anyone care to help a rising junior who wants to get into harvard?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>Harvard is undoubtably a great school, as the #1 rankings on almost every college ranking list imply....not to mention, their academics are stellar and it would be godsend to have the academic opportunties that Harvard offers. So, can someone please head me in the right direction? i'm going to be a junior next year, but i'm still trying to get the best shot i can. </p>

<p>And yes, i know my SATs suck.....they're from freshman year, when i didn't know what i was taking until i looked it up on collegeboard after i took it. </p>

<p>I'm an Indian male from Illinois. I go to a completely new school that opened my freshman year. Unlike many of my peers, I try to create opportunities that aren't availible in a regular public high school experience. </p>

<p>I can speak English, Telugu, a tiny bit of Hindi, and i'm getting closer to becoming fluent in Chinese. </p>

<p>The majors that i'm most intrested in are Astrophysics, Physics, and Mathematics. I also might want to have a Secondary Field/Concentration (That's Harvard's equivelant of a minor, right?) in Chinese. </p>

<p>SAT I: 2000 combined, 620 CR, 660 W, 720 M. (Note: this SAT was from freshman year; my scores have likely skyrocketed since then. Numerous practice tests have told me i'm in the 2200-2300 range now, and i have started some SAT coaching programs as well.)</p>

<p>SAT II: Haven't taken yet, but I will take Math II and either Physics or Chemistry. </p>

<p>ACT: 32 Composite, 31 English, 35 Math, 31 Reading, 32 Science, 30 English w/ Writing (got a 9 on writing). </p>

<p>GPA: 4.5 (w), 3.79 (uw). However, i've heard that Princeton does not consider freshman year GPA.....I'm pretty sure harvard doesn't do the same but just in case, 4.64 (w), 3.93 (uw)</p>

<p>Class Rank: My school does not provide class rank anymore, but I'm in at least the top 5% of a 650+ student body. </p>

<p>APs: Freshie year: Computer Science, 4. Human Geography, 5. </p>

<p>Sophomore year, still waiting on my AP Euro score.</p>

<p>Junior year: Physics C: Mechanics, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, Chemistry, Language and Composition, US History, Calculus BC. </p>

<p>Senior Year: US Government and Politics, Comparitive Government and Politics, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Literature and Composition, Biology, and probably Art History (self taught)and Psych (self taught). Also, will be taking Calculus III in conjunction with the University of Illinois....although it's not an AP, it's worth mentioning :P</p>

<p>Volunteering: Volunteered with an FEA tutoring station at my school, along with feed my starving children.....probably 40 hours or less in total. I'll probably find a way to bring that up, though. </p>

<p>ECs: </p>

<p>Math Team - Leader for 2, most probably 3 years (by end of senior year). Achievements include 2nd place at regionals freshman year, making state freshman year, leading 2 teams to 3rd at confrence sophomore year, and MANY more to come junior year. </p>

<p>Science Olympiad - Leader for 1, most probably 2 years. Main event is Astronomy, I also partake in technical problem solving and protein modeling (and whatever else my coach tells me to do). Being a new program, we have yet to achieve anything except for the 2011 Spirit award.....with me at the helm next year, hopefully that will improve. </p>

<p>Scholastic/Quiz bowl - Varsity player for 2, probably 3 years. Started off as a reserve jv player, worked my way up with tremendous studying and the like. I have attended a couple of camps for the purpose of increasing my ability at quizbowl, I have definitly improved a lot. Achievements include 2011 Turnabout Tournament All-Tournament (Answered the most tossups), won 2011 Confrence Tournament, 2011 Regionals Tournament, came 3rd at 2011 Masonic Regionals (earning us $200).</p>

<p>Tennis - JV player for 1, probably 3 years. Made the team freshman year, didn't make it sophomore year. I pretty much view tennis as a fun sport, and i'm definitly not extremely serious about it. I have gone to a lot of clinics and coaches to improve my skills, though. I possess 1 JV letter. </p>

<p>Religious Group - I am Hindu, and have helped form a group from the ground up. Since then, we've had 3 public concerts, with attendance ranging from 50-400 people. We have performed at the Chicago Telugu Association, in front of famous actors from India. At that same performance, we earned a cameo on an international television channel (TV9 in India)that was broadcasting the CTA performances. </p>

<p>Chinese - By far, my biggest EC. i'm coming closer and closer to being able to speak the language fluently. My speech and tones are both superb; my writing, while sloppy, is pretty good as well. My teacher recognized my talents early and sent me to a Chinese speech competition in freshman year....which i pulled a gold medal in, without much effort. I promptly did the same in sophomore year, and my gold medal run probably won't end. Next year, if i excel with the speech competition, I will probably earn an all-expense paid scholarship to Taiwan to study. I have also done lots of translating for Chinese ambassadors from Beijing that visited our school. I helped them learn about the American education system and culture, and in the process, i got to know about theirs.</p>

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<p>Here’s what I find interesting/unique about you. (Good)</p>

<p>The Hindu performances stuff
The whole bit about Chinese, that’s really unexpected for an Indian (at least in an adcom’s eyes)</p>

<p>Here’s what’s not (Bad)
You’re an Indian on what seems to be a somewhat sciency-track. That will make you melt right into the pool of other Indians/Asians. FYI, I’m not saying science is bad or anything, it’s just too common.
Low SAT scores. Yah, I saw how you were getting 2300ish on the practice tests. Practice tests are practice tests and the real thing is the real thing…</p>

<p>Unless it’s a critical part of what your EC/academic experience was in HS, I’d be leery of playing up small-scale science track accomplishments. (Oh, I won this unheard-of award for my science project, like local awards, etc) I think it’ll go right above the adcom’s head. Play up how you’re unique. How you’re not the same as the next Indian pre-med wannabe in the stack of files.</p>

<p>That said, keep up the good work… You never know till you actually go through the process.</p>

<p>glhf
JB</p>

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<p>yeah, i understand what you’re getting at with the indians on the sciencey track. that’s why i’m trying to start getting advice early so i can rise above the applicant pool. </p>

<p>what you’ve said about practice tests are true…i really need to take a legit SAT soon. </p>

<p>So…what level should the award be so it will be “safe” to mention? i have a plethora of regional awards, but you’re right, i don’t think the adcom would really care about most of those. </p>

<p>thank you!</p>

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<p>Let’s see… For awards, it’s best to mention international, national, state, regional, then local awards… I know that wasn’t much help (like duh! No kidding!) but this sorta thing is best left to individual judgement. If you got a competitive regional award, it would be worth mentioning.
Just don’t shower the adcom with seemingly frivolous stuff.</p>

<p>Don’t stress too much about all this–you do it.</p>

<p>JB</p>

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<p>Alrite, I get what you’re saying. Only mention the bigger awards I have received…darn, that means the spirit award for science Olympiad isn’t going to be on there ;)</p>

<p>Any other advice?</p>

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<p>^That’s not quite what I meant: put down down the smaller awards if they’re meaningful to you. But as they’re not self-explanatory as national awards are, it would help to explain.</p>

<p>Normally I’d say for a person this early in HS, keep exploring. However, you seem to have a sense of your strengths. So keep focusing on that. Come back summer of your rising senior phase and then people here will gauge your viability for your dream school.</p>

<p>Keep up the good work,
JB</p>

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<p>hahah. well most of my smaller awards don’t have TOO much value to me, other than maybe a hard-earned quizbowl trophy here or there. My CHINESE awards have tremendous worth to me, they definitly (in my eyes) deserve recognition on a college app. </p>

<p>so i guess i’ll just do what i do best and go with what intrests me this year, like i’ve been doing all of high school. Thank you :)</p>

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<p>^That’s the spirit!
JB</p>