<p>im a freshmen in high school this year and im wondering what i should do in order to be able to attend a top college. I want to go to Harvard and get a M.B.A. Currently my only special talents are math and law. I take AP Calc next year and we are expected to win the Mock Trials competation in the state this year.</p>
<p>AP Calc as a sophomore? Damn, i wish i could say that for me.</p>
<p>Get good grades, do good ECs, maybe take some summer math programs or courses like the ones at Stanford (for some reason the name is escaping me right now.)</p>
<p>Good luck, top schools are hard, even if you're perfect =/.</p>
<p>Spend your summers wisely. </p>
<p>Ooh...and figure out how to write an award winning essay. That'll help you a lot when you write your admissions essay.</p>
<p>^^ Yes! Take really good writing classes in school.</p>
<p>Oh this is what I was thinking of, check it out it might be helpful for you Education</a> Program for Gifted Youth.</p>
<p>Realize right now that it probably won't happen.</p>
<p>I'm not saying it won't...I'm saying that it's unlikely.</p>
<p>As romanigypsyeyes said, top schools are hard, even to the students who seem perfect. Harvard's admission rate is less than 15% (anyone know the exact number?), so basically one out of approximately 6.5 people gets in.</p>
<p>Probably the worst thing you can do is to assure yourself you're going to get in, because once you do either that admission letter comes and you're floating and perhaps overly-confident and set up for failure later (pride comes before a fall and all that) or that dreaded rejection letter comes and you're completely crushed and don't even want to consider any other schools (Gilmore Girls provides a good example when Paris doesn't get in to Harvard...I know it's a TV show, but I actually felt that part was rather realistic).</p>
<p>Also, realize how many other things your acceptance is contingent upon aside from your grades/classes. You need excellent SATs and ACTs, an amazing essay, outstanding ECs, and a knockout interview. AND I'm almost certain I'm leaving something out. No human being can do ALL of that.</p>
<p>Anyway. I'm not saying you won't get in or not to try...in fact you're already doing astonishingly well by thinking about this your freshman year (a lot of kids don't even bother thinking about college until junior year or so) and by taking such wonderful courses (pah...my sophomore year I took geometry XD). All I'm saying is that you need to be realistic. Don't tell yourself, "I'm definitely getting in." Tell yourself, "I'll be happy whether or not I get in."</p>
<p>Yale 8.64%
Harvard 9.27%
Columbia College 9.64%
Princeton 10.2%
Stanford 10.88%
Columbia (overall) 11.42%
MIT 12.96%
Brown 13.79%
Dartmouth 15.43%
Penn 17.69%
Duke 19.52%
Columbia SEAS 22.74%
Cornell 24.65%
Northwestern 28.23%
UVA 35.87%</p>
<p>My college is going down :[, that's bad for me.</p>
<p>^Very useful. :) Thanks!</p>
<p>To "make sure" you get into Harvard, its come to the point where you almost need to publish a novel, create a welfare program of some kind (such as sending thank you cards to almost every fire station or police station in the country) etc etc. I know that sounds ridiculous, but a lot of the kids who get into the top schools go above and beyond. I know a kid who was initially deferred at Harvard, he skipped one grade, started a year early (so he should have been about to be a junior, but he ended up graduating that year), he went to an international school, had fantastic grades, top notch ACT, SAT, and AP test scores, some of the best EC's you can think of etc etc...and he got deferred.</p>
<p>You need to do something to truly put yourself above everyone else. And it may need to be big.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>You have special talents in law???!?!! OMG YOU'RE IN HARVARD ALREADY. Just skip the next 3 years of high school. I bet Harvard's never gotten an applicant with a "talent in law." In fact, I'm not even sure I know what that means, it's so amazing.</p>
<p>Use spell check on your application...competition spelled wrong.</p>
<p>talent in law refers to that I'm a lawyer on my school's Mock Trials team. We only got 3rd in the state last year lol XD. well.... the only reason was that one of our lawyers couldn't make it so we had to prep another one in like 2 weeks. </p>
<p>Also in this math competition, I got 7th in the state , i forgot the name</p>
<p>8th grade mock trial...haha.</p>
<p>you had best remember the name of that math competition, too. would be nice to remember the things you succeed in ;)</p>
<p>Remember that a lot can change between your freshman year and your senior year. I'm a junior this year, and much like you, I started thinking about Harvard and Yale as a freshman. I've always been that kid who wants to go to Yale, but this year it's suddenly not so important to me anymore. </p>
<p>What I'm saying is it's good that you have goals, but remember that you don't want to sacrifice too much for something you might not even really want in a few years.</p>
<p>That said, keep a high GPA, get acquainted with AP classes, start practicing for the SATs and find some amazing extra curriculars in the field you want to pursue (you'll probably have to pick between math and law eventually). Keep in mind that passions change.</p>