<p>but i'd still say to support 1 mill people, and 4 mill by ur senior year is something that has to be emphasised a lot. Anyway, can you tell me the web address of ur company?</p>
<p>"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>Continue with those ECs only if you absolutely are passionate about them. They will not make you stand out in the Harvard admissions process. Why? Music, particularly classical music, is the most frequent EC listed by Harvard applicants. That's probably because there are so many Asian applicants, and studying classical music, particularly violin and piano, is something that Asian students typically do.</p>
<p>Remember, too, Harvard is where people like Yoyo Ma and Leonard Berstein went, so to stand out because of one's music, one has to be a world class musician. </p>
<p>If you happen to have an interest in some quirky subject that you haven't pursued because your parents think it's not impressive enough, that's probably what you should pursue -- passionately if you want to up your chances.</p>
<p>I am an alum interviewer for Harvard, and frequently I see Asian applicants whose ECs are classical music plus an academic team, but who really would have liked to have done a sport like football or an EC like theater. They ended up having to do the ECs that their parents forced them to do, and even if they got local or state wins, they didn't stand out in the admissions pool because so many applicants had similar achievements.</p>
<p>sentient89</p>
<p>oh, ok thanks for the explanation. I think still it shows initiative that's a little different, so it may end up being your hook. Of course like Northstarmom said I hope you are continuing with it because you enjoy it.</p>
<p>One other thing...it's good to have a first choice, and if Harvard is yours, fine, but there are great schools besides Harvard where you can get just as good an education. If only Harvard will do it then you might be setting yourself up for failure. It might help to develop a list of schools that appeal to you so you aren't fixated just on Harvard, which could be the most selective (arguably) school in the US.</p>
<p>I have several other choices:</p>
<ol>
<li>The other Ivies(Particularly Princeton/Yale/Cornell)</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Rice</li>
</ol>
<p>Yes, its ambitious, but I'm just shooting high :).</p>
<p>I feel that my grades are probably the "norm" for ivies, maybe a bit leaning towards the weak side, but I really need to work on my ECs. I'm somewhat mediocre on some of the other ECs. I'm just wondering if I should continue devote my time to this, or if I should spread out; participate in more clubs and things like that, because I don't know if this is "big" enough for me to have a chance. Thanks.</p>
<p>the thing you want to try and avoid is, as you have stated, spreading out. This will only eat up your time, and won't make you "shine" in any specific EC. Like Northstarmom stated, only continue those you have a passion in. </p>
<p>Quality before Quantity.</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>I agree. I had a 202 or 203 on the PSAT in October and then got a 1510 on the SAT in December. Honestly I think PSAT is harder...or maybe I just didn't care about it.</p>
<p>Donate money to Harvard- it'll definietley help.</p>
<p>Can you go check out my thread and give me some advice, for some reason all I'm getting is people dissing me.</p>
<p>Okay, so basically all I need to do is keep this up? Is there anything else that I can improve on that will make a significant impact on my admissions? I've heard of volunteer opportunities abroad at places like orphanages or teaching english, would this be a good choice for summer(Instead of taking summer school to push up the GPA :))?</p>
<p>Donating money would be good if I had a spare million bucks layin around :), but unfortunately I don't.</p>
<p>Okay, yeah, I just looked through my posts again, and they come off as extremely "college-oriented." Let me explain myself :), its not that I plan everything I do around what looks good on the app, I'm passionate about everything I choose to do, but I'm finding myself crammed for time lately, everything else in my life(namely my social life :)) is taking a backseat to things like track, crosscountry, piano, violin, running my hosting service, etc... And I don't know if I should consider dropping some of these things and going for other things considering I won't get to a professional level with them even if I were to devote 6 hours a day to them.</p>
<p>Any last tips?(shameless self bumping :))</p>
<p>You're fine. Any 15/16 year old that can excel in AP classes is great. BTW your high school is amazing... Dont take this personally but I can't seem to understand how you are taking so many AP classes sophmore year. I think this is just a difference in our school systems but Im very curious. Please tell me a little more about how you came about it. As far as ur GPA its solid and I would try to get it around 4 just because that 4 looks better than that 3 obviously not matter if it is a 3.9 or 4.0. Good luck!!!</p>
<p>Thanks, actually I only took 2 AP this year, but our school also offers AP level honors courses so I took those as well, I just took the highest courses that were available, in addition to that I also took courses during the summer. I'm nervous about my GPA because I think that it may drop as low as 3.6 after this year, in that case I would only be able to raise it to something like 3.8. I don't think I'm really excelling in AP classes at the moment, I have B's :(.</p>
<p>Sentient-</p>
<p>You're still a sophomore, a few B's in AP will not negatively affect you..it'll show that you are actually attempting the class, still pulling off an A, which is G.R.E.A.T!</p>
<p>Don't stress too much, or it'll start to show on your performance. (I'm not joking)</p>
<p>Thanks for filling me in. I think my system just doesnt want to overdo it so they dont offer AP classes that often. A 3.8 is very good if you can maintain that. Your work ethic is shown by the the difficulty of your classes. Just remember one thing, not going to harvard is not the end of the world. Consider other schools as well.</p>
<p>Hmm... okay, so sounds like I should just stick to what I'm doing right now and see how it goes?</p>
<p>i just got this feeling that you are running this web-site to impress college admission people. I mean... you have to do something you like to do.you shouldn't do the stuff because you want to impress others.. College isn't everything.. If the thing that motivated you in the first place to make this web-site was to get into Harvard, I think you are missing some major point of your life.</p>
<p>rinysline I agree with you when you said that college isn't everything, but lets not make any assumptions like that. He could have done it out of passion, you'd never know.</p>
<p>And sentient, rinysline has made a good point, don't make harvard you're goal in life. I know some of my friends, and I know that just because I'm telling you this you're not really going to change. But, their disappointments were huge. And these are girls who had SAT of 1590 and SAT II scores all above 780+, but they were the typical asians, good at math (almost USAMO) good at science, and good at piano and violin. One even had 600+ hours of community service and founded our schools magazine, but I DON'T know WHY she was deffered--->rejected. </p>
<p>Just keep going the path you're on, its a good path, it'll take you somewhere good in the end, eventhough it might not be harvard.</p>
<p>"i just got this feeling that you are running this web-site to impress college admission people. I mean... you have to do something you like to do.you shouldn't do the stuff because you want to impress others.. College isn't everything.. If the thing that motivated you in the first place to make this web-site was to get into Harvard, I think you are missing some major point of your life."</p>
<p>No, initially this website was just a hobby, I started the idea before I even considered college. I've always been interested in computers. I started working on websites back in 1997, when I was 8, so websites are definitely a big part of my life. </p>
<p>It has been a big part of my life, but with a little bit of time every day, its a little hobby but a big part of me(I guess thats a paradox :)). The net has always been a little hobby for me, maybe 30 minute-a-day thing. Only recently has the thought crossed my mind that it could be more than just a little hobby, that it could help with my admissions/college tuition (1000$ a month is a good chunk of my tuition). Now its starting to grow so big that I may have to pool in additional investment in both money and time, which is going to take a toll on my grades, traditionally grades have always come first for me, they are an absolute must, now I'm rethinking whether or not I should devote equal time to my schoolwork and this. </p>
<p>I've only recently started thinking about college and Harvard just popped up because many of my friends have gone there, not to mention it is an extremely prestigious school with an extremely nice environment (I visited it as a kid and have liked it since :)).</p>
<p>I understand where you guys are coming from, getting into harvard is definitely NOT my goal in life :), but currently I find that it gives a bit of motivation to try to get in. In fact, some would say getting in shouldn't matter for me, since I'm going to graduate school for sure, but I've always wanted the best, and I've gotten the best when ever I set my mind to things.</p>
<p>Okay, I really hate to go digging through threads, but I've got a new issue and don't really want to flood the board with another extra thread :). </p>
<p>Here's the situation.
I've recently found out that the scholarship for studying abroad in China is mostly a need-based thing, kind of like financial aid. The catch is... I don't think I can quite pass off as being needy, my dad makes about $100,000/yr alone. However, the tuition is a hefty $31,000 a year. My parents are refusing to pay a nickel (I wouldn't want them to pay that anyways). </p>
<p>This thing looks like it may be in limbo, although I could cut into my savings and get a job, I'm having second thoughts on whether or not this would be worth the huge price tag and the amount of academics I'd miss. If I do it I MAY end up missing AP Physics and AP Chemistry depending on how my schedule goes next year, they don't offer any APs/Sciences at this program. </p>
<p>So does anyone have any thoughts on whether or not this experience would be worth the loss of the academics/other things that I'll leave behind? Should I just bite the bullet and pray for some financial aid and pay the rest (more than likely $20,000+)?</p>
<p>edit: Btw, are ACTs required? I did pretty average/crappily on them when I took them(like a 31 or 32 I think).</p>