Can I still get in even though I have terrible GPA Freshman Year of Highschool?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>All right, so I have the classic situation of really messing up my freshman year of high school.</p>

<p>Stats: All classes without a comment I have already taken the final.</p>

<p>World History 86</p>

<p>English 79 (Took final today, very easy may get it up to a B)</p>

<p>Accounting 69 (Final will be difficult, will likely fail)</p>

<p>Spanish II 84</p>

<p>Web Design (Half Year Course) 87</p>

<p>Financial Literacy ( Final was surprisingly difficult likely 82-78) Expecting the worst so assume 78, Other Half year)</p>

<p>PE/Gym 93</p>

<p>Health 84</p>

<p>Geo Science 88 (Yet to take final, may be anywhere from 85-92)</p>

<p>Algebra I 69 ( Yet to take Final, likely will fail this one aswell )</p>

<p>GPA, likely 2.4-3.0</p>

<p>So, the situation looks grim I know, With 2 c's 2 f's and the rest B's and A's you should be thinking all right, this kid has no chance let's make sure he applies community college. Well I don't want to hear it, I posted a post before, and had pretty good advice, however I wish to repost and get answers straight out of Harvard's Section. I have to warn you that you may very likely lose your cool if you read, just remember help this kid out as much as possible, and don't get all troll.</p>

<p>Colleges I'm applying to:</p>

<p>Harvard College (EA)</p>

<p>Yale</p>

<p>Stanford</p>

<p>Maybe Columbia if I like the campus enough.</p>

<p>These are the ONLY colleges I am applying to, my career choice gives me the freedom of not needing college at all, and the only benefit that college will serve is connections, and extra experience to polish the skills I require.</p>

<p>Intended careers:</p>

<p>CEO, of own startup organization ( Think Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Andrew Carnegie, J.P Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller.)</p>

<p>President Of The United States, likely will run sometime in my 40's</p>

<p>Be a scientist on the side, likely with my own huge team of fellow scientists inventing cool stuff, which in turn connects with CEO goal. </p>

<p>Ok so if you survived this far, you may want to bash your head against the wall, and rip out each of your eyeballs and scream/type while blinded something about me being crazy, pretentious, or just downright insane etc. Well I'm sorry, but I really need your advice.</p>

<p>Now to actually add some sanity to this post ( Yes I admit so far it's insane :D) I have a small amount of ammunition, in order to begin fighting for that acceptance letter.</p>

<p>EC:</p>

<p>Football Player, TailBack/D1 likely prospect, therefore I have the athlete hook card to play.</p>

<p>Mock UN, and Trial next year ( Took UN this year, taking trial next )</p>

<p>I am URM, Hispanic</p>

<p>I am also First Gen college bound, both parents never finished college.</p>

<p>Now, I really need your advice. You have already walked this road, likely know much more than me ( Spent around 34 hours researching admissions advice. ), and are best experienced on these sort of matters.</p>

<p>My question for you,</p>

<p>What do I need to do next year and the years after in order to get into Harvard college, (taking 2 honors and 2 AP, and 1 CP. No teacher recommended me but I managed to find a loophole in order to force them to put me in honors/AP.) I want to show massive improvement, and really surprise them by showing a crappy CP year, then shining AP/Honor years with great grades.</p>

<p>Failing that, what colleges will assist me the best in the 3 things that I have shown above that are my career goals. Also colleges must be either free rides, or financial aid covers me completely ( Checked Harvard's Aid I'm covered. )</p>

<p>Failing these 2 things, and you really insist that I take the 40k a year bullet and go to community or some state college, well guess my children will remain first gen college applicants :D.</p>

<p>Thank you for your time, and feel free to give me any ideas or advice that you can, if you want to tell me that I can't do it, please re read right above you, if you still insist, then I don't want to hear you and you can use your time elsewhere. </p>

<p>And if you feel pity that I will be a homeless man for the rest of my life, just remember that John. D Rockefeller finished schooling at age 16, and Carnegie did not even finish elementary. ( I will succeed no matter what happens. )</p>

<p>Thank you,</p>

<p>Brand New Sophomore.</p>

2

<p>I dont understand how your intended career as the president helps you? You sound solid for a flagship state school maybe unless its umich, uva, or berkeley. I mean Im no expert but look at Harvard’s Common Data Set and look how many students get accepted from lower than the top 25% of their class and look at the average gpa. Im confused by what you think sets you so far apart. I feel like you are trolling but whatever. </p>

3

<p>the absolutely unnecessary length of this post makes me cry. Yes, you can turn yourself into a competitive applicant, provided you have a near perfect GPA the rest of your high school career</p>

4

<p>^ Thank you responders! To Transferr, it is simply a career goal. Everyone in my schools guidance department keeps saying that college is necessary and the whole nine yards, so I got ticked off and went to a place where people can actually answer my questions. I am not trolling, I am being serious ( hence the warnings that you may think this is crazy etc. ) And to banshee, thank you for responding, and you have my deepest consiliences for any suffering that you suffered during your reading of my post. Could you possibly elaborate on anything else, as while a near perfect GPA will surely improve my application, I am curious on any more methods to help spice the application. Like several stories of 2.8 GPA football players getting into Harvard etc. How did they end up doing this?</p>

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<p>Look, I am usually a nice guy, but I think you have no shot in hell. Look at my thread about my chance to go to an ivy league.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1659747-chances-for-ivy-league-schools-and-others.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1659747-chances-for-ivy-league-schools-and-others.html#latest&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>even though I worked my ass off in high school, almost perfect SAT, perfect ACT, perfect GPA,perfect PSAT, two sport athlete, multiple honors and club positions,hundreds of hours of volunteering, low income with four siblings, valedictorian, several AP classes, severe racial minority and not a citizen etc, I have a very low chance of being accepted into any Ivy League or high ranking school because that’s just the nature of Ivy league schools. About 5-12% of people are admitted each year! That means, if 100 Harvard applicants were to stand in line, keep in mind these are club leaders, academic savants, AND athletes, only 5 would be allowed.Do YOU think you stack up to these other guys?Try a small school or what not.</p>

<p>You remind me of my senior friends: 2.7 Freshman GPA, 3.0 Sophomore- Senior GPA, 2000 SAT,African American/Hispanic, VERY good basketball and track player(heavily recruited), Few AP, few clubs,and he applied to all 8 ivies. Guess what?He didn’t get in.Now he still went to a good school on a athletic scholarship, but he thought he could get in to an ivy purely because of his athletic success.</p>

<p>Once again, I am not trying to be mean but I am trying to be truthful. Hope this helps.</p>

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<p>Get 100s in the remainder of your classes with a perfect SAT/ACT score and you have a slim slim chance. You have to realize 95% of the applicants are going to have a 4.0 throughout high school along with similar test scores, why should they take you over them? If you really want to go to those schools you’ll have to have a ton of leadership roles alongside some amazing awards/research. </p>

<p>I have never heard of a 2.8 GPA football player that was accepted to any ivy league. That person would flunk out which would be bad for their athletic program. Most athletes range from being a competitive applicant to being able to survive the classes, none of them will have a 2.8 GPA. I would say 3.5 minimum. The ivy league is a D3 football school, so the players aren’t going to be as good as the ones you see on TV. They are the perfect example of a student-athlete. If you can’t raise your GPA to a 3.4-4.0, don’t bother. However, if you do, send them a highlight reel or email the head coach to let them know who you are and that you are interested in playing for them!</p>

<p>Just running through your career ideas:</p>

<p>“CEO, of own startup organization ( Think Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Andrew Carnegie, J.P Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller.)”
All these people have had an absolute extraordinary idea. Do you have one? If not go ahead and go to school and get a degree in business so you can start climbing the ladder to a CEO/CFO. </p>

<p>“President Of The United States, likely will run sometime in my 40’s”
Nobody will elect you if you do not have a college degree. I don’t think there has been a president with a solid college education (whether they withdrew or not) since before 1900? Might want to double check that. </p>

<p>“Be a scientist on the side, likely with my own huge team of fellow scientists inventing cool stuff, which in turn connects with CEO goal.”
So do you want to be a scientist or a CEO? Very different. If you want a huge ass organization like you’re saying it will be near impossible to act as a CEO while also having field experience as a scientist. Also it will be near impossible to get grants without a PhD… so unless you have thousands of dollars to kickstart some research, might want to jump on another idea. </p>

<p>Alright man, so I believe you’ll be successful. You sound like a very determined person! If you don’t go to college, just know it will be a lot harder to be successful. If you have some revolutionary ideas, go ahead and skip out on college. That’s what Gates did. However, if you’re unsure about that… you might want to start elsewhere. I’m not trying to discourage you, I’m just trying to make sure you know the reality of your situation in this day & age. </p>

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<p>I believe that Harvard and the other Ivies are actually Division I FCS in football, although Harvard doesn’t actually participate in the playoffs (or so I’ve read).</p>

<p><a href=“Harvard Crimson football - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Crimson_football&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>^ Thank you to all posters so far. I see we have a few you are not getting iners. To them I ask, well if not Harvard, then what else ( read 3 step rule ) if you are angry at me, I don’t need to hear it. To hibbithopeful, thank you for actually trying to assist me. It’s rare to find someone on the forum who does not go crazy whenever I start talking lol. I see you have many concerns, and you sound like a person who I may learn a lot from. </p>

<p>Thus, I want to ask you this. Originally I wanted Harvard because of the quality of the student body. In turn, when I am ready to begin my startup, I wish to have my startup team be the best possible. I also love the fact that Harvard is absolutely full of money, and won’t just scam me with a piece of paper like 95 percent of higher education does in America. So if I don’t get accepted to any ivy, and don’t go to college, what will be your recommendation on finding a startup team. I have many ideas for this one scenario, however I would love to hear any of your ideas.</p>

9

<p>@Paul13375‌ </p>

<p>Perhaps folks receive you less than warmly because you appear to either be a ■■■■■, or perhaps just not very bright. Perhaps even a not-very-bright ■■■■■.</p>

<p>“Be a scientist on the side, likely with my own huge team of fellow scientists inventing cool stuff, which in turn connects with CEO goal.”</p>

<p>Where have I heard this sort of thing, before? Oh, yes. The young pothead neighbor child (well, he’s 20, but he seems to think like a child) who says he wants to go back to school to learn “physics, but the kind without all that math.”</p>

<p>The goals you’ve written sound like childish fantasies. If you’re a rising sophomore, I guess that’s partly explained by your youth, although I meet many 15 year-olds who seem to have a more realistic view of their potential.</p>

<p>If you’re not a ■■■■■, my recommendation is for you to put your head down, work harder on your studies, see what this year brings, in terms of grades and accomplishments, and not spend time thinking about where you might go to college, if you go at all. You’re just not there, yet.</p>

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<p>To notjoe, I can assure you that they are not fantasies, hence long warnings and request for advice. Do I want to study physics, no, and to quell your concerns over that I am a ■■■■■ or not, here. Firstly, you have the right to not view this post, you also have the right to not post on it. So for anyone who thinks I’m joking, well you don’t have to even click post. Now, a fantasy is generally something that is considered impossible, that someone dreams about saying oh I wish I could… Well, the exact fantasy that I am talking about has been reached by all of the worlds elites. To say that I want more that just go to college, meet nice girl, have babies, work, retire, die is of course easily not a fantasy, as it’s so freaking easy that it’s funny, you just simply need to study and learn.</p>

<p>If hundreds of people who have near infinite amounts of prestige, power, money, and respect can do it, who is to say that I can’t. If you want to work as a slave for the rest of your life, making your boss a whole amount of money, and reinforce this by saying that I am so ‘lucky’ to have a job, well my friend that is why we have freedom. However my definition of freedom is to lead millions of people like you, not the other way around.</p>

<p>Now to any other poster, please stop trying to tell me that I am failing at trolling, because if I was really attempting to ■■■■■, I have already done it as some several people already have a little bruise :D. I wish to ask for advice, simple advice, in order to better learn in order to prepare for the challenges again. If you do not wish to give advice, then don’t give advice, simple isn’t it.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://psychcentral.com/encyclopedia/2008/delusion-of-grandeur/”>http://psychcentral.com/encyclopedia/2008/delusion-of-grandeur/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>^ Yup that’s me gibby. I am narcisstic, however I consider that a positive trait, not a negative one. Here a article for you,<a href=“Narcissistic Leaders: The Incredible Pros, the Inevitable Cons”>http://www.maccoby.com/Articles/NarLeaders.shtml&lt;/a&gt;, and, <a href=“Why Being A Narcissist Is Actually A Good Thing”>http://elitedaily.com/money/entrepreneurship/narcissist-good/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>But I hate a cite article war, I have seen gibby that you are a very famous poster on this forum, any advice that you could give?</p>

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<p>“Firstly, you have the right to not view this post, you also have the right to not post on it. So for anyone who thinks I’m joking, well you don’t have to even click post.”</p>

<p>Ah… I see I got under your skin a little. LOL. I also have the right to read your posts, to get a chuckle out of them, and to comment on them, within the rules of this forum. Which I am now doing. And you have the right to respond or to ignore. By the way, I was being gentle with you.</p>

<p>As for fantasies, well, I suppose that anything is possible. You know, given enough monkeys, enough time, and enough typewriters, you’ll get the complete works of Shakespeare. ;-)</p>

<p>However, I don’t think you’re going to fulfill any of yours. At least, you’re not currently on track to do so.</p>

<p>You misunderstand fundamentally the nature of the success of the folks you cite. They didn’t start out looking for great wealth/fame/power. They started out doing things they loved. Being in the right place at the right time, they took advantages of opportunities that came their way.</p>

<p>At 15, they were interested in following their (how I hate using this word in this context) passion. The wealth and glory and all that came as a byproduct.</p>

<p>You’re focusing on the most shallow part of things. That’s a sure sign that you’re not there.</p>

<p>“I wish to ask for advice, simple advice, in order to better learn in order to prepare for the challenges again.”</p>

<p>I did give you advice: You just didn’t like it. But I’ll repeat it, just in case you missed it: Keep your head down, study hard, improve your grades (a lot), and don’t think about where you’re going to college this year. You’re not ready for it. Maybe next year.</p>

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<p>^ Hehe, you did get under my skin :D. Hey after all, a trait of a Narcist is that they take criticism badly (me). I will take your advice, and I will meditate on it. I also like several things on your post. I will also take these to meditation, and if you don’t mind, I would be glad if you could remain on this post, incase any of my ideas needs correcting.</p>

<p>A Happy Sophomore</p>

15

<p>

Sure, several factors you should consider in your quest for Harvard. You wrote:

According to Harvard’s latest Common Data Set, NOT ONE student admitted to Harvard had a GPA below 3.0 , so you will need to pull your GPA up to a minimum of 3.0. See: C11 Data: <a href=“http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/CDS_2011-2012_Final.pdf”>http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/CDS_2011-2012_Final.pdf&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You also wrote:

Based upon this article, a Harvard recruited athlete needs an Academic Index score of about 220 to be admitted:<a href=“https://www.mka.org/uploaded/college_counseling/Publications/AI_Guidelines_Worksheet.pdf”>https://www.mka.org/uploaded/college_counseling/Publications/AI_Guidelines_Worksheet.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

</p>

<p>Here’s another interesting article about athletic recruiting you should read: <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/sports/before-athletic-recruiting-in-the-ivy-league-some-math.html?pagewanted=all”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/sports/before-athletic-recruiting-in-the-ivy-league-some-math.html?pagewanted=all&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Inputting an unweighted GPA of 3.0 (your projected high) into the Academic Index Calculator, a recruited athlete would need to score a 760+ on each section of the SAT and a 760+ on two SAT Subject tests to have an AI of 219: <a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/academic_index.htm”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/academic_index.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>So, my advice is the same as notjoe’s:

</p>

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<p>Stick with Stanford. They literally will not care about those freshman grades!</p>

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<p>“CEO, of own startup organization ( Think Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Andrew Carnegie, J.P Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller.)”</p>

<p>Why do you aspire to be like J.P Morgan and John D. Rockefeller? They were horrible and selfish people for most of their lives.</p>