Hi,
I am an upcoming Senior and I was wondering what my chances are for Harvard and Princeton (top 2 choices) after seeing so many decision threads outlining outstanding applicants getting rejected.
SAT: didn’t take
ACT-35 (36 M, 36 E, 32 R, 34 S,)
UW GPA- 3.68 <–The only thing that is really making me worry…
AP- 17 of them most of them 5’s and 1 or 2 are 4’s (AP State Scholar)
Extracurricular- Founder of Gay-Straight Alliance in Catholic School, Founder of Creators’ Club (centered around building random contraptions), Created a website were people can share and invest in different startups/inventions (pretty professional if I do say so myself), Several patents, Founder of MAO at school
Summer Activities: Internship at renowned physics lab and engineering company, services hours at Feed My Starving and PAWS
Awards: USAMO Qualification (with 132 AMC 12 and 11 AIME), AP State Scholar, Some essay contests…
Hooks: REGISTERED Native American (1/8th)
Teacher Recommendation: One of the teachers who wrote one of the recommendations went to Harvard (Unbelievable luck)
It may seem redundant that I am asking my chances as any of your suggestions can’t help me change any part of my application as I am near the end of my high school journey. However, my low end GPA is really causing me to stay up at night and I am hoping for outside perspectives.
17 APs is very impressive, in three years yet. You plan to take 7 more senior year?
If you didn’t grow up on a reservation, being Native American is a bit less of a hook. You don’t have to list “1/8th” on the application, but if you are another race too, you should list that.
Certainly seems you have a better than average chance of being admitted, but if that 3.68 is weighted, I’ll retract that comment as 3.68 W is pretty low.
I find “several patents” interesting - are they you only, or with others?
I think you have a really high chance. You have practically everything they want- URM USAMO APs. With 17 APs, I doubt they’ll doubt your course rigor. Honestly, you will probably be at the top of the applicants
Thanks for the quick reply! It’s unweighted with I believe a 4.2 W ( many of the AP’s are self studied obviously) and I am the only one whose name is on the patents
What is your rank, even if it is approximate? I assume with the scores of AP classes you took, your weighted GPA is much better relative to your peers?
I am terrible at chance threads but being a Native American State AP scholar with your accomplishments, i can’t help but feel like a school like Dartmouth (with their Native American Charter) would be a safety for you. I think your GPA won’t keep you from getting a good long look from Harvard, but again, thats just my opinion.
I don’t have an answer to your question. I just saw that you are in the top 15% of your class (weighted basis?). That obviously is low for Harvard but you have a hook so it’s not a deal killer. Honestly, if you were accepted early or if you were deferred, I would not be surprised in either case. It’s your call what you decide to do so check on Naviance to see how kids have fared at Harvard in the past and how you compare and then make a decision without looking back.
If you apply to a bunch of top schools, I think you will at least get into one( if not more) of them. However, on a granular level, admissions is fickle and anything can happen. Good luck!!!
I think you have a chance. Beyond that, I am not qualified (nor is anyone else) to say how likely it will be. The admissions officers will be the only one seeing your transcripts and where you were weak, what your recommenders thought of you, what your essays revealed about you, what your 17 ÀP scores were like etc. A lot goes into the decision and a lot of it will be subjectively based. Again, good luck!
Do you know this to be true @rhandco, or does it just seem like common sense? I ask partly because I wonder if it folds into statistics for institutional and government reporting, or if Harvard is pushing some sort of agenda to increase the number of Native American kids with a specific historical or socio-economic background.
As a bit of a parallel situation, there have been reports of children of naturalized Africans having advantage in admissions. Highly sought-after Africans move to the US for professional jobs, become citizens (or have children born in the US), and their children are classified as “African American” in the admissions process. I am not judging whether this is right or wrong- the kids decidedly ARE African-American; but I am just looking at the situation as an analog. I would imagine a similar “blinders-on” approach for Native Americans (especially since many tribes do not have Reservations).
In other words, I would think admissions would only want to classify whether or not you belong to a certain class of applicant, and then they act accordingly.
Does anyone know which philosophy is, in fact, followed?
Are you sure you’re an AP State Scholar? As a junior, that distinction is almost unthinkable. National AP Scholar as a junior, sure, hundreds of kids accomplish that, but State AP Scholar, meaning more high AP scores than all the kids in your state, including those with one more year of high school, that’s very unique!
That question aside, your scores are excellent, your NA hook is helpful but, as you know, your GPA is low. Reasonable chances.
^^ Good question. I’ve always heard that as long as you’re registered you qualify but if @rhandco or someone else knows differently, it would be interesting to know.
@falcon1 my apologies to keep sounding like a broken record player but in your completely subjective opinion, do you think I have a decent chance of getting accepted based on these quantitative stats. Thanks