Improving My Chances

<p>I plan to travel to France my junior year of high school to increase my knowledge of foreign languages. Will traveling to France and living there for a year improve my chances at Harvard? In my freshman year of high school my academics were great a cum. weighed 4.07, but I was only involved in few EC's and my sophmore year I am going to get involved in everything I like. Can I still get into Harvard?</p>

<p>dont tailor your activities to ivies tailor them to what you love</p>

<p>france will not increase ur chances... I myself studied a year abroad, and adcoms see exchanges as a great oppurtunity BUT it wont increase ur chances</p>

<p>Well, it might..</p>

<p>It's a sort of ridiculous question to ask whether or not you can still get into Harvard. I mean, you are probably qualified enough academically to get into Harvard, so you could probably get in with or without those EC's if they really wanted you. but what they want is uniqueness, diversity, passion, ability to overcome adversity, leadership, and drive. they could care less about what you do. you could move to new zealand and cultivate a sheep farm until your senior year. they just want you to be passionate and to care about something. As NSM said, it's not about doing things to impress Harvard. It's about doing things for yourself and using and making opportunities available to you so that you may delve deeper into your passions and maybe even use them to make some sort of small or large difference in the world.</p>

<p>Surely that phrase should be 'couldn't care less'?</p>

<p>Yep, Harvard is looking for people just like you. They love it when people travel abroad, something most people only dream of doing, just to get into their college. You should write it in your essays and tell your interviewer that. They'll be impressed.</p>