I am currently an 8th grader and I want to get into Harvard

At your age, you need to be out riding a skateboard or getting into some kind of mischief :slight_smile: In all seriousness, it’s too soon to be worried about ivy leagues or medical school.

Here’s my advice about ivy leagues. At some point, applications are so identical, there’s virtually no way to distinguish them from one another. It’s really just a smart kid lottery with ridiculous subjective criteria based on what mood the admissions officer is in. All of it is beyond your control. Far too often, kids fall into the trap of toxic perfectionism trying to get a “competitive edge” for these schools. Sooner or later, it leads to a mental breakdown.

Here’s my advice. Enjoy being a kid. Stay balanced. Keep an open mind about your future. There’s going to be a world of change between now and when you actually go to college. When you’re ready to apply to college, just be yourself. If they reject you, there’s always a college that will love you back. Ivy leagues are grossly overrated. There aren’t enough ivy league graduates in the country for employers or medical schools to even care. America gets along fine without them.

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