Should I bother applying to top colleges like Harvard?

Applying to College
1

Hey.

So, yeah. My situation is a bit… specific, it’s very difficult to convey it all through a post, but I’m gonna try my best. Also, apologies in advance if my English is a bit funky, it’s not my first language.

I’m a 17yo student from Latin America. Back in July 2017, I felt stuck at school, mostly because I wanted to learn more and faster. In my country, it’s not possible to be homeschooled, so I began doing research on what I could do to try and move faster through high school. I figured I didn’t need to go to school or tutors to teach me, so I came up with the idea of doing high school on my own. I was granted a legal exception to do this (under the condition I was able to perform accordingly), and got enrolled in a public high school in my country.

By this point, I had to sit for 57 exams, each exam containing one year’s worth of a specific subject. In the span of 2 years and a half (high school lasts 5 years here), I managed to pass 55 of them (3 periods per year of around 7 exams per period), and only had two left. By March 2020, the pandemic ensued, lockdown came over and I couldn’t sit for the remaining two exams until the beginning of this year. I guess it’s worth mentioning I’m the only kid in my country who did this.

I used this last year to self teach German up to B2 level, learn programming , and learn differential/integral calculus and differential equations too. I took part in a team that built a small theoretical project on putting up and designing special street lights for blind people.

I’m turning 18 on November, and I figured I could try and apply to good colleges in the US. I’d love to study biochemistry and life sciences, since my family has a history of several diseases that have motivated me to become passionate about health and learn about biochemical processes of all types of pathology, and hopefully in the future, do impactful research on this topic.

However, there’s a huge issue that I don’t really know how to address and I’m scared it will completely trump everything else I’ve worked for: my grades. I have a 8.07/10, which isn’t nearly enough for Harvard or top schools, yet it’s also true these grades don’t really represent my performance on these exams. The grading was heavily influenced by the context of my circumstances, given many professors were in disagreement with ‘how’ I was going through high school, and admitted to me they lowered my grade on purpose, as a way to discourage me to continue doing what I was doing, and go back to school.

Now, I can’t really say this in an essay, it wouldn’t be correct or appropriate to blame a teacher. Which is why I came here to ask: I’m planning to sit for the SAT, would a good grade on it be even close to helping compensate for the grades? Should I even bother applying and explaining my situation?

Sorry for the long post, thanks for your time.

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I wouldn’t say your chances are 100% but you are certainly are much better than I will be in 4 years(I am a high school freshman from India ) .

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Should you ? If you are willing to do the work, why not ?

Will you get in? Sounds like you already know the answer is no.

So make sure you apply to schools you can get into. And that you can afford.

But if one is willing to apply somewhere and do the work it takes, that’s no issue. The worst that will happen is you’ll get rejected

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4

Short answer, no. Long answer: Most (but not all) schools offer financial aid only to US citizens or permanent residents. Can your family afford to pay 85K/yr plus travel expenses for four years for you? The students who get accepted to highly selective colleges, especially the ones that offer full financial aid packages for foreign students, are usually the top students in their countries. While you have an interesting back story, there’s no way that you can claim that you are one of the top students in your country. Even if you were to get a perfect score on the SAT, it would still be a very long shot for you.

I suggest that you make plans for college in your own country. Also, it’s getting very late in the process to take the SAT. Most people take the SAT around March of junior year, and maybe also in September of senior year. That way they can plan applications based upon their scores. You don’t have a score yet, and it would need to be very, very high in order to give some favorable context to your unusual path through high school. Part of the problem is that there is a social element to college. You have to attend classes, live possibly with roommates, deal with a lot of people. Your chosen path of self-study for high school proves that you have drive and are able to stay on task, and can teach yourself the material, but doesn’t say anything about your ability to deal with other people.

Don’t despair. Your English is very good. You write as well as a native speaker. And what you have done implies to me that you would make a very good engineer, since they often have to teach themselves whatever they need to know for a new specific project, even if they didn’t study it in school. Apply to appropriate schools in your country, and perhaps you will be able to come to the US for a master’s degree.

If your family is able to pay for your tuition, there will be plenty of less selective schools in the US that would be happy to admit you. You might be able to get admitted to some more selective schools, but I really don’t think that you have a chance at highly competitive admission schools.

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I asked on other forums, and I’ve got very mixed opinions back. Some people saying the chances of me getting in were extremely high, and that top colleges look for students with very strong self drive to learn and motivate themselves. Students with unique stories and who’ve had to overcome hardship while retaining academic success (like I did when my mother developed schizophrenia, or my dad got diagnosed with cancer). Saying that my case is quite unique and could make an exception to the grades from the general profile of students that get in.

And others who have also brought up very valid points saying I wouldn’t get in because of my grades, and that I didn’t fit in with the rest of the students who get into these type of colleges.

Everyone who knows me in person is cheering for me to do it, specially people who have seen me perform academically. However, I really don’t know what to believe. The points you brought up are absolutely reasonable, although I’d like to add: I did collaborate with a team on the project I mentioned about street lights, and also offered free tutoring services to freshman college students. I am very fond of people actually, although granted the social aspect isn’t quite the focus of my story.

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As I said anyone can apply the worst they can say is no. But you know you won’t get on. People with top grades and huge drive get rejected every day. It’s a lottery. They bring the entire package. You don’t.

But if you’re going to be left to wonder apply. But make sure you find yourself a home somewhere and that will likely be a school many steps below Harvard.

Make sure your story comes through loud and clear to any college. They don’t know you so you have to show them you.

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7

Your circumstances is so far from the average that nobody other than the AOs from Harvard can tell you what your chances are. If you are going to wonder “what if” and regret not applying, apply. If you can forget about it, it would be fine not applying. You’ll probably be fine either way.

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sending you a private message. Look for the green circle in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

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Okay

10

You could do well in applying to U.S. schools, but you might increase your prospects by considering colleges that are relatively unfamiliar to international students. Look into Colby and Wheaton (MA), as examples.

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To get some perspective on how few students get into Harvard from counties, use this website to see how many students are currently there from your country. Just make sure that you select “students” and “Harvard College “. For example, the last data shows 1 student from Panama. For the previous 6 years there were none. So only 1 student in 7 years. Costa Rica also has about 1/4 a student starting each year.

https://www.hio.harvard.edu/statistics

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Thank you, I’m gonna look for information regarding this.

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That’s very nice actually, puts everything into perspective. Thank you.

It says there’s 49 people from my country enrolled in Harvard right now.

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More than 90% of top grades/test students are turned away from the Ivy Leagues, because of the limited space. So your odds are not zero, but they are at best low single digit.

If you’ll forever second-guess yourself, then you might as well apply, just as long as you realize it‘s a long shot.

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15

You need to select Harvard College. There are 49 across all schools, but only 1 in Harvard College. So the other 48 are in the graduate and professional schools.

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It’s okay, at least I asked. It’s better to be aware of things. Thank you for your time.

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My question is why Harvard? How much do you know about other schools in the US, beyond the Ivy League? Google “Little Ivies” and also “Colleges that Change Lives” for examples.

Go ahead and apply to Harvard but noone should be fixated on that one school, or, for that matter, even “top schools.” What exactly is a “top school”? Apply to the best fit.

In fact, you might do better at schools like Brown or Amherst, where you have more freedom with choice of classes (no gen eds) or even Hampshire or Bennington where you do more independent work.

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18

Well the elite colleges DO look for students with motivation and strong self-drive but they also look at fit and overall holistic qualities represented by a student’s:

  • Continuous community involvement over high school years
  • Letters of recommendation from teachers and employers
  • Participation on sports teams
  • Cultural events leads

The ivies expect international recognition: Olympians, celebrities and change makers (like Malala, Greta), renowned artists and national musicians, etc.
So far, I see a person who home-schooled himself and was on a team that put up lights. Tutoring is a common extracurricular for a number of students.

You haven’t set yourself apart other than indicating that you are international, homeschooled yourself and avoided interacting with peers.

Each school creates a class that fits together like a puzzle. Each year is different with different qualities for each class. Because you don’t show a significant overall experience with teachers or other students, the adcoms don’t have a lot of information about your high school experience.

The ivies have thousands of students who apply with stellar academics, extracurriculars, and statistics from the 37K US high schools. There are only so many seats left after the hooked domestic students are admitted (athletes, celebrities, URM candidates, donors).

Apply if you need to apply, but know your chances are very, very low.

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19

There was no need for the passive aggressive tone, but thank you for your time.

Have a good one.

20

You asked for guidance - @aunt_bea gave you a very interesting, different, and detailed perspective.

You, yourself, know you’re likely not getting in. She’s simply saying that what you are using as the edge to get you in is actually no edge at all.

You asked for an opinion - and that’s hers and it’s very well informed.

You cannot get mad at that - it was not passive aggressive at all.

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