<p>I’m a high school junior living in Singapore. I go to an IB curriculum private school. My dream is to get into Harvard.
Of course, i’ve considered other universities but Harvard has been my dream university since i was 12.
-My grades and subjects :
Higher level : Economics - 7
Physics - 6
Lang. and Lit - 6
Standard Level : Spanish ab initio - 7
Math - 7
Chemistry - 6</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Volunteering/ Community service :
NYAA Programme (National Youth Achievement Award)
100 hours of community service from school.
50 hours of community service in Cambodia.
30 hours with SG Cares.
Ronald McDonald Foundation For Children.</p></li>
<li><p>Clubs and committees :
Interact Club
Debate Club
Chamber Choir
Student Council
One of the student ambassadors </p></li>
<li><p>Extra Curriculars :
Touch Rugby team
Netball Team
I play badminton ( training for a year) and I swim
I’ve been playing guitar for 5 years and singing for 2.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Achievements : Not as grand as those of other Ivy aspirants but I plan on taking part in every single competition in the coming future. </p>
<p>Do I make the cut? If not, what should i do to improve and become a leader? What more should I do to develop my interests? </p>
<p>@gibby
Because I find the the diversity offered by Harvard amazing. It has people coming from all parts of the world with the same kind of work ethic and potential to make a change in the world. Of course, so do universities such as Yale and Princeton. Harvard is simply a preference, being situated in Boston, where my family used to reside until 2 years ago. :)</p>
<p>Unfortunately, your move to Singapore puts you into the most competitive group of applicants, the internationals (unless you are an American citizen?) You will need stellar test scores, as well as your good grades to compete. Right now your ECs appear to be average for a Harvard applicant, so your chances are below 6%. </p>
<p>Keep working hard, try narrowing your focus to one or two main passions, seek opportunities in those areas. Look at colleges as steps to your adult career, not prestige trophies, and you will find great college options, within the Boston area, or elsewhere. </p>
<p>When a college has a 95% rejection rate, it’s unwise to make them your dream school. Many students dream of going to Harvard when they are 12, but what are you offering Harvard in return? Your EC’s seem solid but pedestrian – nothing out of the ordinary. As you haven’t listed your SAT/ACT scores, I’m assuming you haven’t taken them yet. As such, IMHO it’s too early to ask “Do I make the cut.” Ask again when you have all your test scores, as your SAT/ACT and SAT Subject Test Scores make up 2/3’s of your Academic Index score, which would allow you to know if you would make the first cut.</p>
<p>FWIW: Boston is one of the great college towns, and many Boston colleges offer the same diversity as Harvard. So, in my mind. you haven’t answered why Harvard would be a good fit.</p>
<p>@gibby I feel it will be more academically and extracurricularly stimulating as compared to other universities.But of course it is, as of now, out of reach but I am working towards it.
I am yet to give the SATs and SAT subject tests in Physics and Chemistry.
Thank you for your advice!
One more question though, when it comes to extra curriculars, will they look at my trophies/achievements or level of commitment? Which one has more weightage?</p>
<p>Admissions will look at your extracurriculars to see how well you’ve taken advantage of the resources available to you. They will look at awards and the number of years of participation to gauge “passion.” In addition, Harvard also has a supplemental essay about extracurriculars, so you will have to chose one activity for the essay so Admissions will have an understanding and appreciation for your most important activity outside of the classroom. That said, my daughter only had two EC’s – theater and cheerleading. My son had three – baseball, soccer (not a recruited athlete) and computer science. Neither of them had any community service of volunteer hours as they were too busy with their other activities. So, depth is far more important than breadth.</p>
<p>@Karabekia: Harvard does not ask “Why Harvard?” on their application. Yale asks that question and part of my daughter’s answer was, “Because Yale offers an undergraduate degree in theater while Harvard and Princeton do not.” FWIW: my daughter applied to Yale SCEA and was deferred then rejected. So, Harvard was not her first choice school.</p>
<p>@Harvardbound105: At the time my daughter applied to college, she had appeared in over a dozen leading and supporting roles in plays and musicals during her 3 years of high school, as well as having attended two summer theater programs, one of which at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. My son was involved in his high school’s baseball team for all 3 years, which included a fall season, a winter workout, spring training in Florida and 36-game Spring season. He played soccer recreationally on the weekends and took summer classes in writing Java and designing in Adobe Flash.</p>
<p>Wow. Stuyvesant has a fall season, plus spring training in Florida, plus a 36 game schedule for baseball? Your kid did go to Stuyvesant, right? </p>
<p>That beats most of the schools in the so-called baseball “hotbed” states! By a wide margin. Unbelievable!</p>
<p>[EDIT: it also beats Harvard and Yale]</p>
<p>According to my small slice of experience, for athletes who do not get a “slot”, high school sports are comparable to non-athletic ECs in terms of application value</p>
<p>Thank you @gibby! This is so refreshing to read. I often wonder about the origins of the ‘check list’ mentality that so many students, parents and, unfortunately, some high school educators seem to cling to. Maybe it’s a holdover from the old Common App format which categorized activities? </p>
<p>How did your son put down all the extra baseball stuff he did? Did he put down one common app activity (“Baseball” ) and describe the fall, winter, and spring parts of it in the details box? </p>
<p>And your son sounds super devoted to baseball even though he wasn’t a recruited athlete. Does he still play recreational/club baseball in Yale (not sure what it’s called-- the one below the official Yale team)? Did he have the option of doing so?</p>
<p>@fenwaypark: Stuyvesant has made the New York City PSAL baseball playoffs for 17 of the last 18 years because the coach is devoted to turning a group of nerdy academic kids into scholar athletes. But, it takes a lot of time, practice and money: <a href=“http://new.stuybaseball.org”>http://new.stuybaseball.org</a>. More than a few Stuy kids go on to play Division 3 baseball and one alumni pitcher, Nolan Becker, is now with the Cincinnati Reds after graduating from Stuy and playing Division 1 with Yale. </p>
<p>@Karabekian: My son just listed baseball, the number of hours he devoted to it per week times the number of weeks. Then he wrote a brief description, which was basically what I described: fall season, winter workout, spring training in Florida and 36-game Spring season. Yes, he has played on Yale’s club baseball team for the past three years.</p>
<p>That’s amazing that a school like Stuyvesant has a 36 game spring high school schedule. A couple of States I am familiar with, limit high schools to 25-26 games per season, plus up to maybe 4-5 for teams that qualify in the state playoffs. After clicking around that link you provided I saw Stuyvesant was 8-8 in League last year. Oh well. </p>
<p>Hope they did better in their 20 or so non-league games.</p>
<p>Also, in the States I am familiar with, the governing bodies prohibit schools from having fall ball teams. Kids who play in the fall have to do it outside of the high school program. This really changes my impression of Stuyvesant as a baseball incubator. Good for Stuyvesant.</p>
<p>All of that is off-topic of course. Bottom line, there are recruited athletes who get slots, and there are non-recruited athletes who have a nice EC.</p>
<p>@gibby that’s awesome. Club sports at Yale don’t take too much of a time commitment, do they? It’s still easy for your son to balance study/sports? And sorry, one more question before we get back on topic. About how many hours per week and weeks per year was his baseball time commitment in high school?</p>
<p>For baseball, I think my son listed 9 hours a week X 36 weeks on the Common App, which included 3 to 4 games/practices/workouts per week during the school year.</p>
<p>Your profile seems like it is in the range for Harvard, but remember, everything can make a big difference (in a good way, and a bad one). </p>
<p>Some advice to get in:
Apply early. Its a no-brainer. 20%+ early acceptance rate, somewhere around 3% regular.
Prepare a solid application. Remember, no one stellar accomplishment will get you admitted, but one poor thing can get you rejected. Write 10/10 essays, get glowing recommendations, and crack the interview.
Your reasons for attending Harvard seem too broad. Make sure to get a lot more specific in your essays. </p>
<p>^^ @harvardbound The number of awards/honors Gibby’s kids or anyone’s kids achieved is irrelevant. You’re overanalyzing this. Everyone’s circumstances are different and there is no magic formula. You have to just try to be yourself and really excel at the things you choose to do. </p>
