Applying Early BIG TIPS

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>I applied early this year to Harvard, and I was deferred. But after some thought, I've come up with a few important tips that if I knew beforehand, may have given me a better shot.</p>

<p>1) Don't apply early just because there's a higher acceptance rate.</p>

<p>In all honesty, the rate means nothing. Zero. Zilch. The only people who have a higher chance are legacy, recruits, and URMs. If you're an unhooked applicant like me who doesn't have a 2400 or completely insane stats (as in starting a 500k business or something), seriously consider using that early somewhere else. I'm having some regrets about applying early, but also, if you really want to just try your luck, by all means go for it.</p>

<p>2) Don't send in an arts supplement if you've never focused on art too much.</p>

<p>My mistake. I sent in some art slides of my paintings…I wanted to apply as an Econ major and all my activities are based in leadership in my community. Sending in an extra supplement when your entire focus has been on something else kind of weighs down your app imo and makes you seem sort of shallow. </p>

<p>3) Your essay may not be as good as you think it is.</p>

<p>This one is huge. I thought my essay was good…until I started writing more essays for other schools haha…I feel like my newer essays show me more than my first essay, and in my case, it had to do with the fact that Harvard was the first ever school I applied to. If you do plan on applying early, make sure you spend MONTHS on your essay. Not just a few days or a week. You need a lot more practice than you think.</p>

<p>4) Expect Failure and move on</p>

<p>Don't think about getting accepted at all. Odds are it won't happen. If it does, congratulations, you're amazing haha..But in all seriousness, don't get caught up with harvard at all. There are plenty of other schools out there, and if you're good enough to apply to harvard, you're probably good enough to apply elsewhere.</p>

<p>I realize I'm not an expert or anything nor do I know anyone who's gone to Harvard. I come from a small town in the middle of nowhere in CA. I have no guidance counselors (this year was the first time I met my GC), so I had to figure this process out myself. These tips are just what I've deduced from my own experience.</p>

<p>Best of luck everyone
-YoungD</p>

2

<p>I totally agree with the essay part. Exact same situation here. lol</p>

3

<p>“make sure you spend MONTHS on your essay.”</p>

<p>Great suggestion! Students often spend months taking practice tests for the SAT/ACT, but then don’t spend nearly enough time on their essays.</p>

4

<p>I might change #4 to “Expect disappointment…” Not being admitted to Harvard is not the same ad failure.</p>

5

<p>3! Yes. I would go so far as to say: even if [xxx top choice U] is your first deadline, start early writing/submitting essays for scholarship apps or other applications. Especially for Harvard, cause you can use any 2 essays you want. Write a lot of essays, and soon enough you’ll realize what you actually want to portray about yourself.</p>

<p>But on #1, I think there is a significant advantage to applying early to Harvard. This year the SCEA rate was like 20%, and the RD rate is going to end up at like 3% to average out to 6-7%. There’s no way that was all because of legacy/urm/etc etc. But I would agree that SCEA sort of sucks, personally I did a bunch of unrestricted early action and I feel like that is the best strategy. Even if I hadn’t gotten in to my reach school, I would’ve gone into the RD round with several very solid options. Plus, this helps with #3 as well, if you submit a bunch of apps before your reach your essays will be SO MUCH BETTER. #4 is also a non-issue if you do EA. If you choose your schools well, you will have some nice acceptances in December.</p>

<p>Great advice!</p>

6

<ol>
<li>Untrue. The accept rates are better even with the superstars, hooked applicants etc in the case of Harvard. Some intricate, detailed studies using statistical analysis have come to that conclusion. Your chances are just about nil through regular admissions. Calculate the number once you pull out the EA acceptees and it is outrageously low. Also Harvard does not give legacies a leg up only if they apply early which some schools do, so they are also competing with others in the pool during RD. Not the case at a school such as Penn where legacy is considered only during the ED round.<br></li>
</ol>

<p>2.Again, not true. My neighbor’s son my doctor’s son, and a number of kids who were not arts oriented sent in some extra stuff that they thought neat and that added another dimension to them. They actually got notes from admissions who liked the supplements. My son sent an extra essay on an interest of his, that got favorable comments. The problem is that the stuff has to be GOOD. For Harvard, it has to be super good. You think you are a good cellist–remember they had YoYo Ma. So don’t bother with it if it isn’t good or interesting. The problem is most kids and parents are unable to make unbiased judgemnt on this. If you can get someone who can tell you if our art portfolio is average or striking, who knows what s/he is saying and is honest, that is of great help. My sons’ high school which has a great art program has found that most families/students don’t want an honest opinion because 99% of the time, it isn’t anything terrific. But the counselors there say that sending even run of the mill stuff in, is not going to hurt a student’s chances, and hey, maybe someone will take a shine to what’s there. Unless there is an offensive/foolish element to the submissions, it isn’t going to cause harm, and that is all that counts in the process–cause no harm.</p>

<p>3.Most student essays are average, just by definition. When you apply to a school like Harvard, anything that gets a 4 or 5 on a 5 point scale has to be truly extraordinatry and just hit the reader the right way. You might as well understand that your essay as proud as you may be of it is most likely to be a “3” rated essay, and has a pretty good chance of being below that. And that is with one’s best efforts. Fortunately, the essays do not figure that highly into the equation except something truly special, which is highly unlikely you are going to get, or have damning info int them, which you can avoid. You just try to give more insight into yourself and give it your best go but don’t be banking on them to being anyting but null factor in the process even if it is a pretty good essy.</p>

<ol>
<li>Right on.</li>
</ol>

<p>Not much you can do with accept rates like Harvard’s. Even those who make living prepping students and packaging them for optimal chances get a great success rate, and that’s with kids with all the basic material for acceptance.</p>

7

<p>Cptofthehouse- the essays are a HUGE part of the application, probably worth as much as your gpa and scores, it is not something to take lightly.</p>

<p>Also, I’d stress that the admit rate means little. As more people apply early, and they keep a ceiling on how many they admit, the early rate will eventually decline. Also, they STRESS that when they make decisions on early apps to make sure that an acceptee would have gotten in the RD round, so that fact coupled with the fact that they haven’t even seen the RD pool, means that Early acceptees are most likely more than qualified (in comparison to RD applicants). Does H do a perfect job? No. But they do take pains to make sure everyone accepted deserves the spot.</p>

8

<p>People applying RD this year to Harvard are probably battling 3 -3.4% admit rates.</p>

<p>There are only about 770 seats left to be filled or if we use a 94% yield for EA, about 824 seats left to be filled.</p>

<p>If we consider 77% yield on RD, 1070 more people will be admitted, or a total of 1965 for the year. I would not be surprised if this number is lower than 1050.</p>

<p>If Harvard receives another 29,000 applications in regular and adds the 3196 deferrals, we are looking at 32,196 applications for RD and 1070 admit slots for a rate of-------- 3.3%.</p>

<p>Depending on how Fitzsimmons is looking at the yield for EA and RD, it is not far fetched for this rate to be 3%. He is trying hard to get the best of them to apply early or else he would not have admitted an extra 125 kids this year from last.</p>

<p><a href=“http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/12/895-admitted-through-early-action/[/url]”>http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/12/895-admitted-through-early-action/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

<p>I would say that another 32-33k applications will come in. There was a total of over 34k last year. Seeing the huge jump in EA apps, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an increase in RD apps too</p>

10

<p>“1) Don’t apply early just because there’s a higher acceptance rate.”</p>

<p>People need to stop looking at percentages. Different kids are applying early than regular decision. The Harvard Admissions Office claims that everyone they let in would have been admitted if they had applied early instead. The only reason Harvard even has early admissions is that they were losing applicants to other schools that had an early program. </p>

<p>I agree with you essay point too. I have some friends that whip out essays really quickly, and it’s hard to think that they’ll make a strong impression with an admissions officer.</p>

11

<p>^ It doesn’t matter what the admissions office “claims,” the numbers don’t add up. The early admissions rate is 7 times greater than regular. Harvard is clearly favoring SCEA applicants.</p>

12

<p>No. They don’t. My point is that your can’t compare the two applicant pools. The Early pool isn’t just a smaller version of the regular one; it’s a different pool. You have to look at average scores and the like to compare them.
Furthermore, most of the applicants applying early had a reasonable shot at getting in. (Look at the number of defers.) I’m assuming that’s because in early admission, you can only apply early to one school (if you are applying to SCEA or ED). Students are more realistic because applying ED to a school will help your odds because schools like to have a high yield. The being said, during normal admissions, many students apply to Harvard as a far-reach or dream school. While some of these students could get in, their chances are less than a better candidate’s. Students like these lower the admissions percentage. Also you’re ignoring the athletes that take up some of the early spots.</p>

13

<p>The essay thing really just depends on how a person writes. Some people write best over a long period of time. Others can produce the same quality of work in an afternoon. I would have to say that how long you spend on your essay matters less than if you’re writing about a topic you can get personal and reflective with. It’s also really important to critically edit your essay to get it as concise and to the point as possible.</p>

14

<p>Most applicants in SCEA rounds to top colleges are usually quite good. However, the same people are turning around and applying to all the other schools in RD. So if you add up 5k to Harvard, 4k to Princeton, 6k to Stanford, 4k to Yale etc, you will come up with about 20-25k reasonably good applicants across board and those who did or did not get in are turning around and applying to other top schools. </p>

<p>When you apply early as part of 5k pool the college has a much better look at you than when you apply as part of a 30k pool. So it is important to use your SCEA to the school you like the most. </p>

<p>Harvard admitted 750 last year but increased the admits to almost 900 with not a large bump in applications. It is a clear indication that if you are good and apply early, they prefer to admit you early. They are clearly not holding back a lot of seats for the much larger pool.</p>

15

<p>Amaskedstudent, look at the numbers texaspg quoted. “Harvard admitted 750 last year but increased the admits to almost 900 with not a large bump in applications.” Is the SCEA pool this year 150 acceptances stronger than the pool last year? Doubtful. Harvard is using SCEA to protect its yield. It could find similar/better applicants in RD, but it is favoring the SCEA applicants. Look at a school that is much closer to not favoring EA applicants: MIT. This year its EA acceptance rate was under 10%, and a huge number were deferred. I find it hard to believe that a) MIT is twice as selective as Harvard, or b) Harvard’s SCEA pool is twice as selective as MIT’s early pool, relative to their RD pools. Doesn’t make sense.</p>

16

<p>Unicameral2013- the number they admitted went up 14.6 percent (from 772 to 885) but applications increased at a faster rate - 14.9 percent. They aren’t favoring SCEA applicants, the pool may very well just be a very strong pool. And when removing recruits (about 220), you’re left with about 665 admits, and from there if you remove URMs/Legacies, then you will likely have an acceptance rate below 10 as well.</p>

17

<p>Did their class size also increase by 15%? No? Then they did admit proportionally more from SCEA than they will from RD. Their application number increasing only proves my point. Harvard is trying to get everyone to apply early, by making it clear that you have a better shot early (20% vs 3%). It’s working. And an acceptance rate below 10 is still 3x more than the RD rate of approximately 3%, and that below 10% from MIT is INCLUDING their hooked applicants.</p>

18

<p>Some of you may argue that since MITs EA is unrestricted, the pool is much weaker. Let’s look at that. This year, MIT deferred 4397 applicants and admitted 650 from a pool of 6541. For the sake of argument, lets say that those rejected are the ones who are totally unqualified (though this is not true; MIT rejects very talented students). Then we have an acceptance rate of 650/(650+4397) or about 12.9%. Again, significantly lower than Harvard’s 18.5%.</p>

19

<p>The pool is strong among most applicants applying early to a top 10 school. The way the schools treat the non-admits is just different. A differed kid at Harvard/Yale/Princeton/MIT might have gotten an outright rejection at Stanford because Stanford only defers 500 and rejects everyone else not admitted. That is just a policy the school follows while others want to take a second look at lot more students as part of RD.</p>

20

<p>"Most applicants in SCEA rounds to top colleges are usually quite good. However, the same people are turning around and applying to all the other schools in RD. So if you add up 5k to Harvard, 4k to Princeton, 6k to Stanford, 4k to Yale etc, you will come up with about 20-25k reasonably good applicants across board and those who did or did not get in are turning around and applying to other top schools. "</p>

<p>This was related to the point I was making before. The top kids out of each applicant pool at schools like Stanford and Princeton already got into their top choices (presumably), so they aren’t applying to Harvard RD. While the rest of the applicant pool have a decent shot at Harvard, there is a good chance they would have also been deferred/denied early. I’m not sure if Harvard does or does not give an advantage to early applicants; I just think looking at the statistics is a bad indicator.</p>

<p>Anyways, it’s too late for this to matter for this year, so good luck to everyone applying regular admissions.</p>