<p>I will make as an early admission to Harvard. The biggest problem for me is ENGLISH. Chance me to this university as an international applicant. I really appreciate suggestions about how to improve them and anything about this subject</p>
<p>While your science projects and awards are most impressive, your Critical Reading score and grasp of grammar are not up to par. Have you considered applying to MIT, or Cal Tech --schools which do not have such demanding liberal arts courses required for their graduates?</p>
<p>Thank you for your feedback! Yes of course. I will make admission also for other universities, because I don’t want to lose one year from my life only Harvard will not accept me. But I am thinking Harvard is not interesting for international students at English proficiency. I mean I can not compete with an American at English, because in my country English it is not official and I am practicing it only two hours per week and I can not have the same English. </p>
<p>For instance Harvard is not requiring TOEFL for admission. Now I am preparing for TOEFL to retake it.</p>
<p>If I am wrong then say it, because I can not have so much information as you.
Thanks and cheers :)</p>
<p>". . . Harvard is not requiring TOEFL for admission. If I am wrong then say it, because I can not have so much information as you."</p>
<p>Students who have a better grasp of English will not struggle their first year at Harvard, and I think the admissions office is aware of that fact. Admissions will look at your CR and grammar scores and be aware that English is not your strongest suit, regardless of TOEFL.</p>
<p>Thanks for your opinion. I try to do my best for the next SAT to improve my chances at Harvard. I have more than 120 national awards in computer science from my country. Should I write all these awards or should I mention only a text?</p>
<p>I strongly suggest that you go for MIT if you are dead set on applying early anywhere…
While your achievements are impressive, your English proficiency (or the lack thereof) will be a stumbling block.
Also, I recommend that you be selective with the number of awards and activities you put down on your application. When I applied, I reduced a list with about 20 activities down to 6 and a list of probably 20 awards down to 5 - it’s possible. The line between humility and well-grounded confidence, on one hand, and arrogance and ostentation, on the other hand, is fine. You don’t want to come off as a person of the latter kind. ;)</p>
<p>Ok Thanks for the feedback. Firstly I don’t really understand your arguments. Firstly I have about 130 different national awards in my country. Secondly I didn’t want to write all of these 130 awards and I thought it will be better to mention that I have received more than 130 awards and to write only these 15 international awards, which all of them are very very important. </p>
<p>Why should I not mention that I am an co author to a math book? Why should I not mention that I had participated in 6 national conferences about computer science? </p>
<p>If I am wrong just say it to me. Also I really appreciate all of the opinions. </p>
<p>I think it’s very impressive in and of itself.
Remember these schools don’t just look for the most impressive students, they look for the most impressive among each category. You have to beat all of the math/computer science people. I have to beat all of the politicians, as they want a well rounded and very diverse class. They basically are social engineers.
I’d be concerned therefore about your english; your form’s english is no where near perfect and your scores will shine out saying <em>problem</em>. They might overlook the problem, I reckon if your essays are really, really good they’ll do it, if not I’d be concerned.
Furthermore it’ll probably be that your rival computer-science/math people will have significantly better english scores.
I’d remove all the ones you were unable to participate in, and possibly anything that isn’t first/best. Include the 130 statistic and leave it at that. They only need to get the impression that your a future top-major in computer science/tech guy etc.
Do you have any non-computer science/tech achievements? Community service/sport/enterprise etc? That might help to balance your application.
Also your physics score of 710 seems a little low?</p>
<p>Good luck, you’ve obviously worked really hard. I’m sure you’ll get into a really good school, for somewhere with such a low admissions rate as Harvard I’d suggest some of the above to put you ahead of the other tech people.</p>
<p>Okay…
Why you should not put down all of the awards/ certificates/ accolades/ activities?
First, you want your application to have focus. While schools like Harvard do look for well-rounded individuals, my personal feeling is that in addition to that overall well-roundedness, they do look for some exceptional talent in that one field - politics, science, IT, athletics, etc. Therefore, if you have some significant accomplishments in one area (you definitely do), then center your application around them. It will give a sense of coherence.
Second, you shouldn’t put all of the activities you have done and awards you have received because at one point it looks like a “let’s-impress-the-colleges” list and not like a list of activities which you are truly passionate about. </p>
<p>In my case - I was extremely passionate about politics. I also had national and international awards. On the other hand, I was also somewhat involved in organizations like Junior Achievement, Rotary and I also performed in some plays - all of these I left out of my application. And it worked! :)</p>
<p>I want to thank you for the feedback! I really appreciate you tried to response to my topic.</p>
<p>@NickBonstow, @amk933 I think my advantage are my international awards. 15 different awards from 11 countries. I really want to use my advantage to be selected.</p>
<p>@NickBonstow I am a member in a Foundation for the Development of my Country. I am teaching Artificial Intelligence in a local University in my county, also I receive money for my courses where I teach, I can give grades to the students. I had been in some environmental science fair Olympiads(of course in the computer science category, but the purpose was to make the world/environment better).
I had been in 7 computer science summer camps from my country.
Co author to a math book with a teacher.
I made a Christian online community to spread the word of God.</p>
<p>Personally I don’t think the international students have a really good knowledge of English. I mean I live in a country from the Eastern Europe, and my mother’s language is a Latin based language, not a slavic one. For me it is really hard to learn and to be better than an American. I think my English it is relatively good. Because it is a very civilized country and the English level from my country it is very high, I mean I am not from Middle East or from Asia. I can not defeat an American or a British, because I am studying English only two hours per week in my school, and the Americans are practicing the English everywhere. </p>
<p>I guarantee that the essays will be really awesome. Also I can receive recommendations from Phd. teachers from very known universities from my country.</p>
<p>By the way: I want to impress the admission officer with my performance(this is my advantage right?), because I think any Ivy university is looking for the best students. Best universities best students. In spite taking a simple student who speaks very well English(as a native one) they will prefer to take a really awesome student.</p>
<p>I’m glad you’re confident about your chances, at the end of the day you can only put in the best application you can framed best around what you’ve done, and hope for the best! You clearly believe you’ve done is that, so good luck to you.</p>
<p>Yes, your achievements are very impressive, however top universities want to see that you are capable of succeeding in all of their classes, not just one field. Thus, they look for significant English, critical reading and writing skills. Despite your presumption, many international applicants have excellent scores in CR and writing, and those are the candidates you will be judged against. </p>
<p>It is not enough to complain that you have only had 2 hours a week of English in your school. There are many self-taught programs online you can use to increase your competantcy. A school like Harvard expects you to seek out such educational aids independently.</p>
<p>If you carefully read the Harvard curriculum, with the Gen Ed requirements, you will see the huge number of classes which require extensive reading and writing. The subtleties of English are crucial for successful written analyses in the lengthy papers required. </p>
<p>The suggestions to apply to tech schools such as MIT, CalTech, etc., were given because those schools require far fewer classes in English, Expository Writing, History, Sociology, etc. Thus you could focus on your strengths in computer science, artificial intelligence, and math. </p>
<p>Is there any reason, besides international prestige, you are so heavily focussed on Harvard? You may want to include other schools as options, as no one a shoo-in at Harvard, no matter how many awards one receives. Perhaps when your English skills improve, you would have a great chance for acceptace for a Master’s or Ph.D. graduate program.</p>
<p>Harvard has long required that students take a set of courses outside of their concentration in order to ensure that their undergraduate education encompasses a broad range of topics and approaches. The new Program in General Education seeks to connect in an explicit way what students learn in Harvard classrooms to life outside the ivied walls and beyond the college years. The material taught in general education courses is continuous with the material taught in the rest of the curriculum, but the approach is different. These courses aim not to draw students into a discipline, but to bring the disciplines into students’ lives. The Program in General Education introduces students to subject matter and skills from across the University, and does so in ways that link the arts and sciences with the 21st century world that students will face and the lives they will lead after college.</p>
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<p>I really understand your points, but my question is: Why Harvard doesn’t require TOEFL ( a standardized test to prove your proficiency of English for international students), because all of others universities require a such test. </p>
<p>A few months ago I found a different page where it said: If you are a very talented student and you did a really good thing(many international awards), then they can consult your essays to check if you can practice the English and if the essays are good they can make an idea of your English proficiency and you will not be very disadvantaged . </p>
<p>I’m not sure why Harvard doesn’t require a TOEFL, but they should. My daughter, who’s first language is English, struggles to get an ‘A’ in her courses. I cannot imagine taking those same courses without being proficient in English; it would be like setting yourself up for failure.</p>
