Should I apply to Harvard? Is it worth my time?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

I have a gpa of 3.15/4, an SAT score of 1100 (I will be retaking it in October, so don’t pay any mind to that). I took 1 ap class in my junior year (computer science), 1 honors class (English), and 1 advanced class (trig). I am not currently taking ap Spanish, ap computer science (more advanced), and ap calculus. My extra curricular activities are chess club and the explorers program. I worked 2 summers, and volunteered in a senior center a few hours last summer (connected to work). I really want to go to this school, it’s my dream. Is it worth it to apply? Do I have any chances of getting in?

What can I do to improve my chances?

2

No, I’m sorry to say, you don’t have any real chance at all (unless you’re leaving something important out), @qaswed .

3

The only other thing is I did an explorer academy. I’ve won award in that program and I won 2 honors award in school

4

It isn’t going to happen. Focus your effort on schools where the stats of accepted students match yours more closely.

5

Use Naviance if your school participates with it and the common data sets for each school. Google is your friend here.

6

You might want to consider which universities at this time might be matches for you. Adelphi, which reports an SAT middle-range of 1060-1240, would be one example. You may have no interest in this school, of course. However, it would seem to make sense if the core of your list were to include colleges with similar statistical profiles. You could allow reasonable leeway (pending your further test results), but this leeway conceivably should not extend to Harvard.

7

Why do you want to apply to Harvard? it is famous?

Unfortunately your scores are not what Harvard admits.

But there are 2000+ 4-year colleges in the USA>…there are ones that would match your accomplishments.

8

No. Do not apply. Not worth your time.

9

I’m not sure if the OP is putting up this thread as a prank, but unless you have a tremendous hook, there is no way Harvard will accept you. Even an athlete who may be a superstar will unlikely get in with those stats. Look at it this way, you will be studying and competing with students who have near perfect SATs and GPA.

10

Please take a look at Harvard’s Common Data Set, specifically the C9 and C10 data points: https://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2017-18.pdf

FWIW: It’s often thought that recruited athletes in helmet sports (football, ice hockey etc) have the lowest GPA’s on campus and I’m willing to bet that’s what this represents. So, unless you play football at a Division 1 level, Harvard Admissions would be hesitant to admit you, as your GPA indicates you would have difficulty handling the reading and writing workload on their campus – and Admissions doesn’t want to admit a student AND set them up for failure. Therefore, IMHO, your application would be an automatic rejection. That’s true regardless of your SAT score or EC’s.

You should be looking at other colleges where your GPA indicates you could succeed on campus: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/a-plus

11

If the OP was an athlete, his Academic Index would be about 175. The average admitting class AI to overall student would be around 221.

12

More to the point, if the OP were an athlete, he could not be recruited. The minimum AI is 176, and that is held be a very small cohort.

13

Why do you “really want to go to this school”? Try to find a way to learn about the colleges available to you. Often a desire to go to Harvard just means you need a little more information on schools out there.