freshmen year was rough as I ended geoemtry with a 60 and honor biology with a 75, around a 3.3 sophmore year and as a junior im expecting for an A in physics and pre calc and mid B in apush ap lang and an a in ap stat and spanish, ive moved around a lot and come from a poor background in india and didnt know how the usa school system worked for the longest time, by the time i apply if i have a 1600 on the sat, 800 on math and physics sat, subject test and take ap calc bc/ ap econ/ ap physics/ap bio/ap lit and a medical intership my senior year and ace my classes, will this demonstrate academic rigor to ivy leagues or Georgia tech? i know my academics suck so i will try to show my diverse background in my essays in the past i have worked with non profit red cross/ relay for life/action against hunger to raise money/fundraise, im treasurer of steminsm club, will probably be secretary for 121 (tutoring) club next year, i am starting my own club next year, i have worked at my library and am volunteering at my local hospital this summer, currently doing an internship at a math center on weekends, working to publish a newspaper in an organization in india to educate illiterate children, creating a website for people with loved ones with mental disorders as freshmen year my brothers mental illness impacted me, i was also thinking about taking phychology at my local cc over the summer to bump my gpa a little, by the end of junior year my average will be around an 87 I believe, could a compelling personal statement possibly give me a shot to make it into harvard/ georgia tech/ princeton/ UChicago. Not for the sake of college resumes but on the side as a personal project, I am also attempting to introduce a self susteined water system in a village in rural india although i am not sure how that would work and on my trip to India this summer I also plan on donating refurbished computers to the less fortunate, i know i do not have many academic ec’s but i have always had a passion for my community and could have something to offer to these schools but my friends tell me to aim for a state school with a less than stellar 3.2, thanks for any help guys (please no discouraging comments as I know its a near impossible shot but its worth a try!)
i retook the geomtry course during summer and got an 86 although my school doesnt do grade replacement
Sounds like you are on an upward trajectory. Getting perfect scores on the SAT is unlikely given what you have written here. Once you know your scores, you will be in a better position to start thinking of what schools will be a fit for you.
Can you explain the disparity between Test Scores and GPA ? GPA is a pretty good predictor of future success in college. Why Harvard?Princeton ?/UChicago? may be important in your applications.
I have already taken the sat and gotten a 1520 which is why I think I can get a perfect score as I did not study much the first time I took the SAT, if I am being honest, I never realized the importance of GPA and prefered to be more involved in my community but as naive as I sound, i realized far too late that grades are the single most importance factor
One question and one comment:
“could a compelling personal statement possibly give me a shot to make it into harvard/ georgia tech/ princeton/ UChicago”
A Question: Do you actually want to go to a university that is extremely stressful, and where the homework is two or more times greater and tests are several times more difficult than high school, and where every student that you are competing with had at most one or two A- grades in high school, and every other grade was an A or A+?
A Comment: You have some good ideas to actually help people and the world (such as your helping poor people in India). You don’t need to go to Harvard or Princeton or Chicago to help people. You don’t need to go to a “big name” school to do very well in the US, and to do very well in whatever area you want to. There are a HUGE number of very good universities in the US (and in India, and elsewhere). You need to find a university that is a good fit for you.
In the US, the vast majority of MIT and Stanford and Harvard graduates work for bosses who went to far less prestigious universities. I have a Bachelor’s degree from MIT and a Master’s degree from Stanford. The four best bosses that I ever had, were graduates from (i) A state university; (ii) A university that I had never heard of; (iii) A university in Canada; and (iv) Seminary school. None of them had to go to a “big name” university in order to manage a group of software engineers with degrees from Stanford, MIT, Harvard, UNH, UMass, and IIT.
“i have always had a passion for my community”
I can see this. You don’t have to go to a “famous” or “prestigious” university to help your community. Do as well as you can, try to keep the stress under control (the US puts way too much stress on our high school students), and find a university that works for you. There are a huge number to choose from.
@DadTwoGirls Thank you Sir, I appreciate you acknowledging my contributions to community. And you are probably right about an expensive degree not equalling sucess. However, I really genuinely do love Georgia Tech, I have talked to several grads, visited the campus numerous times, etc, it is a difficult school but I believe it would be a good fit for me. However being a state school they are mostly numbers based with average gpa being a 3.9/4 and only the bottom 3 percent having a gpa in my range (proabably athletes) I have a .1 percent chance of being admitted. Do you think there is anything I can do to improve my chances? Potentially a good senior year?
Getting into highly selective schools is like a mega lottery so just apply but do have back ups in case you do not get in. I do not think you have any hooks to help you. Being Asian is NOT a hook. Asians are held to a higher standard than others.
"Do you think there is anything I can do to improve my chances? Potentially a good senior year? "
I think that you want to do as well as you can for your senior year (and the last few weeks of this year) regardless of where you end up applying and regardless of where you end up going.
I am aware of a few cases of students going to a less prestigious university straight out of high school, then transferring to a better known or academically stronger school. Mostly this has occurred either for very strong students who couldn’t afford four years at a prestigious school, or where a very smart student for some reason had high school grades that did not reflect their potential. However, I am also aware of some very smart students who went to “pretty good” (but not famous) universities for undergrad, then went to a big name university for a Master’s degree. Any of these approaches needed VERY good grades for ALL of the years at university.
Do the best that you can for the rest of this year and next, and when you apply have a couple of safety schools, and a few “mild reaches”.
@DadTwoGirls Thank you for the response, the problem is, my parents can only afford to send me in state and in Georgia the best two universities- UGA and Tech have gotten extremely competitive which is why it is so difficult for people to get in. I could go to state and then transfer to tech in a year but as of right now i am trying to do everything in my power to directly get admitted into tech as it would be easier for me as it takes me a while to adjust to social scenes and transferring after a year would be less than ideal, although I will take what I can get…
If you qualified as Nationla Merit Semi-finalist ( based on PSAT taken in junior year), you will have a lot of opportunities (full-tuition scholarship).
@DadTwoGirls, I like your advice. It’s very sensible.
You may already know this, but just in case – you don’t need to type out every comment you want to comment on. Just encase it in the “quote” tags.
[QUOTE…]
Paste quote here.[…/QUOTE]
Just delete the periods in the brackets.
You asked how to get into Harvard and other collegs with sub-10% acceptance rates, then you asked for no discouraging comments, meaning truth. Please understand that what you want is not realistic at all. You seem to devote a lot of effort to activities outside of school. Many other kids do too, but they also have very high grades and still can’t get into those schools. You are probably aware that perfect test scores won’t be a deciding factor either. Those schools like to see high grades because they are very academically demanding. Even students with high grades going in will not find it easy to do well.
Find some colleges that are more in line with your stats as they are now. It’s wonderful that you are involved in your community, but consider easing up on your activities and focussing on your grades a little more. That will help you get into more colleges. You have a big list of “if” factors, but should you manage to pull off all the 1600 and 800 scores you hope to, it isn’t going to be a ticket to Harvard. With very few exceptions, none of which apply at the schools you have listed, grades are ALWAYS the most important criteria.
Literally thousands of applicants to all kinds of colleges have compelling personal stories. There have been some truly heartbreaking tales from people on this website. They have high grades and test scores, and do not get into the colleges you listed. The colleges can’t admit people because they feel sorry for them. They have to admit students because they believe a student can succeed and fit in with that college’s ethos. You will be a fabulous applicant for plenty of colleges that will love your high test scores and grades as they are. Find those colleges. Best of luck to you.
@nervousjunior98 Reading your original post, it also occurred to me that you should work on your writing skills. For example, you need to organize your thoughts into sentences and paragraphs, with a clear point to each paragraph and with appropriate punctuation and breaks between ideas. Being able to write clearly is a skill that will be needed quite soon for university applications, and throughout life for many reasons.
- Research under-subscribed majors and departments at GT, and if you're genuinely interested in one, choose it and write your application accordingly.
- Apply Regular not Early to allow more time to pull up your GPA
- Prove you can make straight A's in all your remaining course work through the fall and winter of your senior year. Drop whatever EC's you need to right now to make that happen.
- Take AP Calculus this summer and make an A+, then sign up for multivariable calculus and linear algebra in the fall and make A+'s
- Express to GT through your HS counselor and/or on your application your willingness and eagerness to enter GT though the Late Short Summer Session.
- Have your HS counselor write about your past misfortunes.
- Research 3/2 programs w/ GT (Agnes Scott, GA Southern, GSU, etc..)
- Don't waste your valuable time and money on a Harvard Applicatiion.
My two cents.
Best of luck!
Don’t waste time trying for a perfect score. For admissions, there really is no difference between, say, a 750 and an 800.
Your application might have less of a chance at a big school that relies on GPA.
Schools that rely on “holistic” admissions might be a better shot for you since you do so much in the community (and I might also agree it is too much, focus a little more on school).
I think it is worth applying wherever you want to apply where admissions is holistic (Harvard) or where admissions is less stats-focused.
Just don’t get your hopes up- at all.
They aren’t looking for explanations in your essays. When we say a “compelling essay,” it means your thinking and actions, the attributes you “show” (not just claim) that they look for, not a sad family story.
The wished-for scores will not “demonstrate rigor.” And now you want to load up on APs, but just taking them isn’t it. With the prior record, you need those grades to be A’s. Even if you do get A’s, only first semester will show. (And you want to jump from pre-calc to AP BC? Have you talked with anyone about this?)
Red Cross is good, but you haven’t told us what you do there or at the hospital (if it is something challenging, how much and how long.) A few walkathons/fundraisers and club titles won’t overcome the 3.2. They want activated kids who take on responsibilities and have some impact.
Do you actually work with the needy, here in your local community?
But, OP, even asking if these things are what it takes, you show you have little idea what they’re truly looking for. Or how fierce the competition is, for top private colleges. That’s a major problem for many kids. You’ve got to learn that from the colleges, what they say and show they value and look for.
The problem with the 3.2 is they need to see you are prepared for the four years in their highly competitive classrooms, that you bring the needed learning levels peers will have and professors expect.
And if you’re thinking pre-med, you should find a college where you can succeed in that track, not a weeder. If you’re thinking stem, what activities besides the “stemism” club? You compete with them?
Until you know what these colleges want, you can’t assess your match. They’ll be looking for match and more.
Thank you for your opinion, I am aware I need to work on my contributions more, I am trying to maintain good grades so I have not been able to be as involved in my community as I would like. However today I was selected as operations manager for our school tutoring club and I have gotten a job at Mathnasium teaching children math and will volunteer at my hospital over the summer. I will most likely apply to techs international affairs school which is why I am attempting not to waste time filling my resume with things not pertinent to my major… I have been getting A’s in all my classes this semester and believe I can do the same for all my classes next year, except maybe physics C… I am also taking intro to phychology as a social science over the summer, should I take biology or another science to be more competitive for tech…? thanks for any help…
@nervousjunior98: Harvard has tremendous brand recognition and so it attracts “the best of the best” students from all across the United States and the world. Many students are rejected, even with perfect test scores and GPA’s.
If you look at GPA vs SAT data in the freshman survey chart (under APPLICATION), you can visually see that the HIGHER your GPA – along with a higher SAT score – the better chances of acceptance you will have: http://features.thecrimson.com/2015/freshman-survey/makeup/
If you have a low GPA, your application is literally going to be overshadowed by the “Peter Perfects” of this world and you will ultimately be deferred (if applying SCEA) and then rejected (if applying RD).
My recommendation: **LET HARVARD GO You need to focus on other colleges that are more appropriate for your GPA – colleges that will allow you to rise to the top of their graduating class. And given your high school GPA, that doesn’t seem possible five years from now – even if you were admitted to Harvard.
As such, you need to focus on your ultimate goal – to get an employer to hire you in a good paying job! And, I guarantee you that a student graduating in the top 1% of their class from NYU, Boston U, WashU in St. Louis, UMich etc is going to be in a BETTER position to be hired than a student at the bottom third of Harvard’s graduating class. (FWIW: Employers expect students to list their GPA on their resume when applying for a first job!)
Now, where do you ultimately want to be? At the top of your class from a well-known university or at the bottom of your class at Harvard?
Best of luck to you whatever you decide!
Hi Gibby… thanks for your insight and I stated above that my dream school IS Georgia tech… i simply mentioned harvard in the title to basically allude to how to get into any selective school with a lower gpa… and my gpa was low due to family issues so I am pretty sure I wouldnt graduate at the bottom half of harvard but thanks anyways