<p>Thank you all! @exultationsy, thank you so much for the link.</p>
<p>@kitkatkitty2 I am a female…that’s good, right?</p>
<p>A very important question: should I go ahead and send my SAT II scores (770 for mathII and Chem) to Harvard, or will the 4 free score reports still be there by the early action date? Will I have to resend the scores?</p>
<p>@ exultationsy
From my gut feeling, I think the CA will have a 500 word cap on the Personal Statement no matter what version is offered. Rumor has it that colleges are sick of the 1000+ word autobiographies, and I don’t blame them.
But did you use the “create your own CA” when you applied? If so, how?</p>
<p>@collegeinfo
I believe the free score reports that come only with the regular SAT have a deadline before expiration. Log on to your My SAT account and it should say something about that there.</p>
<p>Yes, I noticed the deadline on My SAT account. It says I still have time to send my report for subject tests. Should I do that now? Would it be advantageous in that it would show my interest for Harvard, or would it be a disadvantage in that I would have to send it to them again when I’m applying(do I?)? I heard you get 4 free reports when you’re doing your apps, so would this count as one of them?
One last question(sorry): if I send my subject tests, does my actual SAT automatically go with it? b/c I don’t want to send that score</p>
<p>Harvard doesn’t care about demonstrated interest. My son even got admitted telling his interviewer it wasn’t his first choice. If you have good scores you may as well take advantage of the free reports, as far as I know you only get them once per test session. It has nothing to do with sending applications. (Unless things have changed.)</p>
<p>In the old days the SAT would send all your scores with the subject test, but now that they have score choice I assume they don’t.</p>
<p>Thank you.
So is there a particular advantage to sending in scores early? They can’t make a file for you until they have your common app, right? So would I have to send everything again when I apply?</p>
<p>Could someone tell me what my application says about me as an individual?
I would appreciate some feedback to see who I come across as, since I know this is critical in the admission process. I want to see what I can improve to be the person I hope to represent in the eyes of adcoms- strong passion for the sciences(I LOVE neuroscience, so I am trying to contact a local neurologist to see if I can intern at his office&I will try to take a basic neuroscience course at the local university. Also, I talked to a teacher today about sponsoring science national Honors Society(I will be the founder), and she really likes that idea! We will do many outreach programs to teach middle-schoolers about science& also to tutor kids at my school. Another major door that this will hopefully open is a corporate sponsorship w/ the Neuroscience Institute, which offers many free fantastic summer research programs for students & also some scholarships) I also hope to show that I am passionate about increasing knowledge of different culturesðnicities in my area(co-founder of summer camp to teach kids about the customs& cultures of several different countries + on the organizing committee for Persian Cultural Association) Will those two main passions be persuasive enough, if I make sure they reflect well in my essays? :)</p>
<p>^ after rereading my post, I noticed it sounds like I do everything for my resume, but please notice I really do care about the above things(as nerdy as they sound). I know I personally can’t stand people who live for their resume, so I want to make sure I am not mistaken for someone like that.</p>
<p>@JoonBug
Yes, so one would have a 500-word CA essay and a ~700 word supplement (which is /not/ ridiculously long. I agree that 1,000 words is ridiculous, but I think that 500 words is an overreaction). </p>
<p>I did create different ones, because I applied early to Chicago, then RD to other places. Things changed between 11-1 and 1-1! So I had to update my resume, and catch a typo or two in my essays. I don’t really remember how, since it was like a 6-step process, sorry. :/</p>
<p>@collegeinfo
I think that being female is neither good nor bad. They always say that the number of qualified applicants of each gender is about equal. I don’t know the answer to your SAT questions, and I second the suggestion to poke around on the CollegeBoard website. That said, back in the day [<em>shakes cane at youngsters</em>], the SAT I did not automatically go along with your SAT IIs.</p>
<p>@mathmom
I think that that is rare. They certainly don’t care about demonstrated interest/visits/such, but I can’t believe that they commonly overlook demonstrated disinterest, no matter how mild. They must really have wanted him.</p>
<p>Thank you, Exultationsy. </p>
<p>I logged into collegeboard yesterday to find out the free report is no longer available :/</p>
<p>Oh darn, you’ll have to pay $10 to them now, unless you take another SAT I test. 
sorry man</p>
<p>harsh. :(</p>
<p>I’ll remember that the next time I take the SAT!</p>
<p>Well he didn’t dislike Harvard, but he liked MIT better. He didn’t get into MIT and in the end decided he liked Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon better. (200 professors vs 20). He basically had the attitude “I am a computer nerd take me or leave me”. He had a couple of science/academic ECs at school and lots and lots of varied computer experience outside school. (Not unlike what you want to do with computer science.) He had everything from helping seniors at the senior center computer lab, to having his work acknowledge in a paper, to working as a freelance programmer (with a letters or recommendation from the people he’d worked with.) </p>
<p>My advice is to be who you genuinely are, but then to sell that person as well as you can. If you are the Persian neuroscientist that’s great. Don’t be afraid to be yourself. </p>
<p>I also think that both my kids were helped because they let a little bit of their senses of humor be part of the application.</p>
<p>Thank you! I will definitely take your advice.</p>
<p>Another question! I forgot to mention this, but I skipped from Spanish 3 to Spanish 5(AP) and also skipped to AP physics (without taking hon. physics like everyone else). Do admission officers care at all/ take that into account? </p>
<p>I know they give you a score of 1-6 for academics, but does anyone know what “defines a one”? Since I won’t be #1/2 in my class(I switched schools sophomore year and my previous school did not offer as many challenging courses, so my GPA is not as high as I would like), but I’ll hopefully be in the top 1%, have I lost the score of “one”?</p>
<p>I think a score of 1 is reserved for the Olympiad winners and Intel whizzes with perfect GPAs, but don’t quote me on that.</p>
<p>If skipping Spanish 4 means you got a worse grade in AP you probably won’t get too much forgiveness. But if you do well in AP Spanish they’ll be extra impressed. Ditto with the Physics. They are looking for great grades with a rigorous schedule, but you don’t have to have perfect grades and you don’t have to take every AP your school offers. My son refused to take either AP English (many kids take Lang in 11th grade and Lit in 12th), and he had mostly B+s in honors English. Senior year he took a non-honors elective English and got an A. I think he still got credit for taking one of the most rigorous schedules in the school. (AP Comp Sci, AP Calc BC as a junior and then Linear Algebra, APs in the big three sciences, APUSH)</p>
<p>As for rank. He was top 1%, but number 8 in the class. Number 1 got in, but went to Yale. Number 2 applied ED to Wharton I think. Number 3 was waitlisted, but accepted at Princeton. Number 4 went to Caltech. Don’t know about 5-7.</p>
<p>I did well in AP Spanish, thankfully 
(99%) Foreign languages have been my thing for a while. Physics…don’t know yet. I’m taking AP this year, but I hope it won’t be too bad…</p>
<p>Thank you for telling me about the case of your son; he must have gone to an EXCELLENT school. Only about 3 people get into the Ivy’s/ year from my school. Only 1 this year though.</p>
<p>Exactly what does your AP Physics class cover? Mechanics the whole year, or E&M? or does it work like mech 1 semester, e&m 1 semester (that’s how I had it) If the latter option, I think you’ll be in for a lot of work.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s a yearlong class. Mechanics is first semester, and that’s the only one I’ll be taking due to problems fitting in AP Euro history(required by Harvard). Everyone who takes the course at my school says it’s byfar the most demanding course at my school(too much work AND difficult tests). What have I gotten myself into? haha…</p>