<p>Please gauge my chances for admission at Harvard:</p>
<p>Current Year: Junior</p>
<p>GPA: 3.9-4.0 W, 3.8-3.9 UW
SAT I: 710 M, 730 CR, 800 W Total 2240
Rank: 4-5/300
AP: Bio-4, World-4, Taking 4 Ap's this year
Courseload: Hardest Possible </p>
<p>Awards:
2006-2007 Key Club International Oratorical Contest- World Champion
2006-2007 Key Club New York District Oratorical Contest- District Champion
Scholar-Athlete Honor
Science Olympiad Regional
Robot Ramble (Robot construction and Operation)- 3rd Place (2005, 2007)
Experimental Design- 2nd Place (2006)
Rotary Youth Leadership award
NAACP 2006 Spring Valley Regional Competition:
-Oratory Silver Medalist
-Original Essay Bronze Medalist
Distinguished Key Club Community Service member
Rockland Community College Black Achievement Award
Dominican College Leadership Seminar
2007 Rockland County Debate Forensics League: First Place</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Key Club Chairman and Coordinator
United Nations Club President and Founder
Science Olympiad Club
Debate Team Lead Debater- Captain
Academic League
Tennis Team
Science and Technology Program- Saturdays
Junior Honor Society- ARISTA
Social Studies Honor Society
English Honor Society
R.E.P.S- Student Representation Program
Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society
Mock Trial- Head Attorney</p>
<p>Summer Conferences:
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Conference
LeadAmerica Law and Trial Advocacy
2006 Key Club International Convention
2006 Key Club New York District Convention
New York Boys State 2007</p>
<p>Status: African American
Gender: Male</p>
<p>Chances At:
Harvard</p>
<p>*Edit I think I can raise my SAT's a tad higher, especially in CR, where I think I can get an 800. Should I bother?</p>
<p>Your stats are excellent-wow. I would say that Harvard is only a mid-reach for you, mostly because the admissions process has a lot of uncertainty to it. I'm no expert, but you are likely to get into very many of the colleges you apply to.</p>
<p>Thanks, that's encouraging, Another question though as far as creating a resume, I participated in two oratory contests, one on International Level where I won 1st place, and another that was local but I only got silver (not my best speech). Should I list the local award as well, or does it seem to conflict too much?</p>
<p>I don't think you should worry about your SAT scores. When your score are already that good, I think it shows a lack of skill when it comes to prioritizing if you retake the test. I may be very wrong, of course. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Key Club world champion? What is involved with that? It sounds impressive, but there is alot of trash on your ECs that you shouldn't even bother mentioning on your application: scholar athlete etc. Black should help a ton. The only thing you have against you is the typical demographic. You obviously come across as a wealthy New Yorker, and unfortunately there are too many of them applying.</p>
<p>Nobody is an instant in guys, nobody.
Questions I want to pose:
[list=a]What is your passion, and how have you pursued it? Your list of extracurriculars looks like a list of stuff you did just to get a long list. No particular interest is conveyed to me. There are so many things mixed up, that colleges may see through that. And I'm sure you know that they do not like long, tedious lists of extracurriculars.
[*]Why NO volunteer or work experience? None at all? That does not look good. It could be your academic 'demise', if I may put it that way. Perhaps you just didn't mention them. If you do have some, please add them so that I can tell by seeing the bigger picture.[/list]</p>
<p>Key Club Orator champ, yet no volunteer expierence. I took that for granted that you had it, but looking back....ouch. Given you could volunteer alot this summer, but they'd see right through it.</p>
<p>The Key Club Oratory is a speech competition involving Key Club organizations. Each club sends their contestant to the state/district (district is multiple states or regions) convention to compete there. Winners from the states advance to Internationals (Since Key Club is International) to compete in public speaking with representatives from each state or region. I represented New York because I won 1st palce there, then I advanced to Internationals and won there too. </p>
<p>Sorry I didn't include Community Service:</p>
<p>Roughly 200hrs of community service through Key Club, Chairman of three community service events through Key Club for various organizations, participated in events for ACS, etc. Executive board of Key Club
Starting a program that focuses on bringing robotics and engineering to children in a marginalized school district. Est time: 5 hrs/wk
Yes I do plan on doing community service this summer. Not really for college, more because it's something I feel that should be done. To give back. Yeah I know it sounds fake and fruity but it is true. </p>
<p>As far as passion, I love public speaking, debate, and generally the art of persuasion. I know it's not a conventional "passion", but my essays will reflect what it means to me.</p>
<p>*I know that the scholar athlete things is trash, but for the most part the other things are legit. For example the key Club thing, I have a video of the speech I gave in front of 2k+ people and a picture of me in the KC international magazine of me for winning it. What stuff should I not even bother mentioning? Because I'm not sure if if I should have the quality stuff as well as the space fillers or just the quality stuff.</p>
<p>"Thanks, that's encouraging, Another question though as far as creating a resume, I participated in two oratory contests, one on International Level where I won 1st place, and another that was local but I only got silver (not my best speech). Should I list the local award as well, or does it seem to conflict too much?"</p>
<p>Can someone answer that please? And debate_addict or someone else, I'd appreciate if you'd reevaluate my chances in light of the previous post</p>
<p>You're average, but you don't really have minority.
Sure you're black, but would anyone reading your application have any idea that you were black? Look at all of your opportunities with EC and sports. Tennis? Please, you won't be given minority status. I guarantee your family income is 100k+ a year. If so, you won't even be considered a minority. A MINORITY black would be your stereotypical inner city kid living on the poverty line, or a poor immigrant from Africa. I personally don't see you getting in, you could say your focus is debate, but from my expierences they will see a kid with no true passion and alot of mindless ECs.</p>
<p>Here, you're going to find people who'll tell you "You're in!" and others who'll say, "Don't even think about it." The fact is, nobody really knows. There are all sorts of exceptions to the "stereotype Harvard admit" some people create. Here's something I posted today on another thread... it might help:</p>
<p>My best piece of advice is to be yourself: follow your passions. Challenge yourself and excel, but don't forget to live life. Do the things that you truly enjoy, not what you think will get you in. Remember that you are unique...show it. Personally, I took many AP classes, not because I wanted to get into Harvard, but because I enjoyed working at that level. I wasn't in tons of clubs like many people because that is not who I am. </p>
<p>Truth is, you will never know whether you will get in or not. Thus, you can't guide your whole high school life on such a difficult thing to achieve. Do your thing, and if it gets you in...great! I was worried that I wouldn't get in because I didn't follow the stereotypes of having zillions of clubs, leadership, etc, but I ended up getting accepted into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, and Columbia a month ago. My case shows that admissions are unpredictable and surprising at times. Be different. Stand out in some way or fashion. </p>
<p>I hope this helped all of you prospective applicants out there</p>