Chances @ Harvard

Applying to College
1

<p>What colleges do I have a shot at getting into? Harvard, specificially, lol. Please skim over my resume, thanks!</p>

<p>PS I'm a junior right now, does anybody have any advice on spicing up my resume?
PPS Can I include middle school stuff in my resume? Can I fudge the middle school high school boundary by not listing months on resume (aka January 2009 is middle school, but just put down as 2009)?</p>

<p>Quick Resume (complete w/ major things):</p>

<p><em>Scores</em>
SAT 800M 800CR 730W
PSAT 209 (no chance @ National Merit)
AP World Hist 5
AP Physics 5
SAT II Phys 800, Math II 800, World Hist 800</p>

<p><em>GPA/Coursework</em>
3.9 to 4.0 (most likely valedictorian, mostly A+ but one or two As)
Will have 6 APs by end of this year, and 10 by senior year (projected)</p>

<p><em>Academic Competitions</em>
MATHCOUNTS national finalist (right before high school, does it still count?)
1st place freshman year in county math league
2nd place sophomore year in county math league</p>

<p><em>Volunteer Work</em>
$2500 in Student Gov't (helped raise with other members)
$1000 in volunteer club (helped raise with other members)
13 hrs performing piano for senior citizens
12 hrs stacking books at local library</p>

<p><em>Extracurriculars</em></p>

<p>Piano:
3rd place local symphony orchestra competition (in middle school right before, still count or not?)
Performed @ Lincoln center/russian consulate via competitive audition (in middle school right before HS too, still count or not?)
1st place another local piano symphony orchestra competition (freshman year)
2nd place another local piano competition (freshman year)</p>

<p>Violin:
Qualified by audition for All-State orchestra (freshman year)
Leader of 2nd violins in Chamber orchestra (junior year)</p>

<p>Debate Team:
Public Relations officer last year, Secretary this year,
Have won 3 varsity State Championships with my partner</p>

<p>Math Team:
Secretary this year, Captain next year</p>

<p>Interact Club:
Public Relations officer this year</p>

<p>Student Gov't:
Class Public Relations officer this year</p>

<p><em>Other</em>
Recommendations will NOT be very good (don't do homework, make jokes in class)</p>

<p>Participating in AMCs, USPhO and US Chem Olympiad this year. 50-50 shot at making it to AIME, 50-50 shot at semifinalist in USPho, and aiming for finalist in US Chem olympiad (can I cram for it in 4 months? I suck at chem atm)</p>

<p>College essays will be good (good writer, have tons of things to talk about)</p>

<p>I have legacy @ Harvard (older sister) and @ Stanford (dad)</p>

<p>I'm Asian</p>

<p>Frankly I genuinely like/curious about everything I do but have zero passion for them (hurts in interviews)</p>

2

<p>[Delete me]</p>

3

<p>Ok – here’s the honest answer.</p>

<p>For Harvard/Stanford your grades and scores are competitive. Your activities look good, above average, even, but are not going to blow anyone away at H or S. So, based on what you’ve said, you should apply, you have a shot. Many students with similar statistics to yours will be admitted to Harvard and Stanford. Many others will be denied.</p>

<p>Beyond that - no one on CC has any real understanding of the admissions process and any “chance me” replies you get will be uneducated guesses. My uneducated guess – you are qualified anywhere and you will probably get into a top 10-15 school at least.</p>

<p>Hopefully you can find some teacher who really likes you and can write a good recommendation. This could be the difference at very top schools.</p>

4

<p>About 7% .</p>

5

<p>You aren’t a legacy at Harvard, but mentioning that your sister attends may help a bit. As another poster said, your numbers are good, and your ECs are above average, but plenty of kids with top of the line numbers and above average ECs are turned away by Harvard and Stanford every year. You have a shot, but when you’re dealing with H and S acceptance is almost always unlikely.</p>

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<p>mmkay, and what can I do to get a better shot?</p>

7

<p>how are you maintaining a mainly a+ average without doing homework? i’m just genuinely curious- i’m not judging.</p>

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<p>Homework’s only 5% of your grade in lots of classes. I don’t literally mean I never do homework, but I do it like 50% of the time.</p>

<p>And doing well on the other grade portions like tests isn’t too hard- e.g. AP Chem is mostly just math/physics anyways, so you can derive all the equations/concepts, with a few basic concepts you need to remember that are specific to Chem.</p>

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<p>I am not an admissions officer at H or S, but I play one on TV so here is my opinion on your chances. Since you Asian, you will be competing against hundreds of other Asians with stats and ECs just as good if not better than yours. So if you are an admissions officer at H or S, how do you choose which Asian robot to accept? I think a person’s commitment, motivation, personality and most importantly, your “uniqueness” then becomes extremely important. Asian math geniuses who play the piano/violin and are valedictorians are a dime a dozen. On the other hand, if you can play basketball like Jeremy Lin (google him), then you are literally one in a million. Without knowing you personally and going by the information you have disclosed, I agree with ArKhAiK and put your chances at around 7%.</p>

10

<p>A piano award in 2009 is great, it won’t matter whether it was missle or high school though. What H and S will belooking for is whether you built on it.</p>

<p>Sine the applicant has stellar stats and IS a legacy at Stanford, chances are certainly higher than 7% there. But Sanford is not particularly generous to legacies.</p>

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<p>Your objective stats are great, but none of your non-academic traits show a communicable passion that an institution like Harvard wants to see.</p>

12

<p>So I need to find a passion in life</p>

13

<p>don’t worry about chance threads. they’re stupid. just work your hardest and expect not to get in, because then things can’t get worse- either you will not get in (which is what you will have expected) and undoubtedly be happy elsewhere, or you will get in and be very happy, especially considering that you weren’t expecting it. good luck!</p>

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<p>Then it’s not happening. No matter how objectively good you are–unless perhaps you’re #1 on the math department’s wish-list–bad recommendations are a deal-breaker. Mediocre recommendations usually are, too. (A mediocre recommendation among a couple fantastic ones is probably almost always fine. All mediocre recommendations, probably very serious.) </p>

<p>I’m not saying you don’t have to be you: I made jokes in class, and didn’t ever do homework at home for my best subject (I’d sit in the back of the class doing little assignments just before they were due; I was obvious, but it was usually done by the time she collected them). That teacher still wrote me a great recommendation. The two lines to avoid crossing: first, do enough work that you seem to care about school. Arrogantly blowing off a teacher’s assignments isn’t going to make them like you–if you still try really hard and the teacher knows your dedication to the class, even if not all of the assignments, you might be okay. Harvard is not looking for arrogant. More importantly with the jokes, you can be a class clown without disrupting class. If you ever even toe the line of “interferes with the learning of the students who are not so smart and on top of things as to afford being disruptive while keeping a 4.0, keeping them from their own full potential because the spotlight has to be on you” rather than just “says funny things that everyone appreciates and then quickly moves on from,” you’re toast. If you’re well on the side of both lines, you may have a chance, but I think it’s very hard to get in without any recommendations (including your counselor’s) that really believe in you.</p>

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<p>Closing thread - please repost on “What Are My Chances?” forum.</p>