I realize that throughout this website and many others, there are without a doubt tens of thousands of discussion questions very similar to my own, but every hopeful students has pipe dreams of getting in Harvard and other Ivy League schools, but the reality is that they all fall in line with thousands of others that have nearly same GPA, differing only in the classes and extra curricular activities they took. They are not “world- class” students, students who are in world famous orchestras or other outstanding groups. I myself am no where near that but I hope I am slightly above average.
Sorry for going into too much detail of my thoughts on the subject. Anyway, I am a sophomore in a rural high school. I current have a 3.8 or 3.9 out of 4.00 unweighted GPA and a 4.08 out of 4.0 weighted GPA. At the end of the year I will have AP US History completed. I got 1160 out 1560 on the PSNAT and have been studying as much as possible for the SAT, two of its subject tests, and the ACT. I currently sit at 23 out of 152 for my class rank ands by the end of the year I easily will be in the top ten. I was in the National Latin Society last year but since my new school did not offer it, I could not take it, so I could not renew my membership for it. I tutor after school once a week and I plan to take summer courses at Brown University. So given the limited information about myself, am I on the right track to get into a good school? If so, should even attempt to apply to Harvard two years from now or should I try for good school but maybe not an Ivy League school?
Thanks for giving reality into situation everyone. I really appreciate it!
If I may suggest that you research the similarities btn H and other top schools. At this point, you seem enamored with the name. Luckily, you have lots of time. Please don’t idealize any one school – that’s a recipe for disaster, disappointment and screams naiveté. If you’re a top student, you’ll have many choices forthcoming. Don’t lock yourself into any single path.
If I can suggest a book: Cal Newport’s book: How to be a High School Superstar
Thank you, I do try not be enamored by Harvard just because of its pedigree. Though everywhere on the internet I look for the best business schools it is MIT, Harvard, and Stanford. They all have similar selectiveness and since there so many better than me, I just not even sure if I should even apply and save some disappointment for some other application. Thank you though for for giving me some advice on the matter. I just get so worried on events that I have so much time to work on.
If you’re looking to study business as an undergrad, you should know that, of the three schools you mentioned, only MIT has an undergraduate business program.
Just keep working hard in school and try to find something you enjoy doing and try to really excel in it. No one can say if you’re competitive for top schools at this point. Have fun at Brown this summer!
First of all, the schools with the best business programs for an MBA are widely considered to be Harvard (HBS), Stanford( GSB) and Penn(Wharton). MIT Sloan is also a top business school for MBA but is traditionally considered after these three. On the u undergraduate level only Penn and MIT have business programs. Wharton is consodered the best undergraduate business school. of course many students interested in business routinely turn down offers from top undergraduate business schools tobstudy economics At Harvard or Stanford.
also not all Ivy League schools are the same in terms of difficulty to get in. Between one end of the spectrum( Harvard) and the other end (Cornell) ther is a big delta in terms of admissions competitiveness. Also Stanford and MIT are not Ivy League schools by are arguably as hard to get into as Harvard.
I ink it is a little bit early to know whether you should bother applying to Havars or similar schools. All you can do at this point is try to work as had as you can at school ad read up a lot online and from other sources about the different colleges so that you will be able to make the most informed decision when the time comes.