Do I qualify for Harvard?

Colleges & Universities Harvard University
1

<p>Personal Info:
Canadian
Asian Female (25% Mongolian, 75% chinese) I’m not sure if the Mongolian will help me out a bit.
GPA: probably 4.0 as I’ve received all A+'s with a couple A’s but our school doesn’t calculate it
Rank: school doesn’t give
Income Bracket: around 70K, but definately still need financial aid</p>

<p>School Information:

  • Public School
  • 3rd best in the province (I don’t know if that helps)
    -IB program</p>

<p>SAT I:
Crit: 710
Writing: 740
Math: 750
Total: 2210 </p>

<p>SAT II:
Math 2: 770
French: 750
Chem: 720 (but will retake) </p>

<p>All IB Courses (predicted)
English HL: 6
French SL: 6 (final)
Math SL: 7 (final)
Chem HL: 7
Bio SL: 7
History HL: 6 </p>

<p>A in TOK and can probably get a B for extended essay: 3</p>

<p>Converted Ontario Average for Grade 12 courses: 95%</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>-Top 5% in Avagadro Chemistry Contest (National/International)

  • Regional Excellence in Math Award
  • 1st place in DECA Ontario 2011
  • top 10 in DECA Ontario 2010
    -2010 International Career Development Conference participent (still waiting to find out ranking)
  • Math Distinction awards for Canadian Open, Fermat, Galois, Pascal, etc.)
  • Ranking of 17th for girls singles, 16th for girls doubles, and 15th for mixed doubles for ontario provincial badminton in 2009-2010 Season
    -Also ranked for 2008-2009 season
  • MVP for Varsity Junior girls badminton team
  • Unsung Hero for Vasity girls Softball Team
  • National Lifeguard</p>

<p>Work/Volunteer </p>

<p>-Worked as a camp counsellor for disadvantaged children in Quebec during a French English Exchange program in Grade 10 summer
-Volunteer @ senior home (300+ hours, 4 years)
-Math Tutor (2 year), French Tutor (4 years)
-Impact group Intern under VP External (national university organization)
-Research Intern at Sick Kids hospital (summer)
-Co-founded own business for DECA competition (won 1st place)
-Raised around $2000 as event coordinator for a community organization
-Heart and Stroke regional volunteer
-Regional Epilepsy volunteer
-City of Markham volunteer (raised over 250 in one day for Markham Food Bank)</p>

<p>Extracurricular</p>

<p>-Shad Valley 2011
-Studied French in Quebec Work Exchange (under work)
-Flute in band (9-12)
-Founder and President of health and wellness committee (11-12)
-Toronto Multicultural Youth Council Executive (secretary-11, CFO-12)
-Secretary for Heart and Stroke club in school (12-secretary but have been a member since grade 9)
-Gavel Club Vice President of Education (12, but club only started a year ago)
-Co-president of Gay Straight Alliance (12, but a member in previous years)
-Finance Group Leader of community club (11)
-French Tutor Coordinator
-Member in at least 5 other clubs including Red Cross, AIDE, Child Adoption Program, Debate Club, DECA, etc.
-Varsity Badminton Team

  • Varsity Field Hockey Team (will probably be co-captain this year)
    -Varsity Softball Team</p>

<p>Teacher Recommendation will probably be pretty good</p>

<p>Counselor Reference should also be pretty good</p>

<p>Supplementary Reference (probably from my professor as sick kids) should be pretty good</p>

<p>Essay: not sure yet, but it should be somewhat good (I’m not particularly amazing at writing essays) </p>

<p>Feel free to be as critical as you want
Message me if you want me to chance you!</p>

2

<p>You would be a decent canidate.
Definitley start working on the essays!!</p>

3

<p>Amy , I’ve got some Really Bad News for you</p>

<p>I’ve written extensively on this site about minorities and admittance to top-tier schools. See , fer ex :</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13036649-post17.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13036649-post17.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Unfortunately for you, Reverse Discrimination also exists , especially against Asians … because if colleges used “academic excellence” as their main criteria for admission, the student bodies of EVERY top-tier school would be 90% Asian</p>

<p>Sad, but true … but at least you can maybe hopefully enjoy this video about Reverse Discrimination against Asians , here =></p>

<p>[Kung</a> Fooled](<a href=“Profitez de l'Offre de Bienvenue Paris Sportif et Gagnez Gros!”>Profitez de l'Offre de Bienvenue Paris Sportif et Gagnez Gros!)</p>

4

<p>Since I am unable to change my ethinicity, is there any way I can improve my application to make me more qualified despite my race?</p>

5

<p>You could put down that you’re an Eskimo, that’s one way to “change” your ethnicity. Who would question you anyway?</p>

6

<p>This subforum especially tends to two sorts of dubious posters:
-Posters who make all sorts of claims about why they are so incredibly trustworthy that you should believe what they’re saying, which they have to do, because what they’re saying flies in the face of common sense and nobody would ever believe them if they didn’t claim to be some sort of authority.
-Posters who…have a lot of experiense with Harvard…and will again, tell you things that aren’t true…because they know it from authority. And can’t type!</p>

<p>Shannon is in both of those categories. Yes, fewer Asians are accepted per Asian applicant, but I like the definition of merit that values things like individuality and the ability to write a not boring essay. A lot of Asian applicants look very similar to each other: tennis, piano, math. I like having a diversity of interests and personalities and talents among my classmates, even if <em>gasp</em> some of them had slightly lower test scores to get in. However! While OP does do some of the “typical Asian” things, OP does look like an individual to me. I have to go and I want to post this now, but I have a few more tips on what you can do from here to increase your chances when I come back.</p>

<p>PS Caltech pretty much just bases it on “merit” as defined by people like Shannon, and is only like 50% Asian, not 90%. Please.</p>

7

<p>Clarifying one thing from previous post: I’d be against a class of all tennis-math-piano-2400s no matter what their races. If Asian applicants tended to have more dissimilar resumes etc., I would be very much against the lower odds they face. As it is, I’m not happy about those odds, but I like the student body here, and so wouldn’t tinker with it drastically in the direction of higher test scores/more quantifiable merit. The definition of merit, as a student here, seems to work for me. I’m willing to forgive somewhat lower test scores for an Asian guy with a passion for physics and fashion from Podunk, Montana, as well as for the kid from the really poor neighborhood in L.A. Bluh. I try not to get caught up in the AA debates on here, but I had to rush off from the previous post, and for some reason decided to post it rather than to wait until I got back here.</p>

<p>Continuing:
You say that your recommendations will be “pretty good.” If your teachers/counselor can tell the adcoms about that one time you really impressed them with whatever talent or personality trait of yours, your recommendations will be exponentially stronger than if they just say that you are very smart and nice. There’s no evidence to that latter statement, and they get a lot of glowing but evidence-free letters. So, go approach the people writing letters for you, and ask them if there’s any information you can provide about yourself that would help them write a better letter. This would be your chance to tell them how much you’re looking forward to studying X in college, and that the subject they taught prepared you for X in happy ways; or that while you’re looking forward to studying X, and their class had nothing to do with that, you liked how it widened your horizons. Or that you were really excited to explain a concept from their class to your little brother this one time. Those sorts of things make your personality come through your application. If your school sends more than a couple students to competitive colleges every year, they’ll probably be able to ask you more specific questions. My previous suggestions are mostly if they’re like “uhh is there anything you want to say?”</p>

<p>Then, spend a lot of time on your essays. You may not be the best essay writer, but read tips on the Internet, look at good essays, read your essays aloud to yourself, get other people to read them, or anything that’s worked for you in the past. (This is not the right place or time [I am so sleepy, and I was in a bit of an accident yesterday that’s left me with a hurting face] to give a Complete Guide on How to Write an Essay. People write books on that stuff.)</p>

<p>PS MIT’s admissions office people have really useful information on their website, particularly re: letters of recommendation.</p>