<p>I know I have posted a similar question but it was an addendum to another thread and I want to make this current issue the topic of concern.</p>
<p>I have always been an A student (except for some Bs in English), but in second semester junior year, I went low, way low, where the classes I usually had to work very hard at I got Cs as final grades. This no doubts effected my rank and GPA. However how is Harvard going to perceive this? I am going to share with you why this happened.</p>
<p>I realized that it may sound like an excuse</p>
<p>I didn't want to tell my guidance counselor about it because its so personal to my family, so she didn't mention it in her letter. My parents gave their daughter (my sister) to their brother-in-law and sister-in-law after the couple had lost their two week old baby out of pity. Well, the couple, my aunt and uncle decided to keep her away from us, and 14 years later we finally got to see her and be with her. Well, it caused many fights. This was of course, during Junior year. This was way too important and I started getting depressed in school. My grades dropped.</p>
<p>What will Harvard think?
Should I ask my guidance counselor to send a separate letter for this? (I know its late, but it hurts my app so much)</p>
<p>sorry, but getting Cs in junior year for arguably the hardest college to get into in America (in addition to MIT) is not good (ie you won't get in). Plus, adcoms might interpret your behavior as, "do we really want someone who is depressed or mentally unstable in our college", in lieu of many of the recent school shootings... I hope you have some good safeties</p>
<p>Because there are so many highly qualified[ hi GPA throughout HS, hi SAT, etc.. ] students who do apply to H, It would be in your best interest to look for other colleges to apply to. Your junior year transcript is critically important. I strongly suggest you sit down with your counselor and come up with some colleges where your HS GPA, SATs, etc are in the 75% of accepted students. Harvard won't care why your grades were low[ unless you are the child of a very rich Alumni donor]. That's just the way it is these days. Look elsewhere-there are over 3000 colleges in the US to choose from.</p>
<p>Write a kick ass essay. I mean, it has to be the best essay of your life. </p>
<p>Yes, Harvard is one of THE schools in America. It is without a doubt among the hardest colleges to get into. However:</p>
<p>They might be looking for someone just like you. No, I don't mean someone who got Cs in the most critical year in high school. I mean someone who has fallen and has gotten up. </p>
<p>Consider this:</p>
<p>Student A has been a straight A student his whole life. He comes from a high income family. He has perfect scores. Wonderful extracurriculars. He is an incredible kid by all standards. </p>
<p>Student B hasn't been a straight A student all his life. Student B has gone through some stuff. Student B fell down and failed the year he knew he couldn't fail. </p>
<p>But student B got up. Student B tasted failure, disliked it, and worked hard to get back on track. </p>
<p>What will happen to Student A if he ever fails? He has never failed before. What will he do? How much character does student A have when compared to student B?</p>
<p>Now, any college could go both ways. They could either pick Student A or they could go for Student B. But college adcoms are people too. And a story of struggle, a story where the protagonist faces failure only to overcome it, succeed, and come out better than before, is a heck of a story. </p>
<p>I hope I explained this well enough. =) I wish you the best of luck.</p>
<p>I wrote an additional essay about it. I have heard of people getting into Harvard with Cs. I actually had a reason that I feel is legitimate. And I did not say I was depressed or unstable, I just said it caused grade drops.</p>
<p>Come to think about it, You guys are right. After seeing so many highly qualified applicants that tower over my petty accomplishments, it seems I don't have to wait in suspense until April. This is just too severe of a lacking.</p>
<p>But, you suggest to write an essay about it. I have already written an essay and it was pretty good. Are you saying I should submit a through follow up?</p>
Now, any college could go both ways. They could either pick Student A or they could go for Student B. But college adcoms are people too. And a story of struggle, a story where the protagonist faces failure only to overcome it, succeed, and come out better than before, is a heck of a story.</p>
<p>I hope I explained this well enough. =) I wish you the best of luck.
[/quote]
sorry, but for harvard, everything must be near perfect. They don't really make too many excuses.</p>
<p>If you get rejected, it won't be because of your drop in grades junior year imo. Responding to a family crisis with a drop in grades is understandable, even to adcomms at elite schools. It doesn't suggest you are a person with mental illness that needs to be kept off campus.</p>
<p>Harvard may seem cutthroat, well.. it is, but its easy to forget that people are reading the app.</p>
<p>Then again, they debate about each candidate. I wonder how they could possibly make a case for me with someone else 100X better than me is in the pile, I still wonder.</p>
<p>Harvard, like many top colleges, is very choosy about who it picks, because it can be. An application has to make it past the "first cut", when most applications are put in the reject pile because of too low GPA, SAT's etc. Only those applications that make it past this point are read by adcoms.</p>
<p>Does anyone know what type of criteria they use, at least generally?</p>
<p>I have a 3.6/4 GPA will all the hardest classes
It would be much higher were it not for Junior Year
SAT- 2240
SAT II- 780 (waiting for other two)</p>
<p>Do you think I can make it past the gates?
Also, how many don't?</p>
<p>That GPA is way too low for Harvard. Too many applicants with 4.0s taking large numbers of APs or IB classes. Also, for Harvard, a 2240 SAT for an non-urm, unhooked east coast applicant is average at best. Lots of 2400s get rejected every year.</p>
<p>Better explain to Harvard or you're out of the running. I don't know how much the explanation will work but it is better than nothing. Out of curiosity, what culture are you from? I rarely hear about giving away children. This occurs in some asian countries but usually in extreme circumstances. The 3.6 isn't really going to cut it {get it up}. Retake SAT, my school counselor who has been doing the college app thing for 20+ years and has helped students with essays and applications that got them into HYP said that Ivy SAT cut-off is typically 2260. If you have anything that might stand out such as extra-curriculars, it might help with admissions. But even for Intel Finalists, Cs will severely limit their application. However, best of luck!</p>
<p>"By standard measures of academic talent, including test scores and academic performance in school, this year's applicant pool (and admitted group) remained quite similar to last year's impressive Class of 2008. For example, once again 56 percent of the candidates scored 1400 or higher on SATs; almost 2,150 scored a perfect 800 on their SAT verbal test; more than 3,200 scored an 800 on the SAT math; and nearly 3,200 were valedictorians of their high school classes. "</p>
<p>I am an Indian Muslim. My parents had the child for them because the couple was torn from losing a two week old boy. It led to problems later.</p>
<p>I honestly don't know what to say/do. I am a senior, I have already applied and all I can do is wait. My essay was fine, but I know my GPA is too low. And I don't have that extra twenty points on my SATs</p>
<p>Twenty points wouldn't have made that big of a difference in your case.... now 100...maybe. </p>
<p>See the problem is so many applicants have an entitlement complex; from your past threads and this one it seems like you have one. It's not like that. You get in if they choose to take you, and it's too bad if you didn't perform as well as you think you could've in school or extracurriculars because of family problems. It's not will Harvard "forgive" you for your year; it's will they take you with a 3.6 GPA and a steep downward trend? As for that, I don't think anybody on this thread has any idea or can give you any reassurance. It's up to luck.</p>
<p>Edit:
That previous post seems a bit harsh. Sorry. But you really have spent a lot of time on this site making excuses for why Harvard should take you or making threads that 'prod' others into agreeing with you... :P</p>
<p>DUDE! you've made a lot of similar threads and you always get the same advice. you get the good advice that your GPA is fine for Harvard, your test scores are very, very good, your background and ECs are very interesting. you get the bad advice that your GPA is "way" too low for Harvard, your scores are too low, being Indian/Asian will kill your chances etc.</p>
<p>bottomline, it's up to chance and how the adcom officers are feeling that day. perhaps they will be overlook your junior year downward trend, or maybe they won't. just curious how did you mid-year report look? in your case i'd imagine it become even more important...</p>
<p>also, why do you want to go to Harvard so badly? i mean i'd be incredibly happy to get accepted there but if i don't it's not the end of the world. however, judging from all the posts you've been making i'm concerned that, for you, not getting into Harvard is the end of the world...</p>
<p>I actually want to thank you for being harsh
What you said is actually true, I didn't realize it</p>
<p>I feel so ______-, idk</p>
<p>I'm sorry guys, I guess I have let this whole Harvard admissions thing eat me out. I need to start looking into other colleges that I have applied to.</p>