<p>You DESERVE all the harsh comments you got here. You have over 300 posts, you KNOW what CC is like. People are condemned to community college if they have less than a 3.6 and 2000 SAT. Do you really think that people are going to react super-mega-enthusiastically to a 3.0 applying to the most prestigious university in the world? Get a clue.</p>
<p>Harvard is also looking for character and some of these comments suggest the posters also wouldn't qualify either, even with stellar GPAs.</p>
<p>OP, remember this: Two good friends of mine are tenured Harvard professors. One did the first two years of her undergraduate at her local community college; the other attended an unknown state school with @ in the title. </p>
<p>Your HS GPA says very little about whether you can 'cut it' at Harvard. There are very many different highschools, highschool experiences and personal and developmental reasons why someone may not have a lower than average GPA. As a former Ivy professor, I assure you of this.</p>
<p>I lost interest in this school after realizing how almost everyone who goes/applies to this school is a degrading and negative jerk.. at least on this website.</p>
<p>If the harsh attitudes and pure coldness carry on to the entire student body at Harvard, it's not a place I'd want to be.</p>
<p>The poster above me was right, you just need to chill. The fact that adults were telling me that I was "hopeless" and "wasting my time" is appalling. </p>
<p>If I thought it was a waste of time, would I be doing it?</p>
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I lost interest in this school after realizing how almost everyone who goes/applies to this school is a degrading and negative jerk.. at least on this website.
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</p>
<p>That's quite a gross overgeneralization. Anyway, if most APPLICANTS to Harvard are jerks, that shouldn't influence your opinion of Harvard very much, because most applicants are rejected and never set foot on Harvard campus, as this thread has already repeatedly emphasized. </p>
<p>I'm an alumnus of the University of Minnesota. I first set foot on Harvard's campus (having never applied to Harvard) during a business trip in 1985. By then I had met a few Harvard alumni, one of whom was a fairly close friend when I was living overseas. Over the years, I've met more Harvard alumni. The Harvard alumni I know in my own generation differ from my fellow University of Minnesota alumni mostly in being from more well-off families--that's indubitably a fact--but probably also in being smarter because they were more curious and because they were reminded by their parents to keep busy. They are generally nice people and I don't feel bad in their company. Today Harvard is making efforts to pick up more students from families who can't afford to pay full list price for tuition, which is an excellent reason to apply for anyone who is genuinely interested in attending Harvard. The Harvard admission office still has, more than ever, the hard job of making fine distinctions among thousands of applicants, and I wouldn't tell anyone he or she is a lock on admission. Everyone who applies to Harvard should apply somewhere else too, to have a plan B.</p>
<p>"Harvard is also looking for character and some of these comments suggest the posters also wouldn't qualify either, even with stellar GPAs."</p>
<p>Quoted for truth.</p>
<p>WishWash, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you (low-ish GPA, good test scores, really good ECs) and I'm also applying to Harvard. You sound like a really well-rounded person, and no matter where you go to college, you'll probably end up being just as (if not more) successful than a lot of posters on CC.</p>
<p>I'm gonna get flamed for this, but I have the feeling a good deal of members here (but not all!) are one-dimensional (very focused on academics, with a few superficial ECs sprinkled in to impress the adcom). Don't listen to them, they're flipping out over this whole admission process as if it had any bearing on the rest of their life. Apply to Harvard, and if you get in, great! If you don't, you'll at least know you tried, and the rejection might just be the fuel you need to go do great things.</p>
<p>Best of luck man</p>
<p>"White Male from crappy public school in Minneapolis
GPA UW: 3.000"</p>
<p>The first two lines alone -- exclusive of any extracurriculars (even if they were incredible, which yours aren't) and SATs (even if they were high, which yours aren't)-- bring your chance of acceptance down to 0% at the most elite schools.</p>
<p>Your essays will do NOTHING. They will throw your file in the reject pile before they even bother to read the entire essays after scanning your transcript and seeing you are not a "special" candidate (i.e. someone they know of for extraordinary extracurricular achievements).</p>
<p>H is NOT worth the cost of the application or your time. I applaud DCoy for trying to have some optimism, but you should know the truth. Spend your time looking for schools that are a better match.</p>
<p>Certainly not. I was just joking and using Howard in it, nothing against Howard. I could have chosen any other HBCU, but Howard was the first to come to mind. Howard is a great school, no question, but it's sill not Harvard.</p>
<p>... okay, then can someone suggest some specific places that may be more of a "match" for me, that are similar in size and atmosphere to Harvard?</p>
<p>All of these mean comments are why people think that everyone at Harvard are unpleasant, sadistic, inhumane trolls. (which they are so not!)</p>
<p>GPA is one factor in admissions. Your course load and EC'S look good. add on great tests scores and essays and you should have a chance. </p>
<p>GOOD LUCK! :D</p>
<p>haha i have 3.5 and i'm applying to duke. its unlikely i'll get in but i'll never say to myself "if i'd applied i may have been accepted...."</p>
<p>doesn't it drive you insane when kids are like:
SAT: 2400
ACT: 36
GPA: 4.5 UNWEIGHTED
2 olympic golds, recommended by the president, 4th gen legacy, suffered from fatal illness but discovered cure through my outstanding research..
seriously, guys...WILL I GET IN????
i think i'm just gonna apply to community college. damn, i wish i'd done a bit more work in high school...i'm such a slacker <strong>sigh</strong></p>
<p>GOOO SHOOT YOURSELF PLEASE!!! (or you'll be taking my spot at college!)</p>
<p>ohh and please please will someone chance me!!!!!!!!!
you'll receive compensation for your efforts!!!!!!</p>
<p>^^^^^ lol!</p>
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... okay, then can someone suggest some specific places that may be more of a "match" for me, that are similar in size and atmosphere to Harvard?
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</p>
<p>Since you were very average hs student, absent some serious record of success at work, you will not get into a decent school (let alone Harvard or its comparables) with your current credentials. Go to a cc in a state with a good public university (something like CA, NJ, or TX), get good grades, and transfer.</p>
<p>"I'm gonna get flamed for this, but I have the feeling a good deal of members here (but not all!) are one-dimensional (very focused on academics, with a few superficial ECs sprinkled in to impress the adcom)." Most of the students I've met at schools like Harvard have far more than superficial EC's.</p>
<p>WishWash, Harvard doesn't sound like somewhere you'd want to be. </p>
<p>I'm planning on applying to Harvard, but I'm reconsidering after having read through this thread. This thread basically confirms any negative things I've heard about H. I'd be really hesitant to enroll if accepted.</p>
<p>PM me if you need help with your college list, I'd be willing to help :)</p>
<p>What negative things about H has anyone said in this thread? That students there often were students who had high GPAs in high school? That's unremarkable, because a lot of high school students report they had high GPAs when they fill out the SAT demographic form. </p>
<p>(Table 13)</p>
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you will not get into a decent school
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</p>
<p>I'm sure I'll get into somewhere decent, but nothing on the caliber of ivies/uc's/michigan/etc.</p>
<p>"I'm planning on applying to Harvard, but I'm reconsidering after having read through this thread. This thread basically confirms any negative things I've heard about H. I'd be really hesitant to enroll if accepted." I would say that would be a smart decision.</p>
<p>"I would say that would be a smart decision." </p>
<p>why?</p>