<p>I am a student from Ireland hoping to gain entry to Harvard next year. I have achieved outstanding results in all my UK examinations with A*'s in my GCSE's and A's in my AS's. I have also sat an A2 level a year early with the result pending but looking good. I have well over 600 hours of volunteer hours, am an elite sportsperson in the field of golf and am an accomplished public speaker and debate captain. I only achieved a 650 and 660 in my SAT II tests however, due to the foreign nature of the curriculum and their proximity to my own AS level examinations. I have not yet sat the SAT I but hope to achieve highly in it. To what extent will Harvard take each of the above factors into account? My UK examination results? My EC's? If I was to apply with these SAT II's would I have a chance?</p>
<p>I am copying my answer from another thread from an international student:
"…just because an applicant is an international student, it does not mean that their stats differ from those of the domestic candidates. That 10% of the student body, which is the average percentage of internationals in US colleges, still has equal, if not better stats than US citizens/residents. "</p>
<p>Furthermore, since you are Irish, there is simple no excuse as there are internationals for whom English is a foreign language and still score in the 1%, with 750+. SAT is not a matter of curriculum but aptitude. As the College Board states, it measures literacy and writing skills that are needed for academic success in college, and assesses how well the test takers analyze and solve problems. The USA does not have a national curriculum. Each state has different guidelines for the schools. The SAT just tests reasoning and verbal abilities. With the test scores that you got you wont have any chance to be accepted. Read the class of 2016 accepted thread and you will get an idea of the test scores, ECs, and skills of accepted/rejected students.</p>
<p>No, you misunderstand but thanks very much for the reply. I have no issue with the SAT aptitude style test but those scores were achieved in the SAT 2 tests. I expect to get in and around the 2400 mark with the SAT aptitude as my writing and english in general earned me one of the top results in the UK across my English GCSE’s and my maths is very solid with top marks there as well. It is just an issue of these subject test marks.</p>
<p>I was talking about the SAT II. There is not a specific curriculum in the USA. If you have studied the subject in the UK you should be able to achieve high scores. Just study and see if you can improve your scores. But they really have to go up across the board in order to get in any top school in the USA. Expecting and getting 2400 are two different things. I wish you luck and hope you do well.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your advice. I acknowledge they need to drastically improve and unfortunately didn’t get to study for these due to the aforementioned proximity to my domestic exams. I plan to retake these in the fall of this year so as to prioritise them fully and guarantee a much better result. As a last question, stemming from my original, upon my grades rising into the 700’s how will HYPS look upon my outstanding performance domestically and my extracurriculars? Do they count for much? I read on another thread that British A-levels, due to their relative difficulty, are greatly respected stateside. Is there any truth to this claim?</p>
<p>I am not knowledgeable about it. If you read the accepted threads for the previous classes where students list their stats, you will get an idea of what H is looking for.</p>