British Applicants

<p>Has anyone applied to Harvard from England? What are ur stats?
Did anyone from england get accepted Havard EA?
And where else have u guys applied in uk or us... and where hav u got offers from?</p>

<p>ok, clearly there are no british guys out there applying to harvard. so tell me this, wot does it take for someone from england to get into harvard? i mean, what are the chances of an english student to get in?</p>

<p>haha. Um....the fact that no one responded to this post for 2 hours and 58 minutes after it was posting on an American forum where only a small minority of American applicants visit anyway does not mean that "clearly there are no british guys out there applying to harvard"!!! There are plenty of British students applying to Harvard. The Ace Is Back is a Brit applying to H, maybe he'll post here soon.</p>

<p>EDIT: Now, from what I know (I'm in the opposite situation, an American student who applied--and was rejected from--Cambridge), a British student's chances should be no worse than an American's. UK schools have set standards--every first year in a physical Nat Sci takes this physics curriculum, etc.--so a certain level of prerequisite knowledge is in place, making it very difficult for U.S. students to get in. Not so at Harvard and other U.S. schools, where curriculum flexibility takes away this problem. It's pretty much based just on you: how did you spend your high school years? Did you make the best of the opportunities given you? Do you have a real passion that makes you unique? Etc.</p>

<p>thanks for that... well u seem to know a bit about all this, do u know the rate of acceptance for british students?</p>

<p>London--Check the edit to my post.</p>

<p>Thanks very much. yeah i noticed that in general, admissions tutors in america are looking for a much more rounded applicant, and also a hugely diverse student body. i'm sorry to hear you got rejected from cambridge, but in all honesty cambridge is probably as hard to get into as harvard. And that's for a british student. And as you say, it's even harder for americans. Cambridge is notorious for rejected many very talented international students. Oxford and LSE are far more interested in international applicants. But i'm sorry to hear that.
The only reason im concerned about the rate of acceptance for british applicants is cos I know many applicants applying to harvard, or who have applied to harvard, with nowhere near perfect scores. and many have got in, i think it's because they know that SAT system is so different to british education- or at least im hoping so!
did u apply anywhere else in england?</p>

<p>You misunderstand me. Harvard as a school is well-rounded but the days of looking for well-rounded applicants seem to be over. The majority of the people accepted by elite colleges are the complete opposite--good at everything, but amazing at one particular thing. It's good because that shows real passion and dedication. The reason Cambridge is harder for a U.S. student to get into than Harvard is that British students, with 6th form college and all, are generally a year or two ahead of their American peers in their chosen subjects, and thus most American applicants are well behind their course's starting point at places like Oxbridge.</p>

<p>And nah, Cambridge was my only U.K. school. 16 U.S. colleges was enough for me :p</p>

<p>And remember, back to the passion thing...passion is something that often cannot be communicated by scores, especially SAT scores. Which is why, especially once you're over the level of 2250 or so, just about all SAT scores are the same. Well, except 2400 :p</p>

<p>I would imagine that you will be compared to British students in terms of the "raw" scores--SATs, etc.--and not American students, although I could be wrong (this is a luxury British schools like Cambridge unfortunately cannot partake in, for the reasons I've described).</p>

<p>yeah i understood, by well-rounded i meant what u said. i understand the whole "hook" thing, mine, for instance is tennis... i play nationally. that's what my head of year told me - that its important to convey one thing that demonstrates passion.
and yes, i agree that british students are better educated in their chosen subjects than americans at high school. i disagree with you about 6th form colleges though... in england, you won't find many students who have attended 6th form colleges that end up going to oxbridge, since 6th form colleges tend to be full of private school dropouts.</p>

<p>Maybe then I'm throwing around terms I don't know about :p I thought 6th form college was that two years before uni when you specialize in one subject and pull ahead of the American students. Sorry ;)</p>

<p>lol thats ok.. u know a lot more about the british system than i do about the american system. but no, we don't do that in england. even in 6th form colleges they do british A levels. some private schools however now do the IB diploma. so we don't have any special training during the 6th form for oxbridge.. but we just decide which subject we want to pursue during L6 and then research it ourselves until our interview in U6.</p>

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i disagree with you about 6th form colleges though... in england, you won't find many students who have attended 6th form colleges that end up going to oxbridge, since 6th form colleges tend to be full of private school dropouts.

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<p>I went to 6th form college. I'm a PhD student and Oxford and was an undergraduate at Cambridge. Don't be so snobby! It will not make you any friends.</p>

<p>But 6th form colleges are crap...</p>

<p>londonengland - I think British students stand a good chance at getting in because we are smarter and not expected to do as many ECs as Americans. Your national tennis will obviously help you a lot, I think the main difficulty will be dropping the stiff upper lip and showing them your true personality in the essay as well as during the interview (as someone else said, 'spilling your guts'). So long as they like you and you have a pretty good academic record as well as pretty good SATs, you will be fine I'm sure. Are you at a top private school? If you are, they might expect a little more on the academic side of things.</p>

<p>cupcake - i didnt mean to be snobby! sorry! and sorry for stereotyping, all i wanted to do was reply to guitarmans post that its not the 6th form colleges per se that put british students above american students.</p>

<p>ace is back - i agree, personality seems a very important factor in admissions for american universities. yes, im at a private school in london, im actually in the second year of my international baccalaureate diploma. are you currently doing A levels/IB? where else have u applied or got offers for in england and in america?</p>

<p>I'm doing AS but nowhere near applying for university yet - just asking some questions about Harvard and American universities to see if it's worth doing the SATs courses etc. offered at my school. They started a term ago so I left it a bit later than some, but it shouldn't be a hassle. I'll be applying at the end of this year probably to Oxford, LSE and others, and if America, some of the Ivy Leagues and maybe Berkeley. When do you hear if you're in?</p>

<p>Hey did you guys wright your GCSE"S and stuff? what kind of results are good to go for top US Uni's like H.? And how many A'level subjects?</p>

<p>ace is back - thats amazing that you have SAT prep courses. we had nothing, i was on my own trying to learn for SATs! oh cool, i just got an offer from LSE to read law. what are you gonna apply for?
i hear from harvard on april 1, altho im not holding my breath</p>

<p>footscrubber - i duno how much uni's like harvard look into GCSEs. i got 8 A*s and 3 A's, but i have no idea wot other british applicants get. im not actually doing A levels, but instead a full 6-subject IB diploma, which is def a tough course! i'd say about 4 A levels should be good for H.</p>

<p>wow 8A<em>'s .... that's really good??? and sorry to ask this here but WHAT is an A</em> .. we were only told an A is 75% and above. so is an A* like 85% and above I'm waiting for my results ( wrote in Nov 2005) augh I'm sooo scared</p>

<p>varies from subject to subject. in some subjects an A* is 85% and above ish... some its higher and some slightly lower. of course in A levels the highest grade is an A.</p>

<p>ayight thanx maen .. wish me luck (crosses fingers) oh yah were your results like the highest/ave/below ave for your school.. please tell me you were like the top/exceptional!?</p>

<p>yep gd luck! my results were fairly high for my school, the average set of results is about 10 A's. i think my class rank is between 1 and 5 out of 180. but its gotta be high for harvard!</p>