<p>Hey guys,
I know I might sound extremely pathetic, but yeah, first semester freshman year just passed, and my grades..... well
H.English-A
H.Biology-B+ (atleast 75% of the class usually gets B's or lower on the quizzes because their so hard)
Gym-A
Spanish-A
H.Geometry-C+ (This is what REALLY worries me, I used to have a high B, then the final came..)
AP Human Geography-B+ (I think this one will go to an A)</p>
<p>So anyways, I really want to go to Harvard for Neurobiology, because I really like it's science program, and the location and the school itself is of my immense liking. I'm really stressed right now, because my gpa uw is a 3.5, and weighted is 4.0. If my aphug grade goes up, uw will be 3.6 and weighted will be 4.1. I feel kinda scared as to how admissions will look at my first semester freshman year grades. I know I sound extremely stupid and pathetic and conceited, but still I want some input. My family is going through a rough patch right now, but if I do well in the rest of high school, and my ec's, do I still have a shot?</p>
<p>Well there’s always community college in case Harvard doesn’t work out… :rolleyes:</p>
<p>OK, seriously though, I’m sure there are some people who’ve gotten in with one C. Seriously. You also said you’re family is going through a rough spot right now, so depending on what it is, I’m sure colleges will also take that into account.</p>
<p>With where you are right now it is not an ideal situation. You have to remember that colleges tend to recalculate your GPA without electives (so no gym), also people tend to use freshman year as a year to pad their GPA and class rank in case they get slightly lower grades the other years. So, is it possible that you will get into Harvard, yes, is it likely no (remember the reject more then 9 out of every 10 applicants).
Remember there are other schools and colleges look at more then just grades.</p>
<p>Probably not, but pretty much no one does. People get rejected all the time with 4.0 unweighted GPAs and thirty-sixes on the ACT.
There are colleges other than Harvard. Most of them aren’t even all that selective. I feel like a lot of freshmen come on here and say “ZOMG Harvard!” because they’ve never heard of anything else. Do some research on other colleges. Everyone says they’ll bring their grades up, but do they? If you can’t get an A in geometry, how are you going to get an A in pre-calc or something?</p>
<p>I have a solution, to get into Harvard make a nuclear reactor in your garage, get on the news…
???
Profit</p>
<p>But seriously like other people said, Harvard isn’t the only college in the world. You remind me when I was a freshman. I got had somewhat similar class schedule as you, and I wanted to go to Harvard, for no good reason other than the fact that I heard it is a good school. But I found something I’m passionate about and looked for other schools and found different schools. I’m not saying you have no chance, I’m saying there are other choices.</p>
<p>It would be hard to tell what your chances are, as GPA isn’t the only factor. But to be realistic, many people even with a 4.0 GPA get rejected from Harvard. A person from my high school was accepted EA a while ago, but he took AP Biology freshman year, had a 4.0 GPA, a high class rank, a 2300+ SAT score, had several impressive extracurriculars (4 years of crew, made amazing speech at the state legislature during a Youth & Government field trip, National Merit Semifinalist, etc.), as well as a sibling who was already in.</p>
<p>There was a bad illness in my family- one needed two surgeries- not minor ones, like a nosejob.
ec’s
Science Olympiad
Scholastic Bowl
Speech Team-Radio Broadcasting (selected out of over 85 people)
Newspaper
Key Club (Im not old enough to volunteer at a hospital, so I’ll do that next year)
Tennis-Jv team
Indian carnatic singing- 7 yrs
Orchestra
Won 2 gold medals in our state’s solo and ensemble contest
Model U.N
IStem</p>
<p>What else could I do? Also, I really like CMU too for the stuff it offers… . How about that? Sorry guys,I really dont want this to be a chance thread…</p>
<p>Harvard isn’t the top school for neurobiology.</p>
<p>You have an excellent gpa and tons of great EC’s. You may or may not get into Harvard, but almost nobody gets in. Isn’t their acceptance rate under 10%?</p>
<p>There are better schools that are easier to get in to.</p>
<p>Again with where you are right now, CMU will be a reach. It is an issue you have a C in math and are applying for science programs (like another person said what are you going to do when you reach something like calc). As for your ECs you have to remember that colleges only care about what you do in high school, so I am not sure if that whole list would still apply.
Anyway, focus on improving your grades (your core subject GPA (math, English, science, social studies and foreign language) is currently a 3.2 uw). Come back in a year or two when your ECs have been going on longer (at that point you should have some leadership positions) and you have test scores.</p>
<p>Honestly all I can say is get your grades up. You have time and make the most out of it. As harsh as this may sound, it won’t really matter to colleges that you had a tough time with your family. Throughout the entirety of my freshman year, I had 4 family deaths, but the admissions officers will probably never know. I do think that if you show an upward trend throughout the rest of your high school career, there’s definitely a chance. I hope your family situation is getting better, I know how hard it is to focus when so much is going on around you. Best of luck, SaiRam!</p>
<p>And what do you know about its science program in comparison to a program at another university? You’re just obsessed with prestige, which won’t get you very far.</p>
<p>^yeah this. What kind of freshman decides that they want to go to Harvard for neurobiology… Have you even taken a college level biology or psychology course yet?</p>
<p>“What kind of freshman decides that they want to go to Harvard for neurobiology”</p>
<p>When I was in seventh grade I heard that the Ivy League had a lot of good schools, so I looked them all up on Wikipedia and tried to pick which one I wanted to go to solely based on the names. I figured I didn’t want to go to Brown because brown is an ugly color, and I didn’t want to go to Dartmouth because I couldn’t figure out how to pronounce it.</p>
<p>halcyon- AP Human Geography
Yeah, I see where you guys are coming from, but how much could my first semester freshman grades mess up my total gpa if i do well in the rest of high school?</p>
<p>AP European History
H. Alg2Trig (my teacher still rec’d me even though I had a C+ cause she said I had strong Algebra skills)
H. English
H.Chemistry
Spanish 2
Symphonic Strings or Orchestra-Hopefully strings cause that’s the higher group i’m trying for</p>
<p>so if I turn it around, and get really good grades for the rest of high school, is there any chance that my 1st sem freshman grades will be “overlooked”?</p>