<p>Are my extracurricular activities goo enough for the Ivy League?</p>
<p>Key Club (Vice President)
Several Activities
Environmental Club (President)
Envirothon Competition
National Honors Society (Secretary)
Robotics Club (Project Manager)
Science Club (Secretary)
Olympiads Competition
Science Bowl Competition
Hospital Volunteer in Two Hospitals 300 Hours<br>
Brain Research Internship
Another Brain Research Internship
Paid Internship this Summer<br>
Shadowing in Summer in psychology 15 Hours
Medical Lectures
Science Honors Institute
Tutor and Board Member of the organization I tutor for
The Future is Mine Program</p>
<p>I also have a 3.7 GPA but 2250 SAT do my extracurriculars help?</p>
<p>Good leadership positions, but my first question after seeing such a long list was “Is this guy/girl really passionate about these things, or are they just doing them for college?”</p>
<p>I would definitely work hard to convey your passion for a couple of these things. A lot of them are generic clubs, and while leadership positions are good, having such a large laundry list of some of the stereotypical ECs (hospital volunteer, etc) really begs the question of your passion for those activities.</p>
<p>I’m not judging you, I’m just stating something you might want to concern yourself with. Do you understand what I mean?</p>
<p>Your extracurriculars are pretty good although you most likely already know that. The majority of your ECs show an interest in science and community service. Personally, I would consider ECs good when the applicant has become fully involved in activites they love which you’ve seem to have done. Your GPA is a little lower and your SAT is good. I would say that your ECs should help especially if you plan on being pre med or a science major of some sort.</p>
<p>Hey you guys are a great help.
Thanks and i totally understand what you mean fallenangel…
i think i have a good list but i need to make sure to convey
it correctly and i plan on majoring in neuroscience so that may
help…thanks again guys! </p>
<p>would i stand a good shot?</p>
<p>In all honesty… a laundry list of ECs is not that strong if you are applying for a school like Harvard. Some of the strong ECs I have come across are state/national leadership positions in large organizations aka Key Club (which take 15-30 hours a week!!!), students who have started meaningful service clubs at their school in response to a problem that personally affects their lives or their community, students who volunteer at the same hospital or tutor the same underprivileged kids every day of the week for the entire high school career, etc… Basically… They want to see that you took fully advantage of what your community had to give, not that you joined many generic clubs. </p>
<p>If you are able to convey your passion for one OR two or at most three of your activities that would be great, but you really should NOT overdo it. There is no way you can spend more than 5 hours a week on each of your activities as there simply are to many. You’re in 5 clubs…!!! Do you go to club meetings EVERY day of the week (since I assume they meet weekly?) and do you need to prepare for EACH meeting since you are a club officer? That just seems very unlikely to me…unless of course if these clubs only meet every other week or once a month… and then… they are not that impressive… and really add to this idea of a “laundry list”. </p>
<p>Are you a junior? If so… I would advise you to focus on TWO or at most THREE of your activities. Maybe key Club AND Robotics or Science? If you are able to become your club’s President or get a higher leadership position next year and if you plan many events and fundraisers in your Key Club AND lead your science club to an extremely successful year… THEN that would be much more impressive.</p>
<p>that makes sense
i wasnt planning on using all of it
and i have done somethings which make
it seem that i am extremely active in a few particular
clubs but i agree with you…
I am wondering though with such a low gpa and high SAT
would i have a shot of making it?</p>
<p>i really appreciate all of the feedback and if anyone has questions
i would be more than happy to give my opinion!
thanks!!</p>
<p>anyone else
it would be of great help!
thanks =]</p>
<p>can somebody else tell me what they think!</p>
<p>i can chance someone back !</p>
<p>Hey, here’s an idea! Instead of letting someone chance inaccurately and then chancing them back inaccurately, why don’t you just chance yourself inaccurately!
Honestly, chances get you nowhere.</p>
<p>i think it gives perspective and it helps
you improve and i really dont think there is anything
wrong with that</p>
<p>I’ll have to reiterate what the above posters have stated. Your EC’s are eclectic and comprehensive, but may make the AdCom question depth and passion. Your GPA (is that UW or W?) is okay, but is on the lower end of the Harvard spectrum (>95% of students have >3.75 GPA), and SAT is also slightly lower in accordance of acceptees. 2250 is a good score, but not great, according to an earlier post by mifune, a 2250 places you roughly in the 40th percentile of applicants (meaning you did better than 40% of the people).</p>
<p>Your research on brains are good, and since your intended major is neuroscience, the research should help a bit. Also, keep in mind that colleges prefer a class rank way over a GPA. In seeing how you compare with your fellow peers, they can judge the rigor and the grading policies of your school. Many times higher rank trumps a higher GPA in the AdCom’s eyes.</p>
<p>Most importantly, when applying, make sure you STAND OUT, this can’t be stressed enough. Write an unique essay, do something interesting that you love, etc.</p>
<p>Best of luck in your applications,</p>
<p>JD</p>
<p>“a 2250 places you roughly in the 40th percentile of applicants (meaning you did better than 40% of the people”</p>
<p>Scores from 2210-2290 are 99th percentile and scores from 2300-2400 are 99+ percentile.</p>
<p>A 2250 is an excellent score and well within range for Harvard.</p>
<p>The exact 50th percentile for incoming freshman is 2203(This is the exact average according to the common application which is updated yearly, and obviously it’s not possible to score 2203(The exact average), the 50th percentile is more like 2200 (Better score than 50 percent of the incoming admitted freshman students).</p>
<p>2250 would fall under about 65th percentile (Better than 65% of admitted students). You’re EC’s are kind of a laundry list, something Harvard doesn’t want, they want a few which you dedicate your time in,
I would suggest trying to do some research at a University or Lab, something like that would look good. </p>
<p>To OP: Your SAT score is well within range for Harvard, but your GPA is good but on the lowside(However your rank or percentile rank matters more than GPA, make sure you’re atleast in the Top 5% of your class).</p>
<p>^When I say 40th percentile, I mean the applicants to Harvard, not the entire applicant pool of the entire country. If you have any arguments concerning this statistic, contact mifune, a current Harvard student, who meticulously wrote a page long post detailing this.
So to conclude, while 2250 is a great score, in terms of Harvard applicants, it is slightly low.</p>
<p>^ I was referring to the admitted students. (Which would obviously have even better scores) (Read my entire post)</p>
<p>Go on the common application website-go to harvard-go to admissions section, and you’ll see the score range for yourself. The score range for current freshman students.</p>
<p>25th percentile 2060 (Better than 25% of Class of 2014 Freshmen)
50th percentile 2203 (Better than 50% of Class of 2014 Freshmen)
75th percentile 2345 (Better than 75% of Class of 2014 Freshmen)</p>
<p>Note: These are exact averages of admitted students.</p>
<p>thanks guys!</p>
<p>my rank is about 7 to 8% 29/386 but it will definitely go up this year</p>
<p>also my brain internships are technically research related maybe I wasn’t clear enough also I come from a disadvantaged background sort of (my essay…no dad, low income less than 60,000) AND I’m Asian which I don’t think is very common</p>
<p>I was referring to the admitted students. (Which would obviously have even better scores) (Read my entire post)</p>
<p>Go on the common application website-go to harvard-go to admissions section, and you’ll see the score range for yourself. The score range for current freshman students.</p>
<p>25th percentile 2060 (Better than 25% of Class of 2014 Freshmen)
50th percentile 2203 (Better than 50% of Class of 2014 Freshmen)
75th percentile 2345 (Better than 75% of Class of 2014 Freshmen)</p>
<p>Note: These are exact averages of admitted students.</p>
<p>^ With those Ecs and if your Academics are pretty good, apply through Questbridge and you should get into any of the partner colleges :)</p>
<p>thanks.
im pretty sure my SAT will stay where it is though
highly unlikely i can do better than that</p>
<p>Here’s another perspective, based on STEM admits to another Ivy: your science-related ECs show a depth of committment to science. Call it passion. One of the early questions regarding these activities will be, how did this kid come to these opps? Did he/she slide in via connections? Or did the kid push himself outside the box to obtain these? Did it come from TFIM? In that respect, the rest of your app will provide hints which can enhance (or not) the value of these to a highly selective college.</p>
<p>Often the tipping point is to show humanity. Hidden at the bottom, you put tutor and board member. All the other ECs could be based on personal interests and what’s available at school. The tutoring and board suppport is where you have a chance to show you climbed out of some ordinary comfort zone to help others. If tutoring is volunteer, you might pick a phrase that better defines it- eg, peer tutoring or middle school science tutor- you find the words. Board member stands out because so few kids get this opp; it reflects committment to the organization and the assumption is that your involvement reflects adult approval of your efforts to-date. Consider moving these up on your list and describing them to max benefit. Good luck.</p>
<p>ps. be careful about focusing the essay on your challenged family situation. Readers want you to show your strengths.</p>