Should I apply EA?

<p>I recently received a letter from Harvard congratulating on my achievements and PSAT scores (a scam? because my scores were hideous!). So now, I am considering about applying to Harvard EA.</p>

<p>Black Female
GPA: 3.81 UW, 4.14 W
Senior Year: AP Calc AB, AP GOV, AP ENGLISH 12, AP BIO, Honors Physics (required), Photography II, Leadership II
Will NOT take AP Physics, Stats, Art History, Spanish, French, or Chem in my high school career</p>

<p>SEMESTER GRADES
I used to get straight A's as a freshman and sophomore, but because of transferring to another school that has a very different grade system and difficult transition, my grades went down in my junior year.
(On 7-point scale with no plus or minus)
Leadership A/A
Honors Math Analysis B/B
Study Resources III A/A
Honors English 11 B/B
AP Psych B/A
Honors Chemistry B/B (.2 away from an A)
AP USH B/B
Photography A/A
I am making a progress throughout the year, and I hope I would get A's in senior year.</p>

<p>TEST RESULTS
PSAT: 161
SAT: 1670 (610M 570W 490V)- will retake
SAT II: 610 History, 660 Math IIC (will retake), 560 Chemistry (will retake)</p>

<p>WORK EXPERIENCE
Sharing and Caring Hands (food programfor the homeless) for two years
Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Student volunteer) for three months
Habitat for Humanity (Built houses for unfortunate families) for a year
Mentoring a deaf elementary student for two years
Research in the lab this summer (40 hours each week)</p>

<p>ACTIVITIES
Club Youth Extending Service (a school volunteering organization) (9, 10)
National Karate (9, 10)
Chess Club (During lunch- 11)
Science Club (During lunch- 11)
Psychology Association (During lunch- 11)
Health Science Academy (After school- 11)
University of Virginia Mini-Medical School (After school- 11)
Made National Honor Society for next year (teacher selection)</p>

<p>HONORS
Academic Honor Roll for three years
National Karate Summer Program Award
President's Student Service Gold Award (volunteering 100+ hours)
National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine (a scam but considered a scholarship to me because I was given $8,000)
A Venture Scholar</p>

<p>ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
-I was born in Canada, and my parents both went to an elite college in Canada and are now very successful financially. So, in my whole family, I will be the first one to go to a college in United States, and I am a little excited about it.
-Will include my research publication in my application
-Will write the essay about my deafness, the obtacles I faced, how I overcame them, and how it develops my personality as well as contributing to my success today
-Will get excellent recommendations from my GC and my research mentor, but I don't think I will get outstanding recommendations from my teachers because I just moved to the area and I don't know them as long as other students
-I transferred from #1 public school in Minnesota with a very good SAT average score (by the way, I was top 10% in my class) to a VERY competitive but smaller public school in Virginia (about top 25%). Many students from my new school were accepted into prestigious colleges (MIT, Harvard, Brown, Yale, Princeton, Columbia).</p>

<p>So, should I go for it? What is my chance?</p>

<p>Give it a shot if you get your SATs up.</p>

<p>Yes really study for the SATs...that habitat for humanity is impressive...</p>

<p>So besides my SAT scores, everything is okay? What is the minimum score I should aim for? 2000? 2100? 2200?</p>

<p>2000, 2100 if possible....I personally would apply RD if I needed to bring up sats...the harvard manual says that they do not lower standards for EA applicants...so if you cannot get above 2000 this fall try to go RD...</p>

<p>best advice- apply when your scores/stats are most improved...</p>