<p>Daughter was fortunate enough to get accepted to Harvard this last Fall. The description provided here is very accurate. One thing you might wish to consider, however, is that in reality, most students elect not to waive a year of college at Harvard due to AP courses and the like. Harvard requires that if you waive a year of college you have to finish Harvard in 3 years and most students like my daughter didn’t want to have that kind of pressure and miss out on a full college experience. Daughter is pre-med so it was tempting, but when all things were considered we decided against it. Advanced placement is a different issue. D placed into Level 4 Spanish but decided to take Level 3 so she wouldn’t find it too difficult. So far, it is not bad at all. So advanced placement is probably definitely worth considering. With regard to the SAT II tests, I had not heard that before, but looking at my D’s credentials, her SAT IIs were very high and she took about 5 SAT II courses, her APs were all 5s, but her SAT and ACT test scores were not perfect, we did emphasize however, that she took the tests only once so the school would know she wasn’t one of these kids who has tutors every night and keeps taking the test over and over until they get the score they want. I think it is true that the SAT IIs and AP tests are a better standard for admittance. And yes, she did review the standard books somewhat prior to the AP tests and SAT II tests, although most of her friends did not. Good luck.</p>