Why is it so hard to enter stanford univresity or harvard university?

when do u have to start getting A's to enter them?

Why is it so hard to enter stanford univresity or harvard university?
They are some of the top academic schools in the country. You have to have A's through out high school and will have to be in the top part of your class if its a big class or 1st or 2nd if you have a small graduating class. You will also need to get almost perfect on your ACTs and SATs. Good Luck
Reply:It is hard because there are a lot of people wanting to attend these universities, therefore the admissions people can be selective. For example, Stanford received around 24,000 applications last year, and admitted around 2400.





It is never too early to start preparing. Since 9/10 of the applicants are rejected, you need to have a stronger application than they did.





Best of luck. And remember there are plenty of fine universities other than these two. They are also selective, but probably not to this degree.
Reply:nice to get into the habit in middle school. But as soon as you start high school you should start gett ing staight A's.


Straight A's isn't all it takes though. You need to be incredible impressive.





I know a girl who receiver a 2370 on her SATs. She had over 4.0 for her GPA. She played volleyball and piano. Yet when she applied to Stanford, she got waitlisted.





She seems like a well rounded student, and very gifted. But Stanford told her she was a cookie cutter student, and they had more just like her. She needed to do something amazing, win a huge award, or show leadership.
Reply:First of all, you can't make any grammatical errors on your application. It might sound petty, but the admissions departments of these schools will cut you for doing that no matter what your SAT scores and academic records happen to be.





Secondly, it is helpful to have either extremely wealthy, prominent parents (preferably alumni) or to come from a poor background. They like people from extreme backgrounds, so middle of the road, average American kids are a bit disadvantaged.





Thirdly, one must have extracurricular activities as well as good grades. They don't want somebody that has only been a good student. They're looking for people who participate and engage in many activities.





Not many people get into these schools, and you shouldn't worry about it too much. There are so many great state schools out there that cost much less than these elitist private schools.
Reply:stanford and harvard are hard to get into because so many strong applicants apply. you should try to get A's through all of high school. however, your grades from your jr. yr are the most important