Harvard...

Applying to College
1

<p>I know that academics are a first for Harvard...but your rank and scores aren't up there (~2000, top 20% of 175 people)</p>

<p>but you're "good" in a lot of things</p>

<p>-turning in samples for vocals and pictures of food that I can make
-state science fair (2 different competitions)
-state/region spell and vocabularize ;-) (2 different competitions)
-ethnic dancing at school (though I'm not Indian)
-self-studying us hist ap
-recommendation from math teacher is good (grade isn't good, but can describe why)
-good essay writer (12 SAT...essay for college will be unique and personal)
-gonna join the ACA DECA team (hopefully) for the school I should be going to
-leadership in HOSA
-medical magnet school
-Mexican-American (1/2)</p>

<p>I feel like I've done like every possible area you can accomplish something in.</p>

2

<p>bump this up</p>

3

<p>I feel like I've done every field....</p>

4

<p>The thing with Harvard is that most of the applicants are very well qualified. When the school accepts 1 in 11 or 1 in 12 applicants, EVERYONE has very slim chances. I had 2350 SATs, top prep school, etc. and didn't make it. Who knows- it's impossible to speculate.</p>

5

<p>1) Academics are most important
2) Well-lopsided is more desirable than well-rounded</p>

6

<p>sorry glucose...but compared to alot of kids out there..those arent very impressive. As has been said before, academics are 1st unless you have some hook. Unfortunately, pictures of food you can make and ethnic dancing do not qualify as one of those hooks. I dont mean to knock you, just giving you my opinion. ~2000 and top 20% are not top 25 stats, much less Harvard stats. Again, dont see this as offensive, merely as accurate feedback.</p>

7

<p>I see .... it's ok I guess, but I felt that I was good in many things, not just concentrated.</p>

<p>Trying to get 2100+</p>

8

<p>Those are top 25 stats even without affirmative action.</p>

9

<p>yea transferer you're getting carried away...25% of kids at harvard got below 2100 (estimated). I think you have a chance with the URM status and strong ECs. However, the only way you will be admitted is with amazing essays...the essays are what need to stand out from the rest since the other stats don't. Good luck, and if it doesn't go your way, then im sure you will be admitted to many other top 10 schools which are comparable to harvard.</p>

10

<p>would it be bad or good to relate my essays to one of my talents (what I can do, passion), or something off the wall (which I think would capture who and what I'm about).</p>

11

<p>that well lopsided stuff is crap.</p>

<p>im pretty much the perfect example. Ive poured thousands of hours and thousands of dollars into my passion and somehow the essays, the awards and the ecs couldnt tell schools that was my all encompassing passion? (with great grades, sat scores and the typical stuff to boot)</p>

<p>i refuse to listen to that.</p>

12

<p>sorry for that...still venting.</p>

13

<p>so it's better to be good at weird, variant things, or focused on one thing?</p>

14

<p>She has ~2000, she hasnt gotten the 2100 yet. Come on guys, be fair to him/her. Even if 25% of Harvard students got below a 2100, i dont know where you got that number but lets assume its right that still means 75% got above. And im guessing that those who got below 2100 were top 5-10% of their class with some hook. Again im not trying to down you glucose, but aside from URM what other EC really stands out? That being said, yes perhaps I was being too harsh with the top 25 thing, i dunno about top 10...but top 20 may be a possibility if you get above 2100.</p>

15

<p>I don't know too many people that are decent in many fields, but that's probably just in this local region.</p>

16

<p>I know a kid, with 2100 SAT score, top 25% of his class and a PUBLISHED SCIENTIST who got rejected from harvard. Just shows that academics are very important.</p>

17

<p>This is one of my posts from an earlier thread, and I've just copy/pasted here to perhaps give you guys a hint of what a hook really is:</p>

<p>To Glucose: You really need a "BIG BANG" EC/activity/accomplishment over the next few months in order to be even considered by the admissions people. </p>

<p>In our society/world, there are just so many things and problems that need immediate attention and aid. Some of them are really small things that common people witness everyday but never take the time to think or take action. </p>

<p>Last Saturday, on the front page of a nationally-renowned (Canada) newspaper, there's a story about a 17 year old girl who spent her entire life in a tiny village in northern Canada. She recently received acceptances from 4 institutions: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Dartmouth (early). The girl is a normal teenager just like you and me, but she has a VERY COMMON passion that we devote ourselves to everyday as well. She likes to read, and that's become her "personal legend" since the age of 5. However, in her home village in Northern Canada, there's no public library. Therefore, the girl wrote a letter to a regional newspaper asking people to donate used books so she could open up a library for members of her community in order to get educated from reading. </p>

<p>This one single letter has incited attentions from people all over the world. Within3 months, books are pouring into the village from Australia, from England, from Texas, from New York... The Prime Minister of Canada even invited to girl to Ottawa (Canada's capital) and "have lunch together in Parliament." The National Librarian also showed the girl around the Parliament Hill Library and later also donated books to the bewildered teenager's library. </p>

<p>Although this cause may seem exceedingly grandoise and perhaps almost impossible to accomplish for "normal" teenagers, it is an ordinary story found in our everday life that's turned into an extraordinary cause by a keen, driven observer and follower of one's passion. </p>

<p>So, you see: if you'd like to have a fair or even a better chance at harvard, this is the approximate "magnitude" your potential "hook" has to have.</p>

18

<p>bobbobbob, have you decided between Brown and GTown? If you haven't, you might want to choose whichever has better anger management therapy.</p>

19

<p>I dunno about the well-lopsided theory. The two people who got in from my school were very well-rounded. :p</p>

20

<p>"I don't know too many people that are decent in many fields, but that's probably just in this local region."</p>

<p>Yup. I can name at least 30 people off the top of my head from my school with stronger ECs and better grades than you who didnt get into any of the HYPSM or top privates.</p>

<p>"but you're "good" in a lot of things"</p>

<p>Yes, that might be true. No offense though, you aren't considered "good" in your activities. From what you've written, it doesnt appear that you actually did well (ie. won awards, held top positions) in any of your ECs with the possible exception of that leadership at HOSA thing. Everything else they'll just see as a student trying out different activities but being average in everything.</p>

<p>Btw, the ECs that even matter one bit are:</p>

<p>-turning in samples for vocals (if they are very very good)
-state science fair (2 different competitions)
-state/region spell and vocabularize ;-) (2 different competitions)
-ethnic dancing at school (though I'm not Indian) (if this is a club or something)
-gonna join the ACA DECA team (hopefully) for the school I should be going to (if you actually do join)
-leadership in HOSA
-Mexican-American (1/2)</p>

<p>Forgive me for being blunt, but as of right now and even if you get 2100+, you won't be able to get into HYPSM and the ivies are all reaches.</p>