dis-grace

I have had an odd high school experience... I would like to know whether or not I am completely out of the running. I don't expect anybody here to know whether or not I'd get accepted, but since I've done my schooling in a pretty weird way, I wonder if I'm an instant reject?

SAT:
Reading: 800
Math: 750
Writing: 800
SAT II:
Physics: 800
U.S. History: 800
German: 800
French: 790
Literature: 800

High School:
I pulled out halfway through the ninth grade to unschool myself. Nobody had any hand in teaching me. I didn't actually even "teach" myself at all... just sort of... did what I was interested in. The only structured stuff I did was SAT prep.

Other Activities:
-working about 30 hours a week on average for about five months now, about to start a full-time job
-on the board of directors of a rather small civil rights group that is primarily known for its publication
-run an online literary journal that aquires rights and pays the authors
-have had a few short stories and several articles published in various places

Personal:
-in foster care
-female
-standard boring caucasian

So. The unschooling. You think it's too weird?

thefishofsorts

who would write your recommendations?

Inaina

I'm sure Harvard takes all that into account... hey, can't hurt to try.... though it will be a little wierd with no rec letters... get one from the people you work with. Good Luck!

andriuxs

u have awesome scores!.. and u speak german and french almost perfectly.. it wouldn't be too weird if u could also speak spanish ..
great job!!!

dis-grace

I'll probably have to have people I work under write my recs. But yeah, I knew I'd be sacrificing normal letters of recommendation when I did this. The colleges I apply to will just have to deal.

And I don't know Spanish. I am okay at a few others languages, but mostly ones the SAT doesn't test.

I could take a few more of the subject tests, but wouldn't it be a little odd to have to take too many of them? I have only taken this many even because that's really all I have to show for anything outside of my talent and passion for writing.

tanyanubin

Well, if I were in the Harvard admissions office, I would admit you. You show a rare drive and intellectual curiosity, something that I would think a school like that would value. You sound very "out of the box". If they don't admit you, I'm sure some other great school will. Your story reminds me of "Good Will Hunting"

powderpuff

I bet that you'll get accepted! Really. You are very different and are self motivated.

nutmeg88

I don't mean to put you down or anything, but what exactly did you study? Did you do some sort of online learning program? How does Harvard know you didn't just drop out of high school and focus on SAT prep? I'm sure that a lot more people could get high scores if they had no schoolwork. Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm just curious.

MallomarCookie

Yeah, I'm sure Harvard would be REALLY interested to know how you spent your time since you weren't in school. Be prepared to give a lot of details about your activities.

This might be a good thing to contact the admissions office about. They will have some more information for you (like recommendations on what to do). We are just random people on the internet speculating.
You probably should wait until the end of May to call Harvard admissions (until then they'll be swamped with the current admissions cycle).

P.S. How did you drop out of school? Where are you from? Children are required by law to go to school until age 16, when they can legally drop out.

inverse

Very interesting background. I would take a few college courses in several areas as a special students to establish some GPA record to improve my chance.

MallomarCookie

Yeah, take some classes at a community college this summer or during the fall. Right now there isn't enough evidence to prove that you can succeed in a classroom--and that matters a LOT.

inverse

Given your SAT scores, you may want to take courses from Stanford's EPGY or online courses from Harvard's extension school. You need to take challenging courses and do well.

Garrity

If everything you have posted above is accurate, you would be an "instant admit". Your style of learning appears to be like that of a well educated and dedicated lawyer; something that is well beyond high school or college. ( I hope that your post is legitimate.) With your background re: work experience and intelligence, you run the risk of boredom in most college or university settings. Look to alternative programs of study such as the computer based honors program at the Univ. of Alabama where you can create your own destiny and legacy without the traditional confines of a classroom curriculum. Look for other non-traditional programs that match your interests.

MallomarCookie

Sorry, but how is she an instant admit? She's obviously very very talented. But Harvard is a traditional learning environment. You learn in a classroom environment for 4 years. Harvard won't take someone who would fail in that environment, despite all their dazzling intellectual prowess. That would be a waste. Harvard tells us that they pick people who think will be successful at Harvard--hence why they do not hesitate to tell us that academic record is the most important factor in admissions. After academic record comes test scores, and then there is extracurriculars, etc.

Garrity

Mallomar: You write as if you are angry and want to argue. How would you feel if I wrote that the poster "should" be, in my humble opinion, an "instant admit". Also, I disagree with your reasoning as neither you nor I know enough to judge as to whether or not the OP would do well in a traditional classroom setting. By the way, my response was clearly a play on the words of the OP. Harvard admissions has not in my experience made the statement as you use it. Typically Harvard states that almost all of their applicants could do the work and would be successful at Harvard, but that they look to build the best class from the pool of applicants that they can in order to satisfy many desired objectives.