<p>Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and am doing research about Ivy League schools. I am a freshman, but that doesn't mean I get an answer saying I am too young to be doing research on Ivy Leagues because it only takes me around 10-15 minutes. The first semester of my freshman year has passed. I got one flat C in Geometry honors, a C+(79.44) in Biology honors, a B in World History Honors, and a B as well in English 1 Honors Everything screwed up because I was about to get my B's to A's and that Biology C+ to a B- but I just had to screw up on the finals which were 10% of my grade. I want to do something in the medical field and I want to go to a really good college, preferably Harvard. I was wondering that what if I got ALL A's the rest of my high school, volunteered at a hospital, volunteered at an organization that helped the homeless, poor, etc. Would that help my chances of Harvard? I am in the IB program by the way. Right now, I have all A's and I WILL keep those A's because I am not going to let this ever happen again. Is it true that students who have a hard life like having a dad who is selfish, won't support his child for college, etc have a better chance at Harvard? What I mean is like say a kid's father had multiple wives for whom he treated unequally and that kid had a very hard life. Would he get a better chance of Harvard with the grades listed above and ALL A's throughout the rest of high school? What should </p>
<p>What should I do besides change my grades to increase my chances of Harvard or any other Ivy League? Are there certain sports I should play? Thanks in advance for the responses!</p>
<p>Why Harvard? Why Ivy League? Why medicine? Why sports?</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s ever too early, as long as you take the time to read a bit more and be open-minded enough to listen to different suggestions.</p>
<p>Having all As is good, but don’t stress yourself over it. If you’re in the full IB Diploma program, a 39~40/42 (excluding EE and TOK) is a good enough score to get into Harvard (6 being a B+~A- and 7 being a A+)</p>
<p>It’s OK to have the occasional drop but as long as you keep an upward trend it’d be fine.</p>
<p>If you don’t enjoy doing sports at all (i.e. you dread every moment when you’re doing sports), then don’t do it. Otherwise, it’s always good to pick up one for the sake of exercising… I don’t think there’s specific sports that will definitely get you into Ivy League. Generally you have to be talented in one kind of sports to have a chance of being recruited etc. If you’re doing sports for the sake of doing it, you generally won’t have any chance.</p>
<p>Volunteering for the sake of volunteering is superficial. That being said it’s still advisable to at least do some form of volunteering. Just don’t expect it to be the star of your ECs then.</p>
<p>You want reality or encouragement?
CC can be merciless on kids who look for some magic formula.<br>
First the harsh: any college that looks at freshman grades is going to see the 9th grade STEM weakness. The B’s in WH and Engl don’t help, either.<br>
The better news: bring those babies up and gradually add rigor.
If you are reading the web sites, read them again until you see how the college presents itself and what it looks for- and the sorts of kids they tout.
Sorry, it;s the wee hours.</p>
<p>As long as you show an upward trend, you should be ok. Freshman year is a transition and schools know this. </p>
<p>Why Harvard? It’s probably not the best choice for a premed since med school admission is not prestige-dependent and mostly factors in your GPA+MCAT scores. If you want to go Ivy league, pick Brown :p.
Anyway, “preferably Harvard”… hmmm… at this point, you cannot decide on a dream college. It’s the best way to get disappointed by getting tunnel vision about colleges. Choosing a college, especially a highly selective college, should be about fit. You need to figure what that is in order to create a good college list.Fortunately, you still have time.</p>
<p>Go to your school library and borrow Insider’s Guide to the Colleges, or Princeton review’s best colleges. Read the entires for ALL colleges in your state and ALL colleges in Massachusetts (if you happen to live in MA, pick another State, preferably in another region.) Put post its on the pages that present colleges you like. Then write down what characteristics they have in common and come back to post these characteristics “I like College Z, College T, and University of Z because they… and they… Can you suggest others like these?” and you’ll receive tons of suggestions.</p>
<p>Premed is not a major. It’s a set of science courses that you take in order to prepare for med school and the MCAT. You can major in anything, and top med schools will respect that you handled BOTH the premed prereqs AND a non science major. So you could study History Or Classics or Philosophy and take premed classes. Of course, you could take chemistry or math or neuroscience and be premed, too. 
</p>
<p>A “selfish dad who has many wives” does not count as a hardship (unless your dad is a polygamist who made you live with all his wives and all their children, then you escaped the cult…) </p>
<p>To have a chance at Harvard, find your passion. Then become the best in the country (or among the best in the country) at it. It can be chemistry, the flute, rowing, quilting… you choose what you love to do then you become the best at it.
(Read Science Fair Season or The Boy that Harnessed the Wind to have an idea of what that means.)</p>
<p>And remember, there are 35000 applicants to H this year, just under 2000 seats. Some will get in because they overcame significant challenges. But you have to understand they are top performers despite the hardships. </p>
<p>In a word, yes. The very top schools often have kids with the same profiles and they are looking for reason to eliminate, so yes, schools that have enough kids with better grades than yours, will eliminate you with impunity. </p>
<p>That said, most high schools report grades on a year average basis, not by the quarter or even semester unless a course is a one term course. So you can bring those grades up for a better year end average. But any weakness in your application will hurt your chances at highly selective schools.</p>
<p>I don’t think you’re completely out of the running yet; your grades were definitely not the best first semester, but you’re only a freshman and you can bring them up. Get straight A’s throughout the rest of high school – if you get any more B’s or C’s your GPA could really suffer. Also, try to take more advanced courses next year. They’ll boost your GPA if you do well in them.
I hate to nag you, but I really think you’re getting a little too hyped up over Harvard’s name. Anecdote time: in middle school, even when I was a freshman (now I’m a sophomore, aren’t I so old and full of wisdom…) I wanted to go to Yale. Not because I really knew anything about its campus or academics or anything, but only because it’s YALE and it’s an ivy league and it’ll make everyone jealous. I’m not saying you have this thought process (odds are you’re probably a lot more mature than I was) but it’s really easy for younger kids to get caught up in the names of schools and start doing extracurricular activities/volunteering for all the wrong reasons. It’s great to plan your schedules out to see what classes you should take to be competitive, but please don’t volunteer at hospitals and charities only for your college app.
Good luck :)</p>
<p>Do your research on majors, fit, and financial aid–when it actually becomes time for you to start thinking about colleges! Sounds like you just want to go to Harvard because “omg Harvard.” For now, just focus on GETTING THOSE GRADES UP! Good luck</p>