application queries from intl student

<p>greetings!
I'm a yr12 student from Australia and I had some application queries etc which i hope you could answer=)</p>

<p>1) with your list of ECs, do you have to put forward supporting evidence of that you've done them? If you don't, isn't it easy to make up stuff and put yourself into random clubs as presidents?=D Especially with out-of-school activities such as Duke of Ed and community service, does the ivies ask you to show supporting evidence? I mean i'm not looking to lie but isnt it easy for lots of 20,000 or so applicants to lie? </p>

<p>2) is harvard a four year college? I got confused and couldnt find anything on the site</p>

<p>3)To all you people in harvard already, I was wondering how many Australians are there in a year level. I asked this girl from Swarthmore and she said there was only 2 in the WHOLE of Swarthmore o.O</p>

<p>4)how do you calculate GPA's?? </p>

<p>OK, that's all, thanks to all who can be bothered helping!! =D</p>

<p>I can answer 2 and 4 only, sorry (although I can take a guess at #1).</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I think that you could technically lie, but honestly they'd find out eventually from counselor or something, or it'd be obvious from your application that you were making stuff up. They don't verify though.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes.</p></li>
<li><p>A lot of schools weight grades (AP classes are worth more pts than, say, non-honors) but here's how it goes for nonweighted. 4.0=A/A+, 3.7=A-, 3.3=B+, 3.0=B, 2.7=B-... 2.0=C... 1.0=D... below .7 is an F, etc. etc.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Hope this answers your questions somewhat.</p>

<p>I agree with blendecho except for #4 - if you're an int'l student (who doesn't attend a school with an American-based school system) you can't calculate your GPA. They have honors, AP classes, A-'s, B+'s, etc. stuff that most int'l schools don't. But don't fret because Harvard is familiar with most countries' school systems and they usually know when you pick a challenging set of courses as opposed to when you're slacking off. So, leave the GPA out.</p>

<p>hehe I'm taking the IB, so they'll be very familiar, but do I still leave the GPA out? I mean my school doesnt give minuses eg no A- OR B-, but oh well.</p>

<p>My SAT are OK although I haven't taken the SAT II. expect to really bomb on the literature one, and maybe the chem one since i only do standard level chemistry!!</p>

<p>Yeah, still leave it out. You can't transfer IB grades to GPA.</p>

<p>According to the Harvard International Office, there were 13 Australian students at Harvard College as of 2004, so that's very roughly 3-4 per year. As for the whole of Harvard, there are an additional 50 or so Australian students undertaking graduate study.</p>

<p>Thanks for the help!!!</p>