Stats:
GPA: 4.15 (scale of 95 at a competitive ISL school)
AP:
MEH: 4
Latin Vergil: 5
US Hist: 5
English Lang/Comp: 5
Next Year: Calc BC, Physics C, Chem, Literature, Latin 5
SAT II’s:
9th grade: 720 Bio
11th grade: 740 Latin, 740 Math Ic, 780 Math IIc
SAT I: 2250, 730 reading, 770 math, 750 writing
EC’s: V. Football (three years), V. Sailing (four years, captain senior year), Eagle Scout, Editor of School Newspaper, Editor of Lit Journal, Debate Captain, Latin Club Consul
Work: 770 hours of lab experience (over three summers) at Harvard Medical School’s Neurogenetics lab. The director is on the board and is writing a rec for me.
Hook: Father went to Harvard, on reunion committee.
I am caucasian as well
<p>maybe the job should go under the hook section...</p>
<p>You seem to very dedicated in your clubs. Your 770 hrs working in a lab at Harvard really sets you apart. Most likely your in at Harvard, since you have connections and are going to recieve an excellent recommendation. As for Yale and Darthmouth..you definitely have a good shot if you get some volunteer hours as well.</p>
<p>By the way I love Latin and I'm going up for consul of my club next year :)!! Is your club going to nationals?</p>
<p>sadly, we arent... we had a tough break at certamen at holy cross. It was most unfortunate... oh yeah, I did forget to mention my volunteer stuff. I volunteer for my church I have about 50 hours there and then I have over 150 ( I need to get my calculations squared away ;)...) for the emergency management branch of my town government. it is a joke really because all I have to do is spend the night in the town house when there is a blizzard. It is no big deal because we would be missing school the next day anyway.</p>
<p>Then I say you have an excellent chance!!
How did y'all do at state? 3 times Texas state champions..latin is like life at my school lol..along with HOSA. Our club runs around in herds at state making noise..lol! Other schools describe our behavior to be cult like...at induction we turn of all the lights, have candles, and like dramatic interpreters all around the cafeteria..haha..pretty freaky!</p>
<p>wow... that is intense. yeah, we dont really have that much devotion, but strangely private schools in the ISL (Roxbury Latin, Milton Academy, St. Sebastian's and the like) dont have states. we just go to our own classics competition at holy cross. this year we were defeated but who knows how next year will be. Our school has a big connection with classics at holy cross and harvard. We had pr. richard thomas from harvard come and give us an oral exam, "the actus", on our lines of the aeneid. We do more of that kind of stuff sadly. it is too bad we arent more competitive</p>
<p>great sats and i think the sailing sets you apart.. and since you are a legacy you have a tip factor compared to other applicants</p>
<p>There has been a lot of talk on CC lately about whether or not luck is involved in getting into HYPSM. College guides have used the terms "crap shoot" and "lottery", and this is unfortunate since it makes the whole thing sound like it is based on luck. Where luck comes in is during the final cut. There are so many extremely well qualified applicants for so few places. Harvard typically has 15000 applicants and they only accept about 1500. In the final cut, applicants who are nearly clones of each other are competing for the finite number of open slots and picking between the clones ends up being pretty much random, or so the college guides and newspaper articles say.</p>
<p>Your test scores are enough to qualify you for the final cut. They don't split hairs after a person has high enough academic measures. Your EC's are superb, but they are not outstanding at the national/regional level. Being Editors of the newspaper and Lit Journal are important since they show leadership. If you were Captain on any of the teams, you should say that for the same reason. Unfortunately, Eagle Scout doesn't count for as much as it should. (Congratuations, though.) You obviously have a advantage with your father being an active alum. Legacy can be important, but it is really important with the relation is an active alum. The work at the lab is important, but don't present it being the hook itself. Your hook is your intense interest in medical research. The lab work is a way of showing your achievement and devotion to your area of interest. Mention the director's name on your app. Extra recs are not always read because they might consider them fluff recs from people who don't know you well. </p>
<p>You obviously have a good chance. If you are applying SCEA, that would help too.</p>
<p>thanks guys for your thoughtful responses. I put down the name of the director of the lab on my app, but I wasnt sure if I should on the web. I am definitely doing scea to harvard. I would apply early to dartmouth (I like it a bit more), but they only have early decision.</p>