Soooooooo
I’m a French girl (well, half French and half American), whose first language is French. I go to a completely French school (no IB, etc).
I have been first in my class of 150 people in a private Jesuit Catholic school since 2nd grade (lol) and got a 36 Composite (36 Math and Science, 35 English and Reading) on the ACT.
I used to be a competitive skier (broke my leg two years ago, which kind of ruined my skiing record - writing my common app about how it shook me and helped me identify myself as not just a competitive athlete because skiing really was my life haha).
I am a unicef young ambassador, was class “head delegate” this year (kind of the equivalent of class president??), did Model UN, participated in school newspaper, etc, but don’t have a “main” extracurricular because we French kids have school from 8 to 6, Monday to Friday, with 4 hour-long tests every other Saturday.
I’ve done academic summer programs, gone to the Himalayas for community service.
And I also come from an area in France that virtually sends no one to American universities (French Riviera anyone?).
Is it stupid that I’m earlying at Harvard? And do subject tests matter that much? (I have literally studied 0 of the material needed for ANY of the subject tests offered because of how different the French curriculum is - even Math is a struggle rn bc there’s some math stuff that Americans learn but that French kids don’t learn at any point in high school - I’ve asked all of my teachers for confirmation of this and it’s true ): )
What math stuff is that?
There’s no math requirement for Harvard more advanced than algebra.
That said, H is very small odds for anyone unless you have a big hook (recruited athlete or offspring of some world/country/business leader, etc.).
Minimums are not optimums, considering how far the competition will have gotten. It’s not just a yea-nay. You’ll need to best thousands for a slot.
That includes kids from France with top stats, the right sorts of ECs, impact, and thinking.
Yes, subject tests matter. But you can read how they word it, right on their website.
matrices, rational root theorem, Pascal’s triangle, FOIL, certain types of functions, etc etc ):
Are you seconde or premiere and what filiere? Section europenne or not (if not: due to not qualifying or due to the program not being offered at your school)?
If premiere, what scores did you get for French literature, TPE, Science (12, 9, 15…?)
What is the “bac success percentage” at your school, any idea of mention percentage?
For subject tests, take your LV2 and either Latin or Lv3 if you have those, plus English Literature. You can also study for Biology or Chemistry if you finished 1S or if you’re ready to self study the TS physics program take Physics in December, or Us History if you’re up for a challenge (compared to ush, world history covers as much stuff if not more that you’ve never heard of since it’s heavily tilted toward pre 1500, whereas us history at least covers periods you’ve heard of even if you know nothing about the war of independence or reconstruction. That can be learned - and you should already know about the enlightenment, WW1&WW2, and the cold war.)
The Riviera has quite a few international schools - starting with Mougins and CIV. Also, you won’t be compared just to the Riviera’ students, but to all of France and Western continental Europe.
It’s hard to tell from your description whether you’re competitive but most importantly it’s easy to have Harvard as a dream school, the key element is why and how are you the student they need?
The real work is not having a dream school, but crafting a good list with safeties and matches.
What’s your budget and what other schools will you apply to?
Considering your act score, you should apply to merit scholarships from App state’s Wilson to Pitt Honors to UTD’s McDermott to Temple to UA honors etc. Check out the website publichonors. What majors are you thinking of?
All of these would offer something better than any French program, academically and socially speaking, and woukd take you where you want to go.
Will you resume competitive skiing or did your accident put an end to that?
@frangnv: without answers to the above questions, we can’t help you…