What is required to get a Harvard LL

Athletic Recruits
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<p>^ Agreed, just getting to the level of D1 will be as difficult as getting a 4.0 GPA for the rest of the 2 years. The main reason why I wish to go to Harvard is 1, I likely will have a free ride with a financial aid package, or at least a very small number, vs 20k tuition in some random college. I also have a business executive/political career in mind, and the Harvard name brand will help me quite a bit for when I wish to get startup funding for my business enterprises, or during a campaign for POTUS. Bush had a C from Yale, so their is always hope for my aspirations. Last election had both candidates graduate from Grad School Harvard, one with a JD/MBA combo, and the other with a JD (not sure exactly on education that Obama received, may be wrong), and that name brand will help the masses to vote for me easier.</p>

<p>Right now I’m nowhere near the level, the film makes the running back job look quite easy, as the linebackers seem to be quite slower and less hard hitting that top tier D1 institutions, nevertheless it will still require me to work my tail off lifting and running for the next 2 years. Reason why GPA is so low was because of 2 D’s in an elective and core class. I will be getting a tutor who specializes in geometry, so I will be pulling that 66 up to a 80-90, and my other classes I should be getting at least a B. Not sure if the coaches give you extra weight if you take a lot of high end courses, it said so on the site that they want a very strong course load, so I took 2 AP classes in topics that I’m good in, and 2 honors in topics that I can work well as well. The teachers in the higher level classes also have much more experience etc, so I should be getting a good education that will stick and not disappear after a week or so of no testing.</p>

<p>Right now athletically stats are ehh. I only had around 6 minutes of playing time, and got around 99 rushing yards and 1 TD and 1 2PC. If I can extend that playing time, and get several TD and a few thousand yards for my 2 seasons, I should be good. I can also study REALLY hard for tests etc, and I will be set to go in. Also remember that coaches want committed athletes to their school, and fear giving LL to an athlete who may just not attend. Therefore I will let the head coach know that I am committed, and will assure him with my word and signature that I will be attending the institution. We had 2 guys go to yale, one gal go to Princeton, and one guy go to brown, so my public school is not to bad in terms of getting in. Luckily no one went to Harvard yet, got to beat that record :D.</p>

<p>Anything else that you experienced gents can tell me, I would greatly appreciate it.</p>

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<p>Paul – good advice here. If you think maximum GPA will be a 3.1 and you have a 2.6 now, I hate to break the news, but it will be very hard to be a H recruit for any sport, even if you hit the 31+ ACT. I suggest you keep other options open. Just trying to be realistic here.</p>

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<p>Here is a clip of a kid from our high school who plays at Harvard. I think he also plays Baseball for Harvard. The clip shows stats and film from his sophomore year in High School. <a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube;

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<p>^ Not at all IIIinois, remember that 3.0 max may not be 3.0, could be 3.3 etc. Weighted GPA will be much higher, however GPA only counts for 1/3 of AI, so I’m not worried to much. Also thank you for the film, it’s my aiming point right now.</p>

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<p>If you want to have a prayer of getting into an Ivy or top LAC as a scholar-athlete, you will need to get your grades up and really do well on SAT/ACT.</p>

<p>Most top LACs have football teams too. You might consider widening your net.</p>

<p>Here are the Ivy League schools:
Princeton
Yale
Harvard
Columbia
Penn
Dartmouth
Brown
Cornell</p>

<p>And here are some top LACs in the northeast:
Williams
Amherst
Bowdoin
Wesleyan
Middlebury (Michigan-style helmets)
Colby
Hamilton
Bates
Trinity
Connecticut College
Holy Cross</p>

<p>They all have varsity football and they’re all really good schools.</p>

<p>But the same rules apply to them: high GPA and test scores. At least. So if you want to get into elite non-scholarship schools, you’ll need to hit the books hard.</p>

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<p>Couple things. First, financial aid. Princeton’s aid is generally the most favorable (in our circumstances by a significant amount). Harvard/Yale were somewhat below that, then Penn, then the others. It really doesn’t matter much for a recruited football player though. Every Ivy will match financial aid from other Ivys who are actively recruiting you, so that should not be a determining factor.</p>

<p>Second, using your prestige criteria, you should be targeting Yale, since in the last head to head Presidential match up between H and Y, the Yalie won, even though he was a “dunce” and the Eli invented the internet and was the subject of Love Story. For business, maybe Penn is the right school, home of the mighty Wharton. Or maybe Dartmouth, which I believe has more CEOs per capita than any of the others. The point is that any of the Ivys (or a number of other schools) will allow you to reach as high as your talents and will permit. Don’t focus on a school just because to your mind it is more prestigious than another. Especially at the very tip top.</p>

<p>Third, understand what you are watching on film. The reason the linebackers look slow and not “hard hitting” has a lot to do with the relative speed of the other players and, believe it or not, the camera angles used. ESPN, NBC et al don’t take dozens of HD cameras to big time games for fun. They do it so they can capture angles of view which best show the violence and athleticism of the game. In contrast what you are seeing on youtube is a couple field level cameras. Big difference. Of course, Harvard/Yale is not Alabama/Auburn but it also is very different from High School. Trust me when I tell you that the college game at that level is very fast, and very physical.</p>

<p>Fourth, I don’t think you understand how the likely letter process works. I would never tell a coach I was applying EA without his commitment to seek a Likely Letter. Once you commit to EA, you are effectively locked. Why then would Harvard go out of its way for you? The way it works is in the course of time, you will have a number of conversations with your recruiting coach, the position coach and the head coach. If they like you, they will ask for an admissions pre read, and if that comes back positive, and you fit into their plans, the coach will hopefully tell you that he will seek a likely letter on your behalf if you agree to commit to the program. At that point, you apply.</p>

<p>Lastly, academics. The biggest difference in my son’s experience between the “Big Three” and the other Ivys was that Princeton and Yale (he was not really recruited by Harvard until recently) focused on the fact that he took the most difficult curriculum available to him. The others seemed to care most about where his raw numbers were. Yale and Princeton kind of assumed his numbers would be over the top, and liked the fact that he not only excelled but did it at the highest level available to him. HYP are going to expect you to take a number of AP classes, and achieve a lot more As than Bs in those courses. Not to be a kill joy, but I would bet quite a bit that there are very few Ds on transcripts anywhere in the Ivy League. Not saying that your freshman grades will kill you, but realize your margin for error is gone, and especially at HYP, be prepared to explain your performance last year.</p>

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<p>^^^^</p>

<p>Yep. You need to start being (at least) a 3.75 unweighted student: 3 As for every B.</p>

<p>If that means you have to do a little extra work – an extra paper or additional homework – to turn a B into an A- or an A- into an A, so be it. This is your lot now, academically, if you really want to go to an elite private school.</p>

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<p>Paul, were you not starting on the JV team last year? Have you spoken to your coach about playing for a D1 school? Does your high school normally develop D1 prospects? Do you have extraordinary natural speed?</p>

<p>Our school turns out maybe one D1 prospect per class. That player is typically integrated into the varsity squad freshmen year - starting on special teams and gaining additional responsibilities as the year progresses. By sophomore year that player is starting on both sides of the ball and having a huge impact. </p>

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<p>Not to be facetious but have you considered Harvard Extension?</p>

<p><a href=“Undergraduate Degree and Certificates | Harvard Extension School”>http://www.extension.harvard.edu/degrees-programs/undergraduate-degree&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I’m guessing Paul’s moved on to bigger and better dreams than Harvard and Ivy League football. Perhaps the White House or the NFL. :slight_smile: </p>

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<p>Paul, it’s great to have goals, dreams, but it is also good to have a backup plan.
What is your list of 20 other schools?</p>

<hr>

<p>Yes, Bush was not a great student either as you surmised and yet was at Yale.</p>

<p>But…</p>

<p>1) George W. attended a very well regarded private high school, Phillips Academy in Andover
( a school that sends a ton of kids to HYP every year)<br>
2) His dad, George H.W. Bush was a pretty well connected guy.
3) His father, George H.W. and his grandfather both attended Yale.</p>

<p>1) So, first, colleges will be scrutinizing your high school.<br>
Is it KNOWN AS A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE SCHOOL? That is important.
Look up it’s ranking.</p>

<p>2) Second, is your dad a well connected guy?</p>

<p>3) Did your father and grandfather both go to Harvard?</p>

<p>So, using Bush as an example to explain a current 2.6 average is not helpful, and quite frankly a little delusional.</p>

<p>Ok, you are an URM, but that really helps the brilliant kids more than the athletes.
Athletic teams don’t say we need more minorities, they say we need great athletes.</p>

<hr>

<p>“Also remember that coaches want committed athletes to their school, and fear giving LL to an athlete who may just not attend. Therefore I will let the head coach know that I am committed, and will assure him with my word and signature that I will be attending the institution.”
“My final card is that I’m going to apply as soon as I’m able (early September), and will tell the coach that I’m down for verbal contract and LL letter, so that I can get a LL before they are all gobbled up, as I’m committed to this particular school.”</p>

<p>Just because you promise the Harvard coach that you will attend if he gives you the LL isn’t how it works.</p>

<hr>

<p>“Coach likes me enough that I will likely start JV, so I will have a lot more playing time. Uniforms are the same in JV/Varsity, and technically all of us are on varsity so it will be a mix.”</p>

<p>“Right now athletically stats are ehh. I only had around 6 minutes of playing time, and got around 99 rushing yards and 1 TD and 1 2PC. If I can extend that playing time, and get several TD and a few thousand yards for my 2 seasons, I should be good.”</p>

<h2>Well, as not to be super critical, let me just say that I think Harvard might want to see you on the varsity team soon.</h2>

<p>“Reason why GPA is so low was because of 2 D’s”</p>

<p>But, I will ask you this question, if you are getting a 2.6 currently with 2 D’s,
how do you expect to compete in college with kids that have 4.0 averages? </p>

<hr>

<p>“GPA is 2.6, likely won’t go up much more maybe 3.1 by junior year (taking Honors/AP, because Harvard says they prefer strong curriculum. Intelligence is quite high, so likely will do very well on ACT test and SAT 2 subject tests.”</p>

<h2>“intelligence is quite high” - You are arrogant enough to be at Harvard, so that might be a plus.</h2>

<p>“I don’t want coach to say, we will take you as walk on, as I want that LL security, so I ask of you what is required so that I can get one.”</p>

<p>There is no sure thing that anyone on this board can tell you that will guarantee “LL security”.</p>

<p>Best of luck,
Charles</p>

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<p>1) Can you retake your D classes and get credit for them, in the summer or online?
2) To respond to Ohiodad51 and give the OP an idea, the one student I know of at a non-HYP Ivy who had a D (per his parents) ended up transferring to a big state university (not his state, but top ten D1 in the sport) after freshman year. And he was playing a LOT for the Ivy.</p>

<p>My son got a D in a course and retook it and got a B. If you are really reaching high, drop ECs and retake your D courses.</p>

<p>And figure out why you got those Ds. My son had a concussion which messed up some of his school work mid-year and could not catch up. He was recovered completely when he made up the course, plus it was more flexible than the school year course.</p>