Before you create a “chance me” thread

Colleges & Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>Before you go asking anyone about your odds of being accepted, I’d like to tell you that nobody can give you an accurate prediction of your chance at Harvard or a top tier college in this regard. Harvard and other similar colleges receive countless applicants every year, each of them very well qualified, yet they only admit an extremely small portion of the applicant pool (~5% for Harvard). The best you can get from creating a chance thread is whether or not you’re in the radar. Well, I’m here to give a general rough estimate of where an applicant might stand relative to other applicants. Answer the following questions honestly to find out where you are in a pool of phenomenal students.</p>

<p>Test Scores and Grades *skip the SAT section if you’ve taken the ACT and skip the ACT question if you’ve taken the SAT</p>

<p>SAT Writing above or equal to 750?
SAT Math above or equal to 750?
SAT CR above or equal to 750?
ACT score composite above or equal to 33?
SAT subject test scores above 700 for each subject?
Are your grades in the top 10% of your high school graduating class?
Is your high school class schedule among the most rigorous offered at your school? </p>

<p>ECs
Do you hold any leadership position throughout your high school?
Have you won any state-level competition (national-level competition if you’re an international applicant)?
Do you have a few ECs you excel in rather than spreading yourself over a thousand activities?
Are you committed to your ECs?</p>

<p>Essays
Are your essays honest?
Have you edited your essays multiple times?
Did you write about who you are rather than what you think might please an essay reader?
Do your essays show who you are as an individual, do they show your personality, character, strengths, and weaknesses?
Did you write an essay that “show” who you are rather than “describe” who you are (write about events, not adjectives that describe you)?
Have you submitted your essays on time?
Did you make sure to not repeat yourself?</p>

<p>*Recommendations *
Do your recommenders know you well?
Do your recommenders hold you in high regards?</p>

<p>*Interview *
Were you your natural self during the interview?
Did you give a good answer to the question, “why this college?” (aka. Not answers like “because I think it’s the best college in the world”)
Did you lie?
Did you give a good impression?
Did you demonstrate interest in attending the college?
Did you ask your interviewer non-formulaic questions (eg. specific details about the college that can’t be found somewhere else)?</p>

<p>Additional
Do you have any hooks (URM excluding East Asian and Indian, recruit athlete, legacy, parents are generous donors)?
Do you have any ECs that are on at least national level, international level if you’re an international applicant (eg. National junior tennis champion)?
Are you a recipient of a major scholarship/award?
Were you given a second round interview, or was asked for an interview by an admissions officer?
Have you done anything phenomenal in high school (eg. Start a successful, potentially the next “Facebook” business, found an organization that is making a significant impact in your community, etc.)?</p>

<p>** Final comments **
Did you answer yes to the majority of the questions that apply to you (excluding the Additional section)? If yes, then congratulations you’re within range of a possible acceptance. It’s impossible to give you any chance more specific than that because you’re among the majority of applicants.
If you answer yes to the majority of the questions and answer yes to at least two questions in the additional section, then a little bit bigger congratulation, you have a slight edge. You possess some unique qualities that most applicants don’t. While these qualities do not guarantee acceptance, they will ensure that the admission officers notice you.
If you didn’t answer yes to the majority of the questions above, please accept that your odds aren’t as good as other applicants. Unless you have answered yes to at least two of the additional section, I will have to say you don’t have a realistic shot.
Lastly, don’t be too serious about where you want to go for college. It’s just another 4 years of life and if you’re a good and intelligent person, you’ll do well no matter where you end up. It’s great if you get into the college of your dreams, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t. Unless you literally find out your bad news on December 21 and the Mayan predictions turn out to be true.
As I am not an experienced CC poster, I welcome any suggestion that will help improve this thread. </p>

<p>Sincerely,
A current Harvard student</p>

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<p>I absolutely agree, with two caveats: SAT scores should be dropped to 700; ACT to 31. If you have those scores and above, you are in the running and a competitive applicant!</p>

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<p>Great post!</p>

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<p>Thank you gibby. My reasoning behind 750 for each SAT section is that it’s about the level of an average applicant and the 33 ACT is just the correspondence of that SAT score. If a person has like 700 for each SAT section, he/she is still competitive given he/she has done excellent job in other areas (albeit, answering yes to the other questions on my original post). Again, thank you for the suggestion, and thank you sharker.</p>

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<p>When going through the “decisions” threads, I’ve only ever seen one person with a low GPA (3.0-ish) and class rank (middle of the class) get in. I’m sure there’s more of them but are they just one off acceptances or do people with low GPAs ever get in? </p>

<p>Whatever the answer, I’m going to apply anyway but I’m still curious to know.</p>

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<p>Well, the very most wanted recruits to the basketball team can get away with 3.0s and decent class ranks if they also have decent (1900+? 2000+?) SAT scores. But that’s 2-3 a year for our very best varsity sports team, so…</p>

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<p>One question above that you don’t want a “yes” for: Did you lie? …</p>

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<p>@Sombre, yes it is not impossible to get in with a 3.2 GPA, average class rank, and mediocre test scores, but those accepted with similar stats are either athlete recruits or those with extraordinary backgrounds (amazing talents/legacies/child of very generous donor). It is almost if not entirely impossible to get in with those stats alone.</p>

<p>@SansSeri, thanks for pointing that out, where’s the edit button when you need one?</p>

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<p>Great thread, thank you so much! This is definitely helpful.</p>

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<p>Then I suppose it’s likely that there are people, no matter how few, with average GPAs and class rank, who aren’t donating anything but their presence and aren’t athletes, but do have good test scores, who do get in.</p>

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<p>^ It’s not just likely, there really are such people. So you can say that no one really has a 0% chance at Harvard. (please don’t cite extreme cases as counterargument) However, the low-tier applicants are just playing lottery compared to the high-tier ones. Highly unlikely to be admitted in the end.</p>

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<p>I’m not trying to argue that somebody with a low GPA should keep their hopes up. I wanted to know if anybody knew of people with low GPAs there. It would appear that this breed, while rare, does exist. As far as I’m concerned, that’s still good enough reason to go through with the application. No one’s guaranteed of admission. Well, no one except those with “likely letters”, I suppose.</p>

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<p>I would imagine that an admitted student who had a low GPA probably had MANY other attributes going for them – EC’s at an ultra high level, super stellar recs, fabulous essays, URM, developmental case etc. As others have said, it is possible, but it’s very, very rare and certainly NOT the norm.</p>

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<p>Actually, at Harvard, high tier applicants are playing the lottery.</p>

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<p>^^ That’s very true. BTW: Just read this article in the Atlantic Monthly about one professor’s solution to the college application process: [Magazine</a> - Lotteries for College Admissions - The Atlantic](<a href=“http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/lotteries-for-college-admissions/9026/]Magazine”>Lotteries for College Admissions - The Atlantic)</p>

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<p>If you look at admissions from a college admission officer’s perspective, there’s no reason to admit someone who is an average student in his/her class and has no other impressive attributes. Unless of course, they are recruited athletes or children of generous donors. While how Harvard specifically does its selection is elusive to all of us, there’s no reason to believe there is such thing as a “specific chance” at Harvard. To say somebody has a 5% chance, etc. is assuming Harvard does its admissions on lottery</p>

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<p>*bump, so more people wondering about their chances can see this thread</p>

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<p>Ya, lottery is a strange term to use for admissions but I guess it represents the luck factor of it all. I don’t like the lottery term because it makes it seem like everyone has the same 5% chance, which is completely wrong. Some people clearly have better credentials and are more likely to get in. Also, a singular person does not have a 5% chance, really he or she has a 0% chance or a 100% chance: admitted or not admitted. I guess that’s how I saw it, it helped me not worry about my “chances”.</p>

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<p>Regarding students accepted with seemingly less than stellar stats I will share a story of a friend. My friends daughter was an excellent student and competitive dancer until late in sophmore year when she contracted a very rare infection (from which she almost died) which kept her hospitalized for about nine months. Once she recovered she worked very hard to catch up academically but was unable to take the challenging courses other students were taking. By senior year she was able to take two AP classes and had started a charity to help children who were hospitalized. So you see her stats didnt look good on paper or a forum post but her story is remarkable.</p>

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<p>This is a great post.</p>