International aspirant : Do I have any chances of getting in?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hey everyone!</p>

<p>I am an Indian female in my senior year. I’m in a CBSE school (the most popular national board in the country, considered one of the most rigorous).</p>

<p>GRADES:</p>

<p>• Freshman year – 10.0 Cumulative Grade Point Average (10 point scale)
A1 grade in all subjects
First Rank in my batch of around 200 students.</p>

<p>• Sophomore year – Scored 98.2% in the Std X ‘Board Exams’ (Countrywide school leaving public exam conducted by CBSE)
10.0 Cumulative Grade Point Average ( A1 in all subjects)
First Rank in the city (tied with 2 other students)</p>

<p>English : 98
Social Science: 99
Maths: 95
Science: 99
Sanskrit: 100</p>

<p>I changed schools after sophomore year, as is the norm in India. Joined the Arts stream (the choice is between Arts, Commerce and Science streams) in another CBSE school. </p>

<p>Subjects – English, Math, Sociology, Political Science, Economics</p>

<p>• Junior year – 91.8%
First Rank in my batch of around 130 students (including Science and Commerce students)</p>

<p>• Senior year – Consistently receiving As till now. Expecting well above 90% in my mid-terms as well as Std XII Board Exams (school leaving exam).</p>

<p>SAT – 2300 (CR 800, W 790, M 710)</p>

<p>SAT II – Taking Eng Lit and Math IIC this October. Expecting 700s in both.</p>

<p>TOEFL – Taking it this Oct</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS</p>

<p>1.Leadership:</p>

<p>Freshman : School Assistant Overall Incharge
Sophomore : School Overall Incharge
Junior : Elected Junior School Captain
Senior : Elected Senior School Captain </p>

<p>(All the above were the highest possible posts available in the School Council for students of that grade level)</p>

<p>2. Sports : Was on the school swimming team in 9th and 10th grade
Won 1 gold and 2 silvers at the district level, 1 bronze at the zonal level, and participated at state level both years.</p>

<p>3. Debate : </p>

<p>• Won the first prize in the Group Discussion event at International Youth Festival of History and Civics
• 2 first prizes in state level debates (adjudged Best Debater)
• 3 first prizes in local level debates</p>

<p>4. Other extracurricular achievements</p>

<p>• 2 local level first prizes in inter-school Science Talk contests
• 1 local level first prizes in interschool English Speech contest
• 1 first prize in intra-school extempore speech contest
• 1 first prize in district level Spell Bee
• 1 first prize in state level English Play contest – Wrote the play and played the lead role
• Participated in state level Science Talk</p>

<p>5. Work Experience (150 hours) : Did a summer internship at the local Times of India office. Wrote newspieces and was credited in the byline.</p>

<p>**6. Community service:<a href="Started%20a%20short%20while%20ago,%20should%20log%20in%20about%20%5Bb%5D60%20hours%5B/b%5D%20by%20the%20time%20applications%20are%20due">/b</a>
• Volunteering as a teacher with an NGO that teaches homeless children who live on railway platforms.
• Volunteering at a centre run by an NGO for women subjected to domestic violence and other family-related social problems. </p>

<p>ACADEMIC HONOURS RECEIVED</p>

<p>• 18th Rank in State in the International Olympiad of English Language</p>

<p>• School awards :</p>

<p>a) C. Subramaniam Award for Excellence in Character<a href="2010-2011">/b</a>
b) Shri A. S. Sharma Memorial Award for **All Round Excellence in Academics<a href="2010-2011">/b</a>
c) Smt. Umadevi Rathod Memorial Award for Excellence in **Academics. (2010-2011)
d) Won 3 school awards for Excellence in Mathematics
3 for Excellence in Science, and
2 for Excellence in English.</p>

<p>Though I’m still a bit unsure, I plan to major in Eng Literature and minor in one of the social sciences (Political Science/Sociology/Economics).</p>

2

<p>I am an international application too, from what I know Harvard is looking to find passionate students. From your status you are involved in many fields (debate, math, science). They are looking to be focused on something. </p>

<p>India is very competitive because there are a lot of Indians with goods performance (international awards, olympiads, etc…) When you are making your essay you should “sell” yourself, showing them how awesome are you.</p>

<p>God bless you!</p>

3

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<p>I was tempted to not point out how inane this comment is, on the hopes that anyone with a serious chance at getting into Harvard would realize on their own how silly it is to suggest that breadth of interest is a weakness. But a lot of people actually make this argument, if in a somewhat less ridiculous way than the above. So, I repeat, inane.</p>

4

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<p>From What I know Harvard and Ivy league prefer a good applicant in a field. For instance they would prefer a bronze medalist at IPhO instead a round guy who participated in a lot of voluntary, debate and county science fairs. </p>

<p>I don’t know any students from my country who was a normal person with greatest GPA in his school, with good SATs scores, and voluntary and got accepted to Harvard.</p>

<p>Also India it is good at international competitions. India has a lot of the best students in international olympiads, International science fairs. Annually from India there are 16-20 who unlocked the Harvard’s door. </p>

<p>Grace and peace</p>