<p>I think each student is different and while it is sometimes based on merit other times it is a crapshoot</p>
<p>I was at an info session on the Columbia campus (but I think it applies to most comparable schools), and the admissions officer said they look for "egg-shaped students," students who do well in all areas but have a focus or passion in one area.</p>
<p>ha! that is actually exactly what my Harvard interviewer said! She said that although Harvard "appreciates" a well-rounded student, that "egg-shaped" was a better descriptor or even a little lumpy...I thought it was a funny way of putting things...I can only hope I am lopsided! :)</p>
<p>i think "exceptional" math and science students are more common than "exceptional" literary jocks or history buffs. I dont mean people who merely do well in either category-i mean truly exceptional individuals. as far as SATs are a judge of this (which is very little), they highlight this trend. an 800 verbal is much more rare than an 800 math. too bad the analogies are gone-it is the human ability to analagize that sets our cognative abilities above those of animals.</p>
<p>i think you have a point there prepster, most awards readily recognize national science and mathematics competitions...although there is history day...but where are all the "exceptional" literary jocks or "history buffs"...and does Harvard care about them as much as their potential genetic researchers?</p>
<p>HH05 said something earlier about raw intelligence taking you very far in high school. my thoughts: working really hard can get you into cornell or brown, being very intelligent can get you into columbia or penn, but to get into harvard, yale, or princeton, you must be both very intelligent and very hardworking. i just oversimplified the matter, but you know what i mean.</p>
<p>of course !</p>
<p>I think that everything said above is probably true, but also that no one who is only good in one of the two choices has a chance at Harvard. Many times techies have just as much interest and excel just as well in humanities, they just happened to choose one path. And vice versa. You'd probably need to show at least competency in both areas to get into a school like Harvard.</p>
<p>for example</p>
<p>even though I abhor math in all its forms I just finished multivariable integral calculus I prefer lit espescially as it relates to politices!!!</p>
<p>exactly... one of the first things I did after I got into MIT was check their fine arts/comparative media courses out :)</p>
<p>Yep... even though I go to a math & science academy and my courseload is primarily calculus and science courses, my electives are all high level foreign language & lit courses, i do ESL tutoring at the local elementary school, i'm studying abroad this summer in spain, and i'm doing research through the linguistics department at UNT</p>
<p>i was rejected by MIT :-(
but i got a likely from columbia! :-)</p>