Harvard Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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*Pretty long post but if you could read all of it I would be really thankful!

  • I'm fully aware my chances at Harvard are very very low but I was simply curious so I'm making this thread

So I’ve taken the SAT three times (1940 - 2050 - 2070) but my super score is 2100

CR: 710
W: 710
M: 680

I will also be taking the ACT April 2016 and have not taken any SAT II’s yet but I plan on taking Math I/II, Biology, and History

The high school I go to is a 2015 Blue Ribbon School (won this award several times in past years as well) that was ranked the #5 top high school in NJ and #47 top high school in the US in 2014. It was ranked #3 in NJ and #31 in the US in 2015. Getting into this school requires a test consisting of math, reading, and essay writing, as well as an interview with the school itself. Around 600-700 students in all four grades in the school, at least a thousand people apply to it each year and only around 150 are chosen.

The school doesn’t give out rankings or class positions of any students to any school.

UW GPA up to 2nd marking period of junior year: 3.366/4 (upward trend)

GPA will probably be the weakest part of my application next year although my counselor said that schools will know that our high school is very rigorous and top-ranked and judge the GPA accordingly.

Another thing our school does is when you apply you have to pick one of several programs they offer (fashion, law & justice, computer science, digital media, etc) and then take classes on it throughout your four years of high school like a college major, the program I chose and got accepted to was computer science.

We also have projects (kind of like electives: microcontrollers, 911 cooking, documentaries, SAT prep, etc) every Wednesday for 1.5 hours where you take a class on your chosen project and do activities focusing on it.

Freshman year schedule:

Algebra 1 Honors (93 average)
English 1 Honors (90 average)
Geometry Honors (85 average)
Intro to Object-Orientated Design (96 average)
Physical Education (99 average)
Physics Honors (89 average - all my marking period grades were A- or A, the final brought it down to 89)
Social Issues (93 average)
Spanish 1 (83 average)
World Cultures Honors (90 average)
Project School Climate (100 average)
Project Microcontrollers (98 average)

  • Our school offers no AP classes for freshmen

Sophomore year schedule:

Chemistry Honors (82 average)
Drivers Ed (93 average)
English II Honors (83 average - you need a 90 minimum in this class to take AP Lang junior year but my english teacher wrote me a recommendation to get into AP Lang since she believed I would be a good match for that class)
Intermediate Programming (94 average)
Math Analysis 1 Honors (basically pre-calc, 79 average)
Networking 1 (92 average)
Physical Education (99 average)
AP Physics 1 (79 average + 1 on the AP Exam)
Spanish II (77 average)
Project Spanish (95 average)
Project Cooking (95 average)

  • The only AP you could take sophomore year was AP Physics 1 if you postponed US History (which I did) and AP Government if you were in the Law & Justice program (I wasn't).
  • Sophomore year was my weakest year ever since I was required to take Spanish II (I can't do well in this class no matter how much I study) and all the time I spent studying for AP Physics 1 which ended up being a waste anyways. This year my GPA dropped to between 3.1 - 3.2 average for the two years and I've been using junior (and hopefully senior) year to bring it back up.

Junior year schedule (current year):

AP Lang (86 average so far)
US History 1 Honors (89 average so far)
AP Environmental Science (90 average so far)
Networking II (96 average so far)
Advanced Programming (97 average so far)
Math Analysis II Honors (88 average so far)
Biology Honors (92 average so far)
Physical Education (100 average so far)
First Aid (98 average)
Project Documentaries (95 average)
Project Documentaries 2 (95 average so far)

Senior year projected schedule:
AP Lit
AP US History
Cloud Computing
*Computer science class that hasn’t been determined yet
AP Calculus AB or AP Statistics
AP Biology
Physical Education
Family Planning
Entrepreneurship (easy boast to GPA) or Spanish III or Art (required to graduate)

  • Senior year we are also required to get an internship so I will be interning as well, on Wednesdays we go to our internships instead of school.

Extra Curriculars:
-JV Bowling (Varsity next year)
-Chemistry Club (10th grade)
-Physics Club (10,11)
-Computer Club (9,10,11)
-Turkish Cultural Center Tutor (6,7,8,9,10)
-Founding Member of Lemon Club (our schools chapter of the ALS Foundation)

Leadership Positions:
-Founder and President of C3 Club (11) - We’ve collected over 1000 books for students in low-income areas so far and over the summer we hope to turn it into a non-profit organization or open a chapter of it in another school.
-Founder of a neighborhood book club (10,11) - Weekly meetings with kids in the neighborhood where we read books together and I help them with their hw and classes
-Founder, Owner, and Editor of a book blog (9,10,11) - Started a book blog back in freshman year where I review books and interact with the book community, over 15,000 pageviews and thousands of followers in total over the blog and social media. I talk regularly with book publishers and get sent copies of books to read and review for them and I have attended multiple book events in three different states as well as BEA 2015.

Volunteering:
-At least 200-300 hours of volunteering already
-Volunteered at two relief foundations (9,10,11)
-Traveled to Haiti as a Relief Volunteer (10)
-Volunteered at local library (10,11)
-Volunteered in several cities in Turkey with a relief foundation

Work Experience:
-Working at Kumon since October 2015 (11) - tutoring and grading
-Possibly going to work at MEK starting in April

Other:
-Accepted to Harvard Summer School for the summer of 2016

Awards:
-Got my essays published in Creative Communications’ essay contests two times
-Lots of awards in middle school but only a couple of minor ones in high school

*My family is Turkish (mom and dad graduated from Turkish universities for mining engineering and chemical engineering and came to America in 1998)
*I speak two languages: English and Turkish although I can read Arabic as well
*Dual citizenship (America and Turkey)
*Religion (Islam)
*Income: Between $60,000 and $95,000 yearly (not sure of exact number)

Recommendations:

  • Guidance Counselor (expecting a really good one, I’ve been constantly talking with him since freshman year and I feel like he has gotten to know me pretty well and has helped me a lot)
  • AP Environmental Science teacher (Bachelors at Swarthmore College and Masters at Columbia University)
  • AP Lang teacher (not sure about what school she went to but she’s been pretty involved in the club I made)

Next Year Goals:

By the time I apply to schools my UW GPA will be up to 3.4-3.5/4, I will hopefully have a higher ACT than my 2100 SAT, get into National Honor Society, possibly turn my school club into a non-profit organization (already working on this with several people who said they can help)/start chapters of it in other schools, and travel to at least one more country for volunteering (South America most likely). Additionally, I have the option of going to Rutgers/NYU and taking a Turkish course there for school credits - as I already know Turkish this would be easy enough to pass but would it add anything to my application?

Thank you so much for reading guys! Please tell me what you think my chances are, things I should improve/focus on, my strengths/weaknesses, etc

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I saw your post in the Vanderbilt forum also. Just a word of advice about chance me threads - no one that chances you is on the admissions committee, so you don’t know what they’re looking for that year. These sorts of threads are rather useless, as the main metrics you provide can be readily compared to the stats that colleges provide themselves about the average accepted applicant.

College admissions is a lottery - truly, there are so many flaws, it’s not a fair system, and no one says it is. Your stats buy you a ticket (your story, ECs, recs and essays potentially) but your stats do not make it very likely to be admitted to somewhere like Harvard.

At Harvard, you would nearly immediately be overlooked. That’s just the way it is. Perhaps there is some hook you have that would have them look closer, but your chances are very small to be frank. That said, Harvard is not the be all end all. It’s an amazing school, sure, but as they acknowledge themselves, ‘the student makes the education, not the institution.’ You will be successful wherever you end up based on what you have said about yourself, and so I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Apply to a variety of schools. It’s fine if Harvard and Vandy happen to be among them, but submit and pretend you were already rejected - then an acceptance will be glorious, a waitlist fine, and a rejection expected and therefore not emotionally shattering.

Best of luck!

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@bayramf: Please read this from Harvard’s FAQ golf recruitment page: http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mgolf/faq

If those are the test scores and GPA needed for a recruited athlete, Admissions is unlikely to lower their standards for a non-athlete. As such, Harvard will not look favorably upon your 3.1-3.2 GPA no matter what your test scores and would probably put your application into the reject pile (sorry). With your GPA, you should be looking at more realistic choices for colleges: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/a-plus

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I would still apply if I were you (you never know what the admissions officers will find interesting), but dont get your hopes set on harvard, your chances (and everyone else’s that applies there), are very slim. From one muslim to another - best of luck!

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@soccerlover678 thank you! Yeah I’ve always known getting in for me will be extremely hard but I was still curious as to the opinions of other people.

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no