<p>Im a freshman and want to know how people goy in</p>
<p>My advice: get of CC for a year or so. It’ll give you anxiety and burn you out.</p>
<p>^ I agree. Don’t come back until summer after junior year. CC just stresses you out. :(</p>
<p>There’s no formula. Plenty of people get in for different reasons. There’s a thread on this forum about this topic but I don’t remember what it was called. </p>
<p>Sent from my SPH-D710 using CC</p>
<p>You can look into past acceptance thread. But I would say focus on your grades first.</p>
<p>You’re a freshman??? Please, please just live your life, work hard and forget about CC for two years.</p>
<p>Stay off CC until junior year. You want to experience high school as more than just a prep for college. You’ll have a better idea of the colleges you want to attend later on. A lot can change in 4 years. Don’t worry about colleges for a while. Just work hard and have fun.</p>
<p>That said, the people I know personally who were accepted to Harvard include a 4.0 state saxophone soloist winner and a writer/literary author and editor.</p>
<p>just try your best…be unique</p>
<p>Get as close as possible to killing yourself without actually killing yourself</p>
<p>Don’t be so morose, classicgirll. 
haha</p>
<p>um how do you be unique</p>
<p>Wouldn’t we all like to know ;)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Haha, I can’t help but respond to such inquiries in equally idiotic terms. xD</p>
<p>Just find a passion and follow it. I’ll tell you some examples from this year’s EA admits. National top rock climber, small business ceo (charity organization), author of a novel, etc. There’s no cookie cutter formula for how to be unique. Do what you love as best as you can. Uniqueness will ensue.</p>
<p>^
Excuse me but I have actually worked out a formula. I’m selling it for 1000 dollars.</p>
<p>"how do you be unique " </p>
<p>If you have to ask, they you won’t be able to achieve it. Either you ARE original and unique or you’re not. It’s not a list of things to do. It’s something you inherently ARE.</p>
<p>OK: my above post is unnecessarily coy. Here’s actual advice for you. Viable HYP candidates are among the handful of superlative scholars it their school. Would your principal and all your teachers right now say you’re one of the top freshmen in your school? If yes, you’re on the right track.</p>
<p>Secondly, don’t fetishize Harvard. It’s ONE place. If you truly are going to be a Harvard-caliber applicant in a few years, then there are tons of amazing institutions that will challenge you and provide for you great experiences. Right now, a ninth grader pining for Harvard looks rather naive and un-informed, to be frank. Most people at HYPSM et. al. didn’t set their goals to attend one of those schools. They were focused on simply being excellent. Come time to apply to schools, that list was a natural outcome. Few were nervous 9th graders wondering “am I Harvard/Columbia/Stanford/MIT material?”. They were too busy being excellent.</p>
<p>Look to fill a life, not a resume.</p>
<p>And JeffreyTao takes the cake in all ROFL-worthy responses.</p>
<p>Man, $1000? Don’t sell yourself short…</p>
<p>You get sidetracked when you aim for a single college. You are doomed to fail if the adcom woke up on the wrong side of bed when he/she read your app and you pinned your hopes on one school.</p>
<p>The surefire way to get to Harvard is to be really good at a sport and get recruited. However, it should have been planned by your parents at a very early age and it is too late now.</p>
<p>You could have really great academics, top scores, great ECs (put some passion into one or two and not go after titles because someone told you to be a leader) and make it into top schools if not Harvard.</p>
<p>Be kind to your teachers and counselors and talk to them outside of class. LORs can make a lot of difference.</p>
<p>Amy Chua’s daughter. No sleep over though.</p>