Ok so my situation is complicated because I’ve received a couple of D’s but made them up. My overalls unweighted gpa is a 3.73 while my weighted is a 4.23. My sat score is a 1580/1600. My gpa is pretty low to get into Harvard but I’ve had many circumstances throughout my life. I’ve been homeless, molested, had an alcoholic father, in and out of court, and much more. If I write about my situation into my essay what are my chances of getting accepted?
I don’t think your GPA will hold your application back at all because as you’ve explained you had very different circumstance to others and still come out with a very good result (and your SAT score is amazing). Get your GC to explain the circumstances and if they’re relevant to an essay, talk about them, but don’t make your whole application about them - talk about yourself and what you love and what excites you. Please don’t let your applicant be about explaining a couple of bad grades as a result of diffiult times, but showcasing what you’re capable of and what you’re like as a person.
Nobody can predict who Harvard will and won’t admit, but I would definitely apply if I were you. If you were to be rejected I highly highly doubt it would be because of your GPA. Best of luck.
your sat score removes doubt about intellect
Sorry about your situation.
Unfortunately, in the past, some students have told falsehoods, exaggerations, and alternate facts trying to gain an upper hand in the college admissions process. So Admissions Offices – not just at Harvard, but all colleges really – look for an adult in a supervisory capacity (teacher, principal, guidance counselor) to confirm the details of a student battling hardships and overcoming adversity. So while you can certainly write about your situation in an essay, your teachers and guidance will have to back you up in their letters of recommendation and literally become your advocate.
Harvard is on record as saying 80% of applicants could do the work on their campus and fully 40% of applicants are very competitive, meaning they have top ACT/SAT scores and a competitive GPA. (According to Harvard’s Common Data Set, 87.4% of admitted students to Harvard have a GPA of 3.75 or better, so you fall in that competitive category: http://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2014-15.pdf.) Doing the math: 35,000 applications X-.40 = 14,000 very competitive applications. So,14,000 other applicants will also be as competitive as you.
The difficult reality is that Harvard only has enough beds for 1660 students, so they receive many more qualified applications than they have seats in their freshman class, Admissions uses a student’s teacher recommendations, guidance counselor’s Secondary School Report (SSR), essays and interview report to choose one high performing student over another. They look for wonderful scholars of “good character” – that’s an old fashioned word meaning the way you develop your inner qualities, intellectual passion, maturity, social conscience, concern for community, tolerance, inclusiveness and love of learning.
A great essay can certainly help your chances, but it’s a fool’s errand trying to predict a student’s chances when any college has a single-digit acceptance rate.
Best of luck to you!
I hate to say it, but if you did badly because of difficult circumstances, you should know that there are students who also had difficult circumstances and did not do badly. I don’t mean to be unkind.
Have those grades been replaced? Are they still on the transcript?
It would seem you lacked anyone to advocate for you during those difficult times. You should have been able to get some sort of accommodations and help.
I would go ahead and apply. You have the ability and you just never know. Maybe write your essay about something else and do a matter of fact account of your history in the supplemental essay that asks if there is anything else you would like them to know about you.
ps Of course there have been newspaper articles about formerly homeless students getting into Harvard. I would not want that kind of publicity but the Globe seems to like that type of thing.
@compmom Yours is the kind of post that gives CC a bad name. OP “did not do badly” by any measure whatsoever.
The OP “did badly” in a couple of classes and got D’s. I asked if these grades had been replaced. Many students think that a sad story will help them gain admission, and often that is just not true. “Overcoming obstacles” is certainly relevant.
And for the sake of others, it is important to note that accommodations should be requested during times of difficulty such as those experienced by the original poster.
I have been on this forum for 10 years and if you read my posts you will see that you are misreading my intentions. You have 7 posts. Don’t judge until you have been around awhile.
There can be circumstances in an individual’s life in which getting two “D’s” (the horror) is (as it should) far and away the least of anyone’s worries, more so when that anyone is a kid. These are some extremely serious issues OP is bringing forth here, do you realize maybe OP was not ready to come forward in real flesh at the time and maybe is still not ready to do so?.
In terms of practicality, from what I read (and I admit I am NOT an expert here) “overcoming obstacles” is not the same as overcoming major adversity and the second can be considered more of a plus than say sweeping those couple D’s under the rug. BTW, I wholeheartedly agree with all other poster opinions (the ones previous to yours) but forgot to weigh them by post count 
There is nothing “horrible” about having D’s. You are bringing your own prejudices to this thread.
Harvard does look at grades of course. I have no idea if having D’s that are still on the transcript (and it is unclear if they are) or in the GPA would affect admission. Honestly, it is the OP who cares about this, not me- the OP posed the question.
It is also the OP who cares about attending Harvard. Many of us tend to question almost everyone who “dreams” of going to Harvard. If life is tough, and work suffers, maybe a different school would be better anyway. People on this forum who have been around awhile always tend to ask, “Why Harvard?”
I know people (well) who have gone through incredible hardships and don’t even mention it on their application. Using adversity in order to try to get into a school seems misguided to me, and I wanted to say that up front.
I certainly hope the OP gets in to whatever school makes him or her happy, without having to divulge too much private information. I stand by my opinion that the information on specific hardships can go into a supplementary essay leaving the main essay for something else.
I won’t post again. Don’t want the moderator to caution us.
This is a matter of context. The OP should by all means apply. They should know though with a school that accepts less than 6 percent of applicants and has some where in the neighborhood of 40,000 students applying that they are competing with many amazing kids who have dealt with significant adversity and whose work didn’t falter.
A compelling essay about their experiencs and recommdation letters that include some commentary about the hardships would be advised. Also your standardized test scores being exceptional would really aid your cause.
Super Selective schools are a long shot for all but very few in the applicant pool, it is really important to never lose sight of that fact.
Always go for it but have solid back up plans. Best Wishes!