<p>Any idea of how many of the 35,000 applications are crap-shoot applications where the applicants are just wasting $75?</p>
<p>Harvard AdCom has said that about 85% of their applications are “qualified” - whether or not those 15% can be classified as crapshoot or not is open to interpretation. Some of that 15% may think that they are truly qualified… don’t know if an exact proportion of people who apply to Harvard for the heck of it can be truly calculated :P</p>
<p>My interviewer told me that around 5,000 to 7,000 applications are truly deserving of acceptance beyond just academic qualification. Out of these, luck in the form of the college’s vision of the shape of the class and other subjective factors separate the admits from that group. But take this with a grain of salt…</p>
<p>~85% are said to be qualified applicants, but a significantly smaller percentage are actually competitive applicants. That said, the admissions officers have said that they could admit another full class without seeing a drop in quality.</p>
<p>I’m wondering what the real numbers are. Their acceptance rate is about 1 out of 16. I know four people who are applying at my school, and of those I’m the most qualified. Of course, it’s just four.</p>
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<p>According to you, anyway.</p>
<p>^Exactly. Unless you’ve read their essays, recs, and the rest of their applications and sat in on their interviews if they had one, how would you really know?</p>
<p>Well, I’m not sure what “qualified” means in this scenario, but I’m probably in the 15% of applicants that think they’re qualified but are not, lol.</p>
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Don’t you mean 85%? I think you misread:
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<p>Don’t you mean 15%? I think you misread:
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<p>I have read their entire applications, and they have read mine. Let’s not be a ■■■■■ and provoke/jump to conclusions.</p>
<p>Yo have read their teacher recs and interview reports!? How I wish I had your powers of perception! :p</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, unless you are a Harvard admissions officer, your assessment of other people’s applications is worth exactly nothing, hence my post.</p>
<p>@Noitara, Dwight</p>
<p>What are your respective majors?</p>
<p>Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, probably with a secondary in either history or gov. Though oddly I’m like 2 classes away from a secondary in Human Evolutionary Biology so that could happen too.</p>
<p>I tend to agree with when I read somewhere a Stanford admission officer saying that Stanford will not improve the quality of admitted students by looking 14000 applicants compared to say just 7000 applicants. In other words, Stanford rejects students just because there are not enough seats for all qualified students. Harvard and other elite top 10 colleges will be in the same boat. If you are one of those who is lucky there will be opportunities in those colleges more than others that will help shape your future better. Else too, with some extra initiative you can do well comparably. The point is lots of applicants who WILL get rejected are qualified students.</p>