to which you pursue and invest in that interest can still set you apart.

Most students only use their personal statements and extracurricular activities to highlight their passion. I am here to tell you that you can use everything– from your transcript to the professors who write your letters of recommendation— to do this as well.

Tell a Cohesive Story With Each Part of Your Application

Imagine that each part of your application didn’t have your name on it. Could someone who read your personal statement, your supplemental essays, your extracurricular activity list, and your recommendations reasonably put together that each part of your application belonged to the same person?

This does not mean being repetitive in different parts of your application. Quite the contrary—you want each part of your application to reveal a new facet of yourself so that the admissions readers have the fullest picture possible. After all, your application is all they have to go off of about who you are.

However, you want your application to be cohesive so that they actually leave understanding you: what drives you, what your goals are, what you will bring to your campus. You do not want to submit a seemingly disjointed application that half-explains each of your many interests. If you do that, your application reader will probably leave with a ton of questions that, frankly, you won’t get the opportunity to answer.

I knew I wanted to study global affairs or international politics. Therefore, I crafted my Yale application in a way that made my interest in that discipline clearly discernible to the admissions committee. In my common application essay, I discussed how my background growing up both in various countries informed my understanding of global issues and inspired me to contribute to solutions to such challenges. Academically, I made sure to take and excel in every single class related to politics, IR, and any other social science at my high school. As a result, I received a second diploma, called the Global Studies & Service Diploma, awarded to students who took on additional course-work and extracurricular commitments in the field of global studies. Outside of the classroom, I wrote for my school’s global politics publication, won awards in Model UN and debate, co-founded an African Students Association, and was ranked within the top-20 students in the nation on the national French-fluency exam.

Among my biggest accomplishments was that I was one of the student leader of an initiative that won a United Nations “student peace prize.” Because my organization won that prize, I was invited to speak at the United Nations General Assembly during the International Peace Day celebration in 2016. Among speakers such as Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Nobel Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee was 15-year-old me. 

I had done other extracurriculars in high school, from varsity volleyball to dance to piano. However, I did not mention those extracurriculars in my application because, ultimately, I most wanted to emphasize activities that connected to what I was proposing to do at Yale and in my career thereafter.

Highlight How You Intend To Contribute On Campus

Ultimately, a school’s programs— especially its extra-curricular programs— are only as good as the students that join them. Therefore, one of the goals of admissions officers is to determine where you are well-poised to make extra-curricular contributions in college. Rather than leaving it to their imagination, you should research various programs at your target school and highlight those programs as part of the reason you want to attend that university.

For example, in my “Why Yale” statement, I discussed the Multidisciplinary Academic Program in Human Rights at the Yale Law School. Because I had made it clear in the rest of my application that I was interested in studying international law after Yale, my desire to join the singular Yale Law School program offered to undergrads showed how I planned to work towards that goal. Further, as the Human Rights Program was one of Yale’s most competitive academic disciplines, my desire to join signaled to the admissions committee that I wasn’t going to get to campus and just be idle. I would keep aiming high and use every resource available at Yale as a launch pad for the future. 

In my extracurricular activities section, I emphasized my success in Model UN. Having excelled at MUN in high school, I knew I could contribute significantly to Yale’s MUN team (MUNTY). In the end, I did go on to win each time I competed with MUNTY. During my four years at Yale, MUNTY was one of the top-ranked teams in the entire country.

However, my most notable accomplishment with regards to MUN at Yale was the fact that I established the first-ever MUN conference hosted by an American university on the African continent. My conference, the Yale Model African Union, was endorsed by various diplomatic missions, received over $20,000 in sponsorships, and was attended by various Ambassadors and foreign dignitaries. As the conference has continued to grow even now— two years after I graduated from Yale— I can proudly say that I made a contribution to my campus that will outlast me. 

When I was applying to Yale at 17-years-old, I obviously couldn’t predict that I would one day establish an international conference. However, although I may not have mentioned the Yale Model African Union in my application, I demonstrated a strong dedication to engaging with international affairs and– specifically— African affairs. The admissions team saw this passion and felt confident in my potential to make meaningful contributions in that space.

Indeed, during my freshman year at Yale, I had the opportunity to review my admissions file. I saw then that both my interviewer and application reader had noted that they could clearly picture me leading student organizations in the International Relations Association and Afro-American Cultural Center. Even as a high school student, I could convincingly communicate how I would contribute to Yale—not just because I had passion and drive, but because my past commitments and experiences provided clear evidence of my ability.

Getting into Yale—or any Ivy League school—

is about more than just perfect grades and a laundry list of extracurriculars. What truly sets successful applicants apart is a clear sense of purpose, demonstrated excellence in a specific area, and the ability to communicate how their past experiences align with their future ambitions. Your application should tell a cohesive story, one that makes it easy for an admissions officer to see how you will contribute to campus life and beyond.

So, if you’re aiming for an Ivy, don’t focus on checking off a list of achievements. Instead, build a strong foundation in what excites you most, push yourself to take meaningful steps in that field, and ensure your application reflects the unique path you’ve carved for yourself. Should you follow these steps, you won’t just be a competitive applicant— you’ll be the kind of student Ivy League schools actively seek out.