Anyone here want to help me out? chances, advice, anything!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hi! I am a very very nervous rising senior applying to Harvard (like half of the ppl on this board lol) and many other colleges</p>

<p>Anyways, here are my stats</p>

<p>Ethnicity: African American (if you didnt get it from the title)
Location: NOVA..not Fairfax though.
Income: Very very low income; large family; parents did not go to college. dad works crappy job 24/7 </p>

<p>GPA: 3.77 (UW) 4.73 (W)
Rank: 2 out of 366
PSAT: 195 (National Achievement Semi-finalist hopefully)</p>

<p>SAT’s: Superscore: 1380/2110, highest composite: 2070 (after 3 retakes.....should i retake in October? I haven't taken any prep classes and the avrg SAT at my school is 200 pts below average! But then again I dont want "Taking the SAT" to be on my list of EC's haha)</p>

<p>ACT: will take in October, hoping for 33-34</p>

<p>SAT II's: 700 Spanish, will be taking US History and English Literature</p>

<p>Course schedule: Very rigorous. IB diploma candidate. Enough said</p>

<p>7 on my IB Spanish exam (SL)</p>

<p>AP’s:
AP World History: 5
AP Euro History: 5
AP English Language: 5
AP Spanish Language: 4...boo hoo
AP Bio: 3 (with good reason)
AP Scholar with Distinction!!! (I’m the first to get this award as a junior; most AP students get 1’s, 2’s, and a few 3’s.)</p>

<p>EC's, Awards, etc.-- relatively strong, but in CC standards, mediocre. I've received mostly school/county awards but a couple national/state ones.
I have a lot of leadership--- I will be Prez of spanish club, and hopefully president of Service Club. I can list on and on award everything I do.....but you never know who is reading your threads hehe. </p>

<p>Mentor for little kids
Over 300 hours of hospital volunteering
P-T job at Burger King (yum)
Harvard Book Award recipient
Governor's summer school (selected, state-wide)
Many many school awards (language student of the year, chemistry awards, etc.)</p>

2

<p>1.) Don't retake your SAT.</p>

<p>2.) Take the ACT. Anything over 30 is fine. A score of 30 puts you well within the top 5% of students taking the test.</p>

<p>3.) You should probably take the Math Level II subject test. All of your subject tests so far are humanities oriented. Not taking a math/science oriented subject test suggests that you are afraid of math/science.</p>

<p>4.) When you write your essays write about yourself.</p>

<p>5.) Look at what I typed in saywha's thread about how to put together your resume.</p>

<p>As long as you do these things and do them well I don't really see why you would be rejected.</p>

3

<p>Chances are very good. More good SATIIs scores will help balance the unweighted GPA. Perhaps try to show an "upward trend" with the grades this semester.</p>

<p>Your volunteering hours, job, and URM status will be definite plusses. Good luck!!</p>

4

<p>NOVA woooo!!!! (i like, half live in NOVA...i have an odd life)
you look pretty good stats wise and stuff as long as the other SATIIs are good. for SAT, harvard's website basically implies that taking the SAT more than twice "offers diminishing results"...whatever THAT means...so you'd probably be better off just leaving it unless you know for sure that your score will increase by a significant amount of points.</p>

5

<p>fauve, there's nothing wrong with her GPA. She's the salutatorian. Altho, high subject tests (in the 770-800) range may be in your favor.</p>