Forgive me, but...chances? :-\

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hey guys...I know, asking people for chance to Harvard is like...uh, I don't know, it's like something witty that I can't think of right now, and it's probably pointless. Could you guys tell me what you think? I value your feedback and I'll chance back if you leave me a link, I promise.</p>

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<p>Gender: M
Location: NY
High School: Public HS of around 1500
High School Type: Usually sends a handful to tops, but this year sent many to tops so far.
(My class is VERY competitive and VERY successful compared to others)
Will apply for financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>My dad is Puerto Rican, no high school. He is noncustodial and missing.
My mom is Puerto rican, no college - single mom.
so Hispanic, 1st generation, income ~64k all that jazz.</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 4.0
Class Rank: 32 (Don't laugh, Harvard explicitly told me this was OK given the class size)
Class Size: 450
[li]APs: Chem, 5, USH, 5, Bio (now), Calc AB. My school only offers 9 AP's, and most overlap during only 2 periods of the day. There isn't really an opportunity to take more than I have, and I explained that to my schools.</p>[/li]
<p>all honors where honors could fit, and all A's.</p>

<p>Major in Biochem/Premed (Biological basis of behavior at UPenn)</p>

<p>2000 SAT (bad) 650M/670W/680CR
SAT II! - 690Math 2, 710USH, 770 Chem
31 ACT (better...) 35Eng, 31Sci, 29Math, 30 Reading, 32 Writing+English 9/12 Essay</p>

<p>recommendations:
1 GREAT from AP Chem teacher (TAing with her now)
1 GREAT from counselor who knows me VERY well
1 unknown, presumedly great from english teacher who knows me well
1 Awesome from Superintendent of Schools- knows me very well. Huge emphasis on how I did this process all by myself, including FAFSA/CSS/IDOC since my mother works too much to give any support other than $, which I'm grateful for.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
I think this is where I'm strong...</p>

<p>-Academic team (varsity) co-captain
-Track & XC scholar athlete
-Was on quiz bowl TV show competing for $10,000 for charity
-Manager, coordinator of charity event to raise $20,000 for hunger causes globally and in the community with the superintendent, 2 other students, some community members. Inaugural year of an annual project. The project goes off on 4/2. I'm responsible for media management & event planning.
-I'm a mentor for freshman through the guidance dept.
-National Honor Soc., Math Honor Society, Lead Prosecutor of Mock Trial
-Was assistant JV XC coach when I was out hurt from XC.
-Head of public relations for shark club (we raise & donate money to shark saving charities)
-Freshman tour guide
-Teaching an AP Chemistry lab class. We meet 2x/wk. I set up, coordinate AP labs to demonstrate everything a teacher would. It's on my transcript as Independent Study - Teaching Lab Science Methods.
-Safe School Ambassador: we work with administration to keep the school safe and happy through watchdog efforts, reports on the student body. No, we don't rat people out.
-Clean up crew for XC/Track meets, football games all 4 years.</p>

<p>Hooks: URM (Hispanic) (Idk what else?)</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure that my essays were great, I tend to be a great writer and english teacher-editors had all good remarks after some major overhauls.</p>

<p>Thanks guys! Let me know if any more info is necessary...</p>

2

<p>Being Hispanic with great ECs and a good class rank (that’s almost top 2%), I think you have an okay chance. Better than most, although I would say you’re far from a sure bet.</p>

3

<p>32/450 ≠ top 2%…i wish… but thank you for the opinions!</p>

4

<p>Oh sorry I saw this “High School: Public HS of around 1500” and I thought it was class size. Ehh your rank is still decent though, its like top 7%.</p>

5

<p>to be honest, it’s a little higher than 32, i’ve moved up recently, but probably not by too much. 28-32 is a good bet.</p>

6

<p>I would say virtually no chance. A 2000 SAT just doesn’t cut it anymore. Also, a 690 mathII won’t help either.</p>

7

<p>I hear they take best two. You think so? That’s too bad…</p>

8

<p>didn’t you post this on the georgetown forum as well? dude, you need to relax! :D</p>

9

<p>I do…a lot hahaha sorry</p>

10

<p>low chance man sorry, there are a lot of people with worst scores applying but then again there are a lot of people with better scored as well.</p>

<p>just do not be surprised if you get rejected, but then again you might be accepted ;D</p>

11

<p>Your numbers(grades/scores) are low, and numbers are probably more important than everything else. However, being a URM will give you a boost, and your scores aren’t awful so the people who say you have “no chance” don’t know what they’re talking about.</p>

12

<p>well there would be definitely a lot of other applicants with higher scores and stuff… but colleges want diversity … they don’t want all perfect scorers … they want the right balance so I’d say you have a chance</p>

<p>Good Luck…
chance back
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1079059-chance-me-ambitious-applicant.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1079059-chance-me-ambitious-applicant.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

13

<p>When you apply to Harvard, it is required that you submit two SAT II scores but it is recommended that you submit three SAT II scores. It’s up to you to decide if you want to submit the third score (which is probably too late at this point anyways). But as mentioned above, you are a URM and you do have a chance. I wouldn’t bet on it, but it’s possible. Good luck!</p>

14

<p>Right. Thank you, and yes, I sent in all SAT IIs, SAT and ACT. @speedyz Ill chance you right now…</p>

15

<p>how are my ecs?</p>

16

<p>When I look at ECs, I look for three categories:</p>

<p>1) Academic EC
2) Charity/Volunteer EC
3) Sports/Passion/Hobby EC</p>

<p>And you seem to have all three. You’re really big on your sports, you’re part of an enormous charity project, and you teach a class. It’s solid. I’d actually say at this point you might even have a decent shot. Your scores are pretty much the median for a URM applying to Ivy. But your ECs are phenomenal.</p>

17

<p>Alright. I just want to make sure that I’m not totally deluding myself, thank you for that. If it wasn’t for the new superintendent that we got last year, there’s no way I’d have some of these charity things.</p>

18

<p>you have definitely have a shot, not a great one, but still a shot. </p>

<p>but really…</p>

<p>1 Awesome from Superintendent of Schools- knows me very well. Huge emphasis on how I did this process all by myself, including FAFSA/CSS/IDOC since my mother </p>

<p>I have done all that stuff by myself too… its not really something to brag about</p>

19

<p>Hmm, alright. Thanks for all of the feedback, everyone! How important is being a URM to the process? I never actually thought it mattered much.</p>

20

<p>^ Honestly it’s not as important as people think. They’ll take it into account, but it won’t make/break your application.
But I must say, your ECs are damn impressive. Forget about URM stuff.</p>