<p>Hello, I´m just wondering, how late could you submit additional material after you application (Intel Finalist or USA Physics Olympiad Semi-Finalist) and have it still be considered seriously by the admissions committee at Harvard? Also, let's see you had about 70% A's (A and A-) and 30% B's in high school b/c you were just plain out lazy, but shaped in in your final two semesters before applying and were able to get all A's (maybe 1 B) and also were able to win awards in your senior year at state math/science contests and do extremely well in other national level math/science competitions (in your senior year). Would Harvard see you as a smart but lazy guy who really shaped up and showed his potential and how high would your chances of getting in to Harvard be in such a situation? Also, say you just volunteered locally in the summers of 9-11th grades but then got a research position at a community college again in senior year during the school year and published an article. Would it make up for your lack of initiative in the summer?</p>
<p>Have you been waitlisted? I’m a waitlisted student who will be sending an update to include only significant new information to further humanize my application in a few weeks in mid-April or so. </p>
<p>But if you’re a junior right now, I believe you could send supplemental information up through mid-March to be seriously considered since I know you don’t hear back from several Olympiads until March. Although it might be safer to send your additional information by February. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I’m a junior Apoc314, but I’m studying like crazy for the olympiads and also am working on a project for Intel and I think with all the hours I’m putting into these things, I can surely be like top 50 in the nation in all of them. I’m trying to get a perfect score on the AMC 12, be a semi-finalist in the USA Physics Olypmiad, and at the very least be a semi-finalist in the Intel STS with a chemistry project, all things which I will find out about in mid-Feb next year. If I send these to Harvard in mid-Feb after submitting my original applicatoin and have a perfect SAT score, a perfect ACT score, mediocre grades in all honors classes and 9 AP classes (the type I mentioned above), was ranked like 40/350 (about top 15% of my class at a competitive public high school) and had a 4.1 GPA, got 8 5’s on my AP exams (Chem, Calc BC, Physics C: Mech, Phyiscs C: E&M, English Language, US History, World History, and Computer Science A), had a very tough senior year course load with 6 AP classes and two math/science classes at a community college, did speech and debate for 3 years, piano for 3 years, mock trial for one year, volunteered in my summers at local hospitals (the only major summer activity) for 3 years, varsity cross country for one year, young democrats for two years, math and science club for one year, student newspaper, and researched at a community college with a professor in chemistry and published an article in a local science journal (btw president of the Math/Sience, Young Democrats, and Student Newspaper), was a NM commended scholar, National AP Scholar, won regional level awards in piano, mock trial, and speech and debate, and then won two state level math contests in the fall of my senior year, had very awesome recs about how was inspring to my teachers, wrote essays that talked about the religious minority I belong to as a Pakistani and how I had made laziness my drug instead of pot like other teenagers but made my hard work my drug, and have a doctor dad and a mom who does not work but has a master’s both from Pakistan, what would be my chances of getting into Harvard next spring? BTW I will have gone to three high schools: an average public one for 9th grade, a private one for 10th-11th grade (switched b/c of my dad’s job), and an excellent public one for 12th grade.</p>
<p>Well, your projected upward grade trend should help you, but it would have been better to have consistently high grades. Have you done Olympiads before? I’ve done the chem, bio, and math Olympiads before and trying to be a “Renaissance man” in several of them is a ton of hard work. If you can successfully accomplish those goals then that should boost your application, but why didn’t you try achieving some of those things earlier to progress to those goals? It’s a ton of work you’ll be doing next year with all your courses and that research project. I cannot guarantee anything as I think you will certainly be competitive if you achieve those goals, but they do reject Olympians more frequently than you think. For example, my friend who was a top 20 finalist in one of the Olympiads (not stating which here to keep their privacy) and was a varsity athlete with consistent high grades in a very competitive high school was rejected from Harvard. I honestly thought he was going to get in but nothing’s guaranteed. So you will be pretty competitive next year but don’t expect an acceptance. Good luck.</p>
<p>Hey, well Apoc, I’m not asking you to judge me. Yeah I was lazy, but I’m not now. I took practice tests for the olympiads and have good enough scores to get me top 50 in the nation right now, and that’s why I’m making these projections. Please just tell me my chances given all of my things put together. Also I’m aware of Olympiad rejections, as a guy who made the USA International Math Olympiad team got rejected by Harvard. However, don’t you agree that spreading yourself out to all three olympiads and achieving at least top 100 in the nation success by mid-February (hopefully continuing to do better but this will be after college decisions are sent) will strengthen your application rather than just getting top 20 in one? Also, I’m not expecting a guaranteed acceptance from Harvard and have achieved about 90% of these goals already. However, I’m just asking would I be the average applicant, a competitive applicant, or a very competitive applicant for Harvard or similar schools with this kind of a resume?</p>
<p>Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound judgmental in my post - I was just trying to make sure you fully prepared for your goals. In this case, I have to say with all your stats you should have a very high chance of making it. That class rank will hurt a bit since its usually best to be at least top 10%. I hope you make it though, as you will demonstrate a lot of commitment to doing all of those competitions and ECs. Btw, what are you thinking of majoring in - I’m just curious?</p>
<p>I might be able to push my way in to top 10% but the school I’m transferring to does not accept some of my courses, otherwise I’d be top 5%. (I think I’ll be in the top 15% still.) I would like to major in physics and chemistry and want to get into an awesome MD/PhD program. I’m fully prepared for these goals (the only ones I have not achieved are the perfect ACT score, a 5 on two history AP’s, and the three science awards I mentioned above).</p>
<p>I’m not entirely sure on if it’s better to be pretty good in three Olympiads or to be top 20 in one. I figure that since top colleges like demonstrated passion and great excellence in one field that being a standout in one field would be more helpful, but I’m not entirely sure as being top 100 or so in several is very beneficial. </p>
<p>Overall though, I’d say you’re very competitive.</p>
<p>Thanks Apoc314. Could other people please take the time to also read my previous posts and opine? BTW, Apoc, I hope I am top 20 in one of these competitions, but all I’m saying is that I won’t be able to report this to colleges before they send their admissions decisions.</p>
<p>That’s pretty cool with your major. I’m probably majoring in Chemical Engineering to focus on green energy and environmentally-friendly chemicals or fuels. Well, good luck and have fun with the research and Olympiads, as they are very interesting and fun when you do love the subjects!</p>
<p>This guy is awesome ^^^. Thanks for the advice Apoc. Any other people feeling that nice today?</p>