<p>I'm trying to set up my plan for Harvard. One of my friends told me Harvard doesn't look at your extracurricular activities as long as you got good grades and SAT score. Is that true? Do extracurricular activities matter?</p>
<p>Your friend is incorrect. This year Harvard had over 29,000 applicants for ~1650 slots in the freshman class. Nearly all of those applicants had excellent grades and test scores. So what they are left with to distinguish and choose between all those applicants are your extracurricular activities, essays, and recommendations. </p>
<p>Your excellent grades and test scores will get you a seat at the table. From there your extracurriculars are what will win the game for you.</p>
<p>At harvard, being the best of the best school wise is expected. 25% of the students are 10 points away from a perfect on their SAT at least, and 25% have at least a 35 on their ACT. Every year harvard rejects THOUSANDS with perfect scores. They look for well rounded people, so you better be a circle to get in. Also, the whole process is a crapshot with these elite schools. It depends on who is reading your application, when they read it, and many other factors. But as coureur said, good scores will give you a chance to play the game. Everything else will seal the deal.</p>
<p>I’n not certain if well - rounded which to me implies “jack of all trades - master of none” is necessarily what they’re looking for. I believe they are looking for people who will make a difference in the future and be a good reflection on the school. This to me means students who have a few EC’s that they are very passionate about and have achieved a high level of expertise.</p>
<p>@ olleger - Uh what is your source for those stats. First of all, there aren’t even “THOUSANDS” of perfect scorers; the total number of perfect scores on the act and the sat combined is less than 1000. For 25% to be 10 points away from a perfect score would mean nearly 400 students got a 2390, when the actual number is around 60 or 70 out of all test takers. There is a thread on CC somewhere that has frequency statistics of specific scores on the SAT. Read up and don’t go around posting ridiculous information to make people think it’s impossible to get into Harvard. </p>
<p>I believe about 2250+ is a respectable score for Harvard or any other Ivy League school. Like the other said though, EC’s and essays are where the true difference comes out.</p>
<p>An0maly my stats were from U.S. News Ultimate college guide. My numbers were out of 1600 meaning they didnt factor in the writing portion. This is exactly what it says:
(25th to 75th percentile): 1400-1590 SAT
(25th to 75th percentile): 31- 35 ACT
This means that 50% of the students scored in these ranges. 25% scored higher, 25% scored lower.</p>
<p>Your friend is smart and trying to thin out the competition–</p>
<p>and if you’re dumb enough to believe them, you don’t really deserve to get in either</p>
<p>^^^ “(25th to 75th percentile): 1400-1590 SAT; (25th to 75th percentile): 31- 35 ACT -
This means that 50% of the students scored in these ranges. 25% scored higher, 25% scored lower.”</p>
<p>That’s a pretty understandable assumption, but I don’t think it works out to 25% of the students being at or above 1590 CR + M. I have two kids who each had 800 CR and M scores in the 600s. They helped drive up the 25/75 rating on the CR scale but were under 1500 CR + M. I think that similarly, a lot of the 800 M scorers won’t have 790 or above CR scores. But your statement “good scores will give you a chance to play the game. Everything else will seal the deal” is right on target.</p>
<p>Gadad - Is completely right. My son is another example of that not working: 790 Math, 670 CR. Also, if your statement were true Harvard would be publicizing that because it would be an extreme accomplishment. What they did publish is the following: of the applicants 2900 scores 800 on CR, 3500 scored 800 on Math and 3700 had #1 rank.</p>
<p>To OP, this past weekend I attended the welcoming address with Harvard’s President and Dean of Admissions. I wrote a couple notes about the current class:
- “Wicked smart” - several hundred. Shown in academic achievements way past school curriculum etc.
- “Wicked good” - 2500 cut down to several hundred. These have distinguishing excellence. Ex. Yo Yo Ma
- Great all the rounders, multi-talented. - remainder of acceptances.</p>
<p>So as you can see, extracurriculars come into play significantly.</p>
<p>Universally, every applicant, in addition to fitting one of the above categories, has great character and personal qualities.</p>