What are my chances at Harvard/how to improve them

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello,
I'm currently an Asian sophomore attending a decent high school in the Midwest (actually Kansas :) ). I'm curious what my chances are at getting into Harvard. It's always been a dream of mine to get in to it, and I'd like to know if I have any chance at it, I guess its not too late to cram if I'm a bit short of the mark right now :). Currently:</p>

<p>1) I have a 4.7 weighted GPA, and a 3.8 Unweighted GPA(I took a heavy AP load this year, and my GPA is suffering). This is a major concern of mine as statistically the average GPA of students admitted to Harvard is 3.9, I believe.</p>

<p>2) I play the violin and piano, but I haven't really made extremely prestigious orchestras, or won any competitions, so I don't know how this will help me.</p>

<p>3) I teach chinese, and volunteer during my spare time. I have contacted the principal at my local elementary school about starting a "Chinese Language Club." I've also started a running club at my local middle school.</p>

<p>4) I scored a 202 on my PSATs this year, but I expect to make at least 220 next year, if not 230 (I forgot about them until the day of the test, and I didn't study at all.). I got a 1400 on a practice SAT I took. I expect something in the range of 1450-1550 when I take it senior year.</p>

<p>5) I expect to study abroad in China on a scholarship during my senior year, I don't know how this will effect my early action, because of the interview, but I'm sure I could have everything in by the deadline from China. Due to this, I may not be able to take AP Physics and AP Chemistry. Is this worth it?</p>

<p>6) Last year I took on a project to make a free web page hosting service, as of right now the service (or business if you will :) ) boosts over 1,000,000 clients and is a multi-national service with a whopping 100 employees in 5 countries :). However, I expect to reach at least 4,000,000 clients, 20 countries, and 500 employees by the time I apply for college. I expect this will be the biggest free host on the internet, outranking both geocities and lycos, who are both in at a constant decline (hopefully google won't join the market :) ). Anyways, my question is, will this look good on an application? </p>

<p>I've dumped the majority of my hope on the last 2 points I had above there, I'm banking on the fact that the year of study abroad will look very nice on the app, and the 4,000,000 clients will look nice as well. My question, am I pursuing the correct route, or should I try to spike my academics instead of my ECs? </p>

<p>Is there anything that I should improve on/work on in particular? My GPA is pretty shabby, but I think I may be able to bring it up to a 3.9 by senior year, and my rank is 15 out of 450, but I expect for it to go up to top 10 by senior year.</p>

2

<p>Anyone? :)</p>

3

<p>Take the SAT in your junior, not senior, year.</p>

<p>You are definitely on your way, but it's really too early to tell. Just keep working hard, and if you want to go badly enough, you probably will. Good luck.</p>

4

<p>Keep it up and you are in...</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
2) I play the violin and piano, but I haven't really made extremely prestigious orchestras, or won any competitions, so I don't know how this will help me.</p>

<p>3) I teach chinese, and volunteer during my spare time. I have contacted the principal at my local elementary school about starting a "Chinese Language Club." I've also started a running club at my local middle school.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I can't say that I'm all impressed with these two points. I would definitely try to find another extracurricular that you really like. This will add more passion and depth to your application, and it will give your guidance counselor something unusual to write about. </p>

<p>
[quote]
4) I scored a 202 on my PSATs this year, but I expect to make at least 220 next year, if not 230 (I forgot about them until the day of the test, and I didn't study at all.). I got a 1400 on a practice SAT I took. I expect something in the range of 1450-1550 when I take it senior year.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Many people might say "no way, you can't do that", but I think it's possible. For instance, I started with a 200 on my PSATs soph year, and I recieved a 227 junior year. I also ended with a 1550 on my SAT I's. It's not uncommon, but you definitely need to work hard and give that area significant attention.</p>

<p>The scholarship opportunity in China is very nice. But the best thing of all is your business. If that can be corroborated, that would look extremely impressive. What is the name of your company? It shows incredible initiative, and that you have an ability to really make an impact.</p>

<p>I think if you work at it, you'd have good chances for Harvard. Almost no one can say that they would probably be admitted, but I think you could be a very viable candidate. And for Harvard, it's very tough to even get to the viable stage. Keep up the good work.</p>

<p>Joey</p>

6

<p>Dude I'm a musician too, I heard Cornell is the musical ivy league. I'll talk to my guitar teacher, he got into Harvard, Princeton, and Yale.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for replying everyone :). </p>

<p>A major concern of mine is my grades, just about everyone that I've talked to has stressed the importance of making yourself unique, standing out from the crowd. I've done this already, but I think its taken a toll on my GPA, last semester I got B's in all 5 of my AP classes, and this semester it doesn't look too much better, I completely overloaded my schedule with too much AP courses, however, next year will be easier no doubt, and I will work harder, is the damage already too much? </p>

<p>I calculated my GPA to be about 3.8, maybe 3.7, I forget :), but that's only with the last semester, it may go down even lower after this current semester. I've taken about 4/5 extra classes before highschool, so I have some padding, but will the 5 B's be a major factor here? I'm confident that I can keep straight A's but I calculated that I will have about 35 classes of credit by the end of highschool, 5 of those are B's, is that gonna be a big sore spot? My GPA will be fine, as will my class rank, but the B's are just... well... BAD :).</p>

<p>About the company, right now I'd prefer not to disclose its name as word may get out that a 16 year old is running the company, and some of my clients may have some qualms about entrusting their data with a 16 year old(Technically minors cannot be sued/held liable for damages :). E.g. Server crashes or something like that). </p>

<p>I'm considering Cornell too, I really like music, but its just not my area of expertise :(. I've done well in some competitions, but nothing major. No matter how much I practice it just doesn't come :(.</p>

<p>Also, about the PSATs, how would I raise them? I scored a near perfect on the math, but I bombed the reading, writing was pretty decent too. Should I just read more?</p>

8

<p>Great chances, you're a really strong, strong applicant!</p>

<p>The china scholarship sounds awesome. Also if your company works, that will be very impressive, as jprencipe stated.</p>

<p>And yes, take the SAT junior year, don't risk it by waiting until senior year.
About your reading scores, yes read more, mostly newspapers, sci-magazines, with some extent of vocabulary. Don't go picking up picture books, :)</p>

<p>All I can say is WOW, you sophomores are going to have an EXTREMELY competitive year. Good Luck!</p>

<p>P.S. post your classes up, if you can.</p>

9

<p>Thanks :). I don't know if my academics are that up to par compared to my classmates :(. Our class is extremely competitive we have someone who finished calc before entering highschool, and someone who took precalc as a freshmen, there are others who are ahead in science and math as well.</p>

<p>This year I'm taking:</p>

<p>AP European History
AP Biology
English H
Physics H
Precalculus H
Orchestra
Chemistry (No honors chem at our school :()</p>

<p>Next year I plan on taking something like:</p>

<p>Physics 2 AP
Chem 2 AP
Psych AP
English AP
US Hist AP
Orchestra/AP Calc BC
Chinese 7H (maybe 8H as well) </p>

<p>The schedule seems a bit wimpy, compared to the schedules of some of my peers (some are doing basically this schedule this current year), and orchestra will drop my GPA like a rock, but its basically all I could cram in.</p>

10

<p>Yes, you are VERY strong, except the EC's. If your into sports, play a recreational team sport...it'll make you 'well rounded'. If not, just try to join a club or run for student council. It'll make you look even BETTER! I wouldn't be too concerned with your GPA...I think its really great actually. G'luck.</p>

11

<p>Yeah, I run cross country and track, but I'm not varsity, C team on cross country and JV on track(There is no C on track lol). I do chess club and Science Knowledge Bowl, I also did Model UN last year. I'm running for orchestra vice president this year. I may do debate/forensics next year.</p>

<p>But I'm not really "outstanding" in any of these activities :(.</p>

<p>Btw, anyone have any more suggestions? I'm still kinda skittish about this, I really want to get in. I want to get into an Ivy/Stanford at least :).</p>

12

<p>You have a really good chance. jprencipe and Tami have good tips. It's gonna be very competitive for sophomores unfortunately :(</p>

13

<p>sentient89</p>

<p>Congrats on everything you've done so far.</p>

<p>I'm a (small) business owner and your involvement in this company you talk about brings up a lot of questions in my mind, maybe just the pessimist in me. </p>

<p>Here's the problem-you talk about "running" (your word) a company that has a million clients (you call them "my clients" not OUR clients). Then you volunteer in your spare time??? And still have time to take 5 APs next year?? What do you eat for breakfast?</p>

<p>When you apply to your colleges they will at the minimum ask you how many hours a week you spend on each activity. What will you say? That you spend 20 hours a week to "run" a company that big? </p>

<p>Just sounds like you helped initiate this huge endeavor and are running it. If that were the case, why would you even need college? And I think Wharton and Harvard would be beating down your door.</p>

<p>Please don't think I'm doubting you or being disrespectful, but if I am wondering these things then I think college admissions people would too.</p>

14

<p>hmmm...i dont get what kind of company it is.. can u plz explain a little???</p>

15

<p>LOL...EVERYONE runs cross-country and track. They think that the no-tryout, no-cuts "sport" will make adcoms like them. Dude, its okay to be the un-athletic person you are and study instead of running 10-minute miles.</p>

<p>BTW, you're a SOPHMORE, get a gf and go to homecoming or something. Don't sweat Harvard. It will give you a better chance. Trust me.</p>

16

<p>About the whole psat score thing, I can promise you that you can increase easily from 202-220. In sophmor year I got a 171, but this year i got a 213--thats more than 40 points. However, I consistantly studied 7-8 hours a day; I was home schooled to make time for my PSAT preperation.</p>

17

<p>The company offers free website hosting for personal and business websites.</p>

<p>I run cross country and track mostly to stay in shape, its like a hobby I guess, I run a 5:30-5:10 mile, but apparently thats still top of C-Team material at our school. JV/Varsity is freakin crazy at our school. </p>

<p>I've been studying for the PSATs by taking practice SATs/Reading alot, so I'm hoping I'll at least make NM Semi Finalist. </p>

<p>This sounds strange, but does anyone have any criticism or anything? I'm really jangled(word?) by the lack of criticism, I know I can still improve my chances, but I need to know my weaknesses, should I go volunteer abroad or something? I need something to stand out even more, like finding a cure for cancer or something :). Yea, I guess I have the "Harvard or bust" mentality.</p>

18

<p>I started my own business this year, with investments now touching 100K. Its on a much smaller scale. I would also like to know the name of this famous company...that supports 1 million customers. That is a massive business, and that itself will get u into HYP easily. Mine is just a hook, nothing super massive as urs with a 1 million base, so i am hoping it gives me an edge in my app. my site is <a href="http://www.strikegold.tk%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.strikegold.tk&lt;/a> , its a stock broking company.</p>

19

<p>"sentient89</p>

<p>Congrats on everything you've done so far.</p>

<p>I'm a (small) business owner and your involvement in this company you talk about brings up a lot of questions in my mind, maybe just the pessimist in me.</p>

<p>Here's the problem-you talk about "running" (your word) a company that has a million clients (you call them "my clients" not OUR clients). Then you volunteer in your spare time??? And still have time to take 5 APs next year?? What do you eat for breakfast?</p>

<p>When you apply to your colleges they will at the minimum ask you how many hours a week you spend on each activity. What will you say? That you spend 20 hours a week to "run" a company that big?</p>

<p>Just sounds like you helped initiate this huge endeavor and are running it. If that were the case, why would you even need college? And I think Wharton and Harvard would be beating down your door.</p>

<p>Please don't think I'm doubting you or being disrespectful, but if I am wondering these things then I think college admissions people would too."</p>

<p>I understand where you're coming from, I really don't know how I fit these things in either lol. Most of the time I end up staying up very late working on homework. I have a very disciplined time table that I stick to, generally I will not give myself very much free time during the day time, any time I have to browse the internet is after 10:00PM. </p>

<p>My company is just like a job that others my age have, I spend somewhere close to 20 hours a week on it, but its mostly on the weekends. The initial set up of the company took a long time, including the set up of the servers custom script writing. There is not that much management required for it at the moment, most of the things are automated, I can rent new servers as necessary. I have several people who check for spam and illegal activity, and lots of part time/consultants. </p>

<p>I'm not in this for that much of a profit, this is not a multi-milllion dollar company, no where close, I'm lucky to make a thousand dollars a month. Some months I end up paying out of my own pocket. I'm hoping what will appeal to colleges is the largeness of this company. I don't call it "our company" because there is no "our," its me and only me, thats why I am so proud of it. That being said, I explained that the company offers FREE hosting, which is why it has garnered such a large number of clients, I make money off advertisements. </p>

<p>My grades are suffering at the moment, I have B's for basically the first time in my life, this is why I'm questioning whether I should be devoting some much time to this operation. Again, about the volunteering, a time table does wonders :).</p>

<p>I need college because I need something to fall back on. You have my priorities reversed :), I am in need of college, not in need of money or a business. I can also do this later, but my education is priceless.</p>

<p>That being said... that is why I'm worried about my chances, if this were a multi-million dollar .com site like Yahoo or Google, I would have absolutely no qualms about my admissions. But this site is nothing close to that scale, it has 1 million "clients," but none are paid. I really do not exchange that much money in this deal, I've seen ebay sellers who go through more money than me with 100x less clients lol.</p>

<p>You guys are giving too much weight to the 1 million clients, they don't really generate that much profit for me at all, sometimes they even cost me money.</p>

20

<p>hey im curious.....what's your varsity team mile times on average? i have a 4.50 mile and i am so im wondering how good that would be.</p>