You’d have to show us where I said your writing was “mediocre”.
Very true.
Thanks Gibby and ski and everyone else. I think that I did say some posts back that I got my answer, though I am not sure.
Anyway, your posts were also very helpful
@JustOneDad Your last post could have two completely opposite meanings. It may mean that my writing ability is below average or that it is above average. Do not get me wrong, I am grateful for the time you spent. But in truth, your replies are all about small details.
@Soheils … You asked good questions, and pursued genuine knowledge. You have nothing to be sorry for, or to be ashamed of. I’m a little bewildered by the caustic tone of other posters. Your use of English is fine, and you’ll pick up the more common usage of language. Idioms, slang and colloquialisms are the backbone of the English I hear every day. For a native speaker, they are almost impossible to avoid!
Keep your dream, work very, very hard to score well, and more importantly, live an interesting life!
The best thing that can happen is that the person who reads your essay brings the essay to his coworker and says…“You’ve GOT to read this one!” Your essay should make the reader feel something interesting. I have confidence that you DO have a story, dig down deep, and bring it out!
Good Luck!
I wouldn’t worry about your writing. they will know English is not your firstlanguage, and that will explain the phrasing.
I’m not sure you meant it this way, but you should not refer to your perfectionism as a flaw. It is considered disengenuous. Flaws or weaknesses should be just that, not a disguised “strength”.
@ElMimino thanks for your heart warming answer.
Yes, I am not going to lose heart. I will strive towards the best, even if everybody tells me it is way out of my reach (fortunately nobody here has actually said that) as rumi says:
We do not belong to here or there
We belong in the highest places, and that is where we strive to go.
@HRSMomHRSMom thanks for the answer.
my mother believes that it can be considered a flaw, as it is characteristic of OCD. For example, she said that including a sentence like the following is a very risky undertaking:
“The thought of being the same with everyone else fills me with dread”
Is she Right?
She’s right.
You’re not writing for a teacher (or psychologist,) who may want to see self-dissection. A teacher also knows you and has his/her own perspective.
In the app, you’re writing to a stranger considering your strengths, flexibility and suitability for their college class. Ask yourself why adcoms would find this opener a positive. And remember they are looking at your judgment and maturity, as well. (Especially as a 16 year old.)
This is why we advise you to get to know the colleges before leaping. You would see they look for kids who have a certain grounding, can be challenged, grow from that and have resilience.
just doing this out of sheer curiosity, because I did research on fit as you guys all suggested and decided that H is not a good fit for me. but I’ll just report my scores anyway, since I said that I will.
ACT : 34 (34 34 33 34). I was hoping for a 35, but I hear/hope that a 34 is identical to a 35 for admission purposes.
SAT II : Took, predicting math 2 800, and 750+ on chem and bio m.
again, thanks to everybody who responded back in july.
P.S : If this necromancy is unacceptable, please do not respond on this thread and tell me to make a chance thread at the chance forum.
Necromancy, as defined by Wikipedia, is “a form of magic involving communication with the deceased,” so that’s not the correct word. What you did is called “hi-jacking” a thread – and you must know it’s impolite and rude, as you didn’t want anyone to tell you to make a chance thread of your own.
FWIW: As Harvard receives thousands of applications with test scores similar to yours, Admissions uses an applicant’s teacher recommendations, essays, guidance counselor’s Secondary School Report (SSR) and interview report to select one high-performing student over another. As you didn’t post those items (nor should you), the best that anyone can say is that your test scores indicate you are a qualified applicant. That said, the vast majority of qualified applicants to Harvard are rejected. Best of luck to you, wherever you should apply!
@gibby sorry, I may have worded my post note badly: I meant : please do not continue this thread if it is unacceptable. tell me to make a new thread.
Also, is it still considered hi-jacking if it is my own thread?
I am sorry for the misunderstanding.
the reason that I did not post those items that you mentioned was the it would be a re-post of the information provided in the first thread. however, I will post a more complete version if it is okay.
Thank you for your response.
P.S: this thread was, technically, dead. I attempted to bring it back to “life”. thus, my wording is understandable, if not excusable. thanks for informing me of the correct term by the way.
^^ first thread: first post of this thread. I am the op.
First of all, congratulations on getting the 34 ACT. That score puts you in the running, however among the high-scoring international pool of candidates, it is not stellar.
I think your age may be a significant drawback to your application. While it is admirable that you, apparently, finished courses ahead of others, Harvard is also looking for applicants who can contribute to the social and intellectual fabric of the campus with maturity, independence, and resilience. A 16 year old “perfectionist” from a very different culture might
struggle with the academic competition from women and men older than he, or social isolation among 18 to 23 year olds with very different behaviors.
@fauve thank you for your response.
according to themselves, they have people as young as 14 in there, and they won’t hold it against me (i called). that said, It may be useful to get my councillor to mention how I have managed to fit in socially despite my age, and how i am still one of the top students in our school, which is the best outside of Tehran and has an admission rate of 1.6%(i think adding the part about the school will prove that my course load was extremely rigorous and compensate for the lack of AP and IB. please inform me if this makes me sound pathetic. )
that said, I am 80% sure I will SCEA P-ton and keep harvard for RD, due to fit.
also, I did my grade jumping in middle and elementary schools, and it was school sanctioned. would mentioning that help?
P.S: since my body “jumped on board” with my grade jumping program, i resemble a senior in every way. if i get in somewhere, and i feel that they are not open to that, would i be able to hide it?
No, they won’t “hold it against you” in the sense of automatically disqualifying you. But it is a real issue that many kids younger than their peers have less “maturity, independence, and resilience,” as fauve put it. This is not a matter of meeting some sort of minimums. Each applicant has much to prove. You are not being compared with kids in your high school, but the vast pool of highly and precisely qualified candidates.
What’s this about, if you “decided that H is not a good fit for me.”
@LookingFoward thank you for your answer,
I understand. What I meant by the whole counselor part was to ask whether a rec letter can prove what needs to be proven. also, will anybody be open to reading my essays once I finish them? I would greatly appreciate it.
“decided that H is not a good fit for me.”
I may have been a little inaccurate. I decided that it is not among my best fits,so it didn’t make it into my early application short list. Harvard is still on the table for RD.
also,in July, everybody told me to come back with a real score, so they could give me information about my prospects. That is why I updated the thread. I was extremely curious. I said that beforehand because if i hadn’t done so, I would have felt bad for “abusing” the thread and the helpful attitude of others. (yes, I know It is weird.)
Should I post an update of my stats?
I know one student who was admitted to Harvard when he was 15, but this kid was a math genius. He basically skipped middle school (grades 6 to 8) and went directly to 9th grade, taking AP Calc BC when he was 10 years old. He then went on to do this research project when he was 14, which gained him national attention. He just graduated Harvard last year. So while Harvard does admit younger students, those students tend to be off the charts geniuses: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/ConsumerNews/teen-student-finds-longer-sat-essay-equals-score/story?id=12061494
@gibby thank you for your answer.
I did not skip my grades in that sense. skipping grades is pretty normal in Iran. basically, you take one year in the summer, then examine for it. you get the transcript and everything. the only difference between me and my classmates, in regards to school records, is age. I think i will need to make them understand that somehow.
again, I really do not have any idea about how they perceive my age, other than that They claim they won’t hold it against me in any way. I will have to apply and see how it goes. I am not an “off the chart genius”, or at least I don’t know it yet!
FWIW, research, volunteering, community service and clubs are not available to HS students in Iran.
also, I can not understand why they would think I am not academically up to the level of an 18 year old. My school report, ACT, SAT II and everything else point otherwise. Please help me understand. This is genuine question for which i have no answer.
I think they would consider you on par academically with 18 year olds. You cannot do anything to compensate for your younger age, but understand colleges might, possibly, pass on you in this round, in which you can always do a gap year and re-apply.
@fauve and are the chances of that significant?
And would noting the fact that I grew up (partly) in sweden help me in some way, as in making them understand that I do have experience with Western culture to some degree?