I don’t know if this forum is proper for my problem, but anyways…
I’ve sent an e-mail about my problems to Harvard and other college counselling websites, but all their reply was ambiguous. They all said that it is the best to take a vigorous path and I quite didn’t get what they meant by that. My question was about my schedule. Due to the fact that I moved a lot and I didn’t take much time considering my schedules in those days, I am in a serious trouble!! Everything is messed up. I am taking grade 9 english this year again! Don’t ask me how it happened. Therefore, I am only getting one english credit so far while all my peers are getting two. And 4 english credits are needed to graduate. My teacher suggested me to take English 10 over summer so I can move on, but here’s another problem. I am so not ready for the college. I have no idea how I am going to get 2300+ in SAT since I want to go to Harvard. And all my extracurriculars started in my sophomore year. And I haven’t took any foreign language classes yet. I am going to take Latin 1 next year. What I think is that if I just don’t take english 10 over summer and take english 10 next year, which makes me have one more year of high school and all, I would have more chances of getting into harvard.
I am a good student. I get straight-As at school now. I don’t know why I was so foolish back then. What do you guys think I should do?
I really want to go to Harvard! What do you think the best way would be?
<p>You sound very scattered. First of all, identify some matches and safeties you'd love to attend. As is much reiterated on CC, Harvard is a complete crapshoot... don't bank on it and approach the admissions process there with the lottery ticket mindset (ie, there's little to no chance of getting in, so concentrate and learn to love other schools). Second of all, Harvard is a large, high- profile institution with a lot ot worry about, least of which is next year's schedule; they have enough outstanding applicants to fill their class several times over, so they really couldn't care less about your schedule. Talk to your GC about your schedule and just work on your essays (consider incorporating your evolution to your current standing as a conscientious student into one of these) and on presenting yourself the best you can in your app. What's done is done as far as your past scheduling. Good luck!</p>
<p>I want to be a journalist or a doctor. I haven't decided which yet.
In addition, these were and would-be my schedules.</p>
<p>Grade 9- I was in Canada
English 9
Home Education/Drafting
Geometry
PE
Biology
World History I
Art
Business Education</p>
<p>Grade 10(which is now and I moved to US)
English 9
Esol
World History II
Chemistry(audit)-I am getting As, so it's sad.
Business Law/Management
PE
Algebra 2</p>
<p>Summer School
Physics</p>
<p>Grade 11
English 10 Honors
Journalism 2
Precalculus Honors
AP Physics
AP US History
Latin 1
Forensics</p>
<p>Grade 12
AP English 11
AP Biology
Senior Science Investigation
Journalism 3
Latin 3(if I do well next year, i can get into 3 or maybe 4)
AP Calculus AB or BC
AP US Government</p>
<p>Grade 12*again
AP English 12
AP Chemistry
Journalism 4
Latin 4 or AP
AP Psychology
Desktop Presentation</p>
<p>really you think so? Oh my..now I am in despair</p>
<p>Don't despair! Your schedule looks great... I didn't mean to discourage you from applying to Harvard. The lottery ticket aspect is not unique to you; it applies to every single Harvard applicant. There are, quite simply, too many outstanding applicants for the school to physically and financially support, so it's really anyone's guess as to who gets in. There are many wonderful, wonderful schools out there that you should get to know and love so that whatever happens with Harvard, you'll still have a school to go to which really excites you. Post your stats and what you want in a college and plenty of people here will be happy to help you figure out some matches and safeties. That's all... you should still absolutely apply to Harvard and they'd be lucky to have you. As for how to get in... who the hell knows. Just start thinking about essay topics now and write them over the summer. Spend a lot of time on them and have them read and critiqued by as many people as possible. Prepare an app that reflects you in the best light and as authentically as possible, apply, and see what happens. Again, good luck =)</p>
<p>I do! I do love other schools but the problem is that all the schools I love are Ivy-league schools! What am I going to do?</p>
<p>Well, you need to find some that are less insanely competitive that you stand a good chance of getting into but would still be good fits and that you would love to attend. Believe me, they're out there in spades. Again, post your stats and what you want in a college and people here will be happy to help you find some matches and safeties.<br>
*PS: Try not to idolize any one school too much... they all have their flaws, including Ivies =)</p>
<p>Find some other schools to love. If you look at some of the admissions threads back at the end of March and beginning of April you will see many, many outstanding students who weren't accepted in ivies. The val at my daughter's school, 11 ap's one four all the rest 5's, straight A's, something like a 4.7 weighted etc, etc did get into Yale but was rejected at both Princeton and Harvard.</p>
<p>You need to take care of the English 10 problem or you won't graduate from high school. I feel safe in saying that one of the requirements for graduation at your high school is four years of English. </p>
<p>There is not enough information yet to say whether or not you will be able to be accepted at an HYPSM-type college. However, you don't need a 2300+ on the SAT. Colleges do not just take the overall best people from the applicant pool. Colleges try to build freshman classes that represent society as a whole. They informally accept people from different categories such as legacies, URM's, athletes, international students, etc. They take the best people from each of the informal categories. Legacies and URM's have an advantage when applying since there are less qualified applicants in their categories, and so they have a higher probability of being accepted. </p>
<p>Also, the SAT score is not the most important part. In general, colleges care most about difficulty of curriculum, then gpa/rank, and then standardized test scores. Once you qualify for admission in those areas, they use the EC's, essays, and recommendations to differentiate between applicants. Colleges don't want well-rounded students. They want well-rounded freshman classes. They don't want to see a list of activities such as biology club, math club, NHS, .... They want to see "passion" and long term committment to one or two activities. You show them this in your essays, and you list of EC's backs it up. You need to have the adcom remember you as the person who (blank). You need to stand out from the crowd. It is even possible that your current problems with moving to the US could make a great and memorable admissions essay.</p>
<p>However, I don't think that getting into Harvard is the real problem for you. I think that you have picked out some of the most prestigious schools and set your heart on going there. I would recomend that you actually look at the other schools. You should decide whether you want urban/rural/suburban/small town, public/private, university/LAC, large/small/midsize, and etc. Do you care if the frats dominate the social life? Do you care if the school has Division 1 sports? Do you want a school where they party, or a school where everyone works hard and wants to go to grad school? Visit some local colleges just to see what the difference in personality is between a large public school and a small LAC. You don't have to actually plan on going to the schools you visit, but just check out the different types of schools. Once you open up and think about these types of issues, you will not be so fixated on the USNWR rankings. If you like warm weather, Emory outranks Harvard. The rankings would be different for a biology major versus a history major. There are enough great schools out there that you shouldn't have to either go to (blank) or feel that you have failed. It is crazy to base your decision entirely on the prestige of the school, and it makes it appear as if the main thing that you care about is impressing others. The admissions at the most selective schools is a lottery anyway. For every applicant accepted, there are four or five almost identical applicants who are waitlisted or denied. Being waitlisted means that you are just as good as anybody that we accepted, but we don't have room for you. Selective colleges often waitlist as many people as they accept. There is a saying that everyone is at their first choice by Xmas break of freshman year.</p>
<p>Also... the Ivy League is nothing more than a football conference. It comprises such vastly different types of schools- rural to urban, small to huge, preprofessional to intellectual, undergrad focus to four times the amount of grad students as undergrads. No one would mistake Dartmouth for Columbia, Princeton for Penn, etc. They are all so different, so to base your list on "I like the Ivies" is a pretty poor barometer.</p>
<p>Yeah. Umm... ok, here's an exercise.</p>
<p>Right down what you like about these Ivy League schools. Then, maybe we can help you pick out other schools that you might like.</p>
<p>Do you actually like anything particular about Harvard, or do you just like the name?</p>
<p>Dufus's post contains alot of the questions you need to ask yourself. So hopefully you read that or are going to if you haven't.</p>