Applying early and the wierdness of Harvard decisions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>to all froshs/sophs/juniors: apply early to the school you really want to go to</p>

<p>harvard is, and has been for a long time, my dream school. the international prestige was probably a big factor, but that’s besides the point. after analyzing my HS’s acceptance stats, I ended up applying to yale because:</p>

<li>the only yale acceptances were early ones (deferred–>admit)</li>
<li>no one who applied to harvard early ever got in (even in regular)</li>
</ol>

<p>i thought i knew all the competition (the outstanding applicants). one was a 3 sport varsity athelete, ok gpa and test scores. another was a high gpa, high test scorer, state level tennis, state level math team champs, mvp for math team (perfect scores on oral competitions), five college math classes, went to harvard for summer school, honors choir etc. i knew i wasn’t going to get into h with these people applying early.</p>

<p>so dec 15 rolls around. the athelete gets into harvard, the math genius gets deferred at h, i get deferred at yale. whoopie. not completely unexpected. after all, h gets all the intel/imo/rsi champs, right?</p>

<p>wrong. i just found out that someone else got into h! this kid is in my ap english class. i think he has participated five times this entire semester. he runs cross country, but he is nowhere near one of the school’s top runners. not a URM. 5 APs this year, but the math genius has a more spectacular academic record by far. i can’t even imagine why he would have applied to h, knowing the competition he was going up against, and so i’m regretting my decision not to apply now that he got in.</p>

<p>p.s. i hated my yale essays, and i used the extra time to write new ones which seemed significantly better. we’ll see. so i guess the lesson is DON’T PROCRASTINATE and apply early to your dream school.</p>

<p>p.s. i admit that i don’t really know much about that other “unhooked” h acceptance, but assuming that is really all there is to him, could an essay really do that much for you?</p>

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<p>"Something" must've stuck out in his applications; this is the "something" that Harvard believes is integral to creating a class. Harvard made a connection with him and thus offered him a place in the class. As for the math genius, academics can only take you so far. Besides, an outstanding academic achievement for math in Harvard's eyes would be USAMO winner and IMO gold, not five college math classes (although that is utterly spectacular). Most people get in on this "something" that the admissions office is looking for. And the "something" doesn't necessarily have to be the essays, either. It could be reflected in almost every aspect of the application.</p>

3

<p>Obviously he did something right. He might have spectacular GPA/test scores that you don't know about, or might have outstanding out of school EC's that he is extremely devoted to.</p>

<p>Or maybe there isn't that much of a gap between him and the math whiz, and the math kid's essays were boring or only showed his math side. Who knows? College admissions are funky. But regardless, Harvard is as difficult to get into as Yale. If you got deferred at Yale (where I assume there was LESS school competition), it seems highly likely as well that you would have been deferred at Harvard, landing you in the same pool.</p>

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<p>You want to feel good about yourself?
Assume that kid was a legacy case and only got in on the merit of money. :)</p>

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<p>I think your message is well made. It's important also not to assume that you will never get into a school and then not apply at all.</p>

<p>Just courious, I know you said you didn't know much about the kid in your AP English class, but do you know his SAT scores?</p>

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<p>Yea, don't make assumptions. You don't really know anything about the other kid. If you want you can get to know him and realize how awesome he actually is.</p>