I am a peruvian 17 year-old boy, I studied in a $200 monthly pension high school in Lima,Peru

Student Lounge International Students
1

I am already enrolled in a private university in Lima, and one of my dreams is to get into one of the most prestigious and popular universities in the world among this options: Harvard University and/or the rest Ivy League colleges, MIT, and Cambridge or Oxford.

I consider myself a very responsible and persevering person, an intelligent, respectful innovative and organized person. Many people got surprised when I told them what I thought about many topics: I used to tell that the political problems in my country are mostly based on the social-cultural history, that the world economy depends on the largest socioeconomic class (the middle class) in the world, that the technological development is the key of the measure of the human capacity of thinking and feeling and make them work balanced, that the ethnical heritage actually doens’t exist because of the different physical developments of the human according to their geographic position, but considering that the similar traditions and lifestyle of a group of people with similar physical aspects were very important in our understanding of the rest of the groups of people…

I can keep exemplify, but I want to go to the principal point of my discussion.

I already took the SAT for the first time, I got 950 points, which is not a very good score. I want to get an above 1510 points score, so I will satisfy the score requirement of all the universities.

I have an 4.80 or 4.85 converted gpa, but I’m not in the top percent of my class. I think I am in the 50th percentile.

I want to make an outstanding first impression to the interviewers of each universities and I will prepare for that.

My high school is not a bilingual one and doesn’t have a curriculum based on the american or the british ones, so in that point I want to be considered.

I consider that I write very good essays, and many teachers in my school realised that during my high school years.

I already have my teachers recommendations.

I have a fluent and a very good english grammar. I am expected to take the TOEFL or the IELTS.

So, please, what are my chances to get into Harvard (which I consider my most important option) and Cambridge?

2

If you are already enrolled in a university, you would be applying as a transfer student, making your chances even lower. Furthermore, Harvard admits very few int’l students. Your SAT score is far too low for consideration, and your academics (from what you’ve described) don’t seem up to par with other int’l applicants (see results threads for successful applicants).

Do you have any reasons for wanting to attend Harvard besides the prestige?

3

I will apply as a freshman student, I will study in a private university in Lima, but I will continue there if I don’t get into one of the universities I mentioned.

I want to attend Harvard because I want to have a very “broaden mind” in my professional career, which I want it to be a very successful one. Attending to a university like Harvard or Yale will allow me to have the best job opportunities probably in the world, compared to the regular ones.

It is still a dream, but I just decided to do the necessary things to increase my chances.

4

You ate NOT allowed to apply as a freshman at Harvard or anywhere else if you have already studied at another university. They will find out and you will be rejected.

5

I haven’t studied in another university, I just enrolled one but I haven’t started yet. And if I would have, the curriculum of the university which I am is totally different from Harvard, so it could not be important.

I’m just attending this university in Lima just to keep my level of education, and if I don’t get into, I will continue there. I will apply as a freshman and will just consider my school grades and the SAT and the recommendation letters from my school. The university is not YET so important, but I will also get excellent grades there.

6

You are not getting it. If you complete university level courses or are studying them you cannot apply as a freshman at any American university. It is against the rules no matter how you try and pretend otherwise. And they will find out.

7

Does your University in Lima have a study abroad program? Maybe you could spend a year in the United States that way.

There are many ways to broaden your education besides Harvard and other elite schools. You need to set a more realistic goal for yourself.

8

You don’t get to make that decision of whether it is important. Harvard defines what a “freshman applicant” is.

9

Could you please send me a link which it says that? Because I haven’t seen that in any web page. Why it is against the rules? I would just want to start again in college. It actually don’t benefit me because I would lose time. Besides, the academic programs in American universities differ from the peruvian ones.

10

If I don’t get into the Ivy League universities I will continue studying in that university in Lima and I will probably take an MBA and I would like to apply to one in Harvard.

11

https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/transferring-harvard-college/transfer-eligibility

“Once you have completed one year of full-time study at a single college or university, you may apply to Harvard College only as a transfer student. Because of a remarkable 98 percent graduation rate, very few spaces are available each year for interested transfer students.”

12

But by the time I apply to Harvard, which will be before January 1st, I will be studying the half of the year of full-time study.

By the way, does this apply to ALL colleges from every country in the world or just the 600 best or the American ones?? Because my current university is not even in the world’s best 1000 universities.

13

Your question was what are your chances of getting into Harvard - With a 950 SAT (even on the first try and yes you can bring it up) and currently in the 50th percentile and an international student from a country where only 6 students on average are accepted each year, I would say your chances are slim to none. Better spending your time trying to obtain a more realistic goal.

14

It applies to any college you have attended.

15

And what if I would like to also change to another academic program apart from the college? In that case I will have to start again and my hours in the past university may not count.

16

Each US college is different. Some will say ANY college you enrolled in makes you ineligible to apply as a freshman. Some allow a small amount. It doesn’t matter if you want to “start over”. It’s just the rules you have to live with.

17

But why you consider the amount of people that ever got into Harvard from my country? It’s not like everyone here is at the same level or at the same capability to be eligible. That’s probably because of personal issues and outstanding exceptions from Peru.

But in any case, why my chances are Slim to none if there are also U.S students in the 50th percentile and got a 950 score? I mean, if that is the reason my chances are like that, then I will prepare to recompensate my gpa and my ranking with SAT and the Subject Tests and the essay.

18

And do you know the reason of why I wouldn’t be eligible as a freshman if I enrolled to another college? What I think is that Harvard, for example, wouldn’t like students that course the first year with an advantage gotten from the other college. In my case, I would be even in a disadvantage because universities IN PERU aren’t the same as the American ones.

19

It’s just a rule. The why is not important. US students must follow this rule as well.

20

Don’t you think it is a little unfair HRSMom? Because I just want to keep studying in order to mantain my education level, and at the same time improving it. If I am enrolled to this university in Lima it is because I want to have a safety college that I will certainly complete if I don’t get into Harvard. I just want to take care of my professional future.

But again, don’t you think it could be a little unfair to me if that is my intention?