Academics enough for Harvard?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
61

<p>You can get exactly one year's worth of AP credit at Harvard. They won't give you more and they won't give you less. They also do not accept all APs for credit, and some APs are worth less than a full credit. The vast majority of people who are eligible for advanced standing don't take it, however, so very few people end up getting any AP credit at all. </p>

<p>You can graduate early without advanced standing by taking 10-14 courses a year instead of the standard 8 and so accumulate courses and graduate early. It's hard/pointless to do, though.</p>

62

<p>Actually, Phoenixy, it's not pointless since you do save 40K.</p>

63

<p>lol money is only part of the education formula. U'll learn and u have something called financial aid. U'll learn.</p>

64

<p>They were discussing pushing the four years into three by taking more credits per year than average. Therefore, the number of classes and level of education would be the same, whether taken in three years or four.</p>

<p>For many people, finances are a concern, even with financial aid. Some families struggle to pay for college with aid or don't qualify but cannot easily handle that amount of money, especially if other issues are present such as other siblings in college or a laid off parent or a disabled or sick family member. Some parents won't give the student financial support, in which case financial aid is not near enough.</p>

65

<p>Hanna said</p>

<p>
[quote]
>I'm pretty sure that a college is never happy about having a student graduate early...it is a money loss</p>

<p>No, it is not. Harvard rejects lots of wonderful transfer applicants every year. If it loses a student to early graduation, it gains space to expand the transfer class.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I disagree; by getting a freshman who they know/are pretty sure will enroll/stay there to study for four years, they're guaranteed more money; I don't understand your "transfer student" arguement. After reviewing and scrutinizing the freshman applications, I'm sure that they must expect most of their students to stay for four year. According to your arguement, for every student that drops or graduates, Harvard replaces him/her...like it's set in stone or something. Every student is admitted based on his own credentials and not simply because Harvard must fill space.</p>

66

<p>I say "pointless" because the number of courses you'd have to take to do it would either a) require you to pay extra and/or forfeit summer employment opportunities to go to summer school or b) require a student to take so many classes at once that it would risk jepoardizing his or her GPA and ability to stay in school in the first place, as well as seriously limit that student's course and extracurricular selection. If you did it, you probably wouldn't be able to write a thesis, for example, or choose a challenging concentration. If you're that strapped for cash but able to get into Harvard, why not go to a school that'll give you a full ride in merit aid?</p>

67

<p>Maxing out academics is a great idea, but you should really work on other things too. If you have appreciable leadership or extracurricular accomplishment, you'll certainly feel much better about your chances.</p>

<p>
[quote]

14-16 APs with 5s on each
National Merit Finalist
AP State Scholar
Siemens AP Scholar
Numerous Math Club Awards
800s on all SAT IIs
2400 SAT
RSI
2000+ hours of community service and founder of charity

[/quote]

Now, I'll admit, I shouldn't be lecturing you, because aside from the 2000+ hours of community service and Siemens AP Scholar (which no one knows about yet, since it's now released near the end of the year), this is almost exactly my resume, and I got into Harvard. But keep in mind that there are a lot of other things. Personally, I was a bit short on the extracurriculars, but I think that essays and recommendation letters helped to make up for that weakness almost as much as academic stats did.</p>

<p>Plus, you're a freshman! You have all the time and opportunity in the world, and you seem to have your eyes firmly fixed on college already, unlike many of us (especially me), who didn't think about it until a sudden freaking-out mood dawned in the middle of junior year. If you're inventive and take initiative, I think that you can get to a point where you don't need the maxed-out academic stats (although they certainly help) to get in.</p>

68

<p>I think you are overestimating the value of APs.</p>

69

<p>Does Harvard give financial aid to families making 100K+? I mean, 40K is a lot of money for almost anyone, no matter how rich you are.</p>

70

<p>Yes, sometimes it does, particularly if you have siblings in college. The calculation depends on a lot of factors besides income. There are families making over $100k who get need-based grants.</p>

71

<p>However, I'm really afraid that when I apply to colege and tick the "financial aid" box it may increase my chances of rejection. There was one CCer (think it was andy101 or something like that) who got rejected from every college he applied to, even the bad ones, and he had superstellar stats! </p>

<p>Obviously Harvard would rather have students paying 40K a year rather than 20 or 30K a year.</p>

72

<p>That is not obvious. Harvard admissions are need-blind. Applying for aid will never hurt you at Harvard.</p>

73

<p>I have two questions:</p>

<ol>
<li>Could you say that about every college in the US?</li>
<li>How can we be absolutely certain that it really is need-blind? There really isn't any tangible evidence.</li>
</ol>

74

<p>Btw, if you graduate from high school with about 38 credits, does it increase your chances of admission into good colleges?</p>

75

<p>I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT MANY OF YOU HAVE LOST THE MEANING OF LIFE.</p>

<p>(especially if your are willing to sacrifice yourself to thousands of hours of volunteer work so that it will "shine" on a resume, it is b/c of such reasons that I am acquiring a strong hatred for the setting of such blatantly superficial goals. Likewise for the Nat. Honor Society as I have realized that only about 2% of its members are comprised of individuals who are doing it for the right reasons) DO WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL ALIVE IN LIFE and stop being so tied to prestige, numbers/scores, grades, prestige, numbers/scores . . .must get it , must get in . . .</p>

76

<p>let's be honest here... this idea of passion and service to the community that we all talk about is only fueled by an incentive called college. i bet you that the reason 99% of students participate in community service is because it looks good on their college apps. i rarely hear of people pursuing community service activities once they're actually in college because by then, why would it even matter, they're in the college of their choice. at least cooljoe is frank enough to say that he's doing his community service to impress harvard.</p>

77

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<p>Then you aren't listening to the right people. See:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.pbha.org/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pbha.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>(This is an umbrella organization for community service at Harvard, which involves 1800 student volunteers in 77 student-run programs annually.)</p>

<p><a href="http://hcs.harvard.edu/%7Ecitystep/home.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://hcs.harvard.edu/~citystep/home.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Harvard undergrads also direct and staff the only entirely student-run homeless shelter in the world:</p>

<p><a href="http://hshsc.org/about.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://hshsc.org/about.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

78

<p>I've faced this dillemna a ton</p>

<p>In 10th grade (Plus I skipped a grade) I was lined up to take AP Calculus. But AP Calc isnt exactly meant to be taken by a 10th grader and it wouldn't fit in my schedule so I ended up taking AP Calculus A and B through Stanford's Distance Education Program and taking the Calc BC Test.</p>

<p>That year changed my life, basically self-teaching yourself Calculus is no fun, and it killed my social life completely.</p>

<p>The following year I combined Jr and Sr year taking double college english and social studies courses and I was loaded with essay after essay. I still graduated within the top 10 in a class two years older than me on unweighted GPAs (our valedictorian didn't take a single honors course). Did i mention I daily slept through a class or two?</p>

<p>Although I liked to blame my tiredness on studying, I spent a lot of time, working out, dating, wasting time, living life (not drinking mind you).</p>

<p>Here I am in Taiwan, free-er than ever to learn what I want, and this is what I have been waiting for all of my life. If I feel like learning physics I can set aside some time to head on over to MITs Open Courseware and watch their lectures. Learning Chinese is not only eye opening culturally but really fulfilling when you see the suprise on everyones faces when you respond to their english in chinese. And when I'm feeling artsy I can go play with my camera and flickr. I'm earning precisely 0 credit for it all.</p>

<p>I think these days Stats have become too much, and everyone is so similar. I think developing an ambition is should ultimately matter, even if it's just to learn everything possible. Ambition will lead you out of the norm, by definition. Ambition will carry you places much farther than HYPS ever directly could. (In 2004 only one CEO of a major companies went to an Ivy)</p>

<p>I dunno about you guys, but in the end I think I would be much happier feeling intellectually fulfilled in complete freedom, than I would be limiting my life to a strict curriculum only to go to HYPS. I'm not saying HYPS is pointless and I commend all you award winners and things because you really are bright. But these/those people are phenomoninal from birth at that sort of stuff. It's not natural for everyone, other things are though. Just don't sacrifice too much trying to become the concrete standard genius if it's not easy, it's not worth it.</p>

<p>It's not the college you go to that defines you, it's you, yourself, your motivations and ambitions.</p>

79

<p>Nice advice</p>

80

<p>Nuh uh!!!!!!!!! It has been scientifically shown that there is a direct relationship between the U.S. News ranking of the school one attends and the success they experience in life.</p>