How did you get into an Ivy League school? What did your resume or profile look like?

I can confidently say that there is no specific formula for getting into an Ivy League school. Amongst my friends at Brown, I have those who only scored a 1300 on the SAT to those who scored a 1600, those who are athletes and represent Brown in their sport to those who love music and theatre and have done shows on Broadway. The one thing everyone has in common is a clear distinct passion for something and in most cases, is a passion that they can continue to pursue at Brown.

I'd say some of the clear pre-requisites for even being considered is a 4.0 or near 4.0 GPA (I think the average GPA of incoming students at Brown is like a 3.92 and the same goes for most other Ivies), a relatively high SAT and subject SAT scores (so 1450+ on the SAT and 750+ for subject tests - to be on the safer side even though standardized test scores is probably one of the least important aspects of your application), LORs that sing praises about you and to a large extent should concur with everything you've said in your application and essays.

Once you have all this, you should really really spend a lot of time on your essays. They don't need to be overly verbose and you don't need to use complex words or any of that - they need to be simple and they need to represent who you are. The most important thing is to be extremely authentic. College AO's are really good at knowing when you're being overly pretentious and trying to make things seem bigger/better than they are. Never do that. AO's know that you're just a 17/18 year old kid who's still figuring things out. So write your essays on things that genuinely mean the most to you. Even if it's about something as simple as playing a sport with your friends. Also, make it a point to think really deeply about what you're writing and to try and convey exactly what it is that you've learnt from your experience and why it means so much to you. AO's also use the essays to see what it is that you've got to offer to their university and to other students. Last but not the least, remember that you're trying to paint a picture of who you are through the essays, not who you think they would like to admit.

Also, make sure each essay is personalized to each university. If you're applying to a large number of schools after applying to the first few you will realize that the essays prompts get repetitive and you may be tempted to copy and paste essays but remember that you need to show each school why you will fit in at their school, apart from showing them that you deserve to be there.