<p>[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2200 (790CR, 730M, 680W)
[</em>] ACT: Didn't take
[<em>] SAT II: 740 USH, 760 Math II, 720 Chem
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8 at my local Community College, 4.0 Highschool
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Homeschool
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): None
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): None
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: Calc II, Stats, College Chem, Econ 1, College English 1&2, Russian 3
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Presenter at World Maker Faire 2012, won best in show, 10th in the world for SEAPerch Robotics, 3rd Regional for MATE Robotics, University of Maryland Young Scholar, National Merit Commended
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Racquetball, Robotics (President, 3 years), Started a charity to help provide education to underprivileged kids through online schooling, Russian Club (Founder, President)
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Taught music at a private school
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Started a Charity
[<em>] Summer Activities: Taught music at a private school, ran a charity
[</em>] Essays: Good
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Good
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Outstanding
[<em>] Additional Rec: Excellent
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): MD
[<em>] Country (if international applicant):
[</em>] School Type: Homeschooled, then Community College to take classes my parents couldn't teach me
[<em>] Ethnicity: White
[</em>] Gender: M
[<em>] Income Bracket: 250K+
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): My Grandpa went there
[/ul]</p>
<p>I know that my test scores and college GPA are a bit weak, but I'm hoping my ECs, awards, and legacy status (albeit somewhat tenuous) would help me out a bit. Obviously you can't really chance Harvard, but am I at least a competitive applicant? Or am I just wasting my time?</p>
<p>Posters on CC overestimate people’s understanding of just how difficult admissions to these top schools are (sub-10% admit rate). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told “bro you’ll get a full ride anywhere” because of my ACT score. So you have to keep in mind many applicants to Ivy League schools are vastly under-qualified and are led to mistakenly believe that an ACT score in the 30s or an SAT score in the 2000s is paramount to gaining admission into these schools. What I’m saying is, these kids get 31s and think, “man, look at me. I better apply to Princeton with a score like this.” It stems from the lack of public knowledge (at least among high school students) concerning the extremely competitive nature of Ivy League admissions. </p>
<p>So, it’s safe to assume many of the 35,000 applicants to Harvard are indeed under-qualified. Yale’s website says something along the lines of “75% of applicants are qualified to do the work here,” and I’d imagine that number being lower at Harvard as it receives a significantly greater volume of applications.</p>
<p>I normally agree with just about everything you post, T26E4, but I ought to disagree with you here. At least on the CC world, I take the term “competitive” to basically connote “am I academically qualified/do I stand at least an inkling of a chance of getting admitted?” Because the overall applicant pools at the most selective colleges are extremely strong, the objective and subjective differences between an admitted applicant and rejected applicant can be incredibly small. Thus, I’d argue that the majority of applicants to Harvard are * competitive <a href=“or%20at%20the%20very%20least%20qualified”>/i</a> in the admissions process but still are quite * unlikely * to be accepted.</p>
<p>^^ I agree. If your SAT/ACT scores are higher than Harvard’s 25th percentile, which according to the Common Data set is 2080+(SAT) and 31+ (ACT), then YOU ARE a competitive applicant. That doesn’t mean your chances of being accepted are increased, as the admissions process is so subjective and unpredictable – and according to William Fitzsimmons 80% of students applying are competitive applicants. It just means that your test scores will not be the reason you are rejected.</p>
<p>Hmmmm… I get the point. My apologies, Jon. I agree that many applicants are likely to be “viable” i.e. in the running even if the odds of any particular applicant is v small.</p>
<p>How can your legacy status be “somewhat tenuous”? If one or both of your parents graduated from Radcliffe or from Harvard College (not from one of Harvard’s graduate or professional schools), you’ll be considered a legacy. If neither of them did, you won’t be. If you are considered a legacy, then Harvard is rather vague about what that will get you: “Among a group of similarly distinguished applicants, the daughters and sons of College alumni/ae may receive an additional look,” whatever that means. ([Harvard</a> College Admissions § Applying: Frequently Asked Questions](<a href=“http://admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/faq.html#25]Harvard”>http://admissions.college.harvard.edu/apply/faq.html#25))</p>
<p>As for extracurricular activities, they wouldn’t make up for an application that was academically deficient. Yours doesn’t seem to be. You seem to be academically qualified. The bad news, as you know, is that myriads of other applicants will be academically qualified, too.</p>
<p>ETA: Oh, I overlooked the part about your grandfather having attended Harvard. As noted above, doesn’t count. Sorry.</p>
<p>Can anyone explain how one can be bot a first generation and a legacy? Anyway for Harvard you need to retake the SAT. 2250 is good. 2310 is better. A 2200 is likely in the bottom 50% of the applicant pool.</p>