<p>Hello. I got my AP scores today and I am not quite pleased with one of them.
APUSH 4 (I AM NOT PLEASED WITH THIS ONE. I REALLY THOUGHT I GOT A 5. ANYWAYS I'M RETAKING THE TEST AGAIN.)
APES 3 (DOES NOT REALLY MATTER BECAUSE HARVARD DOES NOT ACCEPT CREDIT FOR IT)
AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE 3 (IT MAY SEEM A LOW SCORE FOR SOME OF YOU, BUT NOT FOR ME. I ACTUALLY THOUGHT I WAS NOT GOING TO PASS THIS TEST BECAUSE MY TEACHER WAS ALWAYS SAYING THAT ONLY 5 OUT OF 30 PASS THE TEST. SHE ALSO THOUGHT I WAS NOT CAPABLE OF GETTING A 3 AT LEAST. KIND OF FUNNY NOW)
AP SPANISH LANGUAGE 5</p>
<p>MY SCHEDULE FOR JUNIOR YEAR WAS
APUSH
PHYSICS
AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE
APES
AP SPANISH LANGUAGE
TRIG/PRE CAL HONORS
ACADEMIC DECATHLON</p>
<p>THIS IS MY SCHEDULE FOR MY SENIOR YEAR
ACADEMIC DECATHLON
AP PSYCHOLOGY OR AP GOVERNMENT
AP ENGLISH LITERATURE
AP CALCULUS AB
AP EUROPEAN HISTORY
AP BIO
AP PHYSICS B</p>
<p>ALSO, DO YOU GUYS THINK IT WOULD LOOK GOOD ON MY APPLICATION THAT I TAKE COLLEGE COURSES AT MY COMMUNITY COLLEGE EVEN THOUGH HARVARD DOES NOT ACCEPT CREDIT FOR THEM.
I HAVE ALREADY TAKEN,
SPRING 2010 INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY
SUMMER 2010 (CURRENTLY TAKING) INTRO TO SOCIOLOGY
FALL 2010 INTRO TO PSYCHOLOGY OR AMERICAN POLITICS/WITH INTRO TO ECONOMICS (DEPENDING ON HOW MY SCHEDULE GOES)
WINTER 2011 WORLD HISTORY: 1500 TO PRESENT (WANT TO TAKE THIS CLASS BECAUSE IN 10TH GRADE I ONLY TOOK HONORS FOR FIRST SEMESTER) OR TAKE ART HISTORY
SPRING 2011 ASTRONOMY
SPRING 2011 INTRO TO SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY</p>
<p>SOME PEOPLE MAY THINK IT IS DUMB TO TAKE COLLEGE COURSES THAT ARE NOT GOING TO BE GIVEN CREDIT AT HARVARD. BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT. I LOVE LEARNING, READING, AND WRITING. I HAVE A GREAT PASSION.
I am currently 8/651 in unweighted GPA and 1/651 in weighted GPA. I do a lot of EC'S. MY SAT SCORE IS 2100. IS THERE ANY CHANCE FOR ME AT HARVARD.</p>
<p>The only slight worry is that you received As in the classes, but 3s and 4s on the AP exams. That may imply grade inflation in your school. But, Harvard will be able to make that determination. Go ahead and apply.</p>
<p>Do not retake an AP test. Officially, they don’t matter. Unofficially, they may matter a little, but re-taking won’t make things better and may make them worse.</p>
<p>Do think about retaking the SAT, especially if your math or CR was below 700 (writing matters less, a lot less). Do practice tests. Another 100-150 points on the SAT I would make you a much more attractive candidate, not just at Harvard but everywhere. Alternatively, check out whether you might do better on the ACT.</p>
<p>You should have taken SAT IIs last month, too. If you didn’t, that’s a little bit of a problem.</p>
<p>Don’t say “I have a great passion.” Show it. Nothing in your presentation shows a great passion for anything but capital letters.</p>
<p>“I do a lot of ECs.”
From what I have heard, quality matters many times more than quantity. When I say quality, I really mean quality. I’ve seen that student council typically doesn’t help, but being recognized at the state or national level does help, a lot.</p>
<p>“At Harvard the more curriculum-based tests such as the AP, IB, and subject tests are the best predictors of college grades.”
– William R. Fitzsimmons, Harvard Dean Of Admissions</p>
<p>Yeah, if I were a reader I certainly wouldn’t throw out AP scores. A few of my friends with 2200-2300 SATs would rock AP tests (without a large amount of studying), while the few higher SAT and 2400 SAT scorers that I knew would either study for weeks beforehand or not do as well. I’d much prefer the first type. I think Harvard agrees; 3 kids of the first loosely categorized group got in while none from the second did.</p>
<p>To the OP, stop doing things like taking college classes ‘to look good’. Harvard wants to see that you have high aspirations and you’re doing everything you can to fill them. If you send in a CC transcript without much explanation (or simply because ‘they look good’ and ‘taking CC classes is different’) they won’t necessarily look upon them favorably. Something like that requires a rather substantial reason to make sense. You can say that you want to learn beyond your high school’s curriculum, but once again, Harvard likes active, creative people. It’s fabulous that you love to learn, but they realize that a lifetime of learning (while respectable and personally fulfilling) does not always harbor someone that will give back to the world community. Harvard wants ‘doers’ and leaders who are also extremely intelligent. I’m not criticizing your decision to take the classes, just realize what it means when you ask the question “will Harvard want me?”</p>
<p>I’m not sure how much weight AP scores carry as I was admitted to Harvard and didn’t submit them. I suppose they could help a fringe applicant, but not submitting shouldn’t hurt.</p>
<p>I see no reason not to apply, but I think you need to be more worried about your SAT than your AP scores. The former is much more important.</p>
<p>Also, I agree with JHS about retakes. This AP US exam was probably the easiest you could hope for, so I don’t see a point in going back to try again. The multiple choice was by and large very nonspecific and they were obviously quite lenient on the essays. I had not studied the content for any of them on my own prior to the exam and I was able to whip up the responses fairly easily. I got a 5. Everything you needed was basically given to you, you just had to connect the dots. Besides, a 4 is not necessarily a bad score. I would put more studying into the new APs so you’re not ending up with more 3s.</p>
<p>Unless you’re a URM, you won’t get in to be honest. Sure you’ll have an extremely small chance and it won’t hurt to apply (other than time I guess), but don’t expect to get in. You should try getting into some more manageable “reaches” and keep schools like Harvard as dream colleges.</p>
<p>If the information you’ve listed above is all that you think is notable to mention in your application, I have to agree with 187. Sorry. Unless you are an URM, your chances are rather slim.</p>
<p>And why do you list Academic Decathlon as a course you’re taking? Does your school really offer that as a class?</p>
<p>If you’re Hispanic (I’m venturing a possible guess from your AP Spanish 5, you may just be incredible at languages), you’ll have a far better chance. Definitely apply. Otherwise, shape up a bit and apply.</p>
<p>^intenex, Academic Decathlon is a course in our school. There is only one period and that is for zero period, which starts at 6:30 a.m (it is a class so the team could have more time to prepare as a whole team). Relating to the information I listed, it is just brief so people could get an idea (did not include ECs, but I love doing community service, I don’t know, it’s just like I am willing to do it to help people or the environment), but definitely I have strong things to put when it comes to my essay on the application. And yea I am an URM, for languages, I do love languages (took French too).</p>
<p>Very good news! You’ll have fairly good chances if you apply, just keep working your ass off and doing well. Try to get your scores up if you can, but don’t spend an excessive amount of time on that.</p>
<p>And be sure to apply to other schools of the same caliber, like Stanford/Yale/Princeton. That’ll increase your chances significantly.</p>