i am new and need help

<p>i just came from india in april this year . did my junior year for a month and now have started my senior year. since we didnt have any AP's or honours my unweighted GPA for 9 grade is 3.93, 10 grade is 3.93 and 11 grade is 3.89. overall 3.91. i took AP language exam in may and got a 4 in like a month of prep.i taught a bangladeshi immigrant for two years, have been in the debate team in my schools (in india) since 6 grade and have won at the national level. i have also given various dance performances and won lots of competitions. other than that i do a lot of swimming and have been competing since 7 years of age. i also do creative writing and poetry writing. these are not a lot but we really didnt have that much emphasis on EC's and no community service at all. i have taken the SATs once but got a 680, 700, 700 in w, m and v. will be taking them in october and then the subjects in november. i guess i should score above 750 since lst time i was hardly aware of what SATs are and very lil time to prepare.
as far as my recs are concerned my teachers dont know me very well but my AP eng teacher from april seems very impressed with me and so does my AP bio teacher and both agreed to right my recs.
i am a nervous wreck right noe since the whole colege admissions process is very daunting. (i have like moved 13 times and changed 8 schools in all)
my esays should be good since i write pretty well.
btw this yeari have taken
AP eng lit, AP us his, AP world his, AP NSL, AP bio (Dble prd) and AP stats
please need your honest opinions on my chances of getting into harvard and any reccomendations you guys have</p>

<p>If you don't mind me asking, why did you come over at the very end of your high school career when you seem to have had so much going for you in India (wins in national debate/dance)?</p>

<p>I would put the tutoring of the immigrant under community service. Did you continue to pursue your ECs once you got over here? </p>

<p>Your situation seems pretty unique - I only know one person with similar circumstances. However, I have no idea how big a difference it will make in admissions decisions, and am interested to hear other opinions.</p>

<p>Indians are very strong in computer information and have very good web site links for different competitions. So what is the name of the notational level debate competition in India? How many people compete in it? Please provide links as this is a national level competitions and must have good PR and web site for it. Thanks for the links. </p>

<p>You have to prove what you claim by getting recommendations from your Indian school counselors. In addition, if you won debate competition in India, I am sure you can at least perform very well in debate tournaments in US. If you do so, you bolster you candidacy by competing and wining some tournaments in US.</p>

<p>"You have to prove what you claim by getting recommendations from your Indian school counselors. "</p>

<p>Where are you getting this information from, Stockmarket?</p>

<p>mnma57,
You need to relax a little. Harvard is a wonderful school, and you should apply if you visit and really like it. Your grades are excellent, it sounds like your board scores will be in range - so you are on the right track. However, Harvard receives many more applications than it has spots to fill, so you need to start thinking about the rest of your list.</p>

<p>ya i came in at the end of the year since my father got posted to the indian embassy as a military attache. as far as recs from previous schools are concerned i am not sure about that but i do have a file full of certificates which are a proof of that. so should i submit copies of my certificates. and i definitely will pparticipate in debates and other stuff as well, right now i just have my hands full with trying to prepare for the SATS, write apps and keep up with school work.</p>

<p>and yes the debates and stuff i won were administered by the Army org ie AWWA. so i will try and find out the links and all but i am not sure. all the scholarships, competitions and awards that i have won have all been org and given by the army since i have always studied in different army schools in india. i think that will be a disadvantage since they might not consider thst all that competitive. but i couldnt help it since that is the env in which i basically lived. also i was top of my schools in india but the army schools are not good schools. i am really nervous since i dont know how positive colleges are going to be to my not so great schooling</p>

<p>i am sorry thats not AWWA but AWES ie army welfare education society.</p>

<p>please need an honest evaluation of my chances</p>

<p>mhma57,
You have an interesting background, and have demonstrated that you are able to adapt to changing cultures and circumstances. That is all to the good, and that is something that you will bring to the table when you apply. Remember, thought, that Harvard's admission rate is extremely low, so you will need to apply to a variety of school to make sure that you have many options in the spring.</p>

<p>Do NOT send those certificates. Harvard doesn't ask for or need that kind of proof. It will just clutter your file.</p>

<p>i am also going to apply to stanford, johns hopkins, university of chicago, emory and the university of maryland, college park. these are all reaches except probably maryland. should i go for more safeties. also is it advisable to apply early anywhere? thanks for the info
also since sending certs is not a good idea and i wont be abble to get rec from my previou schools because we had no consellors and also we dont have school websites where i can contact the teachers so should i just write my activities down?</p>

<p>"so should i just write my activities down?"</p>

<p>Yes. </p>

<p>"these are all reaches except probably maryland"</p>

<p>I would add another college or two with a generous admissions rate that you are sure you can afford.</p>

<p>Affordability is important because most US colleges are very expensive and don't have aid for international students.</p>

<p>Good point - if you are an international and need aid, be sure to check the international students portion of the finaid web pages for each college.</p>

<p>Ohio_mom :</p>

<p>There was a recently big uproar where a kid was invited to meet the one of the leading country’s president as the kid claimed being number one in an international exam under the direction of NASA. Student has ceritificate to show his achievements. There was a lot of celebration followed by state governments showering kids with money. However, someone got suspicious as student has no passport. Student claimed he traveled to London to take this exam. Anyway, a reputable newspaper inquired with NASA about such an exam. NASA told flatly that such an exam does not exist. This was an embarrassment to all involved. If you goggle for this story, you would find it. </p>

<p>I am sure US colleges must face these problems too and how they handle the claim which could be legitimate and while other may not withstand the scrutiny. How colleges verify anything a student claim? I am not suggesting that this kid or any other kid’s claims are fake. I am just pointing out.</p>

<p>look at this link</p>

<p><a href="http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/indian_whiz_kid_wins_nasa_competition/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/indian_whiz_kid_wins_nasa_competition/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Similar link for another story.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/faye_nicole/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/faye_nicole/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Do you think fake driving license are only common in USA? The fakes certificates are common outside of USA.</p>

<p>stockmarket
there is really no way that i can prove that my certs are original. i mean i had never really thot that that wud be an issue. so do you think that i have no chance since acc to you i basically have no proof??</p>

<p>Thanks, stockmarket. I would not be surprised if colleges didn't check some of these silver bullet awards. However, in most cases, you simply list what you have. </p>

<p>In the case of awards that may not be familiar to the admissions offices, such as the ones mhma57 mentions, a few words of explanation are in order. Remember, too, mhma57, that you can also ask your admissions officers how you should deal with unfamiliar awards / ec's.</p>

<p>hey guys do you think its advatageous to apply early? i mean they say that it doesnt matter when you apply but arent admission raes higher in early applications. especially with my stats which are almost pathetic in harvard standards will it help if i apply early</p>