<p>My main concern about my admission into Harvard is that my school in NC only sends kids to schools in NC. I don't think ANYONE from my county EVER goes to an Ivy League...EVER. Does this hurt my chances of getting in at all? My school is probably the best in the county, but compared to other high schools in the nation, I wouldn't describe it as "highly competitive." Everytime I tell someone here I want to go to an Ivy League, they just laugh and tell me, "Good luck."</p>
<p>I just want to know if there is anyone out there who goes to Harvard but went to a really bad/not-so-competitive high school. Give me hope!!</p>
<p>There's a first for everything. Maybe you'll be the first person in your county to go to an Ivy. </p>
<p>The school you go to won't prevent you from getting in; Harvard recognizes that not everyone can go to a 'competitive' high school, and they know you can't control where your family lives. You just have to do the best with what you have. If your stats are good, if your application is good, you'll have a chance. Good luck.</p>
<p>Yes spiffy...it can happen! A friend of mine from high school is a freshman at Harvard this year. We are from a small NC county with one high school...around 2000 students are in our high school. It is not the worst in NC but it surely isn't among the best! This guy was a stand out student with incredible stats, so if you have the stats, you have a good chance! Good Luck!</p>
<p>It actually can help you if your school has never sent any students to Harvard.</p>
<p>For you to have decent chances, you'll still need to have board scores within the range that Harvard believes indicates you'd have the ability to graduate from Harvard (typically no lower than 600 on any section), you'd need top grades and class rank and some good ECs (though you wouldn't be expected to have ECs at the level of students who are attending top high schools -- e.g. Harvard wouldn't expect you to have gone to RSI or be a state champion in an academic competition).</p>
<p>If you check the CC archives, you can find a post by a white male from, I think, rural, low income Virginia, who got in last year EA with relatively low scores for Harvard, and from an unremarkable h.s.</p>
<p>I know TONS of people at the Ivies from average high schools, in some ways it can be an advantage. You need to score well on the SAT if I can give any advice. Also, if there aren;t many clubs or ECs that isn't an excuse, leaders start clubs.</p>
<p>I'm a junior and have not taken the SAT yet, but as far as class rank goes, I am 5/374 and I have a 3.9993 GPA UW/4.753 W, with no AP's included in that yet. (school doesn't allow AP's until 11th grade) I am president of Asia Club (i'm half asian/hispanic) and Student Body Secretary in StuCo (hopefully V.P. next year). I think my SAT scores will be pretty decent, (over 600 in each section like Northstarmom said), but the one thing I am hoping will be my "hook" is that I've started a Journalism Club at my school, plus a community-wide organization (hopefully non-profit approved) that will start sometime in January that will give kids in my town a chance to experience what it's like to be a Broadcast Journalist/Journalist/Photojournalist. Journalism is my passion :)</p>
<p>Spiffystars,
Your journalism club sounds great. I'd love to hear more about it. Feel free to PM me. I'm a journalist and have done lots of journalism activities with h.s. students. Often newspapers are willing to help student journalists, particularly if there's a newspaper or on-line component to what you're doing. Newspapers are desperate to attract young readers and to attract talented young people to their field.</p>
<p>Also read the Harvard Crimson's website. That's Harvard's daily newspaper, which is student run without faculty help. Most of the students who are on staff do it for the fun of it, spending as many as 30 hours a week there even though they don't get course credit for it and most don't want to be journalists.</p>
<p>One of the President Roosevelt and JFK were heads of the Crimson when they were at Harvard.</p>
<p>Wow. Two thousand students is a small school? My school sits directly across from an Amish farm (we only have 400 students +/-50). It's all relative, right?</p>
<p>Well, what u could really benefit from is ur bachground. Just show them that u dont come from a priviledged background and that in spite of that u manage and excell in everything u endeavour. THEN THEY WILL LOVE U.</p>
<p>Yeah Dina, most people at my school would probably just laugh at me and say "good luck," in that sarcastic sort of way. Someone asked me today, "You look like a Duke person...is that where you want to go?" and I just said yes because I didn't feel like telling them I want to go to Harvard. It's just ridiculous - EVERYONE at my school either goes to Duke or UNC-Chapel Hill. I wish people would aim higher for once.</p>
<p>...But get this - I dug through some of the old files from my local paper, and one guy from my school DID get accepted to Harvard back in 2003. Alas, this has given me a ray of hope! ;)</p>