<p>Not enough info to make any good conclusions (what does “AMC 10/12 Finalist” mean? What was his AMC or AIME scores?), but from the OP I’d say he’s probably not a genius. There are a bunch of kids like him every year. He’s probably in the top 5% of applicants stats-wise, but that’s no guarantee of acceptance.</p>
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What’s his major and his year?</p>
<p>If he’s at least a sophomore and he’s a math major, I’d say he’s a genius.</p>
<p>He’s a frosh, and he’s majoring in math. Well planning on it.</p>
<p>Is he real?</p>
<p>Yes… what do you think?</p>
<p>Is he in Math 55?</p>
<p>Seriously people, good grades =/= genius, period.</p>
<p>It means you work hard. In fact, most of the geniuses throughout history got bad grades because they didn’t care about insignificant things like school and grades.</p>
<p>Good grades could indicate genius, I think. It depends on the individual. If this guy took 16 AP’s in high school and barely had to work hard, then I think that he could very well be a genius. Let’s face it; most normal people can’t take such a workload, slack off, and get straight A’s. (I’m not saying that this guy slacked off. He probably did work hard. However, there are some geniuses that are just naturally good at every subject, even the very hardest versions of them, and don’t have to try…and that could indicate genius, IMO.)</p>
<p>What happened to prerequisites?! He wouldn’t be allowed to do that in my school, unless he spent every day of his summer taking certified courses in order to skip levels. This sounds like one weird private school to me.</p>
<p>I’m more inclined to believe that his school offers ridiculously easy classes and inflated grades…or, he studied far more than you know.</p>
<p>If he was really such a genius, shouldn’t he have done something besides earning stellar grades? I mean, I assume that if you can take top level courses every year of high school, you should be able to win some huge awards or start organizations too…</p>
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<p>The OP said the high school was a top private one.</p>
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<p>You’re saying that there are about 1,500 applicants with stats similar to his? That’s very difficult to believe. Even if everyone with his stats applied to Harvard, there wouldn’t be 1,500.</p>
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<p>He said stat wise. This implies we’re looking at GPA and SAT Score. Obviously he has a very strong transcript but taking 16 AP classes does not make anyone a genius. It’s not like there’s cutoffs for AP exams where 15+ is genius, 10+ is super student, etc.</p>
<p>@ OP - I go to a very easy public school, but I’m also a 4.0 UW GPA Valedictorian who will have done 19 AP classes by graduation. I took classes online as well and I will have taught myself 16 AP exams [us public school people don’t get all star teachers ;)]. I don’t think that categorizes me as a genius or anything like that.</p>
<p>The point being made is that a strong courseload or high GPA does not make a person a genius. It makes them a smart and dedicated person.</p>
<p>^wait so you’ll have taken 35 ap exams by graduation?? i didn’t even think there WERE that many. or are you saying you pretty much taught yourself for 16 out of the 19 you actually took classes in?</p>
<p>also i think it might be a little different if you categorize your school as “very easy” whereas the op said the guy’s was a “top top private”. although there’s a definite possibility that YOU think your school is very easy but most others think it’s hard, but i dunno cuz you just said it was a very easy school.</p>
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<p>There aren’t 1,500 people with a 2390 SAT score and 4.0 GPA who apply to Harvard each year.</p>
<p>^how many do you think there are (out of curiosity)?</p>
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<p>Definitely correct, based solely on the SAT score distribution data, </p>
<p><a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/sat_percentile_ranks_composite_cr_m_w.pdf[/url]”>Higher Education Professionals | College Board; </p>
<p>because indeed not all high scorers on the SAT apply to Harvard at all.</p>
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<p>Well, fewer than 500 people have 2390 or 2400 without superscoring. Let’s assume this number jumps to 750 with superscoring.</p>
<p>Many of these ultra-high scorers probably attend rigorous high schools as the applicant mentioned by the OP does. So, probably around 50% have a perfect unweighted GPA. (This may even be a little generous.)</p>
<p>Assuming that about 70% of these students apply to Harvard, about 263 Harvard applicants have 2390+ and a 4.0. Very few of these have taken 16 APs, so applicants with similar stats to those of the applicant mentioned by the OP probably number under 100.</p>
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<p>I’ll have taken 19 by the time I graduate, and I will have taught myself 16 of those. So far I’ve taught myself 8 and had a good teacher for 1 - I’m at seven 5’s and two 4’s. </p>
<p>As for school rigor, I attend an “A is for attendance” school. Nobody in our school passes AP exams but we all have very high GPA’s lol.</p>
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<p>I agree. Nonetheless, you don’t need 2390 SAT and 4.0 GPA to be considered a “strong” applicant or have a “strong” transcript. </p>
<p>In my opinion, an academically strong Harvard applicant has 2300+ and 4.0 GPA. I’m sure there are over 1,500 students with those credentials. Even if there weren’t, I’m not sure why we’re discussing this. I’m not arguing he’s not a strong applicant, because he is a very strong applicant. I’m just saying that his transcript doesn’t make him a genius.</p>
<p>I will have taken 15 APs all A’s, got a 36… I’m not a genius. The “genius” admits are USAMO finalists or intel winners like someone said, grades and scores just make you a well-qualified applicant</p>
<p>He wasn’t just an AMC 10/12 Finalist or whatever. I think he did extremely well on AIME and the USAMO, but didn’t make the team or MOSP.</p>
<p>He took these Subject tests-</p>
<p>Bio M - 800
Physics - 800
Chem - 800
Math II - 800
Spanish Language with Listening - 800 (non-native speaker)</p>
<p>I think he submitted bio, math, and spanish to Harvard.</p>