<p>hey guys
well i am an international student and i would love to go to harvard but i don't know if i have a chance :(</p>
<p>my grades are very good and i belong to the best students but my problem is math
my math grades are really really terrible :(
and another difficulty is the fact that my school doesn't really offer any activities but tried to do as many things as possible</p>
<p>however i think i should get to the facts:</p>
<p>nationality: german
origin: ethiopia</p>
<p>sat score: 2330
sat subject tests: french(780) biology E(750) World History (770)
toefl test (ibt): 110</p>
<p>Activities in school: student council president(11 and probably 13)
singing in the choir (9 until probably 13)
school paper (11 i started the thing but noone wanted to continue :(</p>
<p>activities in general: i tutor socially deprived kids since i am 15
i have a part time job since 2 years
volunteer work at unicef
i'm writing a book and after graduation i want to go to ethiopia and
teach englisch for 2month</p>
<p>the thing is i do not have a lot of time to study or to pay someone who can tutor me to improve my grades(only in math) because we are very poor
my mom only has a part time job in which she earns 400euro and my dad can't work because of his disease (which is also the reason why my mother has that part time job and it is also the reason why i have to work) </p>
<p>the most concerning thing is the fact that i had an accident last year and i wasn't in school very often which is why my grades of last year are the worst grades i have ever got in my entire life (fortunately they do not influence my GPA but still...they don't make a good impression) </p>
<p>sooo....all in all i just want to hear your opinion :s
do i have a chance? what do you think? i would be thankful for some answers</p>
<p>I’d say you have a good chance at Harvard. You have a very interesting story and background and seem very genuine about your education. Harvard could easily overlook mediocre grades in one subject area if you explain your circumstances (especially if you want to major in something non-math related.) Also, Harvard loves kids who are presented w/ minimal resources and still take advantage of everything they can.</p>
<p>On the other hand, it is my understanding that admissions for international students is not need blind. This will probably present a challenge, but nothing is impossible. </p>
<p>Definitely apply, but nothing is certain when it comes to Harvard admissions.</p>
<p>What was your score on the SAT math? With a 2330, it seems to me it must have been at least 730, no? That doesn’t sound like someone who is “terrible at math”. Are you in a German school? What does your math course cover?</p>
<p>hey thank you i was really happy about the scores </p>
<p>and harvard is need-blind for international students too that’s why i consider it
there are only seven colleges/universities in the us that are need blind for international students </p>
<p>by the way these schools are harvard, princeton, yale, MIT, amherst collge, williams college and dartmouth </p>
<p>but i am really really surprised maybe i should give it a try</p>
<p>i wanted to become a journalist or i wanted to go into the field of psychology </p>
<p>i really hope they consider my background…i have also lived in ethiopia for one year </p>
<p>thank you for you answer</p>
<p>bye</p>
<p>@mathmom </p>
<p>i’m sorry i didn’t see your reply </p>
<p>yes i am in a german public school and you are right my sat math score wasn’t bad but i don’t know why it just never works out in school we do the same things from geometry, trigonometry, statistics, exponential functions and so on and i don’t know why…but my chemistry grades aren’t the best either
the teachers at my school aren’t really fair when it comes to evaluating us since they don’t take things as serious as americans do since we have no ivy leage or universities like that in germany
you don’t even have to apply for some majors and you have to be accepted regardless of your GPA
if your GPA is bad the only thing you have to do is to wait for a couple of semesters </p>
<p>Guten Abend Candid, ich bin ebenfalls ein detuscher Bewerber für “Harvard 2014”; ursprünglich aus Frankfurt am Main - jetzt zur kurzen Zeit in München ; ). Obwohl eine gewisse Verführung besteht Detusch zu sprechen, lassen wir unsere Muttersprache doch einmal kurz außenvor, der Weltbürgerlichkeit halber. </p>
<p>My research has revealed, that this particular attribute that acompanies a “Well-rounded Student” plays a much more pivotal role in international applications, perhaps even more in ones from Germany. I believe this can be understood if you set “German College Mentality” (God, I doubt such even exists!) into its historical context. Although attending University has always been a privilege reserved for a “particular section of the population” (not such much the nobility or the upper class but simply the “University Class” - they had their own courts for God’s sake ; ), Stefan Zweigs “Welt von Gestern” is illuminative here), the “University” has always been a place of open-mindness, liberal mentaility and equitableness - contributing to scientific and social progress (Best example is the Frankfurt School of Thought by Horkheimer at Frankfurts Goethe University). We do not have the Elite Institutions such as the Ivy League and you will rarely find students, not even at my or any other International School, that have founded a company or have 10+ extracurricular acitvities (maybe 2-4, maximum 5) or have gained any national awards. This simpy stems from the fact that in high school we do not work “College Orientated”. No student participates in an activity because it will be useful for this college application (I doubt this thought even exists). Those who are qualified thorugh the Abitur can attend University. One could argue this fact to be twofold. On the one hand, it promotes a certain sense of honesty I propose, how many students are there in the United States of America that “do” things just for college. However it does detain a certain sense of personality breadth to develop. </p>
<p>Why am I blathering about this? I guess German international students add to Harvard’s diversity and this should be your (and my, I might add) motivation to apply to Harvard, assuming you “fit” into it. Your scores prove you can handle some demanding workload (although I am strongly opposed to the Abitur, its just a weak diploma in my opinion, but that is a different point of discussion. Therefore, APPLY! you have nothing to loose. So… Don’t stop dreaming! ; )</p>
<p>P.S.
Welche Schule besuchst du? Falls du noch Fragen hast, schreib mir doch einfach (<a href="mailto:felixbloch@hotmail.de">felixbloch@hotmail.de</a>). Ich habe viele Universitäten in den USA besucht, unter anderem auch Harvard, Stanford und Columbia und war drei Jahre Assisstent unseres "College Counsellors; kenne mich daher relativ gut aus. Schönen Abend noch!</p>
<p>I asked about your math, because even though I lived in Germany for five years, I don’t really know what math is covered by the Abitur, but my impression is that it’s probably at least as much and quite likely more than the average US student gets. My point is, that what you think of as “bad at math” may actually be pretty good at math compared to many American students. I knew a lot of university students and young adults when I was in Germany and am aware (as Harvard will be too) that grading standards are different in Germany than they are here. Many US universities like the diversity international students bring, but you are right, they don’t always want to help pay their way.</p>
i was really happy about the scores </p>