CHANCES (except i'm actually INTERESTING to read about!)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>ok, now that i've got you in with my "hook" title...</p>

<p>700 CR
750 M
800 W</p>

<p>760 CHEM
750 US HIST</p>

<p>5 CHEM AP
5 ENG LANG&COMP AP
5 US HIST AP</p>

<p>4.4 GPA, top 10%</p>

<p>captain of drumline</p>

<p>drummer in progressive rock band (4 years)</p>

<h1>1 singles JV tennis last year</h1>

<p>founder of local boomerang club</p>

<p>dance dance revolution school champion (2000 students)</p>

<p>100% white (bummer, i know)</p>

<p>one of the best high schools in california (private, Catholic).</p>

<p>I have played guitar for 6 years, and drums for 5. love music (especially tool and MUSE)</p>

<p>I am human. That's a plus, right?</p>

<p>50-hour internship last summer at a Credit Union to learn about finance, economics careers.</p>

<p>lots of community service!</p>

<p>---IF YOU THINK I HAVE NO CHANCE HERE, WHICH IVIES WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR SOMEONE LIKE ME? I'M TRYING TO DECIDE WHERE TO APPLY.</p>

<p>and sorry to disappoint, but i'm actually NOT interesting at all. I lied in the title.</p>

2

<p>Hard to tell what your chances are - a lot is going to depend on how you come off in essays or presentations. Which other Ivy schools? I applied to Harvard because I wanted urban - so I applied to Barnard (no Columbia in those days), Brown and U. Penn. But maybe you would like a more bucolic setting (Cornell or Dartmouth). Maybe you have a secret yearning for restaurant management (only Cornell), maybe you'd like to be near NYC (Princeton, Columbia), maybe you want to take a course from famous professor ____. (Pick a college.), quirkiest marching band (Columbia and Princeton according to a Princeton friend of my son's). There are all kinds of things to consider, but you haven't given us a clue what you like about Harvard.</p>

3

<p>well I really like the suburban environment of Cambridge, but what I'm really trying to ask here is what achievements do I have that match what various Ivy League universities are looking for, because I know that each of them use different criteria for evaluating admission...</p>

4

<p>Okay, umm, you will porbably write a good essay, because that was genuinely a pretty catchy post. </p>

<p>Other than that. . . I know this is not what you want to hear. . . but you are a possible but not particularly strong candidate for HYP. Definitely in the running, definitely should apply; but Harvard's a reach/slight reach for you, I think.</p>

<p>I'd definitely consider NYU, actually. . . maybe the business program? NYU is giving the Ivies a run for their money in terms of popularity.</p>

<p>If your only priority is going to an Ivy league school, I'd say that your numbers are a solid match for the somewhat less selective ones. . . Cornell/Columbia/etc. But the real question is where you <em>want</em> to end up.</p>

5

<p>Cambridge, suburban? Have you been there?</p>

<p>I really don't know how Ivy's differ in what they look for. Harvard is looking for a mix. They'll accept some just for top-notch academics, some for top-notch abilities (i.e. YoYo Ma caliber cello playing), some for potential leadership skills, some for athletics, some for development reasons. I never felt there was one Harvard type - except perhaps a certain independence. Not a lot of followers there.</p>

6

<p>I am also curious about why the Ivies are the only place you are looking. Maybe it's because I'm an immigrant, and have lived in CA most of my 25 years in the US, but the view from outside the US is not as Ivy-centric as it seems to be in the NE, nor is that the case in CA. The US has so many world-renowned universities, I find the obsessions with the Ivies somewhat strange, and it is clearly a NE disease only. Something to consider, as you make up your college list...</p>

7

<p>interesting?</p>

8

<p>captain of drumline
founder of local boomerang club
dance dance revolution school champion (2000 students)</p>

<p>That is interesting enough. On chances, ditto Lotf</p>

9

<p>I think there MUST be some notice on CC to clarify the point that Ivy League is a SPORTS LEAGUE. It is not an academic league. There're so many good universities which are NOT in the league. A friend of mine who said that she's going to apply to all of the Ivies actually thought that Stanford and MIT are in the Ivy League. She didn't get in any of them btw.</p>

10

<p>very true, 6y6y6y - I find remarkably few students know that fact...when I went to a columbia session some years ago, the officer opened by pointing this out - it clearly came as news to a lot of the audience...</p>

11

<p>I'm thinking that my top 4 choices are Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, and Columbia. I have visited the first three and loved the areas, especially H and D--I have this strange penchant for the East coast ambience, especially at really historical schools...probably since I'm so used to Los Angeles, devoid of weather and seasons.</p>

<p>To everyone: thanks a lot for your comments; they have been very helpful...and I'm not really as Ivy-centric as it sounds, I just happen to see them as my top choices...Notre Dame, UC Berkeley, and Michigan are also on my list.</p>

<p>And I think if something is difficult to get, (i.e. only 9% of those who want it get it) it becomes more desirable in general, even by those who know nothing about it. This little maxim is too overbearing in students' college choices these days, since many of them think they have to go to top-10-USN&WR-ranked colleges to be happy.</p>

<p>I also find it somewhat hilarious that I can objectively criticize a certain belief while still holding adamantly to it.</p>

<p>:)</p>

12

<p>actually, i think that your chances are pretty good, numbers wise, although, even a 2400 4.8 GPA valedictorian has to think of Harvard as a reach (that's not me, just the most crazy, over-the-top qualified person i could think of). as far as being interesting, i think as long as you can sell yourself with a big "hey, look at me, i'm interesting" wrap (ie, essays and recs), then you have a good shot. make those ecs work for you!!
good luck.</p>

13

<p>1MX? You ok? </p>

<p>Indiejimmy, theoretical question: You seem to be pretty serious about your music (rather odd gusto & band combo though) - record deal or Harvard?</p>

14

<p>Education is my first priority (what good is a lot of money if you don't know how to live?).</p>

<p>But if a record deal came along, I can't say that I would decline it on the spot...</p>

<p>As for my band combo of tool/Muse, which I assume you are referring to:</p>

<p>Tool: I admire the time signature experimentation and creatively attractive bass riffs, along with Maynard James Keenan's intense vocal ability coupled with his shrewd lyrical insights. Danny Carey is my favorite drummer, also.</p>

<p>Muse: Matthew Bellamy is the greatest modern "rock god" of the 21st century, proven through his incredible ability to play guitar, sing, and play keyboard, all of which give the 3-piece band the sound of an entire rock orchestra. "Starlight" and "Stockholm Syndrome" are standouts in my mind.</p>

<p>What made you ask that question?</p>

15

<p>Record deal equals money? Ah, think better of me!</p>

<p>While I respect your "education is my first priority" attitude (hello, Harvard forum), downtrodden passions and talents can be quite dangerous.</p>

<p>Now, here is my chief concern: Harvard is supposed to teach you how to live? Wow. Paraphrasing dear Mr. Gladwell (yes, again) I will have to
distinguish between treatment effects (Marine Corps) and selection effects (modelling agency). You don't become smart by attending Harvard. You get to attend Harvard because you're smart. On top of that, you won't be singnificantly(!) smarter after graduating.</p>

16

<p>I appreciate your enthusiasm for contemporary music, something all too hard to find among high school students. But, this?</p>

<p>"Muse: Matthew Bellamy is the greatest modern "rock god" of the 21st century"</p>

<p>Check out Ira Kaplan from Yo La Tengo. The way that Muse gets off aping Radiohead for the past 6 years irks me like crazy.</p>

17

<p>That's not really what I meant. I meant to imply that going to college gives one an extraordinarily broadened perspective on the world by allowing one to take classes with exceptional professors and to build friendships with exceptional peers. Experiencing four years of this will not necessarily "teach one how to live," but it will play a strong part in developing one's values and goals in life.</p>

<p>But maybe I just have an overly romantic view of college...</p>

18

<p>to padfoot: I'll check out this Kaplan fellow, but I'm not sure I agree with your statement about "aping." Yorke's style is much more experimental than Bellamy's.</p>

19

<p>Yes, they've certainly diverged since Kid A. IDK about Tool and Muse but I can definitely appreciate their disparate influences, notably 70s 80s and 90s music like Wire, The Clash, Portishead, Roxy Music, etc.</p>

20

<p>indiejimmy, have you thought about brown? you seem like you might fit in there. it is an ivy, granted, a poor obscure one which no one in my family (or apparently, anyone else on the west coast) had heard of before me, but still...</p>