Answered by Jabbu
Getting into a great school is a four-year, full time commitment throughout high school. It's great to see that you're motivated at such a young age! The obvious criteria are excellent grades, a challenging high school curriculum, extra-curriculars with leadership positions, letters of recommendation, and essays. For the essays, you want to convince the admissions officers that you're a person who has great potential to be a leader and a success. You can easily find more information on essays from almost anywhere. What counts a LOT and many people don't realize is where you live. For instance, Harvard admits many people from the Boston area because their charter requires them to admit a yearly quota of Boston students. Also, Harvard would like to admit students from each state in America. Therefore, if you live in Boston or a distant state, this helps your chances greatly. Also, it helps if you're a great athlete. Recruited athletes at Ivy League schools are sometimes not very strong academically. That's not to say that there are no smart athletes at Ivies; it's just that it's not uncommon to see dumber Ivy League students who were recruited for football. Legacy also helps a lot. If your parents went to Harvard, this helps you immensely. Besides that, you need to try to be a leader and an innovator at everything you do. Try to do your best and be the best at everything. Be competitive and go for the win. Harvard takes winners, and if you want to go to Harvard, you have to win.