Juniorita

"If I don't go to Harvard I'll probably kill myself . . . other than that I would like to go to Brown, Yale, or Princeton."

Wow, if every college applicant who wants to go to Harvard does that... then there might be a chance I could get into harvard..=p

Seriously: If you really want to go to harvard I guess you gotta go with the formula: 4.0 GPA, A's in every class, crazy good/perfect SAT scores, t0ns and t0ns of ec's, no sleep, stomach full of ulcers from too much caffeine, and a whole pot o' luck.

Research tons, ask people who you know who got into Harvard/Ivies, research some more, work your butt off, and hope for the best. Don't get your heart set on it though.


g00d luck!

cal097

Chances are that none of you are going to get into harvard. Applicants with 4.5 GPAs, perfect SAT scores, tons of extra-curricualr acticvities, and all AP and honors courses get rejected from harvard all the time. The fact is that thousands of well-qualified applicants apply evey year and less than 10% get admitted.

lio072089

My best piece of advice is to be yourself: follow your passions. Challenge yourself and excel, but don't forget to live life. Do the things that you truly enjoy, not what you think will get you in. Remember that you are unique...show it. Personally, I took many AP classes, not because I wanted to get into Harvard, but because I enjoyed working at that level. I wasn't in tons of clubs like many people because that is not who I am.

Truth is, you will never know whether you will get in or not. Thus, you can't guide your whole high school life on such a difficult thing to achieve. Do your thing, and if it gets you in...great! I was worried that I wouldn't get in because I didn't follow the stereotypes of having zillions of clubs, leadership, etc, but I ended up getting accepted into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, and Columbia a month ago. My case shows that admissions are unpredictable and surprising at times. Be different. Stand out in some way or fashion.

I hope this helped all of you prospective applicants out there

miragemage

usless you plan on going to grad school, graduating from an ivy league is completely pointless. first off, you're going to be in debt. secondly, going to an ivy league and getting a low GPA (< 3.0) might actually be worse than say you go to a state university and get a high GPA (>3.8). frankly, the ivy league is overrated in terms of undergraduate academics. it's only worth going to an ivy for grad school. also, in a recent wall street journal article, ivy league students are mislead when they graduate, they are taught the philosophies and theories from their respective teachers and aren't well prepared to handle the real, practical world. if you insist on attending harvard, you must, MUST, do more extra-curricular activities, become president of national recognized clubs (Key Club, Honor societies, etc.) you also must have outstanding academic credentials to go along with the extra-curricular things you do inside and outside of school.

Duy028

I still think they just put all the applications in a box and grab out the first 1000, because I know some slacker kids that got in with no EC's and mediocre grades.

taemi

relax and let the admissions people see the fun side of you! it works wonders...as long as you have the grades , sat scores and ECs as well!

llpitch

k you're going into the 10th grade stop worrying so much. Just get A's in your classes and start to worry next year.

Kvm90

schools normally dont like kids that are entirely academic. this is a huge misconception kids have. schools dont care how much u can cram into your head. they want to see that you can be EXCELLENT at something.. so pursue something thats not academic because otherwise, chances are that you may get disappointed. i've just gone through the early application round and kids with 4.0s are getting into colleges when kids with 4.59s arent. why? extracurriculars. get involved and get really good at something as blunt as that sounds. its ur only chance at top schools.. u gotta be unique