Why it's so hard to get into an under 15% acceptance rate school

Harvard has a special ratings category for physically disabled applicants, as well as for applicants who have other time commitments, as quoted below. More importantly, the athletics rating primarily acts as a boost for applicants who receive a 1-2 rating, which roughly correlates with being able to contribute to a varsity team at Harvard. There is far less influence for the vast majority of HS athletes who do not play at this contribute to Harvard team level. For this group, I expect HS athletics offers little if any benefit over other types of ECs.

2023 Harvard Admissions Reader Guidelines

5 Athletic Rating --" Substantial commitment outside of conventional extracurricular activities such as family obligations or term-time work (should be included with other e/c to boost the rating or left as a “5” if it is more representative of the student’s commitment)." – Associated with a 2x admission advantage over non-athletes

6 Athletic Rating – “Physical condition or other special circumstances prevent significant activity.” – Too small sample size for analysis