with a really good extra curricular, is 85 average from grade 9-11 not good enough?, what is a good mark :s this is just really stressful please help me out !
As per advice given to you in your other thread, an 85 avg without any other extraordinary hook and unless you are the singly top student in your HS -- you are not a viable candidate whatsoever for Harvard or other very selective colleges.
lowellbelle:
I noticed that in your first post that you said that people who go to Harvard fit the school. What types of traits did you have that made you attractive to the school? I want to know if I will fit with Harvard or whether I should look to attend another school, one that would be much better for me and would be the best thing for me. Thanks.
Is investing a good extra-curricular? I'm thirteen right now and have absolutely fallen in love with investing. I spend all of my time reading and thinking about value investing. It's the summer right now and I'm reading a Wharton textbook. I want to go to Harvard. I hope to start investing with the value investing method in the beginning of high school. If I do a lot with investing and prove that I love it, will it be considered a full-fledged extra-curricular. I could even manage the portfolios of people. That's one of the things I'm planning to do. I also do tennis and piano, but those are just things I do for fun and don't spend a lot of time on. Thanks.
Hi, I am a student who is going to be a freshman next year.
I am very interested in Harvard and it is like my dream school.
I wouldn't want more if I could get into Harvard.
I want to know how you spent your time usefully and I wish to be a successful person like you later in my life.
I am very interested in Harvard and it is my biggest dream.
I wouldn't want more if I could get into Harvard.
Hi! I am a high school student and after I finish in high school, I will apply in harvard.Harvard is also my biggest dream.I go on do everything: Study hard or do many many things.I must get into harvard.
I am grade 10 and I do not have TOEFL or SAT.I intend when I am grade 11, I will study and do exam.
I think, we need join in many activities such as: charity.I usually suft on the internet to know information of harvard, into college confidental or vietabroader (because I am Vietnamese) to register many activities.Besides, I self-study at home for the TOEFL and SAT and look for material usefully.
I believe that one day, we can do it and get into Harvard.
If you want, we can make friends together and then you can contact to me: yahoo: kinsleynguyenngoc or email: kinsleynguyenngoc***********.vn.
love,
Hi, I'm going into ninth grade this year and I was wondering what my GPA should be by the end of high school. Should I take all AP courses and risk not getting all A's, or should I take 1 or 2 AP courses per year and be sure that I will get all A's? I already have 2 years of Foreign languages and I will be taking 4 more years of another language in high school, I am also taking track after school, I will be in ROTC, plus Marching Band, and I do a lot of charity work and other academic "projects" during the summer, but I'm still confused about what GPA is required to have a CHANCE at getting into Harvard. In my high school, I'm not sure, but I believe that AP courses increase your overall GPA by 0.33, so should I risk getting all A's in AP courses and having a chance of getting a 4.99 GPA, or should I take 1 or 2 AP courses every year and know that I will get a 4.33-4.66? Please help! School starts in less than 2 months and I want to know if I should change my schedule or not, so please reply as soon as you have the time. Thanks!
hi, i'm in 8th grade and has been holding a 4.0 for since 5th grade. I get Presdients award each year in middle school so far, and a lot of other good rewards . Also I have all advanced classes,well except the ones you can't get advanced in. Anyways, Your advice is very good and i take school very seriously and with all my heart, want to get into Harvard and get a degree in physics. So in high school, what classes should i take for the best chance of getting into Harvard. If you can reply ill be very happy.thank you.
I shouldn't jump in here, but this topic has been a fascination of mine ever since I felt the sting of rejection from my first school of choice some 25 years ago, but here goes.
I have to defend everything lowellbelle says. It's great advice and should be listened to by any parent or student interested in applying to Harvard. As a reader, you should appreciate why lowellbelle is emphasizing the nuances about the decision-making process and not the grades or SAT/ACT scores.
First off, some fundamentals: of the 34,302 applications received this year, Harvard accepted 2,032 -- 5.9 percent. That's the lowest acceptance rate among national universities in the United States. And that's a pretty typical year for Harvard (6.2% in 2011, 6.9% in 2010, etc.). Of those 34k applicants, how many do you think had average grades or less? I'm sure there were a few "joke" applications -- applications where the student knew they wouldn't get it but wanted a rejection letter as a frame-able memento (lol), or some such -- but I bet 99.9% were from well-intentioned, hard-working students with good grades. Good academic performance among the application pool is like the electricity at your house. You may have the lights on (good job!), but what does your house look like? What have you done with the landscaping, the light fixtures, the bathrooms, the kitchen, the basement, the garage and on and on. You know who's passionate about their house in the 'hood and who just pays the bills on time.
I once read a story about an applicant who had a near-perfect SAT score and a 4.0 average (out of Groton, no less) and was rejected by Harvard. And that applicant was a minority! Harvard isn't looking for students who check the box and feel satisfied. They want someone who doesn't notice the time going by as they immerse themselves in a topic or discipline. As lowellbelle points out, an AP course could have been taken, but it wasn't a passion, and it would have taken a spot from someone else and time away from true passions.
Also, lowellbelle alludes to the right attitude about all of this. If you are a serious candidate (as I'm sure those 34,000 were), a rejection should not be taken as a statement about your abilities. I bet the admission department at Harvard could throw a dart at a wall of applications and do fairly well. It's about fit. I've heard of students getting rejected by UVA (a school that is very concerned about motivation and indoctrination) but getting into Harvard.
So, in lowellbelle's defense, grades and SAT scores are not the elements that will differentiate you as a candidate. They're viewed as a "price of admission" item qualifying you to give it a go. Just to be really, really clear about this, if you have average or poor grades, don't apply to Harvard (lol)!
