Ofthe01's Guide to Getting into Harvard while Playing Runescape!

Hey everyone!

A good portion of you are probably thinking that you want to go to a top notch college while playing runescape. In this guide, I will show you a realistic approach to whether your dreams are actually achievable or not. This guide is meant to be 95% serious and 5% joke, simply because I'm posting a guide like this in an RS Cheating forum (haha?).

Let me first tell you a bit about myself. I've been playing runescape since 6th grade - sometimes I have been addicted and sometimes I have not. I started way back in the RSC days, and I have also played some other decent games as well. Currently, I go to a top notch college, and have gone through the college admissions process. Now, here comes the punchline of this paragraph: Runescape was one of the the main reasons why I did not get into Harvard, as it took up a good chunk of my time while I was really supposed to be doing something else.. Now, let's continue to the main section of the guide.


Part I - Know What Reality Is

Let me be straight-up and honest. Nobody, and I mean absolutely nobody, will get into Harvard if they are addicted to runescape their sophmore and junior years of high school. I'm going to say this point over and over again, but basically, you are competing against the best of the best high school students to get into college.

Now I want you to think of the smartest and most ambitious student at your middle or high school. That person has around a 10% chance of getting into Harvard by default. This may be surprising, but here are the statistics for Harvard's admission rate this year:

Harvard received more than 30,000 applications, an all time record. A record-low 6.9% of applicants were accepted to the Harvard College Class of 2014. Harvard did not disclose the size of its wait list, which is thought to be substantial.
Top 10% of high school students: 95%
SAT score (25/75 percentile): 2080-2370
ACT score (25/75 percentile): 31-35

Allright, let's do an analysis of this. I'm going to be on the safe side and say that 85% of all Harvard applicants are serious applicants (I really think it's more on the 92-95%, though). This means that 85% of all the applicants are like the smartest and most ambitious students at your school. Indeed, you are competing with these people. For those of you who don't know what SAT and ACT tests are, you should google it right now before reading on.

Now you're probably thinking: "Allright! All I need is a 2080 SAT score and to be ranked top 10% in my high school to have a chance!" Wrong. Harvard has a special "handicap" status for hispanics, blacks, and native americans. Also, Harvard recruits a lot of athletes and gives special consideration to people whose father/mother went to Harvard. The people who got in with a 2080 SAT Score are probably what I mentioned above, or are REALLY strong in another area. They might have a low SAT, but might have placed 2nd or 3rd in the US Math Olympiad competition. Or they might have started a business in high school which averages 1+ million in revenue annually.

The point is this: If you want to EVEN BE CONSIDERED, you must rank at least in the top 10% of of your graduating class (GPA of around at least 3.8 on average with a lot of AP classes) and have a 2200 SAT Score. Let me say this now: 3 out of 4 valedictorians and people who score a perfect (2400) SAT are rejected from schools like Harvard.

Some of you may think, "Oh well, maybe I can get into a lesser-known school like Brown University." Wrong again. Brown had a 9.3% acceptance rate and has the same competitiveness as Harvard does. Simply put, many people who were waitlisted or had a chance at Harvard get into brown. If you can't even be considered, you don't have a chance at these lower-league Ivy league schools either.


Part 2 - Meet Jake and Michael

In this section, I will compare two people who are applying to Harvard. The profiles of these people are very close to the profiles of some friends of mine, but are modified slightly. The point I want to get across is that college admissions is really a process. Harvard will look for unique applicants and usually prefer them over the "perfect" applicants.

Let's take a look at Jake. His dream was to get into Harvard since the age of 5! He worked really hard in college and consulted multiple resources to help his chances. He thought he had compiled the ultimate resume, but let's take a look:

Jake's Application
GPA: 4.0 (4.41 Weighted with AP's) - Valedictorian
SAT: 2340
Academic awards: District Book Scholar, Academic Quiz Bowl Champion, AP Scholar with Distinction
Extracurriculars:
9-12 Academic Quiz Bowl Club (President 12th grade)
10-12 Varsity Tennis (Team Captain 12th grade)
9-12 School Orchestra (Section Leader)
9-12 Science Olympiad (1st Place in multiple events)
11-12 School President
Volunteer work:
Hospital work with 400+ hours
Teacher recommendations: Excellent

Jake got rejected from Harvard. Now before I elaborate, let's move on to Michael. Michael was this person who always loved computers. He would not only write software but would also be involved in high-tech entrepreneurship. His passion clearly boosted his academic and communication skills, shown in the following:

Michael's Resume
GPA: 3.85 (4.21 with AP's) - Top 3%
SAT: 2260
Academic Awards: Top Score in Regional Math competition, Qualifier for US American Math Olympiad
Extracurriculars:
-Computer Club - Started this club in 10th grade and made it grow to 30 members in 2 years
-9th to 12th grade - Marching band (section leader, All-state band)
Work Experience:
-Interned for McAfee the summer before 12th grade, helped develop software projects for the company
Volunteer Experience:
-Helped an entrepreneur with the startup Snapshot, which develops software and technology to aid in iPhone picture placement optimization. Helped with marketing strategies, helped program the iPhone app interface.
Recommendations: Mediocre from 1 teacher, Absolutely stellar from another

Michael obviously got in. As you can see, Michael had the edge over Jake because he had a passion. He was extremely interested in programming, and his ambition helped him carry his passion to help companies develop software. I will state this again, but Any extracurriculars that involves gaming is highly frowned upon by college admissions officers, unless you help the company develop the game itself. Now there is an exception. Say you develop an RS Bot all by yourself (from pure scratch) and make a popular forum out of that. With some clever wording, you could use that to your advantage in your resume. However, anything inferior to this will probably be frowned upon.

The bottom point is this: You MUST have excellent high school records to even be considered for colleges like Harvard. And in order to separate yourself from the rest of the top-notch applicants, you must show your unique passion in an ambitious yet realistic manner.


Part 3 - Wrapping it up and some final tips

I know that I didn't really show you guys a "How to" guide, but my purpose was really to get you to understand. In addition, I wanted to provide a realistic approach to college admissions and disprove many false conceptions. There is NO CERTAIN METHOD to getting into Harvard, as all of it comes off of your interests and passions. However, every accepted applicant is hardworking and disciplined.

Now, I may be proven wrong, but I am 99.99999% sure that you will not get into colleges like Harvard if you are addicted to Runescape your sophomore and junior years of high school. This is simply because the top applicants are both academic AND social. You see that both Michael and Jake were involved in a ton of extracurriculars--and even though Jake got declined, he still was accepted into Duke University. A general guideline for competitive college admissions is that you have to display your passions in a "legit" way. You can't just develop software freestyle (unless you are a genius and can sell it to a company). You have to engage in clubs, internships, and volunteer activities to show your interest. If you don't, then quite frankly you will have a hard time compiling your resume with evidence.


Finally, I just wanted to give some tips to help you succeed:

1. If you want to get into Harvard, it is highly recommended that you find an approach to not play over 1-2 hours a day on Runescape. And thus, quitting is a very good approach. However, if you are very disciplined, you will still be able to do extracurriculars while fitting some RS time in. Remember that anything involving games is frowned upon by colleges, unless you are working with the company itself. Essentially, it's all a matter of time management (which is EXTREMELY CRUCIAL once you get into college). Personally, I would block my time into intervals, planning what I'm going to do each hour. In addition, I would really focus my priorities on extracurriculars and obtaining solid academic status.

2. Visit Talk.collegeconfidential.com . Here, you will find many other people who have high ambitions. One of the first things you should do is go to specific college forum topics and learn more about the college admissions process. This guide was simply an overview, and the actually process is much more complicated. Also, you should look into the "What are my chances" thread and compare where you are at with other applicants.

3. Be healthy physically and socially! Try to be outgoing and extroverted if you are not already, because starting your own clubs or being a president of a club looks very good on your resume. And the key to doing this is your ability to be social. Also, being fit physically gives you a lot of confidence and acts as a stress reliever. Every time I'm stressed out, I go and play basketball or go run, knowing that it will be relieving.

4. Find people who are similar-minded and talk to them. Obviously, you will dread spending tens of hundreds of hours studying for the SAT or for your AP classes (you should take as many AP classes as possible). However, finding friends who have similar interests will help motivate you and help you learn more about the admissions process.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this guide. I did write this guide because I will write some Pay-guides in the future about Runescape, so I could give you all a demo of how my guides are written. But the main purpose why I wrote this guide is because I really don't want to see people's dreams ruined by runescape. Good luck!

-Ofthe01

 

Must say that this is a very well written guide, I'm sure it'll end up helping someone.

 

Just skip the college and play rs... Eaziest way.

 

this, just get into harvard working as a janitor

 

The Janitor school there has a rigorous course study (from what I've heard)

Also, if you're waking up in 10th or 11th grade, just quit now and get your stuff together.

 

As I like to say....wag up until 10th, 11th and 12th, and then work your heart out....And then wag.

 

ahh!!words..words..words..everywhere T_T

 

ur stupid cause i am junior and i am in all 5 aps class and i get all As and got 2250 on my sat. FAIL and i play rs

 

The reason you didn't get into harvard was because you weren't smart enough. End of discussion.

And btw, you shouldnt write a guide on how to get into harvard when you yourself did not get into harvard.

 

the titles says getting into harvard while playing runescape and at the end u say quit rs?

 

I know that this guide angered a lot of people, so I will respond accordingly. Sorry if I sparked any of your emotions.

Well, that's good to hear. How about your extracurriculars? Everyone who applies to Harvard has similar stats like you - it's the passion and uniqueness shown in your extracurriculars and work that will mainly be the deciding factor.

You're actually right to an extent. Some people (although VERY FEW) can get into Harvard by their smarts alone. Harvard accepts people who have been on the US Math Olympiad team to compete with other countries by default, simply because they have potential to become great math professors. Harvard also accepts people who have written New-York Times best-selling books, simply because they have the potential to become a famous writer in the future.

Many people say that getting into Harvard is a crapshoot because the admission rate is so low (remember that 3 out of 4 valedictorians/pefect SAT takers get rejected). However, I got into a school with relatively the same prestige and admission standards, so I'm happy. And no, I was not addicted to RS my sophomore and junior years (although I was a little my freshman year).

 

dude, i am also a swimmer year round and holds multiple records at my school. I also have 160 hours of community service and am only a rising junior

 

Dude, i'm mindblown. i'm a senior playing rs. grades are bad too. lol.

 

That's the most bullshit I have ever read. You type like a 11 year old. Seriously, how the devil did you get into Harvard when you have that bad of grammar?

I call shenanigans.

 

might as well say fuck life ey?

 

I just finished freshman year of high school. This yeah i had a 3.33 a 3.5 a 3.33 and a 3.33 with a 3.1 for the year. I also did baseball and track. What kind of a college could i get into if i raised my gpa to a 3.5+ and did some clubs + More sports. Pm if possible.

 

How long u waste writing this guide?

 

How much time I wasted writing this guide? Probably 30 seconds because I couldn't think of a better title.

How much time I spent writing this guide? Probably around 30-40 minutes because I'd say I write pretty fast.

 

Great guide, some people are just to
addicted to a game that provides nothing
to one's life.

 

This guide is great. I hope this helps some people.