<p>Let me start by saying that I am not the normal applicant. Not in the arrogant way that I think I'm better than everyone else, but that I'm actually a lot worse. My GPA is in the toilet. Really. I don't think it could get too much worse for any ivy hopeful. I was planning on not applying to Harvard, but recently two of my friends who are applying to mostly Ivies have tried to convince me that I'd have a good shot. Whether I believe them is up to debate, and that's why I came here.</p>
<p>My GPA is only 94 weighted and 87 unweighted. SATs are only 2170. Not great at all. SAT IIs, however, are predicted to be all 800s in French, Spanish, and Literature. Still, my friends say I have a bunch of things that make me stand out. These are:</p>
<p>I was chosen to be a guest on the TODAY Show for a reform movement I started
I've been in the local and regional news in the NYC region over 15 times, 2 of those were articles just about who I am
The reform movement I started is now in 7 different states and we are continuing to expand
I am on the national advisory board for a famous reform movement
I am self taught to near native fluency in French, and I am self taught as well in German, Norwegian, Russian, Japanese, and Finnish - I'm not fluent in all of those, just know the basic grammar of them
I am near fluent in four languages (certifiably)
I compose both classical and contemporary music, and my school orchestra has played my music
I taught myself the violin and I am now 4th chair in the orchestra
I frequently write short stories which I am now trying to get published in literary journals (and have a good chance of being published)</p>
<p>There are a bunch of other things that I've done that could probably help, but those are the main ones.</p>
<p>My friends say I should try applying EA to Harvard, which I'm not sure about. The only reason my grades aren't high is because I spent my time doing things independently and never felt challenged by school so I was never interested. Some will say that doesn't make sense because if I wasn't challenged I should be doing great, but because I wasn't challenged I never thought I needed to pay attention to classes that I thought were too easy and ended up taking a lot of the tests without having learned a single thing about the subject.</p>
<p>In some respects I feel that if I did EA it would give me a better chance because they'd actually read my whole application (they'd be so shocked to see someone with my stats apply EA), but I may be published and have more TV appearances/a bigger reform movement going by the time regular admissions are due.</p>
<p>What do you guys think? Do I have any chance? I doubt it, but it's always worth the effort to ask.</p>