Chance me for Harvard SCEA 2021

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Academics:

GPA: 3.9965/4.0 as of second semester in junior year. I am in the IB diploma program.
SAT: 2400

Awards:

a. Gold medal: 2016 Northwest Chopin Festival
b. First Prize: 2015 Crescendo Int’l Piano Competition
c. Second Prize: 2015 American Protégé Music Competition
d. Third Prize: 2015 Washington State Outstanding Artist Competition
e. Semi-finalist: 2015 Seattle Int’l Piano Competition
f. Second Prize: 2014 Crescendo Int’l Piano Competition

I have performed five times at Weill recital hall at Carnegie. I also performed at Benaroya hall in Seattle and Salle Cotort concert hall in Paris.

Extra-curriculum:

  1. I write music, using Pro tools, Sibelius, and FL Studio.
  2. I am an avid writer. I am finishing up my first novel, currently at 70 pages long.
  3. I run a film club at my school. We are currently shooting scenes for a feature length film I wrote about high school academic cheating club.
  4. I have been training in Shotokan style Karate since age 5, earning my black belt at age 15. I train on average 4 hours a week. I started teaching Karate to young children after obtaining my black belt.
  5. I play soccer for a Seattle area premier league club, I train 4.5 hours a week in season.
2

I think you get in. You have impeccable academic stats, and you play at Carnegie, which is ridiculously impressive. Of course, it is Harvard, so most people don’t get in. You’ve got better chances than most though.

3

Anytime you have top academics and distinctive ECs with a strong record of accomplishment at a very high level, you are ahead of the crowd. You should be a strong applicant, though nothing is ever certain at that level of selectiveness. What are you interested in studying? What do you see as your long term directions? And why Harvard in particular?

4

Thanks, jarrett211.

After reading Harvard SCEA 2020 Results, I found myself way out of league with those admitted. I don’t have any math or science awards; I don’t have many clubs activities; I don’t do much stuff at school at all except running my film club. I would consider myself an atypical applicant. I hope Harvard has a place for someone like me.

5

To renaissanceda, thanks.

I got really inspired by an IB biology teacher who won Presidential Scholar Teacher Recognition Award (2010). I want to study pharmacology and dream one day I can develop a drug that can cure all human ills. My teacher said to me “son, Harvard is the place to learn that”

6

A drug that can cure all human ills is like a unicorn, except we might see the latter in this coming century.

Your teacher is wrong. Harvard is a college where you’ll learn a great deal, but not the college to study anything. There are dozens of universities in the country where you’ll get a top-notch education, many of them with better programs than big-name schools in certain specialties, and becoming fixated on a single college is never a good idea.

7

^^ That sounds very naive. I agree with @NotVerySmart. I think you need to re-think what you want to do and what schools would be good fits for you, and why. You have strong academic and EC qualifications, but you also need to put together an application that presents you well.