French Honor Society
National Beta Club (Vice President)
Operation Smile (Founder and President)
Youth Saxophone Choir (Principal)
String Quartet (founder and Violin I)
City Philharmonic (Usher)
Theatre Pit Orchestra (Principal Sax 2 years/Concertmaster 1 year)
Tri-M Music Honor Society (President)
Science National Honor Society (President)
Science Seminar (select kids in my city)
School Orchestra (Concertmaster)
All-State Orchestra (10th chair)
Interlochen (Orchestra Program- Scholarship Receiver) (1st Violins)
Music Dispersion (send love of classical music to people who may not have the chance) (Founder)
City Wind Ensemble (1st part)
Jazz Band (Grammy Awards won) (1st chair)
Youth Symphony Orchestra (1st Violin/Concertmaster)
Program that raises money for awareness and research of disease I have (Director)
Winterfest (1st chair)
District Honor Band (1st chair) (2 years)
4/216 98.44 GPA
Jobs
Currently at a grocery store but I’ve been working since sophomore year at other grocery stores (15-20hrs a week)
ACT 26 (Not sending)
SAT 1310 /1600 (should I send it?)
Subject Test - taking in november
URM - AA Male (first generation)
AP Classes (WEAK I know)
AP World History - 3
AP US History - 5
AP Calculus AB - 3
AP Government - 4
AP English Language - 3
AP Physics C - 2 (Not sending)
Senior Schedule
AP Chemistry
AP Macro
AP Music Theory
AP Calculus BC
Also applying for NEC dual degree program
My main worry is that my SAT score will get me deferred or rejected…
H has terribly low admit rates – even for the most qualified applicants
your SAT range would put you in the very lowest tiers of admitted students – not impossible – but even lower than a 5% chance. I think it would be extremely likely you’d be rejected.
I would think with greater research, you could find a better suite of colleges that would appreciate your EA application – you’ve accomplished much and would be a very welcome application for many schools - likely with large merit scholarships. In the H pool, frankly it’d be very easy to overlook you. Since H is SCEA, dropping in a “hail mary” application to them precludes you from EAs to any other private colleges. I think that would be a grave mistake.
You’ve done amazingly well. But the H pool is simply crazy. As a matter of perspective, my kiddo’s high school’s AVERAGE SAT was 1330 – and they only get a small handful of admits to top colleges each year. That circumstance isn’t yours, I understand that. But even still – H is very steep. Keep it on your RD list. EA to other schools.
Here is a list of test optional schools, some of which are extremely selective (Bowdoin, Bates, Bryn Mawr, Brandeis, Bennington are all under B for starters).
Your music is an asset for Harvard, so your chances aren’t nil, but it seems they would be slim with the stats and AP scores.
I hope you have looked into other double degree programs, such as Oberlin, Bard, Lawrence, Johns Hopkins/Peabody, etc. You could enter as a conservatory student and then add the academic degree later if you like.
There is an excellent music major forum here on CC with many discussions of double degree.
The SCEA applicant pool is self-selective, meaning that it attracts MORE students who have tippy-top test scores, GPA’s and awards. Given your low test scores, I would think your application would be overshadowed by the polly-perfects of this world and you stand a good chance of being deferred. As such, IMHO you should apply to a wide range of non-binding schools in the early round, and apply to Harvard in the RD round.