<p>Hey....im just a freshman, currently attending a high school called International Academy..was rated #1 in country, dropped to #2 and now dropped to #9 in the united states. Any way our grading system is harsh:</p>
<p>4.0...A
3.7...B+
3.4...B</p>
<p>And so on....
Currently if i have a GPA between 3.4 and 3.7 for the whole year...would it affect my chances of getting into harvard? And more over what if u r GPA is in the 3.4-3.7 range (for my school) for freshman year, but u have 4.0 for the rest of the years? SAT is around 2300-2350 and u r a well rounded student, like...do sports and clubs, contribute to community (250 hrs. of community service all 4 years) etc. What are my chances...would greatly appreciate it if you could reply to this.</p>
<p>Thats not a harsh grading system; thats normal. Plan on hitting a 3.9 or better if you want to get in and even then your chances are about 1 in 5.</p>
<p>That's not what's bothering me most, though- Freshman, do you realize what you're doing? You're taking a wild guess at your grades over the next four years, along with your test scores, then you're asking people if you have a chance. Dude, that's WAYYYY too early to be thinking about that.</p>
<p>The next few years of your life- both academically and otherwise- are totally unpredictable. Any prediction anyone could give you about Harvard would be extremely, extremely unreliable.</p>
<p>More importantly- YOU'RE A FRESHMAN, WHY ARE YOU ALREADY THINKING ABOUT THIS? For God's sake, at least spend a little of high school doing, you know, high school stuff. Meet some girls, join a band, crash a car, binge drink, anything, just DON'T start thinking about college yet!</p>
<p>And give other schools besides Harvard a chance, seriously.</p>
<p>sorry guys, i just wanna point out that the grades that i posted are wrong, (although the correct ones dont make such a huge difference:(....any way the grading system is actually is as....</p>
<p>A = 4.0
-A = 3.7
B+ = 3.4
B = 3.0 </p>
<p>but, my point is that this school is different....teachers have also said that a 3.7 here is like an equivelent to a 4.1 in a normal highschool. so yea. any wayAdmiral, i agree w/ you but its just that i always have my parents telling me about college, and its like always stuck in my head! i dont know if this makes a difference but...im asian. But other than that could you, in any way offer me tips on doing better in high school or explain what the ivies look for during your college year. This would be so greatly appreciated!!</p>
<p>study hard, follow your passions, and don't get your heart set on one particular school this early! Harvard has a lot going for it but so do a lot of other colleges and universities. It is crazy to think that Harvard exclusively is your college goal! Because Harvard can, it looks well beyond just getting top grades so don't obsess about decimal points in a gpa!</p>
<p>1 more Quetion: can 2 or 3 students from the same school get an admission from harvard? Most upperclassmen tell me it never happens, u either are the best or bust!</p>
<p>Yeah, I understand the kind of pressure you're under- I know plenty of people with parents that never stop pushing them about college, and start in middle school or earlier. I know how you feel, especially since you attend a school clearly meant for overachievers. However, it's possible to work hard and do well without becoming a slave to the college admissions system.</p>
<p>Incidentally, I'm sorry to tell you that the Newsweek list of top high schools was completely bogus. Its ranking is the average number of AP tests and IB tests the average student takes. That's it- that's the whole ranking. Schools that offer dozens of AP classes and shove them down students throats- no matter how badly the kids do- get an advantage, while schools that opt out of the AP program are dropped from the list entirely.</p>
<p>I don't know what kind of list of high schools doesn't put Boston Latin, Bronx Science, or Stuyvesant High School (just to name a very few) ANYWHERE in the top 1000! This Newsweek list has no correlation whatsoever to test scores, what level of colleges people end up at, general prestige, or ANY standard you could possibly consider useful in ranking high schools. Seriously- I challenge anyone to claim that there are 1000 schools in the country that are better than Boston Latin. If you don't know what it is, it's the oldest high school in the country, which many consider the best public school in New England. It sends about twenty students out of 300 to Harvard every year (and no, I didn't go there, that's not why I'm talking about it).</p>
<p>I'm sorry, Freshman, and I'm sure International Academy is fantastic- but the only reason it's so high is that it has so many AP classes. There's nothing wrong with that, but the idea that it allows anyone to rank schools is ridiculous.</p>
<p>In response to your last question- that's completely untrue. About five students from my school get in every year, and there are a number of schools that regularly send 10-20 students each year. It depends on the school.</p>
<p>If only 1 student gets in from IA in a given year, it does mean your chances are considerably slimmer.</p>
<p>Admiral totally agree with u on the fact of AP and IB's but IA does not do that, and the actuall graded rankings (of the IB tests) are pretty high around the top 20. I no that the newsweek this is totally unreliable but i was just referring it. I.A does not make the student do this, the number of classes taken are up to the students. But relating to the other comment, around only 1 person gets selected in to harvard...yale etc. because the competition is so high in this school and i dont know y but there were 3 students last year competing for the top spot, one kid did
0.000001 percent on something and due to that he got acceptance in to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Warton, and i think John Hopkins (not sure) and the other to got screwed and ended up going to University of Michigan, and the burning quetion is y will not colleges give acceptance letters to all three of these kids?!!</p>
<p>Freshman, they do accept multiple students from some schools. However, since they have to turn down over a thousand valedictorians every year, they sometimes have a hard time accepting someone who isn't a valedictorian. It's not a question of whether those kids meet the standards- they almost certainly do- it's a question of how many spots they have.</p>
<p>As I mentioned, there are schools that are exceptions- of the five students who made it in last year from my school, none had the highest GPA of the class (the girl that did have the highest GPA didn't apply, she went to Yale). It really depends on the high school.</p>
<p>The upperclassmen at the number 9 rated high school in the United States do not think more than three students from their school can get into Harvard each year? Huh?</p>
<p>Dualityim- I already explained the ranking system Newsweek used. (Also, he notes that it was one student, not 3.) The rankings are based solely on the number of AP/IB tests that students in the school took, divided by the number of graduating seniors. It's a ridiculous system, and while I'm sure International Academy is intense and competitive, it's silly to use this criteria to rank it as the number 9 school, and dishonest for Newsweek to claim these are the "1000 best.'</p>
<p>The reason it's that high, according to Wikipedia, is that each student at IA is required to sit for at least 6 IB exams as a diploma candidate, which greatly raises the average. This is an interesting and viable policy, but the idea that any school that does this suddenly becomes one of the top ten in the country is ridiculous.</p>
<p>And harvard2727- right, GPA is definitely not everything, far from it.</p>
<p>Oh, don't worry so much about rank...the kids who were 1st, 3d, 7th, and lower in the top 15% in my high school's class of '06 got into HYPS and a bunch of other Ivies. If you think about it, how many people can be "the best"? There's always someone better! These schools, I think, are not looking for "the best" but people with a lot of drive and potential. So work hard (don't drive yourself crazy), find a few ECs you love and run with them, and just enjoy yourself. High school is fun!</p>
<p>yea, i get what all of you are saying...some of the things which i have achieved now are the following, since im this kind of person i will try to continue what i have achieved in my middle school</p>
<p>Awards & Recognitions etc.</p>
<p>Future City competitons- 4th state
MSOBA (orchestra violin)- 1st state
Battle of the Books- 3rd district
Recevied: National Presidential Award of Academic Excellence
Student of The Week
President of NJHS (National Junior Honor Society)
Played on Football & Cross-country team
Honor roll -all three years- all A's (lol)
Recevied Scholarship (Violin, 100$)
Student Council (We didnt have bord members here)
Highschool Roundtable member
Participate in Building W/Books
Key Club
Model UN
etc....</p>
<p>So if i continue like this or try....how would i fare?</p>
<p>oh little freshman, let me tell you a story:</p>
<p>once upon a time (just last year, lol) i was a freshman too and i was just as obsessed with going to harvard as you are. everyone would always tell me to calm and not to worry about those things right now and blah blah blah and i would just think "those lazy bums! just because they dont care doesnt me i shouldn't". well, let me tell you this: you can seriously give yourself a nervous condition worrying about these things all the time. I worried all of last year and nearly gave myself an ulcer lol, and ended up with a really high average last year. this year, ive been studying but not being overly obsessed and anxiety-ridden and my average this year is even higher so far. the point of this story: there's really no point in being too concerned with these things right now. it really doesnt make you perform any better and you can really make yourself sick. i hope i helped. :-)</p>
<p>Freshman, listen for real. I know you are getting pressure to start NOW getting the grades, etc. you will need to get into Harvard. And you should work hard in high school and set high goals, but because that is what you want, not because that is what you think a college wants. High school is a stressful 4 years, not just academically...don't add more stress by trying to predict what Harvard will be looking for in the fall of 2009. DO NOT try to make yourself over as the perfect Harvard applicant. You be who you are, not who you think Harvard wants you to be. Then if you are accepted to Harvard, it will be on your terms, not theirs....and if not, then it wasn't the place for you. Good luck and enjoy high school!</p>