Advice for Getting into Harvard University

[Nano-Passion]

As of this moment I am in a community college but I'm doing very good and love learning. I am planning to transfer to a reputable university to obtain my bachelors and later to an ivy league school such as Harvard university perhaps.

But it is no easy feat to get into Harvard, they don't just care about your scores. My professor who does college counseling tells me that they look for people that stand out through leadership and activities that they have done.

I was thinking of writing a book since I love to write about math and science but I don't exactly have the time as of this moment and I've heard that publishing is a real pain in the ***.

I need to contribute to society and show that I have great capabilities that the university can use. Any thoughts on what direction I can take to show that I deserve a spot?

 

[Fizex]

Michio Kaku made a particle accelerator in his garage to get into Harvard, maybe you could try that?

Joking aside, I'm pretty sure that once you're in college, they no longer care about leadership skills and all those trivial high school filtering qualities. They would much rather hear about any research you can do. They put priority on the quality of your research and if you can publish your findings. A good recommendation by a top-notch physicist is a good bonus. A book, in my opinion, is not going to get you much. Anyone can write a book. A GPA of 4.0 is also a minimum.

So try to find an internship or physics (right?) professor to research with.

 

[chiro]

As of this moment I am in a community college but I'm doing very good and love learning. I am planning to transfer to a reputable university to obtain my bachelors and later to an ivy league school such as Harvard university perhaps.

But it is no easy feat to get into Harvard, they don't just care about your scores. My professor who does college counseling tells me that they look for people that stand out through leadership and activities that they have done.

I was thinking of writing a book since I love to write about math and science but I don't exactly have the time as of this moment and I've heard that publishing is a real pain in the ***.

I need to contribute to society and show that I have great capabilities that the university can use. Any thoughts on what direction I can take to show that I deserve a spot?

I have never been or am affiliated with any ivy league school. This is just my opinion and its probably a good idea to take it with a grain of salt.

When I think of leadership I think of basically being pro-active in the sense of showing some initiative and creating a scenario where you use that initiative and collaboration with others to achieve something for the group.

I don't think of leadership as having to necessary be a "full time leader" at the top of some social pyramid: in fact i think its a bad example that can portray bad leaders as "leaders" when they do not have the intent of creating benefits for all, but instead possibly only themselves.

With this in mind there are lot of opportunities to "lead". You could get involved with some voluntary group and take a pro-active role like creating or extending an existing program. So like if you did voluntary work and you met some disadvantaged people, and after some experience you felt that you had an idea where you could implement something new and collaborated with the charity/voluntary agency that was creating some kind of new benefit, then in my mind that's an example of leadership.

If you are a senior in college and you get involved in mentoring programs where you help younger people out by giving them advice possibly academic, but also "life" advice where you can help them, or at least encourage them, to make decisions that might help them make choices that are in their best interest when they are either uninformed or in a slump.

One kind of story comes to mind when I think about a good leader and that's Chuck Norris [please spare me the chuck norris jokes ;)] Chuck Norris as you may know is a martial artist champion and had a good success in this area.

But people may not know that Chuck Norris actually works with disadvantaged youth and teaches them discipline, self-respect, and confidence to help these people get out of the path of gang-life and what is associated with that. He helps these youth have a positive outlook and to improve their perspective and quality of life in a dramatic way.

That's what I think of when I think of a leader. Most of the leaders of this world are people that no-one knows about, and there's plenty of them around. They don't have to be Mother Theresa to be called a leader: its often things that are more subtle which people don't really notice.

So if I had some advice, my advice to you is to find some way to use your experience in a way that you can use that experience to help other less experienced than yourself.

 

[PhDorBust]

In my experiences: GPA, rec letters, and research experience in that order.

Mickey-mouse qualities like leadership and community service are forfeit.

 

[eri]

Since Harvard often doesn't take transfer students at all, or about 1% of transfer applicants, I'll assume you mean you want to apply there for grad school. You'll need great grades in undergrad (4.0 isn't necessary), fantastic test scores (GRE, PGRE), and great research experience. Leadership doesn't matter. You need to get experience doing research with a professor (probably not possible in community college, so transfer as soon as you can), hopefully a few publications, and great letters of recommendation. And many people who have all that STILL don't get into the top schools because it's very competitive. A book won't get you anywhere; they usually don't contain anything new and they aren't peer-reviewed. An article in a top journal would help a lot more. Also, Harvard isn't the best at everything - there are many other top programs out there depending on the specific field you want to enter. So don't plan on one school in particular.

 

[Nano-Passion]

Michio Kaku made a particle accelerator in his garage to get into Harvard, maybe you could try that?

Joking aside, I'm pretty sure that once you're in college, they no longer care about leadership skills and all those trivial high school filtering qualities. They would much rather hear about any research you can do. They put priority on the quality of your research and if you can publish your findings. A good recommendation by a top-notch physicist is a good bonus. A book, in my opinion, is not going to get you much. Anyone can write a book. A GPA of 4.0 is also a minimum.

So try to find an internship or physics (right?) professor to research with.

Well I can't do that in my community college. =/ And I was planning to get an internship next summer at brookhaven national laboratory.

In my experiences: GPA, rec letters, and research experience in that order.

Mickey-mouse qualities like leadership and community service are forfeit.

Oh really? I thought they really mattered.

Since Harvard often doesn't take transfer students at all, or about 1% of transfer applicants, I'll assume you mean you want to apply there for grad school. You'll need great grades in undergrad (4.0 isn't necessary), fantastic test scores (GRE, PGRE), and great research experience. Leadership doesn't matter. You need to get experience doing research with a professor (probably not possible in community college, so transfer as soon as you can), hopefully a few publications, and great letters of recommendation. And many people who have all that STILL don't get into the top schools because it's very competitive. A book won't get you anywhere; they usually don't contain anything new and they aren't peer-reviewed. An article in a top journal would help a lot more. Also, Harvard isn't the best at everything - there are many other top programs out there depending on the specific field you want to enter. So don't plan on one school in particular.

What do you mean they don't take transfer students at all? So your telling me if I get a bachelor's at a reputable university then they won't accept me?

I will attain great scores to the best of my ability, I always shoot for 100+ on my tests. As for the publications, I know nothing of that aspect at all.. =/

Article in a top journal... very interesting perhaps I can submit articles and hope they get accepted. What top of journals should I go for? Only scientific ones?

 

[Ryker]

What do you mean they don't take transfer students at all? So your telling me if I get a bachelor's at a reputable university then they won't accept me?

Well, if you finish your bachelor's degree, then you won't be a transfer student, you're going to be entering grad school.

 

[Pengwuino]

Well I can't do that in my community college. =/ And I was planning to get an internship next summer at brookhaven national laboratory.

That's a good start!

Oh really? I thought they really mattered.

Nope. If anything, they will hinder your chances. Undergrad admissions is all about this "campus spirit" nonsense and community leadership and various aspects that makes the university think you'll be the next president/prime minister of an industrialized nation (I'm exaggerating but you get the point).

Graduate schools want someone who is capable and willing to work in a lab 60-80 hours a week working on research, publishing papers, and going to conferences for 5-8 years while showing great interest in a specific field. Oh and this part isn't an exaggeration.

I will attain great scores to the best of my ability, I always shoot for 100+ on my tests. As for the publications, I know nothing of that aspect at all.. =/

Article in a top journal... very interesting perhaps I can submit articles and hope they get accepted. What top of journals should I go for? Only scientific ones?

Get to know the publication process ASAP. That's how ALL research is done and presented to the scientific community. Journals are peer-reviewed and, along with conferences, are the places people see other scientists work.

Also, don't be too obsessed with getting into Harvard. Your success as a scientist is not based on what university you got your PhD in, it's based on how good of work you do on your own.

 

[eri]

Well I can't do that in my community college. =/ And I was planning to get an internship next summer at brookhaven national laboratory.

Good luck - those can be extremely competitive positions to get.

Article in a top journal... very interesting perhaps I can submit articles and hope they get accepted. What top of journals should I go for? Only scientific ones?

Science journals publish original work, not the kind of essays you write for classes. The undergrads who get published work closely with a college professor on an original topic, usually one chosen by the professor who is very familiar with the field and what the undergrad can do. While few undergrads get published, you can bet strong applicants to top schools have been published. Try checking out some articles in a field that interests you on the site below so you can get an idea of what journals are looking for, and the kind of literature you'll have to read to get familiar enough with a field to select a topic of research.

http://www.arxiv.org