<p>During 9th grade, I wasn't doing so well in school due to a number of personal reasons. Do you think Harvard would overlook it if I turned out to be an extraordinary applicant? I'm a URM; my family has a low-income; and I'd be the first in my family to go to a university. I'm in 10th grade, and I want to start studying for the SAT now, so I can hopefully achieve my dream of getting a perfect score on the SAT. Do you think I stand a chance, or not?</p>
<p>[Harvard</a> University - GPA and Test Scores Needed for Admission](<a href=“http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/harvard-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm]Harvard”>Harvard University: Acceptance Rate, SAT/ACT Scores, GPA)</p>
<p>As you can see, Harvard accepts a lot of 4.0s so they aren’t very forgiving but as you can see there are always exceptions… A couple of Bs might be forgiven, but Cs require some extraordinary (well everything else). Only 4 kids below a 3.0 GPA were accepted and 1 attended. Even under a 3.5 GPA isn’t hard to count how many got in. GOOD LUCK</p>
<p>While the advice is about applying to MIT, it could aslo be about applying to Harvard: [Applying</a> Sideways | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways]Applying”>Applying Sideways | MIT Admissions)</p>
<p>Consider that for Harvard extraordinary is being an olympian or published author or Broadway performer. I don’t think that Harvard considers a perfect SAT as extraordinary. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to ace it but you should think of another way to distinguish yourself. GL</p>
<p>It doesn’t disqualify you; like I’m sure Harvard has admitted students with a B/C freshman year. But it makes it much harder for you, and it’s so hard already that you really want to avoid making it harder.</p>
<p>Why is a perfect SAT your dream? Do you have any other aspirations? You are int eh 10th grade. Maybe you can broaden your horizon.</p>
<p>I got a B- in a spanish class in 10th grade, and I got in. I also had another B in Spanish and 2 B+s in english. These were each “honors” classes, but they still weren’t perfect. Harvard doesn’t necessarily need/want perfect students.</p>
<p>Semantics. You may have meant a perfect sat is your goal. Nothing wrong with setting high standards. My advice is to make sure you enjoy whatever you decide to pursue. The success will come naturally from there. Good luck</p>
<p>If you want to get into Harvard:</p>
<p>-Work super hard in school starting from now. If you can manage a 4.0 from here on, they will love you and won’t care about your Bs and Cs in 9th grade. It’s a holistic admissions process, and that’s why people always talk about how upward trends can make up for poor results earlier on.</p>
<p>-Get a good SAT score, but don’t make it your dream to get a perfect score. You can never really prepare to get a perfect score - there are always questions that can mess you up on the SAT no matter how well you know your stuff. Obviously I don’t have any actual evidence for this, but my experience does tell me that colleges will view a 2350 as virtually the same as a 2400. Getting a perfect score just tells them that either you were lucky, or you’re a good test taker (which isn’t exactly a trait they look for, cause they actually want substance in their applicants).</p>
<p>-Find something else to make your application stand out. You’re already halfway through 10th grade, so it might be a bit tough, but if you don’t already have one, you need to find a passion. And that’s the thing - it needs to really be a passion. The adcom will be able to tell the difference between someone doing an extra-curricular for their resume/application and someone doing it because they truly love it. It could be something virtuous, like charity work, something fun, like a sport, or something interesting, like a political club you start because you love Socials. Whatever it is, you need to show that you’ve accomplished things, because Harvard looks for someone who can actually improve their campus significantly.</p>
<p>All three of these are really important, but people often overlook the third (extra-curriculars), not realizing how truly many people each year are rejected with 4.0 GPAs and +2300 SATs. Even 2400s get rejected the vast majority of the time, so it’s in no way a sure way to a top college. I believe Brown’s acceptance rate for 2400s is around 30%, and that says something considering that 2400s usually are pretty bright as well and have other talents in life.</p>
<p>@egelloc80:
How old is your link?</p>