<p>I am a student in China，with sat 2240 （I）and 2400（II math，phy，chem），toefl is 115
gpa is about 3.5 due to our school's absolutly insane marking method, the average in the grade counts to 2.7 or so...
done a lot of activities，MUN，presided over several other clubs，School photographer，good at microelectronics，one international level medal, poet for six years with a dozen publishments, wrote a book on history, intered in several banks, national 1st place in composition cup, school best debater, a patent on a new type of stereo drivers...
Looks fine.
BUT I have flatly nothing in sports and music, can't even remember when I last played with a ball. charity and community work is also scarce. My ranking in school isn't that good as well, hovering around the top 20%.
And I don't have any APs, seeing that I'm in China this should by all rights mean nothing, but most of my friends have APs, taken by mailed tests, so that could be a disadvantage.
Do those really good schools care that much about charity and sports? Would they still care so much if the applicant showed that he didn't waste the extra time?</p>
<p>What they care most about is rank. Few not at the very top of their class, no matter where,hain admission to the top US schools.</p>
<p>Well，I do hope that in light of the quite a few things Ive done, the ranking isn’t too bad
Our school is one of the best in China, and those who rank high are mostly zombie geeks who can’t even buy groceries alone…GPAs are deliberately downgraded to put presurre on us. (85/100 in finals and most homework done means 65/100 recorded)
So how’w everything overall? forget the APs first, I’m not supposed to even know about them…</p>
<p>a few more things
the stereo is still underway and won’t be marketed for at least five years, I hope to continue this project in the US.
I also set up a club in our school aimed to promote freedom of speech in China, of which I gave 12 lectures in two years. The club was vastly successful as it went on TV, though I angered many of the school officers in the process.
I actually WORK in Hong Kong for HSBC, teaching economics and management to sons of rich clients.
I have also written a thesis which won an award in the Yau-awards, which led me to know Prof.Yau of Harvard(S.T Yau, don’t tell me you haven’t heard about him) in person. As a great lover of Chinese poetry he regards my works highly, and I’m pretty certain I can secure his recommendation letter for both math and writing. My employer in Hong Kong, an MBA from harvard, could also give a work report.</p>
<p>Most likely rejection.</p>
<p>Loverofpoems, Harvard will not consider you with that rank. 90% of people admitted to Harvard were in the top 10% of their class. That means they took a few who weren’t in the top 10%, but they were development cases or athletes.</p>
<p>So there are no excuses, even if they themselves know that Chinese high school education is just one big joke?
The admissions office told me that…
I thought there were exceptions for exceptional excellence
Seeming that I’ve done most things just short of really,really good…
So what if the person in question is a true genius in one aspect but morons in all others?</p>
<p>For Harvard, you have to have good grades. Since international application competition is so much tougher than that in the US, your GPA automatically brings your chances of admission down to maybe 1 or 2%. I can understand that Chinese schooling must be tough but those “zombie geeks” are going to be the ones accepted to Harvard.</p>
<p>Why do you want to go to Harvard?</p>
<p>They manage to get non morons who were at the top of their class. Most 2400/vals are rejected too.</p>