bad sat scores, but everything else is good, can you get accepted to harvard?

Question

if someone got bad in their sat, (even though they retook it) , but they have a gpa above 4, and they have so many awards and extra curriculars, do you think harvard will accept them?

my sister wants to get in, but her sat scores arent that good, i mean she didnt fail or anythingbut they are average. however, she did get a perfect score in the math sat 2, and she got a mark above average for french 2, but her physics mark was... normal.. :P lol

anyways my parents were really pissed esp my dad cuz they paid so much money to buy her all these sat books and to take her to french class and all that, and at the end she didnt study that much. so now my dad is kinda pissed and hes like ur sat scores are crap u think harvard will look at those? but yeah, i feel like shes not studying to prove something to them, but yeah, back to my question.
what do you think?
i knowur not harvard, but i was just wondering if anyone out their got bad sat scores and got accepted there

thanks :)

Answer 1

Your parents need to lighten up. The SAT is an aptitude test, and studying doesn't help much - talk to the people who did well, and you will find that many of them didn't study at all or studied much less than many who spent months cramming.

Anyway, I have talked to a number of people involved in admissions, and the answer to your basic question is no. To get into Harvard, you have to be perfect or very near perfect on just about everything. It has been reported on this forum several times that Harvard rejected 1200 people with perfect SAT scores this year, so you have to have it all together to get in there.

There are plenty of other good schools out there. You haven't told us what her scores were, but my guess is that she will get into college somewhere and do fine.

Answer 2

See admission standards for Harvard above. First of all education is 90% the student and 10% the university. You can get a great education in many universities. A Harvard degree doesn't guarantee anything. We hired one for our financial firm and had to let him go. A client had the same issue with another Harvard guy. Any ivy league school is tough for admission. So as you progress there are several sources that show the combination of GPA and SAT scores you will need for a reasonable chance for admission.

Answer 3

Your best plan B is to attend junior college or a 2-year college and get a General Ed degree, then taking one of those advanced exams, and then applying as a transfer student. You have so much more possibilities of getting in as a transfer student with a "B" average than most high school graduates do with a 4.0., because, well, everyone applies to Harvard. But if you want to be picked out of the thousands who apply every year, you either have to have already won the Nobel Peace Prize or the Pulitzer prize in order to even be seen.
Your best plan is to take your General Ed classes for much cheaper at a 2-year college, get the degree and show your ability to pass college-level courses, and then transfer in. It's cheaper per unit for General Ed classes at junior college, anyway.
It's what I did. I graduated with "B-" average from community college and then did great at University. I am now taking community college classes for fun and somehow have straight "A"s this time around. Go figure.

Answer 4

Try applying to a school that is SAT optional. Several hundred schools are allowing students to submit a writing sample or a paper that you wrote in high school in lieu of your SAT score. This way you can get into a competitive college because you have great grades, and they won't weed you out just because you're a poor test taker. Harvard is a tough one, there are several excellent schools out there besides the Ivies, so don't be too disappointed if you didn't get in.

Answer 5

Harvard is really tough--they reject many students with PERFECT SAT scores. That being said, if your sister's GPA is that good, and she has strong extracurriculars, I'd say she at least has a shot. I think your parents are being too tough on her if they expect her to get into Harvard. It's nearly impossible these days. I'm sure she'll get into some other prestigious school if not Harvard.

Answer 6

Nobody, not even Harvard, can tell you until the final decisions are made.

Harvard accepts less than 10% of their applicants. They don't always do it on the basis of numbers, sometimes they're looking for diversity, particular demographics, projected majors, special skills (can you say "women's track team"?), etc.

I'd say from what you're describing that her chances are not good, and she should plan in any case to apply not only to Harvard but to 3 or 4 "second-choice" schools, including a good state university--and one "safety-net" school that accepts all applicants. That advice applies equally to your sis and to students with all astronomical SAT and gpa and so forth.

Answer 7

the same with me idk hopefully