<p>Decent/competitive high school in illinois.
Gpa 3.85 unweighted
5.64 weighted
4/496 (tons of ap classes)
Ap world history
Apush
Ap euro
ap gov
ap econ
ap calc ab
ap calc bc
ap eng 11
ap eng 12
ap psych
ap Spanish
ap human
apes
all 4s and 5s plus 4years of honors Spanish
Note: this includes senior year</p>
<p>Extra curriculars:
I Started philosophy club freshman year with a friend and it continued onward, i was in charge but i had no official rank, how do i tell them this?
member of philosophy club 4 years (obviously)
speech team 4 years (went to state, will this help me?)
deca 2 years (jr.-sr.)
tennis 2 years JV
tennis 2 years Varsity
scholastic bowl 1 year (jr.)
interact club 1 year (freshman)
Spanish Honor Society 1 year
NHS one year</p>
<p>act score 34
however, i am planning to retake, get a 35, how much will that help?</p>
<p>So what do you think are my chances with good essays and similar sat's to my act's?
What do you think I need to work on?</p>
<p>Other random stuff + junk that
I am trilingual.
I skipped a grade in elementary.
I've been taking (and 5-ing) ap exams since freshman year.</p>
<p>Realistically, thousands of other kids have pretty much the same stats as you – some of them having all 5’s on their AP’s with perfect ACT/SAT scores! Your chances of admission may be better than most, but much will depend on your essays, SSR report and teacher recommendations. That, and how you stack up against other applicants, who are Intel Science winners or Math Olympiads.</p>
<p>^ i forgot to mention that i have 200 hours as a hospital volunteer, i suppose that that helps, but idk what else can really help me at this point</p>
<p>4.64, my school is kind of weird so that it has a scale of 5 with honors/ap being 6.1. But that is with a 1.1 pt. addition. Otherwise, it would be ~4.6 weighted and yeah, 3.85 weighted.
And rank is top 1% , 4/496.</p>
<p>Also, ethnicity=indian, not much of a help. </p>
<p>I could get some pretty good rec’s and i’m confident in my essay-writing ability.</p>
<p>^now what exactly would be special?
Of the four kids I know who were accepted to Harvard last year: One of them was an Intel Science winner and a concert violinist, one was a 16 year old math prodigy who co-wrote a paper with an MIT professor, one was a US Math Olympiad winner, and one was a recruited football player. These days, with so many outstanding kids applying, you need to be a top student and also have something else going on that makes you standout from the crowd.</p>
<p>BTW: Just as telling, I think, are the top students I know who were rejected by Harvard last year. Among them: A renowned concert pianist, who is now attending Juilliard; an Off-Broadway playwright, who is now attending Yale; a 3rd generation Harvard legacy, who is now attending Georgetown. It’s really impossible to predict anyone’s chances of admission to Harvard.</p>
<p>Over the years, I’ve seen a number of students from my area admitted. All of them were terrific applicants, but there wasn’t one as impressive as the students @gibby knows… nor have the ones I’ve seen turned down compare to the ones she mentioned. Maybe its a reflection of the area I’m in… and here we aren’t all that special! But… like @gibby says… I totally agree… “… you need to be a top student and also have something else going on that makes you stand out from the crowd.”</p>
<p>I don’t see anything amazing about your stats. They’re VERY good, of course, but how does that stand out from all of the other “amazing” folks who apply for Harvard?</p>