<p>These were my grades in my first semester:
Algebra ll - 87.5%
Honors English - 84%
Spanish l - 92%
Human Biology- 92
AP Human Geography- 88% (counts as an A)</p>
<p>I have all A’s in my second semester as a freshman and I have made my schedule for next year. I have enrolled myself in: AP Chemistry, AP European History, Honors Pre-Calc, Honors English, Spanish ll, and Ath. Swimming as my sport. If I get high A’s in junior and sophomore year and take as many ap/honor classes will harvard overlook my freshman grades and consider accepting me?</p>
<p>You’re looking at it wrong. Harvard doesn’t look to “forgive” anyone. The admissions office, rather, looks for something that sets you apart… so, they go into each reading under the assumption that you will be rejected. Unless you’re a can’t miss athlete or world-class saxophonist, why would they actively seek to ignore flaws on your resume?</p>
<p>That being said, you’re a freshman and those grades don’t weigh much anyway. You’re fine.</p>
<p>Okay thank you. I was just curious because Harvard is my dream school.</p>
<p>Is it? What do you like most about it? </p>
<p>Don’t be worrying about which college is your “dream school” (dream schools only set you up for disappointment…) as a freshman.</p>
<p>It has strong academics, highest global prestige of any American university, and many extracurriculars. Also, I am considering becoming a lawyer and HLS would be perfect. Lastly, my family encourages me to apply for universities such as Harvard because they want me to have the highest honor in my family because no one in my family has ever attended a rigorous universty like Harvard.</p>
<p>Just so you know, high school transcripts usually only show the grade for the year, not for each semester. You can check with the your guidance counselor about what information is on your transcript. But, seriously, as a freshman, focus on learning, see what subjects you enjoy and want to pursue, and try some different activities. Don’t focus on dream schools now, focus on yourself and then see what schools will be a good match.</p>
<p>@PASAMBAA, those are not sufficient reasons to consider Harvard your dream school. You need to be able to demonstrate a genuine interest (based on reasons other than prestige) in the school. They have tons of kids every year who want to go to Harvard for the prestige and they can see right through it. Also, I’m sure you know this, but Harvard (along with every other top school) doesn’t admit kids based on grades alone. Someone with perfect grades freshman through senior year but lackluster essays/extracurriculars/awards/community service might get rejected while you (with hopefully impressive essays/awards/etc) may receive an acceptance letter. Put a lot of focus into your extracurriculars and try to stand out. Best of luck.</p>
<p>@collegebound752 do you attend harvard currently?</p>
<p>@PASAMBAA as someone who got into Harvard this year (and turned it down! gasp!), please just consider my advice. Have fun. Freshman year was a blast for me, and I hope that it was for you too. Besides, we all know that the true academic prowess lies about two hours south at Yale ;)</p>
<p>@MikeNY5 what rank did you graduate with? I’m in the 190’s weighted and 240’s unweighted. </p>
<p>Rank? My school doesn’t rank. Read results threads from past years and you’ll realize that empirical stats only serve as benchmarks. Your ECs and passions get you the fat envelope.</p>
<p>Also, feel free to PM me. I’ll try to respond within a few days, but I can help with guidance/ what not. It’s a bit early to begin worrying about this, so I’d like to make sure that you’re at least focusing on the right things.</p>
<p>Your school didn’t rank each student in a class? @MikeNY5 </p>
<p>Please don’t get fixed on any dream school. I hope that your family can stop thinking about this as well. Work hard, learn what you are interested in, do things that genuinely interest you, make friends and be as good a person as you can be. Then you will end up in the right place.</p>
<p>Many students get fixed on Ivies and think they want to be doctors or lawyers, or their families want that kind of path. But there are many good schools with great academics and activities. The real shame is to sacrifice high school years in pursuit of something that is uncertain-admittance to an Ivy- and overfocus on grades, rank and resume.</p>
<p>I hope that you are hearing some of what people here are trying to tell you. Good luck!</p>
<p>The more a kid does things to try to get into an Ivy, the less interesting he or she becomes, and less likely to get into so-called “dream school.” Kind of like how desperately wanting a girlfriend or boyfriend dooms any chance of getting one. A Zen paradox where one renounces enlightenment only to receive it, but not to care.</p>
<p>^Yes! For most kids I agree. They do what they like and they do it well because that’s who they are and how they’re wired. They don’t do it to “get” anything, per se, it’s just how they roll. Junior year comes around, they realize they have a decent record or a GC tells them they should consider submitting an app and sometimes they get lucky. That said, I’m sure (because I know them) there are kids and families who carry out incredibly well planned assaults on elite school admissions – the grades and test scores are real, essays are professionally written and the interesting ECs are created, publicized for legitimacy and then dropped. Fancy private HS live to get their students into these elite schools; it’s one of the big reasons why parents pay 25K/yr to send their kids to those high schools. For the kids who have the grades and the parental juice to make these elite schools happen the teachers and GC will gush in their LORs. H and many other schools get 30K+ applications. They can’t and don’t do FBI quality background checks. They don’t compare college essays to recently submitted school work to check consistency. Any decent writer can write in a number of voices, including 17 yo boy or girl. Newspaper articles and local TV news pieces are all the proof any adcom is going to seek to prove an EC is legit. This is basic PR and getting something published in local newspaper is not a hard thing to do. Local news loves the quirky with a populist bent – teach the inner city kids how to unicycle! Film at 11:00. The kids they admit can all do the work, but they aren’t all so much more special or “edgy” than the kids they don’t admit. I believe the adcoms know they are getting fooled some of the time, but don’t have the resources to prove it. On paper and film, the special kid doesn’t look much different than the kid made to look special. Is there any other competitive process for a highly sought after product out there that people don’t “game” to their advantage? No. Why would people think that this elite college admission process that has become a large industry unto itself is immune from this sort of behavior? </p>
<p>You need to be exceptional at two things: academics, sports, music, math/science olympiad, etc. to substantiate hope. No one cares about freshman year grades.</p>