Harvard or bust! (Chances please!)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Chances EA or RD at Harvard</p>

<p>Midwest School ~1 person to an Ivy every year
Caucasian/Asian 50-50
Middle-Class</p>

<p>AP Biology-> 5
AP Calculus AB-> 5
AP Physics B-> 5
AP Statistics-> 5
AP US History-> 5
Taking at end of Sr. yr:
AP Gov't
AP Eng. Lit
AP Calc BC
AP Physics C</p>

<p>SAT I: 2320
Math: 800
Reading: 750
Writing: 770</p>

<p>SAT II:
Math: 800
Literature: 780
Physics: 790
US History: Taking soon probably 750+</p>

<p>Cumulative Unweighted GPA: 3.75
Cumulative Unweighted GPA w/o Freshmen Year: 3.933
Cumulative Weighted GPA: ~3.85
Cumulative Weighted GPA w/o Freshmen Year: ~4.07
(School weighs HORRIBLY)</p>

<p>Class Rank: Top 3-7 percent, not sure as of yet. Definately below 10%</p>

<p>Courseload: 10 APs throughout Highschool, 4 B's and 1 C Freshmen Year, 1 B Sophomore Year, never anytihng below an A Junior and probably Senior Year- all APs were taken Junior and Senior Year</p>

<p>Extracirriculars:
Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate- national qualifier, top 100 - Vice President of Debate Team
Work experience at Best Buy
100+ hours Volunteering at a Hospital
100+ hours of Community Service
NHS
Treasurer of Philosophy Club
Spanish Club
Medical Club
Secretary of Community Service Club
Tutor 4th grade students this year
Tutor fellow Highschool students in all areas of math for my second year
Varsity Tennis Player going on my second year
Abstract Algebra at University
Internship at a Law Firm
Stanford Debate Camp twice</p>

<p>Awards:
Math Seal of Excellence(97% average or higher in all math classes taken)
Science Seal of Excellence(Same as Math)
NMSF
Honor Roll(lol)
AP Scholar
AIME Qualifier
Debate Tournament awards</p>

<p>Reccomendations: Very confident, two from teachers one from a close family friend who's a professor at a university</p>

<p>Essays: Very confident</p>

<p>Do I stand a chance?</p>

2

<p>of course you have a chance. BUT your grade is far on the low side and...uh your ec's seem to be biased towards debate...??? I would say 12.2%-16.34342% compared to other applicants</p>

3

<p>ECs are not supposed to be biased? I thought quality > quantity- Debate/Community Service/Philosophy/Foreign Language... not good?
I take it the percent was a joke?</p>

4

<p>Biased ECs are a good thing when done correctly. Also, you have other good ECs also. Your GPA puts you on the lower end of applicants, however.
But SATs are also competitive in scores. </p>

<p>I would give you an above average chance over the average applicant. Note that this means nothing but that you have a slightly better chance of making the 9% acceptance rate.</p>

5

<p>i'm not kidding about 12-16 % chance. and you are white and asian which is definitely not good in the face of affirmative action. By biased i mean that there a lot of people who do debate stuff at your academic level.</p>

6

<p>Chances are really that low? Ouch.</p>

7

<p>Yep. Your chances are that low, as they are for almost everybody who applies to Harvard. With your GPA, SAT scores, and ECs, you are about an average applicant. Average applicants to Harvard have about a 9% chance of acceptance. </p>

<p>This also means that your stats are appropriate for a Harvard applicant. You're in the ballpark, so to speak, and applying is neither ridiculous nor automatically futile. In short, go for it. Just understand the odds, and make sure you also apply to other schools - matches, safeties, etc.</p>

<p>By the way, if you're looking for a top school that's a bit easier to get into, check out Washington University in St. Louis. Great school. Nice campus. Really nice dorms. Full of smart and friendly kids. Ranked #12 by U.S. News. You'd be a strong applicant there.</p>

8

<p>You are a solid candidate, but as the earlier posters said, nobody has a good chance, except for a few people with very unique qualifications. You don't have any special hook. So yes, you need good backups. Schools like Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia, University of Chicago, and Wash U. would be worth looking at. Top public universities would be worth looking at. Top liberal arts colleges such as Williams and Amherst would be worth looking at. You might want to look at places like MIT and Caltech, too.</p>

9

<p>umm..well u said ur school only sends one person to an ivy a year...so unless ur one of the best in ur school u dont have too much of a chance
u say ur 3-7%..so i would say no</p>

10

<p>agreed with harvard2727.</p>

11

<p>If you really want to get into Harvard or another selective college, I have some advise.</p>

<p>These colleges love diversity, so if they don't have enough people of a targeted ethnic group, you may have an advantage. </p>

<p>I think they also like a good Sob story, where you can document how you overcame numerous obstacles.</p>

<p>Also, if you have time, acquire some unusual interests. Ever look at the bios of Rhodes Scholars? These people all like to do strange things like help the lepers, practice capoeira, etc. These unusual interests have to seem sincere.</p>

<p>Lastly, if you tell them that you are gay, I think that will help you tremendously.</p>

12

<p>AHH, dammit - why can't I be gay. :(</p>

<p>Or black.</p>

<p>Or a hermaphrodite.</p>

<p>Edit: Oh dear god I have a feeling I'm going to regret this post.
Goodbye, my future presidency.</p>

13

<p>Well, I'll justify the accusation of not being top 3-7% first, before moving onto other matters. My highschool is the only public school in the city(we won't break the thing up because we love football apparently) so I'm in a class of 650. Top 3% = ~20-~46. We have.. a bunch of people who basically don't care about school and just breeze by, and very few with straight A's throughout the entire year, I'd say 20-46 after all that is surprisingly good, by my standards at least.</p>

<p>And... getting into WashU when being from MO is pretty hard, I hear. Basically just to know I'm in the running for admissions is enough for me. Thanks- i'll make sure to add some other good schools to my list</p>

14

<p>Debate and your SAT seems to be all that's going for ya. Your gpa is .... and your SAT isn't a total whoa that's so great SAT. Especially since top schools criticize teh SAT, your chances look slim. I would not say you are in the ballpark. Top 100 in a single event for speech and debate is good, but it is only top 100. There are 100 guys better than you, and LD is only 1 event out of many speech and debate events. It is a strong EC (very strong in fact), but is it recruitable level? I doubt it. </p>

<p>Overall, below average chance for Harvard, but apply. From what I've seen of Harvard kids, most are total beasts, at least the asian ones. Like 4.7 gpa with 2400 or 2390 with like several state or national level ECs with maybe some research at the local universities like stanford.</p>

15

<p>Alright, thanks man. You'd thing any university would see such a noticible upward trend right? (B's and 1 C with no honors freshmen year, 10 APs with nothing below an A soph-sr) Hopefully, haha.</p>

16

<p>Upward trend is definately good, but I think you will probably go into a lesser but still great college in the end. From what I've seen, you are just a good overall student, but you are going up against beasts. Apply cause maybe you will get in since all the Harvard kids i've met are from california and there is some east coast bias against us westcoasters.</p>

17

<p>I'm from the midwest.. can that play in my favor?</p>

18

<p>FastMed, you're overcritical of SATs. The poster has SATs above Harvard's average admitted students (you can check)--that means they are above the average applicant's by more. You're also devaluing the debate acievement majorly--recruitable or not, top 100 is not just good, it's great, especially considering the thousands of LD competitors nationwide, so saying 'there are 100 people better than you' is like telling someone who's 4th in a class of 400 that 'there are 3 people better than you'.</p>

<p>I'm sure you realize the insane competition you're facing--I'd say your chances were pretty low, but it wouldn't be ridiculous to apply. Pretty much everyone but a select few that gets accepted had a low chance of getting in.</p>

<p>Midwest will help you, but keep in mind how many people want to go to Harvard. My school is in Arkansas, probably among the most underrepresented states, and several insanely talented and merited kids from my school applied, only one was accepted.</p>

19

<p>SAT really isn't that important. It is hugely discredited nowadays. His score is good, even a little above average for harvard, but it is quite common among harvard applicants and harvard does not care so much about sats imo. His debate is an achievement, I did acknowledge that it was a very strong ec, but is it Harvard level? Probably not. The fact is those other 100 guys ahead of you in LD and in parli, expos, etc may also be eyeing harvard. Along with all the other people eyeing harvard with their achievements, top 100 in LD isn't so great anymore. State schools and lesser schools would drool I bet, but always keep in mind: All students want Harvard, but Harvard does not want all students. Teh geography thing will hopefully help you, but last year my school only had 2 people get into harvard. They were teh first 2 in a while.</p>

<ol>
<li>indian girl 2390 6 sat iis with 800 in all of them except a 790 in 1 4.8 gpa for her high school stuff, 10 community college classes and 12 aps by graduation, did research at stanford, won a few local science fairs, semi finalist in some intel thing, teachers loved her (they hate me cause I sleep too much), president of 3 clubs, etc<br></li>
<li>chinese girl 2400 4.6 (only 10 aps) 3 sat iis 800 in all 3 cheerleader captain, state fbla rep for cali, red cross youth key note speaker, president of 4 clubs (red cross, nhs, etc), did some other stuff, went to either state or nationals for speech and debate, teachers adored her, etc</li>
</ol>

<p>that is your competition. just be aware.</p>

20

<p>
[quote]
SAT really isn't that important.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Then why do colleges rate it as "very important" all the time? Compare the amount of people with 600s to the amount with 750s and 800s accepted to Harvard. </p>

<p>
[quote]
It is hugely discredited nowadays.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Then why do so many colleges continue using it? It's very widely used (and to tell you the truth, I think people only make every attempt to discredit it because its a long grueling test that no one really wants to take).</p>

<p>
[quote]
His score is good, even a little above average for harvard, but it is quite common among harvard applicants and harvard does not care so much about sats imo.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>You're right here, I agree. However the scores aren't as common as you might think. You'll also notice that acceptance rates climb among groups applying with higher SATs, though I agree that past a certain point their height doesn't matter. I was saying that you claimed the SATs weren't impressive when they were. Whether or not they'll impresse Harvard adcomes is out of the question, I understand this.</p>

<p>
[quote]
His debate is an achievement, I did acknowledge that it was a very strong ec, but is it Harvard level? Probably not. The fact is those other 100 guys ahead of you in LD and in parli, expos, etc may also be eyeing harvard. Along with all the other people eyeing harvard with their achievements, top 100 in LD isn't so great anymore.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>What do you know about top 100? I've seen nothing to substantiate the claim. Besides, you'd be surprised at people accepted to Harvard without #1s in every national competition known to mind. Also, if #65 and #95 eyed Harvard, all other things being equal, then #65's advantage wouldn't be that huge because it's about dedication and commitment, as well as the difference you made. Not how awesome you are. Also, extend my analogy on the #4 out of 400, people don't go "Ha! There're three people ahead of you!" They say "Wow, there are 396 behind you". I apply this even to Harvard--you don't have to be #1 in everything, dare I say anything, and your ECs don't have to be 'recruitable' to be impressive.</p>

<p>
[quote]
State schools and lesser schools would drool I bet, but always keep in mind: All students want Harvard, but Harvard does not want all students. Teh geography thing will hopefully help you, but last year my school only had 2 people get into harvard. They were teh first 2 in a while.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I think pretty much everyone knows that. And I'm aware of the insane competion, which I acknowledged in my post before. My school has also had some incredible students that were rejected from Harvard, in fact, last year even less students made it in that at your school (meaning one). I've seen the insane stats of the rejected, and noticed that they often compare with those of the accepted.</p>