High school GPA and class rank to get into Harvard and Stanford

By John Dorian Chang

First off, there's no need to freak out if you're not the valedictorian or salutatorian.

Did you know that the vast majority of admits to Harvard and Stanford aren't?

Here's what you need to know about your high school GPA to get into the Ivy Leagues:

1) It's ok to have a poor freshman year GPA. What's important is to show an UPWARD TREND - improvement over time

2) As important as your GPA is your transcript and the classes you take. Be sure to take the HARDEST CLASSES AVAILABLE - APs, IB, etc

3) Make your junior year count. It's the one year that Admissions Officers focus the most on - you want your best performance that year

4) Don't forget about your SAT score. It counts as much (and sometimes even more) than your high school grades

5) As long as you're in the top 5 percent of your class, roughly speaking, you'll be fine

By no means am I recommending you do just the BARE MINIMUM. You should always aim to be valedictorian.

I went through this process awhile back and was accepted to 6 Ivy League schools and Stanford, so I speak from experience about this process. I wrote a book on college admissions tips called Hopeless to Harvard.

Follow my 5 critical steps above, and you'll be a strong candidate. Focus your energies on your passions - whether that's sports, science, or social studies.

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