<p>Oh and do the percentages!</p>
Applicant with Strong ECs( Please chance for Harvard MIT, CMU, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Georgetown
<p>What california public high school where you can be top 15 out of a class of 1800 with a 3.71 GPA? Even it’s a size of 450, I find it hard to believe. 3.71 will most likely be outside of top 25% in a california high school. If anything, the more competitive high schools will have a higer threshold.</p>
<p>BTW, there is no ISEF semifinalist, you know?</p>
<p>Harvard is very specific, and very selective, so it really just determines if they truly find something about your application that stands out among the rest. It’ll be like that with all the selective schools, but with your ECs you should get into at least one.</p>
<p>I agree @detwylder but do you know what they are selective for? Legacy, High Gpa, Ec’s?</p>
<p>They are just looking for someone who is a fit for their school, and will fit in the niches they wish to fill. Unfortunately, if 20,000 people apply to CS, they will not be able to admit them all, even if they are all qualified. Each college has different things that they are selective for, but GPA, ECs, essays and scores all play a factor. and I would say probably in that order (essays maybe 1 or 2 instead)</p>
<p>Man! @detwylder Do you know if applying undeclared can improve your chances?</p>
<p>I actually think UC’s will be tough. They expect a 3.9+ GPA. Yours is a bit low.</p>
<p>If you were truly as smart as your achievements suggest, you wouldn’t ask to be “chanced”.</p>
<p>@noel597 What are his chances for Ivies in your opinion?</p>
<p>Colleges like to see that your ECs show your passion, and that passion correlates to your major. So it may help or hurt you. </p>
<p>@noel597 He could be smart but maybe he had hard teachers or spent most of his time working on his true talent in his ECs? Often time geniuses dont do well in school ie Steve Jobs, David Karp?</p>
<p>Oh! @detwylder after you send in your application and if you get a big award say in March, can you send schools an update on yourself about your accomplishment and would that still help you in your application?</p>
<p>@pastwise what do you think his chances for Ivies are?</p>
<p>Do you think if he wrote an explanation for his low grades it would help him out?</p>
<p>@Sanimr Does it hurt that he is an indian male from california? </p>
<p>Bump! This is an interesting thread!</p>
<p>Your credentials are very impressive, but you should look at this realistically: an Indian male from California with a 3.7 unweighted GPA… unless that’s extremely high for your school, and very few have better (as in you’re ranked top 5), there is no way that Harvard is a “65%.” Maybe 10% if you have excellent essays/recs. Yes, the olympiads and whatnot are impressive, but at an academic institution, if you’re not an athlete, the first thing on the importance list is the transcript. Nevertheless I wish you the best of luck in the application process as you would definitely make an excellent student at any school. I’m assuming you applied SCEA to Harvard. Let’s hope for the best for both of us :)</p>