I’d worry more about course rigor than about ECs. Harvard doesn’t particularly care what major you put down, compared to other schools anyways. Regardless, I would apply and see what happens.
@woogzmama Thank you for your input, and I really hope what you say is true!
@NavalTradition do you think my courses are rigorous enough? I know my APs are on the low side, but I’m hoping my explanation will be good enough for them. Plus, I’ve taken as many advanced classes as possible (there aren’t any honors classes in my school).
Well, you decided to take a second language, dropping an AP spot - that was your choice - and then AP German didn’t run - that wasn’t your choice. Either way, you didn’t end up with the most rigorous courseload available at your school. OTOH, your obvious passion for languages shines through, and AP German obvsly wasn’t your fault. So, we’ll see. You seem like a decently strong applicant in general and TBH the URM thing will indeed help. Like I said, I’d definitely apply if I were you. Don’t feel like you need to start a fake astrophysics charity just because you fill that in as your intended concentration. Good luck.
I’m afraid you are wrong about this. The very elite colleges do consider your intended choice of major - especially if it lines up with your achievements in high school. They know that students will often change their mind when in college, but typically a STEM kid will stay a STEM kid, etc. They need to build a balanced class and also try to fill empty seats in undersubscribed majors. A young woman interested in astrophysics would be of interest to most top schools but only if she had the “goods” to support the claim. Otherwise, they will just ignore the intended major as they do for the majority of applicants. In other words, it would be of no help to her and quite possibly could be a slight negative if an AO felt it was disingenuous.
I agree though that the OP is interesting in other ways and that is why I wanted to make sure that astrophysics was indeed something she was passionate about which apparently it is. Again, I would urge her find ways to highlight this passion while still in high school.
Yale, for instance, maintains a database of students’ intended majors and what they actually ended up majoring in. They are able to analyze this data to give them insights on how best to build a class. I could give you further evidence to support what I am saying but I am not trying to get into a back and forth with anyone about this issue. Just trying to give OP some helpful advice like we are all trying to do.
@Falcon1 - I wouldn’t consider disputing anything you’ve said. I was alluding to one especially negative post. The OP’s interest appears genuine, and I’d be very surprised to hear that stating her interest in Astrophysics would harm her in any way. I agree that her foreign language change, and some other curricular issues might.
@woogzmama Oh, okay. I misunderstood your comment.
Yes, you are generally right about this. However, the issue may be a subtle one. An application reader might eagerly be looking to find supporting evidence in an app for an undersubscribed major such as the Classics or Astrophysics and read through the entire app and not find anything. They might then make a small note on the app that says “nothing in application supports an interest in the Astrophysics (or whatever)” for the next reader. Now, they have to make a judgement call if this candidate truly has an interest in Astrophysics and whether they can succeed in the field especially if the applicant has a clearly demonstrated interest in another field such as linguistics. Believe it or not, there actually are kids who try to game the system by saying something like they are a female “passionate” about CS but they have neither the CS nor the math background one would expect to see if it were indeed the case. It usually backfires on them.
But all of this is a digression, other than wondering why her weighted gpa is not much higher than her unweighted gpa (did she take the hardest classes available to her?), I think OP is an interesting candidate for schools like Harvard and Yale and wish her all the best with her college applications .
thank you everyone! It never occurred to me that my ECs not lining up with my field of interest would be a bad thing, so thank you for your input.
And yes @Falcon1 , I could have taken more APs, but there were some complications with AP German that I explained in my post, and my GPA is going to go up by the end of the year anyway. And I completely forgot to mention, that GPA is only with 1 AP calculated in, since it was calculated at the beginning of this school year and we’re only allowed to take 1 AP in 10th grade.
@Falcon1, I think that for Harvard, it generally doesn’t matter what folks declare is their intended concentration. I know that there are exceptions to that general rule.
don’t worry APs. Especially if your school regularly sends kids to harvard, they would be aware of the fact that there’s a limit on APs. A simple sentence on your counselor’s letter “this kid took the most rigorous curriculum” available will suffice.
Updates!!! I got a 2340 on my sat the second round: 780 CR, 760 M, and 800 W (which is a relief because this is the June sat and I was convinced my score would suck because of the misprint thing). The thing is, for writing I got an 80 for grammar and a 9 on my essay because I honestly wasn’t trying, I was satisfied with my 780 from before and didn’t stress about it. Since I got this score in one sitting, would it still show up as super scored, would colleges see my old sat score, and would that drop from a 10 to a 9 hurt me?
More updates, my GPA is now a 4.38, and I got a job at an art museum during the next school year. Still nothing about astrophysics ECs though, I’m really trying but I couldn’t find any!! It was too late to sign up for community classes by the time you all suggested it… the only other thing I could do is get an internship next year, but my schedule is way too packed to add anything in (it’s a stretch even to do that art museum job)!
And for people who are just looking at this, basically I have good test scores, a hook, and decent ECs, the only issues are my ECs have nothing to do with my intended major (astrophysics) and I only took 6 out of 9 possible AP classes, due to reasons I don’t feel like re-explaining lol
Might as well keep this updated… I got my ap scores today: 4 in German, 5 in apush, and 5 in ap physics c mech. That 4 is worrying me… Especially because my German teacher is writing my recommendation… But what did I expect honestly only 9% of non natives get 5s on the test
you have a decent chance because of your background? ECs are solid and so are grades, but try to get the SAT up and you would stand a solid chance! Make sure your essays are really good and unique! Chance me back?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1790989-chance-me-ucla-ucsd-ucd-cornell-johns-hopkins.html#latest
@kobe24mamba wait are you serious? I’m not retaking, a 2340 is more than enough!