<p>Hey, guys! I'm a new freshman and though I know it's too early to tell for sure, I was wondering if somebody could tell me if I'm on track for Harvard....or any good school.
EC: Social Justice Alliance, Current Events Club, Do Something Club (Founder). Stage Crew. Crew (as in rowing). School singing group. Peer tutor.
Grades: The only thing I'm worried about here is math. I have all A's and A+'s but with math I'd be lucky for a B+. My GPA is currently a 4.6. I'm in all honors classes plus sophomore honors math, English, and French.
Summer and Contests: I went to the Interlochen arts camp for visual arts this summer. I came in second place in a local library photography contest and was also a finalist in an online poetry contest. I received an award from the school for scoring above a 90% on the placement test (I scored a 98).</p>
<p>You are on track for good schools, but nobody can say they’re on track for Harvard, really. In your case, you can’t say at all because you don’t have SAT or ACT scores yet. Even if your test scores are spectacular, there’s a reason that Harvard, Stanford, Yale, etc. are often called “lottery schools”… many, many students with qualifications equal to yours will apply, and so it will depend more on what Harvard feels they need to add to their student mix than on your stellar qualities. Keep working hard, shoot for the stars, and know that you will have many exciting options, and that there may well be a school out there that is even better for you than Harvard!</p>
<p>Please do not spend your high school years trying to get into Harvard (or any school). You will never have this time in your life again. You have interests and (hopefully) friends. Do what you love and everything will fall into place. If you are serious about art, Harvard is unlikely to be the best place for you anyway. It’s just way too early to be worrying about college.</p>
<p>You’re in at Harvard. I rarely say this to a freshman. The poetry contest is the clincher. Did you win or were you just a finalist?</p>
<p>@mnm111 - that’s not exactly helpful</p>
<p>If you’re a freshman now then I’m assuming you did all of that stuff in middle school. Most colleges don’t care about anything you did before 9th grade so all of your information is essentially irrelevant. </p>
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That’s certainly the case for Harvard.</p>
<p>Study hard, find some EC’s with which you can show passion. Score well on your SAT’s. Research other colleges that might interest you and are financially affordable. Come back again in 2½ years when you have some quantitative data to report.</p>
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<p>Colleges are not necessarily providing any input here. However you have very little opportunity to mention it any where in the common app. Common app is very clear in stating that they want you to list only activities, honors, awards etc starting in 9th grade. You did not exist before entering 9th grade.</p>
<p>In order to have a shot at Harvard (or any ultra competitive school):</p>
<p>1) You need to have grades in the upper half of their accepted range
2) You need SAT I / SAT II in similar range
3) You need an EC that demonstrates INTERNATIONAL/NATIONAL prominence OR Big development case ($$$) OR Legacy</p>
<p>You currently only seem to fill #1. # 2 and #3 are still missing, so we honestly can’t judge your chances</p>
<p>Sorry 'bout that! The contest stuff is actually all stuff I did this year.</p>
<p>Oh, and I forgot to mention my volunteer stuff, which is something that I’m very excited about. I’m going to be volunteering soon at a local hospice and a cat shelter. This isn’t something that I’m doing just to put on my college app, especially the shelter gig. I’m a vegan, very supportive of animal rights, and the cat shelter job was absolutely ideal. I chose to do the hospice as well because I’m very social and like the human race. Rah.
And I know that you obviously can’t tell whether or not I’ll be accepted to Harvard as so much can happen, but is there anything that you would recommend me doing so as to ramp up my future app?</p>
<p>And I don’t know if this is a ridiculous question or not, but if I had a B in math (which I honestly would be lucky to have), would that kill me?</p>
<p>I would recommend not “ramping up” your app and just do things that you like. Within the things that you like to do, gain leadership positions and succeed. With that, nothing can stop you. </p>
<p>I know you’re hopeful on getting into Harvard. Who isn’t to be honest? What you really have to understand is the perspective. You’ve been in school for what, a week, a month (two months if we’re stretching into weird schedules)? That is nowhere close to a ample sized body of work. Don’t get caught up in trying to get into Harvard. You have four years. A LOT can change in four years. What I can say is that if you’re consistent in your grades and you start developing a focus in your EC’s (not just joining a bunch just for aesthetics) and your volunteering (which I can already see with the cat shelter, which is good 
) then you can only improve your chances for acceptance to great universities. We have seniors on here who post chances for HYPSM etc., and no one can tell THEM if they’re going to get in. Now I’m commending your dedication to want to do well in school and get into a top university. All I’m saying is to calm down. In the long run you’ll be a lot healthier.</p>
<p>According to one source, the Dean of Admissions or Prez of Harvard said, to maximize your chances for admission to Harvard, “Be interesting.” Are you interesting??</p>
<p>You’re right; at this stage, it’s way too early to judge. Just do what you interests you and don’t worry about getting into Harvard</p>
<p>OP, any grades you have right now are meaningless. You’ve been in school for 3 weeks tops.</p>