<p>I'm Jeroentk, a 14-year old boy from the Netherlands (Europe) who really wants to go to Harvard University (that's the nr 1 on my list, because of the great Business-department) and therefore I'd like to know my chances for Harvard if I continue like this and how I can improve them. Here are some stats:</p>
<p>Gender: Male Intended Major: Business/microeconomics Location: The Netherlands Ethnicity: White</p>
<p>Grades: 90-95% on a level which is slightly higher than a good IB-program on all subjects (all mathematics, all economics, history, business etc.) Sports: 5 years soccer, 1 year tennis, 2 years chess</p>
<p>Some extras: I could do some exams on my 15th, which would be 3 years earlier than normal. Also I am teaching economics at my school to students who are between 4 years older and students who are 2 years younger. I also sport with students who are 4 years older, because I'm a pretty good sporter. On my 13th I started reading university-level books, because it really interests me.
Also I could be the editor in chief of my school's newspaper by next year. </p>
<p>What would be my chances if I continue like this? And how can I improve my chances?</p>
<p>Do as well as you can in school and on standardized tests and give your application everything you have to offer. That you maximize your chances of acceptance, although they still wouldn’t be very high.</p>
<p>I think I can get grades of like 95-100% and I don’t know about the SAT, since in the Netherlands I don’t know anyone who would even know what the SAT is and so I can’t get any advice.</p>
<p>Unfortunately we don’t have the ‘clubs’ you have in the US, like the Spanish Honor Club or so, so I can’t show leadership with that. But I think editor in chief of the school’s newspaper and teaching do show a bit leadership, do they? </p>
<p>And my chances wouldn’t be very high? Is that because of me or because of the school?</p>
<p>Because I’m interested in economics and want to learn more than I get on my High School I’ve asked Leiden University to send me a list of books which are studied by freshmen. And yes, I understand those books.</p>
<p>Jeroentk - Harvard’s undergraduate college does not have a Business department (though many undergraduate students concentrate in Economics). Harvard’s undergraduate focus is almost exclusively liberal arts-based. The well-known Business school that you mention is for graduate study only. The top undergraduate business school in the U.S. is at the University of Pennsylvania.</p>
<ol>
<li>see if you have any national economics competitions or the like</li>
<li>try to contact a economics professor at a local university and do some research with him</li>
<li>try to sign up for an economics course through a local university.</li>
</ol>
<p>With your priorities in that order. I don’t know if all of that is possible in the Netherlands (in the US we can take classes at a local college), but give it a shot. Remember, there’s always a first in everything, so take initiative.</p>
<p>Well, as far as I know we don’t have national competitions about subjects of High School. Education in the US is quite competetive, but in the Netherlands it isn’t. 97% of the universities are public here and you can go there with a 60%-score on an IB-program. The public universities aren’t really that bad here, tho. There are 4-5 Dutch (public) universities in the top 100.</p>
<p>I was already considering taking some courses at a university and I will see how that goes. It would be very special, but that’s a good thing. :)</p>
<p>And doing research with a professor is maybe a little too hard to reach. I don’t know anyone who knows a professor and I think professors don’t just do research with a student, especially not a High School-student. But I could ask and see if it would be possible.</p>
<p>Jeroentk- would you be interested in playing soccer at university? If you become an excellent, highly ranked player in your country, you could possibly be recruited by college coaches. Soccer could be your most powerful extra-curricular. </p>
<p>However, be sure you love the sport enough to make the time and physical sacrifices.</p>
<p>fauver - I actually do love the sport but not enough to do it several hours a day. Besides that, I’m pretty good at soccer but not good enough to get recruited by a university. </p>
<p>MSauce - I will need financial aid, as I have 4 brothers & sisters. I don’t know anything about the financial aid of any college except Harvard (from which I know is really good). Does the Ivy League have better need-based financial aid when comparing to others or is it just HYP?</p>
<p>Could someone tell me about the financial aid-policies of HYP and the other Ivies and some other topschools? Also I’d like to hear the opinions of others about my chances and how I can improve them. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I know, it was mentioned before. But I’m not 100% sure I want to study business, only that I want to go in business. I think I’d like studying economics too, and HYP do have a great economics department.</p>
<p>about aid policies for internationals the best ones offer a package where full need is met (so they say, but still the packages at harvard are much more generous than the ones at cornell).</p>
<p>the ones (best unis) that give aid for internationals both need blind and not need blind:
harvard, yale, princeton, stanford, mit, dartmouth, brown, upenn, cornell, amherst, williams, middlebury, bowdoin, duke, rice, caltech</p>