I'm a junior boy and I've run 2:01, 4:28, and 9:36 this year in track. I also ran a 15:52 5k during xc. I really want to run at an Ivy League such as UPenn or Yale.
SAT: 2050
Unweighted 9-11 GPA: 3.86
Weighted GPA this year: 4.67/4.8
Taken lots of AP/Honors classes and done well on ap tests. Also have plenty of community service hours and other extracurriculars (NHS, Piano certificate of Merit, internships)
What are my chances at an Ivy League?
I'm sure they'd let you walk-on with those times, but as far as admissions goes, you'd be EXTREMELY lucky to be waitlisted... Unless you are a legacy, super fast, or go to like an ultra elite private high school, 3.86/2050 is not even close to cutting it
I had a similar profile (PRs, stats) as you my junior year and also strongly wanted to attend an Ivy League institution (ended up going to an elite DIII). Of the Ivies I did contact, the majority of the coaches were open to me walking-on, if accepted, but would not offer admissions support, which I considered crucial when only having a mid-2100 SAT score. I think one of the best qualities you should emphasize (given your times are slightly off the range they look for) is your improvement over the past few years. Did you go from low 10s as a SO to 9:36 as a JR or was it more like 9:50-SO to 9:36-JR? If you can show that your are underdeveloped but have flashes of potential greatness, hard working, with lots of room for improvement, this will help your cause. Train very hard this summer and emphasize that you are to the coaches. If you can dip under 15:30 for 5k xc and place well at your Regional/State meet and perhaps Footlocker/NXN regionals then I think a few of the coaches (Brown and Yale were most receptive to me)can lend you a degree of admissions push in the application process.
Best of luck.
Thanks so much for the great advice. Yeah, I know I shouldn't take it too seriously, but I got one of those general letters of interest from Upenn and that got me thinking that I may be able to run at an Ivy League. I've also considered some smaller schools such as the Claremont Colleges (Harvey Mudd, Pomona), Johns Hopkins, and UChicago. Would my running chances be similar at those schools?