Ap: (All 5) BC, WHAP, cs a, apush, gov, econ, apes, physics a and (both) c, euro, and art history.
Leadership:
Mnhs and Hnhs president. Was vice for both last year.
Awana program youth leader, lead and mentor other volunteers. (Adult and youth)
Volunteering: 535 hours. Various places.
EC:
Played violin for 13 years. Played piano for 8 (quit piano this year). Won local competitions. Solo’s twice at Carnegie when I was 9, and 13
Science bowl regional champs. Didn’t do so well at Nats. Quiz bowl ranked nationally, on varsity team, made nats this year. Didn’t do that well again.
Usaco gold league. Usamo 3x times, made jmo in 8th and 9th grade. On my states arml team. Hsmc for 3 years, made promys and sumac. Physics semifinalist.
What are my chances to Harvard? I really would like to double major in history and mathematics. Math55 seems like fun.
Not bad, but every Ivy League is a crapchute. It’s worth it to apply there, you are a good applicant. Just get some safety and matches and you should be fine. Even if you don’t go to Harvard, you’ll have a great life.
You seem good enough for the schools you mentioned. But even so, you’re chances of getting into Harvard are pretty low, unless you’re legacy or an athlete or something. (Sadly, there’s not much anyone can do to increase those chances unless you are willing to make yourself “special” by donating a bunch of money, etc.) It’s basically just luck, like michelle said. So it wouldn’t hurt to apply to multiple schools to increase your chances. Don’t count on Harvard, though. you’ll probably be disappointed.
And if you’re rejected, it’s not your fault.
Does this help? I was tired last night and forgot to include some things. In my class of 635 people, I’m ranked number 18. I also forgot to mention I got around $800 from top coder, and I currently have ~1800 points on codeforces.
Don’t worry, if you get rejected by a top university like Harvard, it won’t be because you’re not good enough. Extremely few people are good enough to secure a place at a school like Harvard.
I’m a little confused about your music. You note that you played solo’s at Carnegie Hall when you were 9 and 13. That’s impressive, but it begs the question about what you’ve don with music since then. Otherwise, most of your ECs seem to be science/math activities.
Also, I don’t believe you can double major at Harvard. You can do a major (they call it a “concentration”) and a minor (“secondary field”).
Everything looks really good except for your GPA. If you had a 4.0 I’d say you’re almost for sure in for at least two of HYPSM, but with a 3.8, I’m not sure; I can see you still getting in, but I can also see you missing completely. Not much you can do about it at this point.
Thanks for the info renaissance
I kind of stopped playing my instruments competitively (That’s why I dropped Piano :/) I reached my peak, and my teacher told me to relax, and enjoy playing music. So I don’t play competitively. That being said, I often play some duets or ensembles with some of my friends in the weekends. I guess I’d be majoring in Mathematics and minoring in CS (rip history).
Legacy, athlete or billionaire’s kids. The HYPS are competitive for a reason.
Harvard is not that big and only has so many openings. You have a 3.8 gap and are #18 in your class of 600. Who is # 1? There is always someone better. Have some reachable back-ups.
@littleMuta123, I can certainly relate to that. I was a serious 'cellist when I was in HS (decades ago) and most of the kids at my level went on to Julliard and other top conservatories. I found that the competitiveness was killing my enjoyment of music, and after passing up conservatories to go to Stanford I ended up cutting back considerably. But for admissions purposes, it’s an important part of your EC experience and non-academic skill set, so I think you want to consider how to explain it.
You seem focused mainly on Harvard, but given your interests Stanford seems like a good potential fit. They are creating a number of interdisciplinary majors between CS and the humanities, which as one option includes CS+history:
I went to a non-HYP Ivy, and freshmen were bragging about being #1 or #2 in their class of 1,000. Your class rank is nothing to brag about, especially targeting Harvard.
Your ECs are relatively weak - no sports, no non-academic competition, best accolades were before HS. I’d consider talking to an Ivy League college counselor about what you can do to improve your ECs.
Also be careful about placing too much value on Awana. It’s seen as pretty much mandatory (like USY or going on a Mormon mission), so will not count anywhere near a non-religious EC would. Try to tweak it into some international work, with physical labor and real results noted.
Nothing before 9th grade (high school) will count on your application to college. DO NOT put any value on that.
@rhandco Under what circumstances are 3x USAMO, USACO gold league, and Physics Semi weak ECs? I’m assuming he has other ECs as well, but chose not to list all of them.
I swim. I have B and BB times… So I guess its not worth mentioning eh? I do volunteer every year for wwa- a habit I picked up from my school’s ajrotc. (One year… So again I thought this wasn’t really worth mentioning) I ger what you’re going at with non academic stuff though.
@littleMuta123, you have solid test scores, GPA, and curricular rigor. You have over 500 hours of volunteer service, and you appear to have reached a very high level of achievement in at least 2 separate independent areas (music performance, where Carnegie solo’s are not commonplace, and math/science, where your achievements are not astronomical but are very solid), and the schools you mention generally like that kind of level of achievement. With good essays and recs, I would think you would be a strong applicant - exactly how strong depends to a large extent on how well you tie everything together and make yourself stand out on your application. I think you should be very competitive, but beyond that, it’s a crapshoot at the schools you are targeting, as you well know.
Look at it this way.
If the OP was in a room with 19 other equally qualified students, one or possibly two of them would be admitted to Harvard.
Why do students not get that?
I have friends who were much better than me in several areas and who were NOT admitted to the non-HYP Ivy I attended. Please OP, have a few safety schools on your list and unless your parents are making 200K plus per year, you need financial safeties as well.
Excellent test scores, but that GPA and low class rank (low for your target schools) could get you denied to all of them.
I agree that you need to find some safeties, BUT, not necessarily financial safeties. Stanford recently announced that if your family income is $125,000 or less you will get full tuition and if $65,000 or less, full ride (tuition plus Room and Board). The Ivy League schools are all at about that same level of commitment. The elite colleges typically are the BEST financial choice for many students…just need to get in. Only those with very high family incomes pay anywhere close to full price at those elite schools. Investigate “full financial need” colleges. in 2014, there were 62 on that list including all 8 Ivy League schools.
In our family’s case, sending my daughter out of state to William & Mary would have been financially impossible unless she earned a great academic scholarship there, but for any of the Ivies (she only seriously considered Brown), it would have been our cheapest option (and we’re not poor). She eventually chose Vassar which also gives amazing financial aid based on need.
(rip history).
I do volunteer every year for wwa- a habit I picked up from my school’s ajrotc. (One year… So again I thought this wasn’t really worth mentioning) I ger what you’re going at with non academic stuff though.