<p>I know I didn’t give you much to work with here: Harvard?</p>
<p>Mexican-American
Medical Magnet School
Probably Top 20% out of 170 students
94.783 Weighted GPA
2100+ SAT probably (Right now: 550 CR, 620 M, 690 W, 12 essay)
2100+ SAT IIs, I hope</p>
<p>I’ve taken these AP tests so far: Physics B (1), Stats (3, but got a C), English Language (3), US History (3, no honors or AP class). I took Computer Science sophomore year though; didn’t take the test.</p>
<p>I plan on taking these AP classes next year: English Literature, Calculus AB, Biology AP, Economics AP/Government AP. Not taking Spanish (3 was regulars because of schedule conflicts; A/B).</p>
<p>State for 2 Science Fairs (ISEF ExxonMobil and TJAS)
I didn’t list all my ECs—culture and spelling oriented though is my theme</p>
<p>Essay will help, but who knows how much. It’ll have to be amazing, but I’ve seen longer shots make it into colleges they shouldn’t. However, you out of all people should know even as a URM it will be near impossible to make it into Harvard.</p>
<p>You ought to have some safeties like your state school 'cause you know better people get rejected by Harvard.</p>
<p>What would raise your odds of getting in would be raising your SAT cr score to at least over 600. I have heard H admissions officers say that it’s highly unlikely that anyone with a m or cr score below 600 will gain admission because there would be concerns that such a student would lack the reading comprehension skills that would allow them to get a Harvard degree.</p>
<p>I think that getting a higher SAT score or getting an ACT score that is higher than is your current SAT cr score would be of far more importance than your essay. The essay is used for adcoms to figure out how to create a well rounded class. The scores are used to winnow out the 10% or so of applicants who lack the academic background or skills to be able eventually to graduate from Harvard if they were accepted.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t suggest that you apply to harvard…</p>
<p>You don’t seem to have the objective data to get in, but furthermore, your relatively low testing suggests that you might not be able to fare well at Harvard. I don’t think you’d WANT to be there, because it seems that you wouldn’t be able to handle the work.</p>
<p>Being Mexican will really help, but Harvard gets a lot of hispanic applicants with much higher scores. Aim at lower ivies and good LACs, especially those with low numbers of hispanics in the South or MW.</p>
<p>Instead of just latching onto prestigious names, you need to rewind and think about what you are interested in, what kind of social environment you are looking for, and what type of school geographically, sizewise, and programwise (should it have engineering, etc). Also, financially, you need to figure out what types of schools are practical. If your family is very low income, or very high income, this part is easier than if you are middle income. Prestige isn’t bad, but it won’t help you if the school is not right for you, or if you dislike it once you are there. Once you figure out the basic characteristics you are seeking in a school, then you should select a number of schools that fit, ranging in selectivity and affordability from easy to hard (safeties, matches, and reaches).</p>
<p>Calfornia would be divine. A lot of my friends are applying to California schools (TX ppl here :)). I’ve heard the weather is to die for. I think sizewise it fits the most: it isn’t TOO small, but it isn’t like a state school (UT=-o). I either want to get into Anthropology/Linguistics or Biology. I don’t know about the finances though. My mom only makes like 50K as a teacher, so I thought I’d be getting a lot of money, hopefully in grants? :-</p>
<p>Brown is also on the top of my list. It’s liberal.</p>