Hello! I am a senior at a prep school in Alabama. I currently have a high school total of a 3.8 GPA, 3.0 Freshman year, 4.0 Sophomore year, 4.0 Junior Year, and 4.0 Senior Year. Due to my ADD accompanied with an extreme bout of depression my freshman year, my grades went from As to Ds after Christmas break. At the end of the year retained four As and a B+, but two Ds as I failed to submit anything for my major papers in English and History. After 9th grade year, I re-motivated myself and got up the work ethic to make straight As until my senior year. I should still have a 4.0 for my senior year by the end of may, but I’m wondering, will I be able to free myself of this huge blemish? I won the state championship for singles in tennis my junior year, and hope to do so again this year. I’m president of Python club, which I established in my Sophomore year, I’m a member of the fencing club, the scholar’s bowl team, and as stated before, I won a state championship in tennis. I also have a 2400 SAT, but I don’t have an ACT to give (should I take it?) Anyway, my main concern is how I will fare as far as college goes ;-; Harvard is my dream…
Harvard is a reach for everyone. Have you taken any subject tests? Even though they are not required, it doesn’t hurt to take some. No one can say if you will get into Harvard or not since they reject many very qualified applicants each year. A school with a 5.9% acceptance rate should not be your dream school as 94.1% of applicants don’t get in. Also, admissions for the highly selective schools are “holistic” meaning that essays, extracurricular activities, and letters of recommendation among other things play a large part in the decision. I’m not trying to kill your dream or anything. Just realize that when everything is said and done, you will end up at whatever school you are meant to end up at and will still be successful. It’s not HYPS or bust. Don’t stress out about admissions, enjoy the last semester of your senior year!
Ouch 3.8 is quite low for those schools even if you got ecs (whicj a lot of applicants will have) and scores.
We certainly don’t have crystal balls here. Go to chances forum if you want to play guessing games. Getting better grades in harder classes is always good. Recovering from an early misstep/disaster shows you have backbone and work ethic as you say. 3.8uw is certainly not too low although a D or more is the huge blemish.welcome to the lottery, hope you enjoy your backup school.
Don’t bother with the ACT, colleges only need one standardized test. Focus on SAT subject tests instead. No one has a good chance at Harvard, but I’d say that you are still competitive. Though your GPA is low (for Harvard), colleges tend to be most forgiving with freshman grades.
Statistically speaking, the answer is ‘no.’ That’s the answer for 95% of the applicants, almost all of whom are top students with great test scores. Rather than getting hung up on ‘the dream school’ spend some time researching your reach/match/safety schools and don’t forget the all important ‘love your safety’ advice. Most students end up at a match or safety - and not only thrive, but can’t imagine themselves anywhere else after the first year or so.
Here is the good news and bad news. The good news is that your CV looks like many accepted applicants at H. The bad news, is that it also looks like many rejected applicants at H. With the theme of controlling things that you can, I would concentrate on your personal statement and essay. The biggest feature I see missing on many students is their failure to articulate “why” for a specific college and how they would contribute to that academic community. In short, you need to create a delineated nexus between you and the university. When you are dealing with such tight margins of acceptance (about 6%) you need to create something about your application that stands out…
Harvard is just that. A dream. Will you get in? Honestly, probably not. You shouldn’t have your eyes set on one school. Especially not Harvard seeing that in all likelihood, you will be rejected. Find a bunch of schools that you will be happy at rather than fixate on a dream.
Your application is exactly what Harvard wants to see, which is a very studious individual who also pursues other activities in addition to their studies. Unfortunately, Harvard has too many applicants with amazing credentials that they cannot accept them all. Most who are accepted have a distinguishing factor that will set them apart from others. For you, do you know what that is? If you cannot pick one thing out from your application that stands out, chances are you may not have the hook to get in. However, there are always miracles! Sorry if that was mean in any way, and good luck with the college process. Don’t stress out too much - I know plenty of well-off CEOs who went to community college!
All these ivies have countless perfect scores and gpas in their applicant folders. Standard rejects thousands, not hundreds, thousands of valedictorians every year. You have to make yourself stand out whether it be a hook or amazing essay or a rec that blows it out of the water.
Now you qualify for a full ride all expenses included at U ALABAMA so please put that as one of your safeties at least
I would also apply to Cornell, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, NYU, UMich
Chance me back http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1727267-homeless-to-harvard-chance-me-chance-back-p2.html