Chances for Harvard Regular Application

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hello everyone, </p>

<p>I was born in China, but have Canadian Citizenship, and currently studying in a public school in New York State.</p>

<p>I speak fluently French, English, and Chinese.
I lived in Quebec and received French education for four years, with little training in English. Then I came to U.S. for high school, with only basic knowledge in English.</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA: 4.0
SAT I: 800 MAth; 710 Verbal; 1510 total
SAT II: 800 French; 800 World History; 790 in Math; 790 in Bio; 710 Writing
A total of 12 AP’s:
2 in Sophomore Year: French language and World History (didn’t take class, but took exam): both received 5.
5 in Junior Year: Bio, French literature (independant study), American history:5s. English, Physics B: 4s.
5 in Senior Year: Chem, Physics C, Calculus, English, AP government.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: </p>

<p>School Newspaper writer (soph), editor (junior), then editor-in-chief (senior).
Model UN chair, received many awards
Science olympiad: regional bronze metalist.
Math team: County All-star
FBLA member for 1 year and secretary for senior year; won local recognition and went to states.
JV Track Team for 1 year.
Won a national recognition for a French competition (I competed in a group of people who received education in French-speaking country)</p>

<p>Member of local Red Cross (about 150 hours total): volunteer at a Refugee settlement organization, a local museum, and local UN organization.</p>

<p>Decent essay; decent recommandations, but not great.</p>

<p>Intend to study biotechnology or pharmacy.</p>

<p>Please evaluate my chances.</p>

2

<p>hate to break it to you, but the science olympiad regional medal means nothing. my state medals mean nothing, even though I'm in one of the most competitive s.o. states. also, they like to see commitment, so 1 year of ecs isn't great. national french rec might get you a few points. I'd say your chances are as good as most applicants; I don't see a particular hook that would guarantee you admission, nor a fault that would deny you admission.</p>

3

<p>I actually don't think the French award would mean very much. Since you lived in a French-speaking area for four years, it's kinda assumed that you would be good in French. Other than that I agree with astrophysicist's remarks.</p>

4

<p>Astro, what event were you...yeah, i put my state events and medals down...but in retrospect that wasn't so impressive</p>

<p>Ivy, you have a good shot, try and mention your APs, are you ranked top 5% and stuff? You have to write out your EC's in a more focused way. A regional SO medal, especially bronze, isn't that good. Most 4-year SO'ers have 7-8 Regional Medals because its really easy at that level. Mention your leadership too.</p>

<p>With FBLA, being a state qualifier isn't so great, but talk about your contributions to that chapter.</p>

5

<p>thank you all</p>

6

<p>Harvard is obsessed with 1st and 2nd ranked kids. I heard (someone correct me if I'm wrong), that 2400 of 2800 freshman last year were val/sal in their high school.
I'm assuming the other 400 were comprised mostly of minorities, recruits, alumnae kids, and kids nationally recognized in something.
To that end, it would be wise not to get attached to the school; be shocked and ecstatic if you get in, but brush it off if you dont.
Is the admissions commity misguided? Certainly.
Is there anything we can do about it? Nope.</p>

<p>Best of luck though!</p>

7

<p>I've done so many events... let's see... at states last year I did astro, obviously, remote sensing, write it do it, experimental design, forestry, and mission (the whole mission blowing up thing was so not my fault if you heard about that... the person who was supposed to watch mission before we competed left, and it got tampered with while they were gone. well, it didn't completely blow up, but it definitely smoked, and we had 5 or 6 touches. it worked perfectly multiple times before it was tampered with).</p>

<p>I didn't put my state medals down, b/c there wasn't enough room in the common app online box... maybe I should've added them somewhere else, even though they don't mean that much.</p>

8

<p>darmani, there's only about 1650 kids per class.</p>

9

<p>besides...i doubt being a val is the deciding factor...my school got a law suit on something that has to do with ranking...so we're not graduating by rank...so</p>

10

<p>no ranking here either, because school feared that those competitive students are going to kill each other.</p>

11

<p>When it comes to Harvard and Princeton, stats are not always what count. For instance, you could have a perfect SAT score, and Rank in the top 1% of your high school class, yet still get rejected from Harvard. Basically, you need something that REALLY stands out about yourself because just having great stats does not cut it. They reject countless valedictorians and salutatorians each year. I think that others should keep this in mind.</p>

12

<p>Yup, my schools sent 2 people to Harvard each of the last three years, and we are not ranked. We dont even have weighed gpas.</p>