international at harvard

<p>Hey guys, </p>

<p>I always wanted to go to Harvard to do Medicine, and I have read the student handbook I have found on their site, however, I do not understand the things you have to do as the system is very different from the one in England.</p>

<p>I will take my SATS here in England with my A-Levels, however I was wondering what are SAT I and SAT II, and also what are ACP and GPA? Also what are subject SATS? is there any SATS you HAVE to do, to do medicine? What is college? is it what you do after you have have gone to high school? how old are you when you apply for a university course? </p>

<p>after you have done your SATS, do you have to do ACPs as well? whats the difference?</p>

<p>after you done those do you do like a BA while you are an undergraduate university?</p>

<p>Thanks for all the help
Cheers</p>

<p>You can't do medicine as an undergrad at Harvard.</p>

<p>SAT I = Your basic college entrance exam. Tests you over math, reading, and writing.
SAT II = There are several of these; they're called the "subject tests" and I think you have to take a minimum of two. You can choose from Math (more specialized that SAT I math), Physics, Chem, Bio, Literature, U.S. History, etc,etc.</p>

<p>go here for more info: <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/testing/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/testing/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Not sure about ACP, I think you may mean ACT; the ACT is another college entrance exam; pretty much every U.S. college will accept the SAT or ACT without preference. Most kids from my region only take the SAT. With the ACT, I believe you are tested over Math, Reading, Science, and English. Just google it and you'll find out a lot.</p>

<p>GPA = grade point average. It's the average of your grades in high school. My high school uses a 4.0 scale, where if the highest grade possible is a 100, 100-97 = 4.0; 97-94 = 3.8; 94-90 = 3.6 and so on.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>A note on GPA:grade inflation is much more rampant in US high schools than in many international high schools. In Canada, for example, 80-100% count as an A which would be a 4.0. Don't worry about converting it to the 4.0 scale, admission officers are familiar w/ A-levels and the British system. </p>

<p>College: undergraduate part of a university. For example, Harvard University consists of Harvard College, Harvard Law school, Harvard Medicine, Harvard Dental School, Harvard Business, etc. In US, you need an undergraduate degree before studying medicine, law, business, etc. A typical first year college student is 18-19yrs old.</p>

<p>And just to reiterate: there is no difference between the SAT I and ACT, Harvard will accept both. But you still need to take the SAT II subject tests. There is no particular subject you have to take: therefore, take the ones you're best at. There is no advantage in taking math over literature, for example. </p>

<p>Hope this is helpful. Good luck!</p>

<p>is it possible to first do an undergraduate program for example in a university in england and then go to Harvard to do Medicine? but isn't there a certain requirement that you have to fulfill to go to harvard med, anyways? do you have to take something called the MCAT or similar exam?</p>

<p>If I wanted to do medicine, I read that Harvard Med School gives advantage to students who went to harvard college, is that true?</p>

<ol>
<li><p>is it possible to first do an undergraduate program for example in a university in england and then go to Harvard to do Medicine--> Yes.</p></li>
<li><p>but isn't there a certain requirement that you have to fulfill to go to harvard med, anyways?--> Yes, there are certain courses you must take. The are more or less the same for any US medical school: chemistry, physics, biology, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>do you have to take something called the MCAT or similar exam? --> Yes, nearly every US medical school requires the MCAT. It's the entrance exam for medical schools.</p></li>
<li><p>I read that Harvard Med School gives advantage to students who went to harvard college, is that true?--> It is probably to your advantage to attend a high end academic school such as Harvard or other top schools, and there may well be a "home team" edge given to Harvard undergrad applicants, but students from many different undergrad school enroll at Harvard Medical School.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I suggest you read their website very carefully about international admissions. Many US medical schools do not accept very many internationals.</p>

<p>globalstudent - internationals generally do the SATs, sign up on collegeboard.com and if you're near London sign up for American International School or Merry Mount (can't remember the name exactly, it's in Richmond).</p>

<p>Doing undergrad in UK then postgrad in America might be a good idea. Resources, finances, facilities etc. are generally better in the US at postgrad level.</p>

<p>You might want to try out <a href="http://www.fulbright.co.uk/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.fulbright.co.uk/&lt;/a> (Fulbright Commission) for more information. I haven't used it myself but all the admissions people at school say it's great etc. etc. </p>

<p>Are you applying this year?</p>

<p>cnmc - can't you do undergrad business in US? I don't really understand it, but I thought Wharton did undergrad..</p>

<p>Wharton is a special case. Most US colleges are liberal arts colleges, meaning they don't train you for a particular profession, but rather, give you a broad base of knowledge (you still specialize in a field, though) that you can apply to any job. At Harvard, for example, you can study Economics, but not Accounting. If you were studying Economics in an UK university, I imagine you would be taking classes solely from the Economics department, or maybe related courses like Calculus, etc. But here in the US, you have to oppportunity to take (and in most colleges, required to take) classes in fields other than the one you intend to specialize. E.g. Literature, History, Physics, etc.</p>

<p>hello everyone.
soz i have not replied in ages, i did read ur responses though. I was wondering I have just signed up for the first SAT I, in may this year (2007) and i will take my 3 other sat II in june. At the moment i am thinking of definitely taking bio and french. My other most feasible sub choices are chemistry, and maths I and II. From the papers i have seen Maths seems to be the best option. However even though i have compared the UK's syllabus with the American one for the SAT Maths IC and IIC, I am not sure which one is best for me. Could someone who's done it tell me the difference? Also, people tell me that your choice in SAT II is meant to show variety and how in America taking bio, chem and maths is too similar is that true?</p>

<p>Maths <- hehe, I love British English</p>

<p>Math IC (now called Math Level 1) consists mostly of more or less basic math up to geometry while Math IIC (Math Level 2) is everything up to basic trigonometry (but it helps to know some calculus as it makes a lot of the problems easier and go by faster-time tends to be an issue).</p>

<p>In making your decision though, there's two major factors:
1) The European math curriculum, as I understand it, is different from the American math curriculum. I think it's integrated into one "class" and builds up as opposed to having discrete math classes like Calculus and Trigonometry. (Correct me if I'm wrong). If this is the case, then the difference I just outlined above between the levels is really meaningless and you just have to look at the difficulty of the problems that you're currently dealing with. But don't be surprised if you're ready for Math Level 2.</p>

<p>2) Selective schools like Harvard (and especially engineering-heavy schools) tend to actually prefer the Math Level 2 because it is a more difficult test. I used to hear when I was preparing to apply earlier this year that a very high score on the Level 1 test is needed if you plan on attending something selective (like Harvard). But it was just hearsay and I took the Math Level 2 regardless so I can't comment.</p>

<p>As for showing variety in the choice of SAT IIs, I can't say that's true. They just want to see that you can learn a subject well. It could really matter less which one you take; your score is the important thing.</p>