Should I be worried?

Colleges & Universities Harvard University
1

<p>Hey guys I am entering the 9th grade. Should I be already worried? My parents sure seem to be. I’ve always dreamed of Harvard since I was a kid and now that I am finally entering high school, the reality is setting in.</p>

<p>Currently, I am taking all the highest classes available. I also plan to take all the highest classes throughout my high school. </p>

<p>As of right now, I only took he ACT and I got a pretty bad score of 23. And on the practice sat math tests that I took, I pretty much maintained an average of 690-700. </p>

<p>I also have an okay list of extracurricular activities. I play soccer and violin and am ok at both. My worst academic skill would probably be writing.</p>

<p>Is this okay? How were your high school experiences those of you who went to prestigious colleges?</p>

<p>This is my first time on the forum and I hope that I will receive good advise from those who have been through the troubles of high school and college.</p>

2

<p>Colleges are NOT interested in anything you did middle school – that includes your grades, EC’s and any ACT/SAT tests you may have taken. There isn’t even room on the Common Application to list anything you did prior to 9th grade. See: [Test-Takers</a> in 8th Grade and Below](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/register/special/8th-grade]Test-Takers”>The SAT – SAT Suite | College Board)</p>

<p>“If a student tests in the 8th grade or below, the scores are purged at the end of the testing year. Students can ask to preserve their scores as part of their permanent record if they choose.”</p>

<p>So, relax; you are starting high school with a clean slate. Please read: [Andrew</a> S. Doctoroff: Dear Eighth Grader: So You Want to Apply to Harvard? Some Words of Advice…](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Dear Eighth Grader: So You Want to Apply to Harvard? Some Words of Advice... | HuffPost College)</p>

3

<p>To maximize your chances of getting into Harvard, follow this piece of advice: stop thinking/worrying about getting into Harvard, find what you’re passionate about, and take your passions to the next level. You should read this as well:
[Applying</a> Sideways | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways]Applying”>Applying Sideways | MIT Admissions)</p>

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<p>I like that blog post by Andy Doctoroff a lot, and also the “Applying Sideways” blog post. Both have a lot of good advice.</p>

<p>A lot of people on College Confidential will tell you that eighth grade is too early to be thinking about college generally, or Harvard in particular. I don’t agree with that. I think if you might some day be Harvard material, now is an excellent time to start strategizing, so that your college options will be as good as possible four years from now. </p>

<p>A lot of people on College Confidential will also tell you not to fixate on Harvard (or Yale or Stanford or MIT or Swarthmore), because whether you’ll get in is largely beyond your control. I agree with this advice completely! These highly selective colleges get applications from so many highly qualified applicants that they could fill their entering classes several times over without ever compromising on their academic standards.</p>

<p>A friend of mine, who has done alumni interviews for Harvard for many years and who managed to pack her own kids off to Columbia and Harvard, gives two pieces of advice that go together in my mind: “let your extracurriculars tell your story,” and “begin with the end in mind.”</p>

<p>“Let your extracurricular activities tell your story.” If you’re a musician, besides being in the school orchestra, play in a jazz trio or a klezmer band or whatever fits your instrument. Do something over the summer that involves either performing or becoming a better musician. If you’re an outdoorsman, do a wilderness adventure program during the summer, or volunteer on a conservancy project in a state park, or something like that. You can, and should, still do the things you like, or the things that you find otherwise meaningful or valuable, but you should take some steps to make sure that the time you spend out of school lets people know what makes you tick.</p>

<p>“Begin with the end in mind.” By the time you’re filling out the Common Application in the fall of senior year, you want your extracurricular activities to show some kind of significant accomplishment. So, at the outset, figure out how you’re going to make that happen. Whatever you choose to do, whether it’s track or music or volunteering with little children or working in your family’s florist shop, make sure that year after year, you can show that you’ve acquired new skills, or taken on more responsibility, or somehow achieved some kind of demonstrable personal growth. Exactly how you do this will depend greatly, of course, on what you choose to do, and also on what you’re capable of doing. But have a goal and a plan, even if you have to adjust them along the way.</p>

<p>All of this, of course, is in addition to taking serious, demanding academic classes and doing well in them, and doing really well on standardized tests.</p>

5

<p>I really don’t get the whole “don’t think about Harvard” thing. It makes no sense. How can one succeed without knowing what they want to succeed in? </p>

<p>I already know that you can’t just wait and assume you can get into Harvard just because you do what you love and keep up good grades. </p>

<p>I agree that you shouldn’t stress too much and I won’t but not stressing. But that doesn’t mean I am going to get into a college like Harvard. </p>

<p>I would like to know the steps to take in order to succeed. There might not be a specific list of steps but I would at least like to know the general expectation if these colleges.</p>

<p>Thanks,
A hopeful student</p>

6

<p>These colleges expect you to follow your passion. That’s it.</p>

<p>Obviously, do well in school and on tests, blah blah blah, but if you start trying to tailor your application into something <em>you think</em> Harvard wants, you’ll have a miserable four years of high school and you still might not get in.</p>

<p>High school is meant to be fun, a time when you can pursue your passions. If your passion is “getting into Harvard,” you’re doing it wrong.</p>

7

<p>"I already know that you can’t just wait and assume you can get into Harvard just because you do what you love and keep up good grades. "</p>

<p>You certainly can’t “wait and assume” that you’ll get into Harvard by doing what you love and getting good grades, but the truth is that a vast majority of Harvard admits did these two very things Factor in a bit of luck, and they were admitted. </p>

<p>“I would like to know the steps to take in order to succeed. There might not be a specific list of steps but I would at least like to know the general expectation if these colleges.”</p>

<p>There really are no specific “steps” beyond achieving academic, extracurricular, and personal excellence. All elite colleges will tell you that there’s no formula for admission. In all reality, admission offices aren’t supposed to give students directions about how to get in; instead, they serve as talent scouts with the best interest of the institution in mind. Because the pools at schools like Harvard are so good (90% of applicants are qualified to do the work and 50% are qualified to do the work at an honors level), a lot of the selection process comes down to highly subjective factors (how they ‘feel’ when reading your app) and is difficult to predict.</p>

<p>If you want to make admission very likely, you’ll have to be a recruited athlete, the child of a major donor/famous person, and/or the child of a faculty member. </p>

<p>If you want more info about whom Harvard admits, watch this:
[Harvard</a> Admissions Dean Fitzsimmons Interview (On Harvard Time) - YouTube](<a href=“Harvard Admissions Dean Fitzsimmons Interview (On Harvard Time) - YouTube”>Harvard Admissions Dean Fitzsimmons Interview (On Harvard Time) - YouTube)</p>

<p>Basically, if you don’t have any of the aforementioned ‘hooks,’ then you can maximize your changes by being ‘very unusual academically’ (as evidences by winnin academic competitions and having ‘best in career’ recommendations, not just by getting good grades/scores) or by having 'some type of distinguishing excellence (national/international champion of something). If you can do neither of these (which is the cast for most people), then simply strive to be what Fitz calls a ‘good all-arounder’: strong academically, extracurricularly, and personally. Most people in the pool are good all-arounders, so by becoming one you are by no means guaranteeing admission. However, you would be maximizing your chances. How do you become a good all-arounder? Do well in the classroom, do what you love outside of the classrom and do it really well, and be a genuinely nice person. Which is the advice offered in Applying Sideways.</p>

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<p>^Apologies for the typos. I finished editing prior to re-reading the entire post. The latter part should read like this:</p>

<p>Basically, if you don’t have any of the aforementioned ‘hooks,’ then you can maximize your changes by being ‘very unusual academically’ (as evidenced by winning academic competitions and having ‘best in career’ recommendations, not just by getting good grades/scores) or by having ‘some type of distinguishing excellence’ (national/international champion of something). If you can do neither of these (which is the case for most people), then simply strive to be what Fitz calls a ‘good all-arounder’: strong academically, extracurricularly, and personally. Most people in the pool are good all-arounders, so by becoming one you are by no means guaranteeing admission. However, you would be maximizing your chances. How do you become a good all-arounder? Do well in the classroom, do what you love outside of the classrom and do it really well, and be a genuinely nice person. Which is the advice offered in Applying Sideways.</p>

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<p>I think that the Taoist sages were onto something when they taught that trying too hard at something can result in failure. I know it works that way with my golf swing, and when I was younger, the surest way to NOT get the girl I liked was to try too hard to get her. During the last decade, the kids I’ve seen admitted into the most highly selective colleges all had their own X factor that rose above their stats. They did good things when (they thought) no one was looking. They didn’t do things just for their college resume. They developed their individual styles, cares, and talents. They also never talked about all of those fancy colleges. When Louis Armstrong was once asked “What is Jazz?” he responded “Man, if you gotta ask, you’ll never know.” I’d paraphrase that to “How can I get into Harvard?” “Man, if you gotta ask, you won’t get in.” But the good news is that the best educational experience for you may very well be at a school without the big brand name.</p>

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<p>Absolutely true. On the other hand, if you don’t do what you love (and you don’t keep up good grades), you have close to a zero chance of getting into Harvard. Or anyplace like Harvard.</p>

<p>Doing what you love and really throwing yourself into it (and keeping up good grades) is the only strategy that works. It doesn’t work to the extent that it assures your admission to Harvard. But it works because if you follow it you will be the strongest applicant it’s possible for you to be at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Dartmouth, wherever. What’s more, you will be a happy, excited, energized person with direction in life. So if you have really rotten luck and don’t get into any of the fancy colleges you dream about, you will still know what to do with yourself, and how to judge real success. And you will be able to succeed.</p>

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<p>I love the spirit of these replies - it’s a bit unusual to have such measured responses in a “How to get into H” thread. Great advice, all. And thanks for both links - I’m going to print those out for my
students. Great advice!</p>