Hi! My name is Maria Clara and I'm a 19-year-old Brazilian student from Fortaleza, Ceará. This is the story of my journey to Harvard University!

My Background

Although I was born in Ceará, I spent a lot of time in another city called Potengi. It was there that I was truly shaped. Being a small place, however, it offered limited opportunities for people who lived there.

Another important aspect of my life was my school. I studied at Colégio Militar de Fortaleza, a renowned military school in Brazil, from elementary school through my senior year of high school. My school provided invaluable support during my journey to apply abroad, offering excellent extracurricular opportunities—something rare in Brazil—and although they didn't know a lot about the application process, they offered help with documents.

Why Studying Abroad?

I’ve always been the kind of person who loves exploring new cultures, traveling, and more. From a young age, I dreamed of studying abroad, and at around 12 or 13 years old, I even begged my mom to let me spend a year studying in another country. However, this didn’t happen—mainly due to the high costs and later because of the pandemic.

However, during the pandemic, I began seriously researching opportunities to study abroad and came across several websites offering guidance. Additionally, my older brother, who studied at a prestigious Brazilian institution called ITA, became aware of many people who had pursued sandwich undergraduate programs or master’s degrees abroad and saw the benefits of these experiences. With this perspective, he fully supported my decision to study abroad.

The major factor, however, was my own interest. I was passionate about studying international relations, debates, and politics, and I knew it would be difficult to fully explore these areas in Brazil, especially in Fortaleza. For example, only one university in Fortaleza offers an international relations program.

Between options, I choose USA

I ultimately chose the USA because of the greater scholarship opportunities. However, I had also considered applying to UBC, the University of British Columbia, in Canada. But since I applied early decision to Harvard, managing the deadlines became challenging, and I ended up applying only to Harvard.

Why Harvard?

When I was in ninth grade in Brazil, equivalent to freshman year in the USA, I joined my school’s International Relations Club. It was there that I discovered my passion for debate, global politics, and more. My school, along with 15 other military schools in Brazil, selects one student from each school to attend Harvard MUN, a Model United Nations simulation at Harvard. This is a competitive process, and the chosen student receives a full scholarship.

As I was deeply involved in the club, it became my dream to become president. In my sophomore year, I achieved that goal. By the start of my junior year, I was selected to represent my school at Harvard MUN.

It was through the opportunity to attend Harvard MUN that my dream of studying at Harvard began. After that, I also participated in the Harvard University International Relations Scholars Program on a full scholarship. Although the program was online, my interest in Harvard only deepened.

One of the highlights was having the chance to watch a real Harvard class, where I had the opportunity to listen to Professor Jason Furman’s economics class. Afterward, I thought to myself, 'I don’t want this to be the last class I see from this professor; I want to attend his class again.

Stats

I achieved an SAT score of 1530, with 780 in math and 760 in English. For my English proficiency test, I took the TOEFL and scored 112 out of 120. Finally, my GPA score was 9.52 out of 10.

Extracurriculars

My first extracurricular activity was my socio-environmental organization called 'Construindo Futuro.' It was a project I co-founded with a friend, with the goal of spreading education about the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and movements in Brazilian communities. The project reached over 7,000 young people across Brazil, in 17 Brazilian states, and in 15 countries.

My second extracurricular activity was my school’s International Relations Club. As I mentioned, I joined in ninth grade, and by sophomore year, I became the director of the Secretariat. By senior year, I was elected president of the club. In this role, I organized three internal simulations at my school and coordinated the largest MUN in Fortaleza for high school students. I also organized the first English-language MUN in Fortaleza. And every Thursday, I taught lessons on how to excel in simulations, and we also held mock sessions.

Through my involvement and impact in the club, I had the opportunity to attend HMUN and traveled extensively within Brazil to represent my school in MUN conferences.

I also worked with an organization called Diplomun, which focuses primarily on MUN simulations. In this role, I planned workshops related to leadership, soft skills, boot camps, and more. I joined Diplomun in my second year, and today, the organization is considered the largest MUN simulation organization in Latin America. I also served as a mentor for students interested in attending HMUN and YaleMUN. Each year, I teach 50 to 60 students how to excel in MUN simulations.

Finally, I also participated in extracurriculars related to olympiads. I founded a science club at my school, and together we participated in the Science Olympiad.

Preparation and Tips

Since I discovered the application process early, I had plenty of time to prepare myself. By my sophomore year, I had already decided to apply early decision to Harvard, so I worked on building a strategic profile that aligned with their expectations.

I developed my profile throughout my three high school years, but the preparation became intense during my senior year. I studied for the SAT and took it in August, and alongside that, I also prepared for and completed the TOEFL.

The first tip I would give is to build a strong identity for your application. Make sure everything—your personal statement, supplemental essays, and recommendation letters—connects and reflects a cohesive story about who you are.

The second tip is to seek as much feedback as possible from students who already attend the university. Don’t be shy—reach out and ask for their opinions and advice! Because they already went through that process, so who would be better than them?

For the SAT, start studying as early as possible. Additionally, read extensively to become comfortable with the SAT vocabulary and improve your comprehension skills.

Financial Aid

Harvard offers a full-need-met policy for international students, so I only needed to apply for financial aid through the CSS Profile and received a full ride scholarship together with my acceptance letter!