If all has gone well your child has become a flourishing student, taken the toughest courses your school systems offers, and hopefully has done well on the standardized tests. Now what? If this is all your child has accomplished then he or she will probably look exactly like thousands of other students across the country. Almost all students who apply to Ivy League universities are intelligent. Your child needs to set himself or herself apart from the rest of the application pool.
A big secret of Ivy League admissions is that they are looking for great all-around people. Yes, an applicant needs to be intelligent, but intelligence without a passion for life is not what they are searching for. Your child needs to distinguish himself or herself from the pack through activities outside of school. As a parent, you should look to involve your child in as many extracurricular activities as possible, from an early age. Diversity is the best policy in this case. Thousands of applicants will attempt to show they were "involved" by becoming part of the Student Government. While Student Government is not a bad activity, admissions can often see through these token additions. Give your child interest in a variety of things. Here are some ideas for ways to show the admissions departments that your child is an active participant in the world:
Sports teams
Playing Musical Instruments
Drama
Community Service
Writing for the school newspaper or other publications
Choir
Involvement at a Church
Boy or Girl Scouts
Any of various clubs at schools (chess, foreign language, quiz team, etc)
Jobs
Any intriguing skill that the ordinary person does not possess