@schroscat I’d like to be a cardiologist! Consulting one, no surgery. It’s a recent aspiration of mine. Not sure how long it will last.
Guys how many people from your high school is also applying to Harvard?? I have probably between 15 and 20 people applying to Harvard just from my high school so just standing out among my peers is a challenge!!
@schroscat 
I’m sorry to hear that. It’s amazing that you turned this experience into something positive and ceated these goals:)
@gracie21 Nice! I heard it’s very competitive. Hope it doesn’t hold much weight on our applications
@redrabbit23 hahaha, that’s how I started loving neuroscience. Watched lots of surgeries and friends always thought I was weird!
@redrabbit23 I went to the Congress of Future Medical Physicians last year and we got to view a live laparoscopy; it was seriously the greatest experience. I got to ask a question to the surgeon while he was operating…it was unreal. Neuroscience is so fascinating!! Did you ever read My Stroke of Insight by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor? If not, I would 10000% recommend it.
@aharper98 Cardiology is such an amazing sector of medicine. The heart is so simple, really. Like it’s a blob of muscle, yet making sure it’s healthy and well is so complicated. We’re insanely advanced in medicine yet the heart always screws us over in such different ways and it fascinates me. It just…makes me so happy that we have the ability to research and actually fix people? Like…physically fix a person. With a rather sterile tool box. I’m weird.
This is unrelated, but I had a question I wanted to share with you guys?
If you were half Asian and half white, would you put down Asian, Asian/White, or just white? I know that there’s been a lot of controversy lately about Ivy Leagues being tougher on Asians and whatnot. Would Harvard consider being Chinese & white a good, diverse thing or would they just label you as Asian?
@Sajidur4 Thank you so much! 
I just hope adcom sees how determined I am to cut people open for a living. (I may have mentioned buying my future children suture kits for their birthdays. I don’t know if that will go well in admissions.)
@tuty143 Thanks, I’m glad we made you smile Best of luck!!
Also, if y’all want to read an interesting book, I would recommend “My Lobotomy” by Howard Dully – it’s a memoir of a man who was forced to get a lobotomy for basically no reason when he was 12 and how it affected him for the rest of his life. Interesting and moving read, and it might be super compelling for those of y’all who want to go into medicine or care about ethical practices in medical fields.
@Stephiey I have read that book and it is fantastic! definitely recommend.
@redrabbit23 i think I’m one of 2…maybe 3? I’m the only one to apply early tho.
@Stephiey Half Asian half white person. Chose to put both sides of my race because it’s who I am. Granted, I got to mark that my Asian side is Filipino, which is not common compared to Chinese or Indian, but it still gets lumped in as Asian. Honestly don’t think I’m at a disadvantage based on my race, but definitely not given any benefits.
Man, lot’s of people here love biological sciences! That’s cool
@Stephiey That does sound like an awesome read. Thanks!
Published author. Dancer with 10,000 social media followers for the dancing. President of creative writing club. Chess player 10+ years. Fantastic recs (so my recommenders told me). Volunteer work for hospital. Great essays according to my apeng teacher. 2240 sat. 5 on 2 ap’s (only ones offered at my school). 4.0 GPA uw. 770 ushsat2. 760 chemsat2. Hoping to do do Econ. Not a single other person from my school applying ea. Really good interview (my interviewer was a publisher so there was a natural connection). Thoughts?
Heelloooo. At this point I’m just expecting a deferral so I’ll either be pleasantly surprised or just like, “Okay, that was expected.” There are a couple others applying from my school… they kinda do the same stuff, though. So maybe I stand out. WHO KNOWS. I DON’T.
@trainguy1 Yeah, I do get what you mean about putting down the one where you break stereotypes. And yes, I do agree with what you say about race and admissions… I mean, I really feel for admissions officers. Either way, they could be called racist, whether they let in a lot of people of one race based on merit or try to get more diversity. I’m really into writing and journalism, which I think would be less stereotypically Asian (wow okay I feel really gross saying that but)…?
@RandomRhino Oh, I get what you mean… I don’t know… it feels weird to “play the game” or whatever, but I guess it’s too late now to change anything. Might as well wait and see what happens!
As a general question, when I went to Harvard to visit, the admissions counselor who spoke to us said that adcoms does not care too much about standardized test scores. After all, most of the students applying have excelled on their SAT/ACT. Do you think they will hold a lower end SAT score against an applicant with an otherwise strong(er?) application? I’m a horrible test taker, and my SAT’s reflect that a teensy bit, and I’m curious whether or not I’m out of the running now.
@schroscat I think it depends on how low we’re talking about. If you’re an otherwise outstanding applicant, they’ll probably overlook your SAT scores to an extent, but if they’re around an 1800 for example, they might have difficulty with giving you a pass
@schroscat
It depends what kind of “low” scores you’re talking about. If you’re talking about a 2100, a strong rest of the app will make up for a lot and you should not worry too much. If you got something like a 1900, your scores may negatively impact your chances. Even if that is around what you got, don’t lose all hope! The admissions officers take a very holistic approach.
@RandomRhino @expertiger I scored a 2130 (690 CR, 740 M, 700 W), which based on my research, is pretty low for Harvard.
@expertiger international? If not what state/ type of school? Ethnicity? Hooks?