Need advice on increasing GPA, and advice on anything can do to get in (Football Player)

Colleges & Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I may have a small negative history on the forum, a quick search will confirm this. I however, wish to act like an adult, and ask that you do not care about any history that I have on this forum. I have just started summer, and have 2 months to prepare for the 3 year trial ahead.</p>

<p>Information about myself.</p>

<p>I am 15, a Hispanic Male whose parents never graduated from college. I have a rough average ( all classes) of a 81 this freshman year. My ultimate goal is to play as Tailback for Harvard College, mainly for the hopefully incredible experience that I will receive at this college, in terms of connections, friends, and intellectual enrichment. I also love the uniforms that Harvard has, and while it is quite funny, I am simply in love with that deep red color and the look of them. This makes me really want to wear that uniform on the field, it is just fascinating. My life goals are crazy and vast, I do not want to name them here (I will if anyone wishes to), however they can be found with a simple search on my name. I ask of you today to assist me in formatting a plan for these next 3 years, as I have really dug myself a deep hole, which I must get out.</p>

<p>Further complications to this is that I am simply not good at school, I am very intelligent, and crazy different ( Steve Jobs level ), however when shown on grades, it simply does not show. My issue is that, while I have a extremely large base of facts and knowledge, I am very poor on simply memorizing certain facts and recalling them on a test. ( To put in perspective, I love to study absolutely everything on the subject, and while this makes me very good at learning, it makes me very poor at getting good grades, think of it as trying to imagine everything that Rommel did during the first American battle of World War II, the effects, and the impact it had on the war, even his certain thoughts while his howitzers decimated ( word derived from old form of Roman discipline in which every 10th man was beaten by his own comrades) the American tank divisions, not just battle was fought on so and so, and so and so won. ) And yes I just quoted something in a quote, further proving my point :D.</p>

<p>Now I hate the you can't do it advice, I rather hear, bro it's going to be REALLY hard, but if you do this and this, you may just make it. I am here to form a plan of sorts, a rough battle plan to face the massive obstacle ahead of me. I will provide information, feel free to say whatever ideas you have, and corrections to any mistakes I may do, and I will continually update as my plan faces increased scrutiny and advice.</p>

<p>Information</p>

<p>81 average for the year, think it translated to a 2.6 GPA, basically not good at all, one of main priorities to meditate on.</p>

<p>I have the Hispanic URM, and the First Gen College cards, not a massive bump, but a bump nonetheless.</p>

<p>I also plan on being a Recruited Athlete, D1 Tailback, and hopefully add significant weight to my application by showing my potential value as a leather carrier for Harvard.</p>

<p>My classes are all CP, and I am taking 2 AP (Bio, and US Gov. and Politics) and Honors English and US History I for next year. My hope is with this massive class difficulty increase, and my high grades next year, I will be able to really impress the admissions team, and ease the wound of the absolutely terrible Freshman year.</p>

<p>EC, I did Mock UN, Key Club, Football, Track, Boy Scouts, Weightlifting, and likely will do Mock Trial next year. Can also throw in volunteer hours, but some kids do like 900 hours so I don't think it will mean much. All these EC I love to do ( exception of volunteering, love to help people hands on, not slave labor garbage cleanup.) Could also make enough noise to start a club of my own.</p>

<p>Now for Football stats, Height 5,9, likely 5,10 since I last measured it. Weight 150-160, ( plan on being 200 lbs. by the end of high school) 40 time is terrible 5.1, plan to shed some significant decimals, and get that to around 4.7. Running style is hard hitting, always hits the intended hole in line ( reason why coaches love me so much, I never get cocky and try to run horizontal to escape linebackers, just does not work. Always run straight for the extra yards. ) I can also really refine skills if needed, and will likely be a heavily recruited Tailback by the time I am a senior. Picture me as a Walter Payton kind of RB.</p>

<p>I plan to take local community college classes when I am a Junior, likely history, in order to really boost application and counteract weak GPA. I also love AP classes, and really plan to take multiple of these classes (kid in my school did like 9, want to try and beat him) I also will be likely studying by myself and taking further AP tests, just to increase weight of application, as well as ACT, due to fact that it has science, a strong suit, and that I suck balls at math, so it will sting less if I take the ACT, and extra SAT subject tests to really bring up that Academic Index.</p>

<p>So I sound like a well rounded, unique applicant. I am with the exception of one thing. My (shed tear) terrible GPA. 81 average for the year, and likely will only be able to get it to a 3.2, and that's with a lot of effort, could do more, but I will begin to run out of time, yes I have no right to complain because all of you people are gods in school, but all that I'm doing is going to really take a tool, I need to sleep :D. </p>

<p>So for GPA, any advice in order to increase it, and what will be the least that I can get in order to get in, gibby says minimum of 3.0, sounds reasonable. I really want to be that applicant that stands out from the Early Action pile, a Hispanic with parents who never finished college, break the barrier of his environment and really turn the tables.</p>

<p>Thank you, and let the planning begin,</p>

<p>Paul</p>

<p>P.S, sorry about the LONG post, but I really wanted to add everything I could.</p>

2

<p>If I may, unless you already have competitive athletic metrics, what you say you want to do in Football at 15 and then at 18 or 19 can only be a huge hope. You need to be speaking w/your current coaches, getting realistic feedback on whether or not you have any realistic chances to play at the next level.</p>

<p>Barring that, your goal seems rather fanciful. Harvard College. What’s that supposed to mean besides you’re fascinated by titles? Your immediate goal should be to be a decent high school student. Why not make that a reality first? Nothing has changed since Gibby gave you that advice on 19-Jun. You said you’re not a good student. How can that realization be paired with “I wanna go to Harvard”? </p>

<p>You said: "So I sound like a well rounded, unique applicant. I am with the exception of one thing. My (shed tear) terrible GPA. 81 " For a lesser caliber school, YES. Completely inconsistent thinking in terms of Harvard. A well rounded student for Harvard would have a 95 avg. </p>

<p>Frankly, you’d be better served leaving CC for a while, hit the books and the weight room.</p>

3

<p>Well T2, I understand that it sounds very far fetched, and that most applicants have 4.0. Don’t worry I do not need to be reminded, I do have the potential to play at the next level, and my application holds some weight already. I simply need additional advice on how to raise GPA, basically how do you get good grades, and any additional things that will help me as a student, and look good on paper.</p>

<p>Thank you for your post, please respond with ideas,</p>

<p>Paul</p>

4

<p>Speak with your 9th grade teachers. Spk w/your 10th grade teachers. Tell them your honest strengths and weaknesses. Listen carefully, take notes if you have to. Seek tutoring. Seek other FB players who are good academic examples. Speak up in classes. Make your desire to improve known to the teachers. Meet them before or after school. </p>

<p>As an athlete, you have the gift of knowing that hard work = results. Athletes I knew at my Ivy were successfully able to translate that basic knowledge from the weight rooms/training fields to the classroom. See it as if you were trying out for the varsity in a completely new sport. </p>

<p>Don’t speak further about Harvard, Stanford et al. It makes appear naive or nuts or immature or combinations of all three and people will tune you out from that point on. Be determined to be the best student you can be. If so, a good handful of colleges will want you. Even some that may offer you merit money.</p>

<p>GL to you</p>

5

<p>You have good points, I love your suggestions on speaking with teachers, that could help me significantly with recommendations. And even though I sound like a Harvard craze, I really don’t want to sound like this, it’s just as a athlete, you can’t settle for number 2. Even if you get Number 2 or 4 or 16 you still know that you gave it your all. Many people tell me to focus on just getting money for a state school, I love that suggestion and I really don’t care what college I go to. Ronald Regan went to a ‘non ivy’ state school and still got into the presidency, and John D. Rockefeller did not even finish school once he was 16. I am simply curious if it’s ok to work and do all you can for that Number 1 spot, while knowing that even if you don’t work hard enough and reach it, you still have plenty of Full Rides to fall upon. </p>

<p>Basically, With my families financial situation, I get Number 1 for free basically, and really want to see if I can get there, that’s all.</p>

<p>Is it a good idea, or should I focus on more Full Rides to less hard to get into schools.</p>

6

<p>There are 850 colleges in the US that offer football scholarships — many of them for students with your current GPA. I applaud you for wanting to raise your grades, but your chances are better at many other institutions that offer free rides for football players.</p>

<p>Most colleges, including Harvard, require potential athletes to register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. Have you done that? <a href=“http://web1.ncaa.org/ECWR2/NCAA_EMS/NCAA.jsp”>http://web1.ncaa.org/ECWR2/NCAA_EMS/NCAA.jsp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Have you read this guide: <a href=“http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/CBSA15.pdf”>http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/CBSA15.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Have you gone to these sites and investigated what it takes to be recruited for football? You have to do the same thing for Harvard, as you would for any other college.
<a href=“http://www.athleticscholarships.net/football-college-recruiting.htm”>http://www.athleticscholarships.net/football-college-recruiting.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p><a href=“http://www.collegesportsscholarships.com/football.htm”>http://www.collegesportsscholarships.com/football.htm&lt;/a&gt;

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<p>Have you looked at the Ivy League Rules: <a href=“http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/information/psa/index”>http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/information/psa/index&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Have you filled out a Harvard Recruiting form? <a href=“http://www.gocrimson.com/information/recruiting/recruiting%20forms”>http://www.gocrimson.com/information/recruiting/recruiting%20forms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Are you going to a football camp this summer that will be attended by college football coaches? Do you have film on yourself to show coaches? Do you have a documented stat sheet on yourself? Have you started writing to coaches? It takes a great deal of time and effort to be a recruited football player, aside from just wanting and hoping for it to happen!</p>

7

<p>Paul13375,</p>

<p>If you aren’t already being actively looked at by Division I college programs or their surrogates, it would be easier for you to gain entry to Harvard by writing a best-selling novel, winning a Nobel prize, or curing cancer.</p>

<p>Division I prospects are often on folks’ radar by 8th grade. If you’re not already a starter at least on your JV team last year, and all but a certainty as a starter on the varsity this year, if you’re not going to a high school with a high-visibility football program, if you’re not going to make all-conference this year, it is late in the game to start.</p>

<p>It’s always possible that one could be a late bloomer, but not likely at all. The high school sophomores who could go on to play Division I college football are already on folks’ radar.</p>

<p>Ironically, considering your current grades, you might be better off not trying to get into Harvard as a student athlete. The Ivy League has certain minimum academic requirements for athletes which, at the very bottom level, are cast in concrete. Your current high school results suggest that you may not even be qualified at the bottom rung of what would be required to be admitted to Harvard as an athlete. </p>

<p>However, this all seems to me to be irrelevant. You say:</p>

<p>“Further complications to this is that I am simply not good at school,…”</p>

<p>If you’re “not good at school,” why do you think you’re going to be good at Harvard? Harvard is a place where being “good at school” is the first prerequisite. To the degree that Harvard figures out that you’re “not good at school,” your chances for admission evaporate. And well they should. Harvard isn’t the right school for students who are “not good at school.”</p>

<p>In terms of advice, I can only reiterate what I said previously, and echo what others have said here: Redouble your academic efforts, and forget about where you’re going to go to college for right now.</p>

<p>If, this year, you become “good at school,” in other words, achieving a very high GPA, doing very well on any standardized tests, and, optionally, being a varsity football stand-out, then next summer it will be more appropriate to focus on the sorts of colleges to which you might apply. </p>

8

<p>

@notjoe has an excellent point. Assuming you were able to boost your high school GPA and were accepted as a football recruit to Harvard, you would have to work much harder at studying than you do now, as any grade below a C- constitutes “unsatisfactory work.” And according to the Harvard Handbook:</p>

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<p>^ I understand, however we must remember that I have 3 more years of ‘possible’ excellent work, the excuse that I was overwhelmed and began to get my act together sophomore year, and the fact that people who just begin football at junior year end up at the NFL. Basically I am still in, and I understand your point gibby that if I get a c or below I will be kicked out, however even with my crappy work I still have a B-, I simply need to raise the bar more.</p>

<p>A question, I have been hearing quite abit about the minimum requirements, what do I need to do the next 3 years to make these, and what do I need to do to be ‘safe’ in terms of academics. So what grades etc., for safe, and what grades for ok. I heard 3.0 is minimum. and 3.5 is safe, how do I obtain these?</p>

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<p>^^ First off you don’t have 3 years, you have 2 years. When you apply to college as a recruited athlete, you apply in the early round – colleges are forced to make a decision without any of your senior grades.</p>

<p>Secondly, please go to this GPA calculator: <a href=“https://thegpacalculator.appspot.com/college/harvard”>https://thegpacalculator.appspot.com/college/harvard&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Plug in your actual GPA for freshman year and then select grades for the next two years. The program will automatically recalculate your GPA. With a 2.5 GPA your Freshman year, you would need an A in every subject for the next 2 years to have a 3.5 GPA or you would need all B+'s to have a 3.05 GPA. </p>

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Study, study, study. Get a tutor for the summer. Study, study, study. Get a tutor during the school year. Study, study, and study some more!</p>

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<p>" I understand, however we must remember that I have 3 more years of ‘possible’ excellent work,…"</p>

<p>Go do it. Go get straight As. Go get a 2400 on the SAT or a 36 on the ACT. Until then, these conversations are… academic. </p>

<p>Until you move from the set of students accurately described as “not good at school” to the set of students accurately described as “fantastically good at school,” Harvard - in fact, most any highly-selective school - isn’t in your future.</p>

<p>Even if you’re the best collegiate football prospect in the entire country.</p>

12

<p>Could of, should have. I might get a 4.0 the next three years…but pulled out a 2.9 freshman year. Why are there so many students these days fantisizing about unrealistic schools? Is it the URM koolade? Is this a generation of kids that grew up where everybody gets a trophy or award for participation? Did their parents tell them they are the ultimate special snowflake one too many times? I don’t get it.</p>

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<p>Meant to add, how to increase your GPA? Study and utilize teachers and peers help. There are no shortcuts.</p>

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<p>All you can do at this point is work as hard as you can at your school work, getting the best grades you can, and do your best at football. When the time comes, you contact the coaches at the colleges that interest you; if you go to that part of the web site, there will be a place where you can fill out a form, and let the coaches know of your interest.</p>

<p>Check out if your school has Questbridge. Look for some other options as well. You should look into what test prep you can get to bring those scores up, including self study. They will be an factor in your academic credentials too.</p>

<p>As for minimum requirements, not really are any. There are always exceptions to what usually is the rule, and you aren’t the rule anyways, and the rule still doesn’t get anywhere close to a 100% admit to Harvard. I personally know a kid with a B average (at a private prep school), 1100 2 part SATs that was accepted to UPenn and other like school were hot to have him too. He was a starter in football at the D1 level.</p>

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<p>^ Thank you cpt, for understanding my position. Now a final question to wrap things up, am I allowed to contact Harvard’s Coach in order to get more information on recruitment, etc like grades required, skill level etc. As many sources say I can only begin talking to Ivy League coaches when I am a Junior.</p>

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<p>^^ Absolutely. BY NCAA rules, all football coaches (including Harvard’s) cannot electronically contact you or contact you by postal service until September 1 of your junior year, but you can telephone them at anytime before then and ask questions. Did you go through all those links I posted? <a href=“http://www.gocrimson.com/information/recruiting/recruiting%20forms”>http://www.gocrimson.com/information/recruiting/recruiting%20forms&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>^ Thank you gibby, I’ll send a call sometime and ask a few questions. Is there anything else I should know? Any additional things that I could do to improve say ACT scores, or anything else I can do?</p>

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<p>Have you checked out the heights and weights of the current players at gocrimson.com? You need to be realistic as to the likelihood of you reaching the size needed for a D1 player. What is your current height? Your parents and siblings? Have you joined the track team to develop the sprinting speed you would need? If so, have you made it to state finals with your sprinting (throwing events will also be appreciated)?</p>

<p>Follow the advice already given- study! Prepare seriously for the SAT/ACT. Get all As. Eat your salmon and broccoli and hope you pass the 6’ mark early. Most important, have backup plans! </p>

19

<p>I agree with @fauve
Everyone is talking about your low gpa as the reason you will not get in, but it is unlikely in the first place that you will get recruited D1 for football. A freshman’s intuition that they are good enough to play in college is usually wrong. I will have played 4 years of HS football after this year with league-wide awards each year and I am not even considering trying to get into sports in college. Unless you are receiving state/national awards, what makes you think you are good enough?</p>

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<p>^ There are NFL RB who are 5,10 200 lbs, and some who get d1 and no one though it to be possible. It will happen</p>