<p>So Harvard is my dream school. But I'm just trying to currently focus on what I can do to be the best student to put me in a position of going to Harvard. I'm a sophomore in high school. My current GPA is a 3.4 but this year I'm excelling already and have 3 a.p courses which I know will bring my grade up. I struggle in A.P Biology so I'm afraid I'll get a C or something. And for my afterschool activities I have a college class,male leadership training,student government meetings, and chess club. I previously ran track in my freshman year but I stopped due to my hectic schedule. My coach thinks I should join back and practice in the available spaces or even after I'm finished doing my activities but I fear I will not be able to do work when I go home because I will be tired. THE BOTTOMLINE IS should I join back the track team because it will look like a good EC for Harvard or should I stick with what I'm doing ?</p>
<p>If you think you could be good enough to be recruited for track, then join. Otherwise, if you don’t really want to, then you shouldn’t.</p>
<p>Being as blunt as possible. ALready having a 3.4 gpa and struggling and perhaps getting a C in AP Bio doesn’t bode well for you. Viable Harvard applicants are the top scholars in their graduating classes.</p>
<p>4.0GPA and +2200SAT students are routinely rejected from ultra selectives like Harvard. I suspect Harvard is just a name to you right now. I suggest you bear down on your academics and meet your counselor to assemble a realistic but rigorous college list in your Junior year. I’d also suggest that H and its peer schools not be on your list.</p>
<p>Track as an EC to look good to schools like Harvard is focusing on the wrong thing. Do track if you can handle it and like it. Crank on your classes. Don’t worry about college yet.</p>
<p>So Harvard isn’t just a name for me I like the housing there and it’s academic program seems to be rigorous but it will be fulfilling. I don’t know if me saying I’m black lowers the standard of my requirements of getting in but I have some strong EC’s adding to it every year.</p>
<p>
Ah, such a compelling description of Harvard.
It does, but it doesn’t lower them enough for a 3.4 GPA after Sophomore year.</p>
<p>MrMeursault were you being sarcastic when you said such a compelling description of Harvard ? And I know I have to raise my GPA and with my A.P classes this year I believe my GPA will be raised.</p>
<p>Wharton, even as a Black track athlete with lots of APs, the best you are going to be able to do is give yourself a 1-in-4 (or so) chance of getting accepted at Harvard, if not 1-in-10. Under no circumstances should you twist your life around and do things that you dislike, or that cause you too much stress, for that little payoff.</p>
<p>What you SHOULD do – and what, coincidentally, will give you the best chance possible of going to Harvard in the future – is to make the choices that will make YOU a better, happier, more engaged, more successful person, in high school and beyond. Please yourself. Not just superficially, or short-term, but in a deep sense: make yourself satisfied with the person you are, and the person you are becoming. </p>
<p>When you have done that, and if your personal standards are high enough, you will be the best candidate for admission to Harvard you could possibly be. What’s more, whether you get in to Harvard or not will matter a lot less to you, because you will know that you will succeed wherever you go, and you won’t NEED Harvard.</p>
<p>If you were my kid and came to me expressing a deep desire to do whatever it takes to get into Harvard, I’d tell you to start by figuring out how to improve your performance in AP Bio. You’re doing a lot of extracurricular stuff - maybe some of that time would be better spent on studying Bio? If the EC’s are much more important to you, than that might reflect more accurately where your deeper interests lie.</p>
<p>Wharton, you need to wait at least until you have finished your sophomore year, and perhaps until you have finished the first semester of your junior year (after you take the SATs) before you start thinking about what colleges you should apply to. Only then will your gc be able to help you with a list of possible colleges.</p>
<p>My daughter’s dream schools changed significantly from freshman to senior year based purely on her desired major, achievements in the classroom and achievements on standardized tests. We could never have guessed when she was a sophomore what her final list of achievements would be as a senior. And, neither can you. She did not tailor her high school ecs to the university she wanted to go to. Rather, she tried a few things out and settled on ecs that she enjoyed and eventually excelled in.</p>
<p>She sat down for a frank, one-on-one conversation with her gc at the end of her junior year. The gc went through her transcript with her, reviewed all of her test scores and summarized how other kids from her school with similar stats fared when applying to certain schools. Based on those recommendations (and on a few dreams), she came up with her list. It is much too early in the process for you to be able to do the same.</p>
<p>Forget about Harvard for now. Be a good student. Study and experiment with various activities. If you enjoy track, then do it. But, whatever you do, don’t let your dream of going to Harvard (with a paltry 9% acceptance rate!) prevent you from doing those things that you truly enjoy.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice everyone I’ll definitely focus more on being the best student I can and excelling in classes before worrying about college after all I have 3 more years right.</p>
<p>Just a couple of more tips: what we have found now that D is in the process of applying is that gpa/rank (or estimated rank) are the most important factors. So, work hard in your classes. If your teachers are just really tough, then you may have a case if you can get a 5 on your AP exams. Otherwise, it’ll be hard to show that you can handle the work in college. Also, don’t just take AP courses to get higher grades. Many colleges still focus on the unweighted gpa. So, Bs and Cs in AP courses probably won’t give you as much of a boost as you expect.</p>
<p>Dignified has given you good advice. You have a long way to go in this process and as recently as 8/30 you were wanting to attend Wharton. By the time you are applying, you may have very different thoughts about schools.</p>