Chance me for Harvard and other Ivy's

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hi everyone:</p>

<p>I am going into my junior year in high school.</p>

<p>GRADES:</p>

<p>Freshman year:</p>

<p>All honors</p>

<p>Geometry: A
Physics: A
French 2: A
World History: A
English: A
Band: A</p>

<p>Sophomore year:</p>

<p>All honors plus APUSH</p>

<p>Algebra 2: A-
Chemistry: A+
French: A
English: A
APUSH: B+
Band: A</p>

<p>Cumulative GPA of 3.93</p>

<p>TEST SCORES:</p>

<p>APUSH AP Exam: 5
US SAT II: 760</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS/AWARDS:</p>

<p>Gilmore award for most outstanding freshman band musician
Music department award for most outstanding sophomore musician
Honorable mention sophomore year in foreign language for excellence</p>

<p>Trombone in Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble (pretty selective)
Sole sophomore to be in All-State; 3rd chair in band
1st chair in Senior Districts (sophomore)
1st chair in Junior Districts (freshman)
Section leader of marching band, section leader of jazz band, section leader of pit orchestra
In community band and New England Conservatory brass quintet</p>

<p>Varsity Ski Team since freshman year</p>

<p>Silver award for community service for 175+ hours; will receive two more when done with high school</p>

<p>Took a Harvard computer science class at the college called CS-50; one of seven high school students to take it
Two iOS apps and one Android app
A bunch of websites/webapps (two many to list)
Work at Mass General as a web developer in the summer
President of Computer Science Club
Self-taught proficiency in Objective-C, Java, HTML, CSS, PHP, SQL, JavaScript, and TI-BASIC</p>

<p>I just don't know if my GPA will bring me down.</p>

2

<p>Why? Why? Why ask about chances when you haven’t even taken the SAT or finished your junior year? It is great to be concerned but don’t worry. You have good EC’s, continue to develop them and bring your GPA up.</p>

3

<p>Well, won’t my individual GPA for sophomore year be looked at by colleges?</p>

4

<p>^^ All selective colleges look at your cumulative GPA through junior year – and even then, they ask for a mid-senior year report and a final report to make sure you haven’t come down with senioritess. Your cumulative GPA is fine, but I agree, without an SAT/ACT score, it’s too early to ask for chances.</p>

5

<p>It’s just that for my school, the accepted average at Harvard is a 4.05. My sister had a 3.99 cumulative and got in, but I’m just worried that my GPA is sub-par.</p>

6

<p>So you believe your 0.06 differential will put you on the reject pile? You well may be rejected but it won’t be because of that.</p>

<p>Talk to your sister.</p>

<p>BTW it’s not “Ivy’s” but “Ivies”. The apostrophe is used for possessive, not plurality</p>

7

<p>Well, also the fact that I heard that you were allowed one B on your transcript, and I have one already. There’s no telling how I might do next year.</p>

8

<p>You’re mistaken about the one B.</p>

9

<p>I understand that there is no formula to get in, but I heard from a Harvard admissions officer that you get one B.</p>

10

<p>I find that difficult to believe because CLEARLY the admit students who regularly have multiple Bs. Perhaps you misheard or he/she mispoke since that statement flies against facts.</p>

11

<p>ConfHighSchooler: You clearly misheard the Admissions officer.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/CDS_2011-2012_Final.pdf[/url]”>http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/CDS_2011-2012_Final.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

</p>

<p>So . . . </p>

<p>8.51% of accepted Harvard students had a GPA of 93.5 or less.
3.80% of accepted Harvard students had a GPA of 87.3 or less.</p>

<p>. . . that would mean that some, but not all, accepted Harvard students had MORE than one B on their transcript. You are fine with one B. Try not to let it happen again! Best of luck to you.</p>

12

<p>Please keep in mind that that was on a 4.0 scale. My GPA is calculated using a 4.33 scale.</p>

13

<p>Well, then you should probably talk with your guidance counselor for instructions on how to translate your weighted GPA into an unweighted one. Because, your weighted GPA of 3.93/4.33 = 90.76. That doesn’t make sense to me, as you only have one B. (Unless the there are other, more rigorous courses at your school available that you have not taken.)</p>

14

<p>That GPA is unweighted. 3.93 unweighted. My school does not have weighted GPAs.</p>

15

<p>Is your unweighted GPA a 90.76 (3.93/4.33)?</p>

16

<p>Yes. That’s what it was listed as. That means that I would be in the bottom 9% of students on that statistic.</p>

17

<p>Yes, that would seem to place you in the bottom 9%. </p>

<p>However, check with your guidance counselor to see if anyone from your high school has been admitted to Harvard with your current GPA. (If your school uses Naviance, or some other software to track college acceptances, you could also check the data yourself.) Your individual high school’s statistics will be more reliable than the general statistics used in Harvard’s Common Data Set.</p>

18

<p>I checked Naviance, and the accepted average was 4.05. See, this is why I’m concerned.</p>

19

<p>Then you have reason to be concerned, but the only person who can help you in this situation is you guidance counselor. You need to talk to them when school starts back up.</p>

20

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