<p>Hi everyone this is my first ever post and I have a quick question about Harvard admissions. I am thinking about applying to Harvard and am wondering if it is worth my time and money (due to its extremely low acceptance rate). I have a 2260 SAT (760 CR, 790 M, 710 W),4 750+ SAT II's, 5's on three AP exams, and I am the captain of three varsity sports at my school. I am very involved in an adaptive skiing program and headed a ski tuning project that tuned over 500 pairs of skis. I am first in my class and have a 4.0 GPA, but my school is very small (it only offers 8 APs and my graduating class has 79 seniors). Of course I know that Harvard is INCREDIBLY hard to get into, but do I at least have a chance at admittance? Thank you for helping me out.</p>
<p>p.s. I forgot to mention that I am a National Merit Semifinalists and that this is a very brief summary of my extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>You are qualified. You know the chance of admission is low. The adaptive ski program sounds interesting. If you would like to go there, apply. You will always wonder if you don’t. Good luck!</p>
<p>Are you going to get in? Most likely not. (and I’d give that same answer to pretty much every other kid who asked that question).
But do you have a <em>chance</em>?
Yes.
And do you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take?
Go for it. </p>
<p>The good/bad news is that you have a roughly 6% chance of being accepted. Yes, you sound like a competitive and qualified candidate, but the vast majority of rejected students are competitive and qualified. Recommendations and essays will probably determine the outcome and we are not the people reading those.</p>
<p>Good luck. Be sure to apply to a wide range of schools that you would be a good fit for.</p>
<p>It will cost you $75.00 to find out and as a friend told my daughter when she was talking about her own chances, “somebody has to get in, maybe it will be you.” </p>
<p>I would disagree that the Original Poster has a roughly 6% chance of being accepted. Yes, that’s the overall acceptance rate, but I think that’s in many ways misleading, just because so many people apply to Harvard without a realistic chance of being accepted. I do agree that HYPS are a reach for every student, but I would venture to say that students with a 1550 Reading/Math SAT who are #1 in their class are accepted at much more than a 6% rate.</p>
<p>I am still waiting for a highly selective school to tell applicants “Unless you are a recruited athlete, URM, or legacy, our minimum acceptance standards are a 2100 SAT and 3.9 GPA, and we will not look at any applications that don’t meet that standard.” Of course it will never happen, but it would be a far more honest way of doing business than the current approach of telling everyone to apply because, hey, you never know.</p>
<p>@gibby Surely there is a disjunct between ‘qualified to be at Harvard’ (or ‘can do the work’ – the other term that is tossed around frequently) and ‘someone who actually has a high chance of acceptance’? </p>
<p>Qualified to be at Harvard (when using the grades/test scores framework that Fitzsimmons uses in the quote) could mean a 3.7 GPA and a 2100 SAT with 0 ECs and 0 awards. Such a person would probably be able to handle the workload with ease, but I doubt that he/she would shine in an applicant pool filled with 4.0s, 2400s, incredible ECs and international awards. </p>
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<p>With my (very) limited knowledge of experience, I would guess this^ to be true. I just have no idea as to what the ‘actual percent’ may be, and I still doubt that it’s even somewhat ‘high’. </p>
<p>@gibby if you look at Naviance data, you will see that not everyone who applies to Harvard is “qualified”, and clearly not everyone has “around a 6%” chance. The acceptance rate is highly correlated with GPA and SAT.</p>
<p>At my D’s public high school, your chances are nearly nil at Ivies if your SAT is less than 2000. But if your SAT is over 2250 and have a 4.0 the acceptance rate is far higher (between 25-50% depending on school).</p>
<p>Plus, RD acceptance rate at Harvard is like 3.5%, EA is 21%. 6% does not apply to any group of applicants.</p>
<p>What do you do for the adaptive ski program and how long have you done it? How did you first get involved? </p>
<p>Remember that admissions is less concerned with the individual applicant and more concerned with assembling an interesting class, and that your potential contribution to the class and community are important. Also, “character” is one of the important qualities top colleges are looking for, however that might be defined or determined.</p>
