What Harvard Wants

What Harvard wants in a college applicant is pretty simple really. They want what any good college would want in a student and in a student body. Harvard wants excellence:

Students arrive with a remarkable diversity of interests. They are scholars, community volunteers, journalists, artists, athletes, actors, musicians, and enthusiasts of many other kinds. What all Harvard students have in common is intellectual curiosity and energy. Harvard values excellence and diversity in the talents and aspirations of its students, and in the resources and opportunities the College offers them.

Ask yourself: How do you stand out? How would you contribute to the general wealth of knowledge and talent at such an institution? Having a good answer can only help guide your story as you apply.

Find College Scholarships

College scholarships are an important way to help finance your college education, be it at Harvard or elsewhere. There are many places to look for scholarships:

• Counselor's Office: A great place to start! Most guidance counselors will maintain filing cabinets with scholarship information. They will also typically be the exclusive location for information on school and local scholarships.
  
  
• Local Community Groups: Are you involved in a community group? Are your parents? Such groups often award scholarships to deserving local high school students who are somehow affiliated with them.
  
  
• Parents' Employers: Same idea as local groups.
  
  
• The Internet: Many websites like FastWeb have college scholarship information. The downside to such sites though is that everyone sees the same information, so either you will not qualify for the scholarship, or the competition is fierce.
  

Getting Into Harvard Month-By-Month: November

Each month, I discuss the steps you should take that month to be successful in applying to colleges. For a discussion about last month, check out the October post.

Freshmen

The work has picked up, hasn't it?

• Summers are a good time to show extra interest in a particular area. Start considering what you might do next year during the summer and look for opportunities to pursue. If you are unsure what is out there, ask teachers or sophomores you may know to see what other students have done in the past. Many colleges, including Harvard Summer School, also run summer school programs that you may be eligible for.
• Be active in the extracurricular groups you joined. Try to spend one or two weekends a month either participating in tournaments or whatever activity it is that the group is involved with.
  
• Study hard! Your grades this semester count as much as any other towards your GPA. Colleges will not discount your grade just because it was your first semester in school.
  

Sophomores

The pace has probably picked up a bit by this point. Here are a few pointers:

• Congratulations on finishing the PSAT! Your score should arrive soon if it has not already. However, at this point, don't simply put those study materials aside. Keep studying a little bit each month to prepare for the NMSQT next year, which is what really counts for National Merit Scholarship consideration.
  
• If you were in a summer program last year, think about pursuing it at a more advanced level. Or, look for new interests.
• Study hard!
  

Juniors

Ah, juniors. This is the money year. This is the year in which a majority of your college application will be finalized. Good luck!

• If you are taking the SAT last month, congratulations! However, if you were not satisfied with your score, that's okay. Take some time to focus on other activities, but consider signing up to take the test again. If you signed up for January or May, keep studying when you have free time.
  
• Try to keep up with your extracurricular activities.
  
• If you have teachers you liked and whose classes you did well in in previous years, go back and touch base with them. Tell them about interests and goals, with an eye towards perhaps asking them for a letter of recommendation down the road.
  

Seniors

This is crunch time for seniors. Applications are due soon, and colleges start sending out interview invitations.

• Continue working on your application and following up on recommendation letters.
  
• Contact your local admissions representative with any questions you have about Harvard College or the admissions process. They can be your best friends throughout this process!

The December post is coming soon. If you are concerned about what you should have done last month, look back at the October post.