<p>im a freshman right now and i havent done any honors or ap courses this school year. I really want to go to harvard, but seeing that others have already done several honors classes or even an ap class in their freshman year really brings my hopes down of making it there. My second year is coming up, and i am only enrolled in 2 honors classes next year, which are honors english 2 and honor chorale. I have also signed up for ap music theory but i still need to talk to my counselor about whether or not i am accepted into the class. so please tell me whether or not i have already blown my chances of making it there or still have a shot.</p>
<p>If honors courses seem too rigorous for you, Harvard’s curriculum will certainly be too rigorous for you.</p>
<p>Harvard people know how to use capital letters .</p>
<p>You need to show that Harvard that you are challenging yourself.</p>
<p>If your school didn’t offer, or only offered a limited amount of AP/Honors classes, then that is a whole other matter.</p>
<p>If you’re passing up AP courses and even honors classes, you are going to find many colleges will look down on your record. Plenty of time though.</p>
<p>Harvard wants kids that are near-perfect in every way. That means to use your FULL potential. Experiment, you’ll figure it out sometime soon. I know I did.</p>
<p>Sheesh, listen to yourselves. No, Harvard will not be disappointed in your application because you passed up AP courses as a Freshman. Yes, they will be disappointed in your application if you did not demonstrate excellence in at least several ways - academic excellence, athletics, extracurricular activities, and community involvement. Not that I said “several”, and not “all”. Out of the people who did demonstrate excellence in several areas, they will accept some. The rare student who has proven him/herself on a national or global stage will have somewhat better likelihood, if all the other pieces are in place.</p>
<p>As a Freshman, you can help yourself by preparing to take AP courses (or other challenging courses), and doing well in them when you do take them. Ultimately, you want your guidance counselor to check that you took the most demanding coursework that a student in your school could. You can also get involved in other activities, activities in which you are actually interested. Then you won’t have to scramble and settle later so you feel you have a more complete application.</p>
<p>When you apply to college, your guidance counselor must fill out the Common Application’s Secondary School Report (SSR): <a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/commonapp/docs/downloadforms/SSR_School_Form.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/commonapp/docs/downloadforms/SSR_School_Form.pdf</a>.
The report asks your GC to rate the rigor of your academic program compared to other students at your school (page 2). All selective colleges – not just Harvard – are looking for you to take the MOST DEMANDING PROGRAM offered at your school. Are you now taking the most demanding courses offered a freshman at your HS? Next year, will your course rigor match or exceed those of other students at your HS? Those are questions only you and your GC can answer.</p>
<p>Realistically, successful applicants are the most outstanding students in their high schools. In a big and highly competitive high school, a successful Harvard applicant may be one of the few outstanding scholars in the class; in a smaller or less competitive high school, a successful applicant may be the best student in the last several years. (And, curiously, everybody on College Confidential seems to go to an extremely competitive high school. To judge from CC, no fewer than 500 American high schools seem to be “one of the top 100 high schools in the country.”) If there are other students in your class who have already taken many more honors classes than you have, you have probably handicapped yourself greatly if you want to go to Harvard.</p>
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<p>imntwo, I don’t know where you’re getting this. I have to disagree. While it may be true that Harvard selects applicants who excel in several areas, academic excellence is a non-negotiable requirement (except perhaps for the occasional scion of a wealthy and generous family). </p>
<p>The student who lags behind many of his or her classmates in class rigor just won’t get to the full admissions committee, let alone through it. Unless I’ve misunderstood something important, this poster, who plans to have completed one academic honors course by the end of sophomore year, will be lagging behind many others in his or her class.</p>
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<p>That was not nice–and kind of ironic coming from a grown woman who consistently fails to format punctuation correctly.</p>