Hi, I am a female teenage journalist based in Southern California. I write for the LA Times, Hello Giggles, Zocalo Public Square, and several other blogs/platforms. I am also a magazine editor. I am part of a nonprofit that mentors teenage writers and also interned for them last summer. I am part of another nonprofit that empowers under privileged, first-generation students to get into college. They provide us with college application and financial aid assistance. I volunteer with them too. I was also admitted into a highly selective leadership program for minorities interested in law and politics at UCLA. Besides that, I am actively involved in my church and volunteer there a lot. I am a Posse Scholar nominee (but not seriously considering it because I want to go to Harvard). I am the President/Vice-President/Secretary of several clubs, including a club that fundraises for nonprofits, Bio Club, Earth Club, and Unity Club. I am an IB (International Diploma) Candidate and have taken a couple of AP classes as well. I did a year of Varsity Golf and and took a class at my local community college on top of that. I am also involved with my district’s theatre department, taking an active leadership role and volunteering with the middle school. The only problem with my application is that I wasn’t academically driven my freshman year. Because of this, my unweighted GPA is 3.7 (weighted is 4.2) and my SAT score is an 1800 (I don’t have time to take it again). I know Harvard wants students who have shown they excel in a specific category, and mine is English. I am a paid and published writer, I tutor in English, and I take the most rigorous classes at my school, including IB English. So, my question is, could I get into Harvard EARLY DECISION (the acceptance rates are higher for ED) even after my bad score and GPA?
We’ve had 9 kids accepted to Harvard from my kids’ high school in the past 10 years and the lowest score accepted in that time frame was actually an 1800. If it’s the kid I think it is, he also excelled in a specific category, and it was football.
With a 5% acceptance rate, no one has a good chance at Harvard. Wait, I take that back – an Intel Science Winner has a good chance, a recruited athlete who is nationally ranked in the top ten has a good chance, the son and daughter of Kenneth Griffin who just donated $150 million to Harvard has a good chance.
Harvard receives 35,000 applications and maybe 20% of applicant’s “have it all” – they have a top GPA, almost perfect test scores, interesting EC’s, stellar teacher rec’s, a wonderful guidance report, thought provoking essays and a good interview report. However, out of those 7,000 students who “have it all,” Harvard only has room for 1660 of them. That means that most kids who “have it all” are rejected.
For an unhooked applicant who doesn’t have it all – someone with an 1800 SAT, for example, who is not a recruited athlete – the odds are stacked against you. If you are not a recruited athlete, my best guess is that if you apply SCEA with an 1800 SAT, there is almost a 99.9% chance you will be deferred or rejected because Admissions is going to question if you can do the work on their campus. . Harvard has said they don’t take any student in the early round that they wouldn’t take in the RD round. That’s Admissions-speak for “We take the best-of-the-best in the early round.”
^^^Agreed. I don’t want to mislead the OP. The kid I’m talking about, was an exceptional athlete, and reportedly, there was a LOT of ‘groundwork’ done to place him at Harvard.
A comparable situation for a writer might be having an influential Harvard professor(s} PLEADING with Admissions to consider him/her because of the promise of his/her talent.
I hope you won’t table any plans such as the Posse Scholarship on account of Harvard.
Best of Luck!
Our high school has sent some recruited athletes to Harvard with similar SAT scores, but not otherwise. An 1800 makes it very unlikely.
teenwriter98: Please, please take your Posse Scholar nomination seriously.
Here’s the thing: You are clearly a winner, someone with a lot of energy, ambition, and documented achievement. You have unlimited potential. I suspect college admissions staff would be more than happy to disregard whatever bad effect your 9th grade grades have on your cumulative GPA. Some colleges don’t even include 9th grade grades in assessing GPA. Furthermore, an 1800 SAT is fine, well above average for college-bound students, and perfectly consistent with your achievements.
But.
An 1800 SAT is really marginal for Harvard. That’s not in the zone of it-doesn’t-make-a-difference. It does make a difference. It doesn’t mean at all that you couldn’t succeed brilliantly at Harvard, but it does probably mean that there are issues in your academic preparation compared to almost every other student at Harvard, and you might well need additional support between here and your ultimate success. And Harvard isn’t known for its great support; it’s a place where kids are thrown into a giant pool with the expectation either that they already know how to swim or they’ll figure it out fast enough before they drown.
The Posse program exists to make certain students like you get the support they need to accomplish their goals and to translate their success in one sphere into success in a much broader sphere. You could probably use that support. You, especially, could probably use that support, because your potential is so great.
Harvard is NOT so much better than places where you might go under the auspices of the Posse program that you should give up the benefits of that program to get what Harvard offers. Kids on CC have a completely distorted idea of the differences among top colleges, and they don’t understand that there are dozens, maybe even hundreds of colleges that can give any particular individual everything that Harvard could. And that assumes that you actually have a choice. In reality, Harvard is, at best, a lottery ticket possibility. Don’t waste something that could be really valuable to you in order to play a lottery that’s not even worth winning compared to what you gave up to play.
@JHS - fantastic answer. @teenwriter98 - listen to JHS, and best of luck! Don’t hesitate to ask more questions in these forums.
For others, here is list of Posse schools. http://www.possefoundation.org/our-university-partners/participating-schools/ There are a lot of great schools on there. (Davidson is a personal favorite.)
I think you would have a chance at Harvard, if you just got that SAT up a little more. Even with the 1800 it would be worth applying. Admissions there is holistic and your overall picture is interesting enough to get a look (and I know some students there with similar backgrounds). You have a shot, no doubt, but don’t get fixated on it, because it is always a crap shoot. Make sure you have other schools you like.
The Posse site indicates full tuition scholarships, but is room and board covered as well? If you are nominated, does that mean you are already part of a Posse or does something else have to happen.
If you do Posse, is it then not allowed to apply to schools that are not Partners? I am assuming this is the case since you become part of a team.
How do you feel about the Posse concept and the support offered?