<p>GPA 3.7 UW (hardest possible courses for all but biology)
no ap results yet
psat 10th grade: 187
psat 11th: 199
sat 11th: 2190
(going to retake, will hopefully do 50-100 points better)
rank: no ranks at our school but i'm somewhere in the top 10 in terms of grades for our class
EC's and stuff
Math Team
Ocean Science Team
Chess Team
Piano
have created a 10 minute very well done film which i plan to submit in my arts supplement
ping pong club
soccer intramural
Work as a math tutor
interned at local television station
chernobyl childrens project
fluent in russian, decent in french and spanish
have traveled to 26 countries
taking harvard ssp course "Utopia and Anti-Utopia" this summer</p>
<p>note: i go to a pretty famous high school, and for instance 5 people get into harvard from my school every year
i think i might be in the top 5 of the people applying to harvard so that could raise my chances as well</p>
<p>if i understand correctly, my EC's are ok but i'm not great in terms of grades
however, hopefully, since i'm taking two histories and no science next year, i'll have a much better gpa without science</p>
<p>oh yeah also currently i’m enrolled in AP math, spanish, US, english honors ( we don’t have AP), bio honor, digital video III Independent study
next year will be enrolled in AP math, spanish, euro, gov, and film and fiction
grade size is 500 people
also
one of my recc’s should be amazing
my film teacher thinks i’m a genius</p>
<p>If you’re in top ten with a 3.7 UW, I’m confused about how your schools so prestigious.</p>
<p>I agree with Gryffon, your UW is a bit too low. Ivies like leaders, but it seems like you don’t have much of that from what you’ve given. If you’re in leadership roles in all those clubs, now that’s a different story. Also, definitely try to hit 2250 with your SATs so that you can at least sorta make up for the mediocre GPA. Your classes don’t seem too difficult either(standard junior course at my school is 2-3 APs and 2-3 Honors), which is also again why i’m wondering how your school really ranks. It might be legacy that’s getting these students in, so you should check on that.</p>
<p>last bit of advice, it seems like you’ve got a strong interest in film. I don’t know if looking into Ivies is the right direction for you then.</p>
<p>GPA only matters in the context of his school. At some schools you would be val with a 3.7, at others you would not be top 20%. </p>
<p>Many top prep schools send over 30% to ivies. It’s silly to say someone’s GPA is too low as rank is all that matters and colleges figure out a rank for students when they come from schools that don’t rank.</p>
<p>it’s actually just that looking at his SATs I couldn’t see how he ranks so well…</p>
<p>at my school, all the top kids break 2300.</p>
<p>yet we send 1 to Harvard every 3 years if we’re lucky. not complainin’. its probably because our school’s students are mostly a bunch of narrow-minded twats whose essays were probably worthless.</p>
<p>If you’re in the top 10, then your GPA is clearly fine; if not, then a 3.7 isn’t going to kill you at those schools but its not going to make you a shoo-in. Try to get it up a bit, regardless.</p>
<p>If you want to take the SATs again, that’s fine, but you certainly don’t have a preventative score - that is to say, won’t be denied just because your SAT is a 2190.</p>
<p>The thing that I would focus on most is ECs, but rather than trying to join more groups or heading more programs, pick a few which you really love and get a leadership position. Admissions folks don’t want to see that you’ve just been collecting random ECs like a magpie collects shiny things. </p>
<p>Maybe focus on volunteering, or on developing your foreign languages - you could self-study spanish and french to the point where you were fluent in both.</p>
<p>You have some impressive things going for you, and by no means are you guaranteed to not get into the Ivies; just focus things a bit more, right some kickass essays, get great recs and you’re well in the running.</p>
<p>thank you for all your suggestions
i go to Brookline High School, a public school, which has many famous alumni like theo epstein, conan o’brian and mike wallace
however my grade does not have a ton of people with 4.0’s and 2400’s
in fact, no one in my grade got a 2400 and only 3 people have a 4.0
its true that i’m in two honors classes which is no good, however, next year it will be 4 ap’s and a class that makes sense as part of my app
in terms of leadership positions, i’m kinda head of chess club since i play first board, and math team and ocean science i’m on A team, don’t know if that makes a difference @akmeecheen 2250 is indeed what i’m hoping for when i’m retaking
my freind got 2190 first time and 2340 second time and i’m confident i can do at least 50 points better
as for film, i’m not sure i would want to do film as my main intrest, but i believe colleges could be intrested in me having a bend towards film
this could be one of the main unique things about me</p>
<p>oh and there are several people with better SAT scores, however only 2 of them are intresting in going to ivy league, the others are smart, but don’t really care about college and therefore have no extra curriculars and pretty weak grades
there is a person in my school with legacy and 4.0 and 2370, then another person with 4.0 and 2340, and afterwards, can’t really think of many great students
of course i don’t know about sports, and 5 getting admitted the last two years could just be an accident and not a rule, in which case, i probably have no chance -.-</p>
<p>also
which EC’s would you reccomend i work on and which ones i drop?
and other than chernobyl childrens project do i need more community service or is it overrated?</p>
<p>If you’re in Brookline, it’s likely that many who pass through your high school have a Harvard connection. Not just legacies but staff kids too. Harvard and most schools also look for low income kids from their own communities to serve.</p>
<p>honestly, any unconnected Boston resident has a very big uphill battle to get into Harvard and all the ivies, it’s an incredibly competitive pool. Have some strong choices below this group.</p>
<p>oh yeah also i forgot to say i got 760 on math SATII
and taking world history and us history later this year
its true that there are many people in the boston area with connections, but harvard also accepts much more from the area around them than from other places so its relative</p>
<p>I think you need more depth in your extra curriculars- one of my friends got into Princeton this year and was waitlisted by Harvard- she didn’t even have her final grades for her HK exams, just her GCSEs (grade 10 I think in the US system)</p>
<p>She had hardly any ecs apart from </p>
<p>One HK team representation for Public Speaking at the World Championships
And two internships at pretty big companies- so I guess depth DOES count for something. </p>
<p>Actually what you COULD do is find an activity which is easier to get into and have some national level success- that way you get some uniqueness into your app as well</p>