Advice for next 3 years/Harvard/FullRide

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>That’s because you have pretty lousy grades in the regular classes.
Pray tell, what do you think that 69 in Algebra will turn into when you’re in an advanced math class?
Probably something in the 40-50 range.</p>

<p>Harvard is totally out of the question for you, move on to a totally different class of school.</p>

<p>P.S. No point in mixing up the discussion of your grades with a discussion about your need for a “full ride” to Harvard.
Many higher-tier schools (Harvard among them) provide finance aid strictly on a need-basis.
In other words <em>if</em> you get in, the amount of aid you get will have nothing to do with anything other than your families finances. And keep in mind, this will be what they theoritically <em>can</em> pay, how much they or you are willing to pay doesn’t matter.</p>

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<p>Agreed.</p>

<p>The reality is that even with a 3.5 UW like you mentioned, there is no chance you will get in. Even if you do by some miracle, I would actually recommend AGAINST attending because of the workload and difficulty of courses; if you find courses like Algebra tough, you will not fare well at Harvard. This may be blunt, but you will definitely be miserable attending. </p>

<p>Oh and by the way, Harvard’s acceptance rate for RD applicants this year was ~3% - they rejected 97 out of every 100 in a self-selecting pool of applicants that has probably an average UW GPA of 3.85 or higher. </p>

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<p>Since we’re talking about you requiring aid, DON’T apply to any of the UC’s unless you’re in-state - you will not be able to afford OOS tuition if you cannot afford Harvard without a full ride. The UC’s are horrible with aid as it is, and it’s all just exacerbated by the budget crisis happening now.</p>

<p>I’d recommend not applying to Stanford for the same reason you shouldn’t apply to Harvard. The workload is definitely very high and it is not suitable for everyone. I’m only saying this because your scores don’t really indicate that you will be able to manage the academic intensity of these schools on the off chance that you ARE able to get in (which again, I emphasize is highly unlikely), even if you work very hard.</p>

<p>You definitely should consider rethinking where you want to apply. Harvard, or really any of the ivies don’t seem like good options.</p>

<p>Start with what you want to major in, look for schools that fit well with respect to your major and go from there. </p>

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<p>Dear Soze and Truust,</p>

<p>I have read your comments, and have appreciated your responses, I thought about the suggestions you did, however as you said in your response, there is a massive budget crisis right now. I know Harvard provides no scholarships, however my families income classifies me under their lowest bracket. This allows me to attend Harvard College for free. I originally though about heading to Harvard Extension, however I then learned that there is a lot of discrimination against the students of the Extension school from both the campus and the outside world. As well as the fact that Harvard Extension basically forces me to pay and get a apartment outside campus.</p>

<p>Also, my next year’s class is still CP, I’ll be taking Geometry ( Recommended by my teacher ). He said my mind will better grasp geometry equations than Algebraic, and that I will do well in this course. I also understand that my grades show that I likely won’t succeed very well with the Harvard curriculum. Well one I really don’t have a choice, I have to go because of free ride ( Which for me means not paying a single cent ), and is a necessary stepping stone for my future goals.</p>

<p>Thank you to you 2 for commenting, and feel free to respond to this with other suggestions, and again I’m not all Harvard, if there is a school or program that makes me go to school for free, and not have to pay a single thing other than my time, let me know.</p>

<p>Thank you,</p>

<p>Paul</p>

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<p>Questbridge.org
Gmsp.org</p>

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<p>I think the major focus you have stuck in your head right now is that you need lots and lots of aid. While it’s good that you’re thinking ahead for that, it’s also important that you know that Harvard is not the only school that gives great aid. Tons upon tons of schools will meet EFC and be more of an academic match for you. Try looking into the scholarships that GA2012MOM listed or browse around the financial aid forums. Harvard is not your only option for a good aid package.</p>

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<p>Wow, there is a lot of good potential schools in the quest bridge program. I have one question for the college confidential community. One of the posters a few posts up mentioned about Stanford. I did some research, and I like the kind of atmosphere, (entrepreneur, heavy sport etc.) I heard that each school specializes in something. So Columbia is the head science ivy, Yale the head Law Ivy, etc. Is there truth to this? And if there is, could I get a list, or a link to a list detailing the best ivy schools for specific programs, and several safety schools that I can also research. </p>

<p>I know that I’m asking a lot in all these posts, and I apologize if I offend anyone, however I love the expertise on this form, and want to know as much as possible as my guidance department only know my local community colleges and state colleges.</p>

<p>Thank you,</p>

<p>Paul</p>

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<p>@Paul13375 Yeah you would have a better shot. But I think simply saying that you will take the hardest schedule possible and get perfect grades after getting a 2.9 freshman year is a very big if. If you managed it I would be completely shocked.</p>

<p>Based on your current grade trend, aim MUCH lower. They won’t accept you as an athlete if you cannot handle the workload. </p>

<p>You can’t magically get perfect grades. It takes a lot of work, which you might not quite understand based on your grades from freshman year.</p>

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<p>OP:
Don’t worry about what Harvard, Yale, Stanford or Columbia specialize in.
You are not going to Harvard.
Nor Yale.
Nor Stanford.
Nor Columbia.</p>

<p>You need to be looking at schools that typically accept students with less than a 3.0 GPA and 25 ACT or less, because in all likleyhood, that’s where you are going to end up.</p>

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<p>Dear Soze, responding from phone so my bad if any mistakes are done. I checked sub 3.0 schools, and my only problem with them is that they don’t offer Full Rides, checked with guidance. They seem to have loan offers etc, but no free rides unless you get a grant and for that you need a 4.0 and 2400. Yes at current rate I will not get in I need to up the effort. Right now it seems I need GPA raising advice from you gents in order to raise grades for next year. But like a poster that said getting a large improvement will make him impressed. Imagine admissions seeing the same thing :D</p>

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<p>I was talking about the California budget crisis, and why you shouldn’t apply to the UC’s even if you are in the lowest income bracket - you will not receive a full ride from those colleges even if your family earns $0/year. </p>

<p>I know that Harvard would likely give you a full ride, but why you shouldn’t apply to Harvard is entirely different from why you shouldn’t to the UC’s. You simply cannot get in, and you are underestimating the importance of your inability to handle the workload.</p>

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<p>I want to make it VERY clear, that even if you get in, simply [bold]graduating[/bold] from Harvard will not get you a good job if you fail or even just do bad in all your classes. And this is likely to happen, considering your grades now. As a Harvard graduate with a very low GPA, you will not have the options you think you will. Where you get your degree from does not substitute how well you did in college. You will probably end up with a better job if you went to a lower tier school and graduated with a higher GPA. You will end up destroying your future if you go to Harvard EVEN if you can get in.</p>

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<p>There are many, many great schools that offer good aid, including pretty much any north east private university in general. And if you become a NMF, you will have even more cheap options since many schools offer full rides to these students.</p>

<p>Also, what state do you live in? You can get cheap tuition and a good education at your state flagship. A lot of states have prestigious public colleges, so if you’re from Michigan, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida etc, I suggest a public university is where you should look at attending (contrary to popular opinion, public colleges are in no way inferior to private colleges except that on average, they have larger student bodies).</p>

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<p>I think this is a little drastic considering that he can still pull his grades up to maybe even a 3.6 if he works hard. However, I do agree with the sentiment that you should stop worrying about the ivies, Stanford et al. Aim lower. (Try to understand that not going to an ivy doesn’t mean the end of the world - there are probably 20-30 universities in the US that are arguable better than the majority of the ivies anyways).</p>

<p>Why don’t you give us some of your preferences in a college and we’ll help you find a few that fit your profile, in terms of, for example:

  1. school size
  2. location (urban vs rural, west coast vs midwest vs east coast etc)
  3. academic areas (ie: if you want to go to a school with a more liberal curriculum vs something into STEM more)
    etc</p>
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<p>@Truust Despite the budget crisis, the UC’s promise to meet full need as determined by FAFSA. If the OP is instate with a FAFSA EFC of $0, he would only have to worry about the student contribution (federal loans + work study). So if getting into a meet-100%-of-need school isn’t possible, the UC’s would be the best option, assuming he’s a CA resident.</p>

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<p>@Lilliana330‌ </p>

<p>I agree that the UC’s are a great option if he’s in state, because yes, they will meet full need. However, if he’s OOS, as far as I know, no UC provides any grants to cover the extra OOS tuition component of ~$23,000. This will simply be too expensive for his family - I am fairly certain he is not a California resident, but obviously since he hasn’t mentioned, I can’t be sure (which is why I asked what state he’s from).</p>

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<p>@Truust Yeah, there’s no escaping that fee if you’re OOS. Hope he can increase the GPA to expand his options.</p>

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<p>I think you have a very fundamental lack of understanding as to how the process works.
If your family truly has no money to send you to college, then your EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) will likely come to $0.</p>

<p>There are HUNDREDS of colleges you can go to where a student with an EFC of 0 will have to pay little or nothing. What you are confusing that with is the very small number of schools which have a “cut-off” whereby if your family income is below a certain level, they simply say “don’t bother with the calcualations, we’re not going to charge you anything.” I’m guessing this is the “full ride” to which you are referring. This is not an issue for you because:

  1. Like I said above, if your EFC is truly 0, you are not going to be paying much of anything, anyway.
  2. The very, very small number of schools that have the income cut-off are out of reach for you academically anyway, so you need to forget about it and move on.</p>

<p>The problem you might run into is that your EFC might <em>not</em> be zero. Meaning the calculations say your family can afford to pay something for you to go to college, but you don’t want to. Then, I’m sorry to say you’re in a tough place (like millions of students). You will either need to consider loans or if you can get your GPA up a bit a third-tier school who might be inclined to offer you merit aid. You also might want to do a year or two at Community College to keep your total costs down.</p>

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<p>“The problem you might run into is that your EFC might <em>not</em> be zero. Meaning the calculations say your family can afford to pay something for you to go to college, but you don’t want to. Then, I’m sorry to say you’re in a tough place (like millions of students).”</p>

<p>Yeah that’s my major problem. As I hate the way school is with all the money that is being taken from kids who want an education without the 4x inflation rate, I am very firm in that I don’t want to pay for college. I don’t want taxpayer money to be used, however I expect the school to pay for everything, so it’s like the same as high school. Am I a pro wealth distribution? No, am I a person who likes to collect at the expense of the hardworking middle class? No, do I want to not give a single penny to colleges? Yes :D</p>

<p>Jokes aside, a poster told me to list my interests, so that the forum can find a college for me, that is an excellent idea.</p>

<p>Interests:</p>

<p>Politics, ( President Of The United States )</p>

<p>CEO, Plan to run my own corporate empire, treat my workers fairly and show that people can live very well and still have a profitable enterprise, and put John D. Rockefeller to shame.</p>

<p>Scientist, I love how we can advance as a species when we pursue the discovery of new things, and the conquering of the unknown.</p>

<p>Plan to be all 3 of these things within my lifetime, so I need a very special college to teach me the skills and give me the tools. </p>

<p>I need a very good faculty, Nobel Prize winners, experts in their field, not afraid to teach and promote the questioning of everything.</p>

<p>Excellent peers that can become my future connections for running a corporate enterprise, intelligent, hard working peers who love a challenge.</p>

<p>A school that has a large amount of money for research, so I can learn how to be a great scientist, and work on a team that can possibly discover something incredible.</p>

<p>Very good dorm rooms are a plus.</p>

<p>I also much emphasize that I am NOT joking with what I just said, this is why I aimed at Harvard in the first place, as I though that Harvard will have all of these characteristics. However there is many colleges out there, and I will be a fool to say only Harvard provides these services. So I ask you, College Confidential, tell me a college that wil help me accomplish my task</p>

<p>P.S, don’t be afraid to ask things, plan and ideas is set in motion, no turning back, however any questions about just about anything other than trying to persuade me that I’m crazy I will gladly welcome.</p>

<p>Thank you,</p>

<p>Paul</p>

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<p>And yes I know that High school is paid through taxes, my point is that I want to learn for free just like I’m used to.</p>

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<p>What state are you in, and what’s your family income? That will determine how much you are going to have to pay for college. No college is going to give you money just cause you “want to learn for free”. </p>

<p>Also, ■■■■■ thread is ■■■■■. They’re getting subtler nowadays.</p>

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<p>@Paul13375‌ What is the point of this thread? You know good and well that you are not gonna get into Harvard. I mean, let’s be honest. You are only a freshman, so you most likely are NOT recruited. Colleges recruit only the most exception athletes if they are freshman. 2. Your hook isn’t that exceptional. If you can dedicate all these hours to becoming a “star” athlete, you can spend more time on your academics. Because they are actually horrendous. Especially for someone who is taking their easiest course load. If you take APs, the only thing it will do is show that you can’t handle a college curriculum. You have A LOT of room to improve. I mean seriously Paul. You don’t have a single 90 on your transcript. I recommend you look at schools that accept practically everyone like ASU. Most colleges don’t even look at your essay if you don’t have certain scores, so that probably won’t help you in an ivy</p>

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<p>You know what, no not totally horrendous. You have that amazing 89 in gym lol. But yeah kid, seriously, you need to aim a lot lower.</p>

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^ Yeah, all this is starting to sound ridiculous and unbelievable.</p>

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<p>You are not entitled to a free education from a private school if you have the necessary finances to pay. If you want subsidized education, then go to your public college. </p>

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<p>Good luck with your political endeavors if you can’t recognize the necessity of investing “taxpayer money” on public education. How do you think public colleges are primarily financed and how hundreds of thousands of students are educated in the country each year? LOL. </p>