Special Case

Colleges & Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Okay this is my first time posting here, so please don't flame me if I mess something up. But i was curious if anyone could tell me what they think my chances of getting into Harvard are(percentage wise). </p>

<pre><code> Anyway, I am a somewhat special case and I was just wondering what you guys thought of my situation. I am technically homeschooled but I have taken many classes at a local communtity college. I have only recently turned 15 but I have accumulated so many courses that by the end of this year I will have more than enough to get a Michigan High School diploma and graduate high school(and Michigan recently passed a law that made a lot harder graduation requirments). Anyway, I have (or will have) a mix of classes I have taken at home and at the college so here they are
College Classes- (will have enough credits for an Associates Degree)
2 English (both Honors courses) Psychology (H)
Speech(H) Biology
Economics Jazz History
4 French classes (All honors) Chemistry(H)
Physics(H) Advanced Physics(H)
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<p>4 Math(Algebra 2, Trig, Pre Calc. Calc)(All Honors) American History(H)
Europeon History(H) Lifelong Wellness/ P.E.
Total College GPA- 3.90
Classes Taken At Home
English/Literature English/Advanced Writing
Middle Eastern History Greek History
Piano Lifelong Wellness/P.E.
Civics/Government Algebra 1
Total Homeschool GPA- 4.0
So total classes in two years are- 4 eng, 5 math, 4 science, 4 language, 4 history, 4 social/elective, 2 performing art/music, 2 p.e/lifelong wellness
Total combined GPA- about 3.96
ACT Composite- 34
Extracurriculars - I know colleges like a few good deicated ec's but i could always knock a couple of these off
1. Founded and president of Book club
2. Founded and president of stockholders club
3. Member of Debate Team
4. Write for and photograph for college newspaper
5. Drama Club
6. Honors Advocay Council
7. Phi Theta Kappa International
8. Church Youth Group- Youngest person in history of church to become a youth group leader
9. Over 200 hours volunteer work- Nursing home, elementary school chess club, ect.
10. Almost black belt in taekwondo
11. Play piano and guitar
12. I am really into bodybuilding and nutrition and even put some of my mother's friends on diets and workout plans
13. 2 years work experience- Pickling Plant, started off as summer job, when my boss learned I wasn't in school 5 days a week, he kept me yearlong, i help manage the inventory and test the ph, salt, suagr, ect of pickles </p>

<pre><code> My family situation isn't the greatest. Under 40,000 dollar income, sinle parent. Would make for a good essay. Another good essay would be about how I do a lot of adult things(college, working 25 hours a week) even though I am only 15

Anyway I was just wondering what you guys thought of my chances at harvard or any top school. MY major would be business. My main "hook" would of course be all the things that I have done, even though I am not even 16 yet. I could easily get several good recomendations from teachers and college counselor. All my classes were serious, full length classes but since in college we go so much faster, I was able to complete a lot more in such a short amount of time. I dont have any ap classes but seeing as how 20 of my classes were actual college classes, the no ap thing shouldnt matter. I have gotten several academic awards from the college, although I am scared by my lack of sports and national achievements.

    Any feedback on what my chances would be or anything else is greatly appreciated. I apologize for the wall of text but it was kind of necessary.

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2

<p>It’s hard to say, but Harvard does accept plenty of homeschoolers and a few younger than average students. (My husband’s roommate was 15 when he was a freshman.) There are lots of kids who get into Harvard without sports or national achievements. With a good essay, and good recommendations you have as good a shot as anyone.</p>

3

<p>Even though I don’t have much experience (I’m only 15 too) I would take at least one more year and spend it working on something REALLY interesting like research at a university or an awesome internship, something like that. Start a non-profit. Since you’ve already fufilled course requirements I recommend spending as much time as you can on stuff like this before applying to give you that extra edge.</p>

4

<p>I agree with raiderade. If you take a year off to do something really intresting you’ll have a much better chance of accpetance, but you already seem like a pretty good candidate with quite unique experiences.</p>

5

<p>I’m pretty sure Harvard has one admission officer who handles the homeschoolers together as one part of that officer’s admission docket. In other words, you can be sure that one reader of your application will be very familiar with all of the many variations that “homeschooling” takes, and you will be treated fairly in that regard. </p>

<p>Because Harvard considers academic qualities of applicants and also considers “roommate qualities,” as would be expected for a college in which residential life is such a large part of the experience, there is good warrant for taking the advice to be a year older before applying. Every year Harvard admits a few students who are sixteen at the time they enroll as freshmen, so that is routine. But if you can possibly find challenging academic and social experiences in your local community to further mature you before you apply to Harvard, that might be a very good idea. The great thing about homeschooling is that you have more flexibility about grade designation and setting a high school graduation year than most students in most high schools. Take advantage of that to be really ready for an undeniably challenging college experience when you apply for college. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>P.S. After edit: You may be well advised to take some AP tests next May even if you haven’t taken high school courses with an AP label. The AP testing program is open to homeschoolers and self-studiers of all kinds, and Harvard’s advanced standing program </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~advising/docs/advancedStanding0708.pdf[/url]”>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~advising/docs/advancedStanding0708.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>regards AP test scores. The Harvard application, and all instances of the Common Application, include spaces for self-reporting AP test scores too.</p>

6

<p>bump…I’m interseted in everyone else’s responses</p>

7

<p>thanks for all the insight guys. I probably will end up taking a bunch of ap tests, and I was thinking about doing a workcamp in africa or guam or something like that for like 9 months. i’m sorry that the classes I took are pretty hard to read. it looked a lot better when I was writing it</p>

8

<p>Just a point of information for you … Harvard does not have a business major.</p>

9

<p>seeing as how my end goal is to have an mba in business finance(not necessarily from harvard) what would be an appropriate field of concentration to set me up for a masters in business. i have looked at several other universities and most of them have business administration as a field of study so…</p>

10

<p>anything that tickles your fancy</p>

<p>The b-schools won’t really care about your classes or major. </p>

<p>They will care about your GMAT’s.</p>

<p>They will care about either your undergraduate institution or your GPA. (ie one or the other - if not both - should impress them.)</p>

11

<p>The B-school would also prefer you spend a few years working after your BA before attending.</p>

12

<p>i knew that about the gmat and work experience and i knew that some graduate schools cared about what you got your BA in but i didnt know that it didnt really matter to b-schools. are there any fields of study that they heavily recommend? anything that compares to how the popular BA’s before law school are stuff like political science and philosophy?</p>

13

<p>It sounds like one useful project for your next school year would be doing a lot of personal research on what role master of business administration degrees have in business careers, and what requirements for admission are found among the various M.B.A. programs.</p>

14

<p>sorry that i sound ignorant. ive done plenty of research and i have a general understanding of how the college system works. i was just asking because ive heard from different places that b-schools do place some emphasis on what you got your degree in, so i figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask seeing as how i am on a college discussion website</p>

15

<p>Lots of students at Harvard who are interested in business major in economics.</p>

16

<p>mathmom</p>

<p>While they might “prefer” that one spends a few years working, and they may even “strongly encourage” their admits to get such experience before “attending”, that does not necessarily mean applying straight from college is viewed as a negative in so far as “admitting” goes. It certainly did not some 25 years ago.</p>

<p>the vast majority of the folks I know who went to Stamford/Wharton/Stern/Tuck/etc. applied and were accepted as undergraduates.</p>

<p>Now of course many did defer admission to go work for 2 or more years, but they had their ticket to b school in their back pocket before taking their first job. Often the b school admit helped them get that job.</p>