Chance a legacy with decent stats

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

my mother attended Harvard for her undergraduate years. She donates and is an interviewer for the school. Apparently admissions has a list of names of the children (who are currently applying) of alumni interviewers.

Here are my stats:

Objective:

-I attend a small public charter school (highest performing high school in LA based off of SBAC results)
-white male from CA
-UW GPA: 4.0
-W GPA: 4.79 (no ranking)
-ACT: 34 super score (36E 33M 31R 34S 30W) two sittings, 32 single
-I take the hardest offered course load

AP tests: Lang (4)
APES (4)

*My school doesn’t offer APs, but we have to test into all of our honors classes

High School Schedule:

9th grade:
-Honors English 9
-Chemistry
-Honors Algebra II
-PE
-Art I
-Spanish I

10th grade:
-Honors Trig/Precalc
-Honors World History
-Honors World Literature
-Physics
-Spanish II
-Honors Biology

11th grade:
-Honors Environmental Science
-Honors Calc AB
-Honors American Literature
-Honors US History
-Spanish III
-Computer Science

12th grade:
-Honors Calc BC
-Honors Stats
-Honors Gov Econ
-Honors British Literature
-Honors Spanish 4
-H Enviro TA

Subjective:

-ECs:

-FREERUNNING (like parkour or American Ninja Warrior)
-I practice around 15-20hrs a week and was recently hired by my academy to become a coach. I rank #1 between the three Freerunning Academies in LA and SD (they share 1 ranking system)
-offered a spot on the Olympic Freerunning Committee (will hopefully be a sport in 2024 olympics)

-PIANO/VIBRAPHONE

  • I play around 5 hours a week, take lessons, and have participated in the national piano guild
  • I am in my school’s jazz band (play piano and vibraphone in it)

-IMPROV/ACTING
-I’ve been participating for 5 years; I’ve been on the team for 3 years and am team captain
-I’ve also been in some commercials and short films

-STUDENT GOVERNMENT/STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT
-elected high school body president as a freshman, current senior class president
-10th/11th grade representative

  • been an active member for all years of HS
    -fund raise for school apparel and school goods

-NHS (member)

-KEY CLUB (member)

-COMMUNITY SERVICE

  • through NHS and KC, I have done 350+ hrs of CS (includes volunteering to teach kids freerunning and active beach cleanup)

-PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB ~4hrs/wk (President)
-Hold an exhibition at the end of the school year

-ASTRONOMY CLUB (VP)
-also took college astronomy class and got an A

-WRITING
-writing a novella over summer and will be self published (I know anyone can do this)
-internship with my city’s newspaper company (have published articles)
-senior yearbook editor

Essays are subjectively strong (about how I found my voice and my community through freerunning and how I was able to satiate my curiosity through it)

Letters of rec should be really, really good–like 10/10 for one and 9/10 for the other. One from 10th grade history teacher and current XC coach and one from my 11th grade environmental science teacher for whom I currently TA

Thanks in advance!!

2

As a legacy applicant applying in the RD round, I would prepare yourself for several interview questions that interviewers are not supposed to ask, but often do.

  1. As a legacy applicant, why didn't you apply to Harvard in the SCEA round?
  2. Did you apply to any other college in the early round?
  3. Were you admitted to another college in the early round?
  4. If admitted to another college in the early round, how serious are you about attending Harvard?

Your answer to those questions might ultimately determine your chances.

3

@gibby thanks for the reply!! I did apply early to two places, got deferred by one and got into the other (although the one I got into isn’t a top choice for me).

4

Bump!

5

If you are asked those questions during your interview, I advocate telling a white lie. Instead of saying . . .

. . . .the better reply IMHO is: “I didn’t apply early because I needed more time to work on my essays.” Practice your response out loud so it comes “trippingly off the tongue” without hesitation or reservations. (It’s no one’s business where you applied, where you were deferred or where you were accepted.)

All that said, Harvard rejects 70% of legacy applicants. Where you fall in that pool is anyone’s guess and it’s only a fool’s errand to chance you without knowing the caliber of other legacy applicants applying in the RD round: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/5/11/admissions-fitzsimmons-legacy-legacies/

BTW: While Harvard superscores the SAT, they do NOT superscore the ACT, so Admissions will use your 32, which as you know is on the low side for Harvard.

Best of luck to you!

6

@gibby would you give same interview response advice (ie noncommital) to my son who was accepted EA to Yale and has his Harvard interview coming up? Or would it be beneficial for him to inform Harvard interviewer that he was accepted to Yale? Thanks.

7

^^ Absolutely! IMHO your son should give the same response . . .

Applying early to a college demonstrates interest, and if your son tells Harvard about his Yale SCEA acceptance that’s going to make Harvard question where your son’s allegiance lies (Gee yesterday this kid wanted Yale, now he wants Harvard, tomorrow who knows what school he might want?) It’s NOT, repeat NOT, beneficial for him to mention his Yale SCEA acceptance, and in fact mentioning it could hurt his chances. If Harvard knows your son was accepted SCEA to Yale, they might waitlist him to judge his real interest in the school. (Every college, even Haraverd, is concerned about yield and they don’t want to waste giving a slot to a student who might turn them down.) I would strongly advise your son against tipping his hand to Harvard.

8

@gibby thanks again! And by “credentials” I think Fitzsimmons means much more than just GPA and test scores. My GPA is good and it’s unfortunate than Harvard doesn’t superscore ACT because my superscore is a whole two points higher than my individual score. Although, will Harvard look at all subsections from both of the ACTs I submitted since they have the same composite? Probably just wishful thinking on my end.

9

^^ An Admissions Officer only has about 12 minutes to read an applicant’s file and make notes. An AO probably spends 5 to 10 seconds (tops) looking at a student’s test score. They immediately know from experience what a 32 composite score represents to them, and will look at subsections to see where you excelled and had difficulty, but they will quickly move on to looking over your transcript, high school profile, guidance counselor’s Secondary School Report, teacher recommendations, interview report and essays. And yes, “credentials” means your whole package, not just GPA and test scores.

10

Every one of these questions is prohibited by the Harvard Interviewers Handbook to be asked by alum interviewer. they may well one or all of these questions, but they absolutely should not.

11

@burney1752 @gibby I jus had my interview this past Saturday and my interviewer asked quite a few questions that he wasn’t supppsed to. First of all, the interview was at his house, which is again Harvard interview policy. He also immmediately asked for my GPA, ACT, and AP scores, which I’m sure will make his write-up biased. He also asked me about why I didn’t apply early and if I applied early anywhere else. Thankfully the interviews don’t count for much (although, all things considered, it went well in my eyes). He even told me that they mean next to nothing, and that my mom would have much more of an influence on my decision since she interviews and attended.

12

^^ So much for @burney1752’s posting directly above you (post #9) saying those questions are specifically prohibited in the Harvard Alumni Interview manual. What did you say?

True, but as a Yale alumni interviewer recently posted “If the interviews don’t count for much, why do I get angry emails when I fail to submit my interview reports on time.”

13

@gibby I told him that I applied to Northeastern early so I wouldn’t have to apply to safeties in the RD round. I didn’t mention anything about Brown. I mean, my mom seems to think that the interviews (at least Harvard’s) have little influence on your decision. She says that sometimes admissions glances over the interview report to see if there are any red flags, but that’s about it.

14

Could I get some more comments on this? Just want to know what other people think about my chances. Particularly if my ACT score will hurt me or be neutral… and apparently Harvard DOES look at individual sub scores.

15

Based upon your post history, you were deferred ED from Brown and rejected EDII at Pomona – neither of which seems quite right as you have a 4.0 unweighted GPA and a 34 ACT. So my best guess is there is something else in your application which is giving those colleges pause. It could be your essays, teacher recommendations, guidance counselors report, or the way you come across in interviews – all of which are unknown. However, those things might also give Harvard pause as well. Unfortunately, you won’t know for sure for another 6 weeks.

Full Disclose: My son, who is also a white male, was accepted to Brown and Pomona in the RD round with a 3.9 unweighted GPA and 36 ACT. He was also rejected from Harvard.

“The waiting is the hardest part”

  • Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
16

@gibby thanks! Yeah, I do agree with you on that. My guess is that for both Brown and Pomona it was because of my supplements. My interviews for both went quite well (especially Pomona), and my teacher recs, based on what my teachers have told me, sound great.

It is very concerning that there’s something else about my application that’s making admissions wary… but I don’t know what it could be. My common app essay, although not amazing, had good responses after being read. I believe my ECs will definitely help me out too. My additional information section is mostly just a spillage of things that I needed to clarify, but are organized. My superscore is 34, not my single, so that could have something to do with it too… maybe.

And I’d love to send you my essay to see if that could’ve been the reason for pause.

17

I think the question to ask is, without the legacy status what would your chance be? Legacies at Ivies generally give a boost to applicants who are already in t’his is a kid we could admit pile’ if we had the space. (Your ACT likely will not get you in that pile) The boost is not this kid is a legacy so let’s spot him a point or two on his test scores.
That being said, you have a very strong resume, but as everyone knows, the Ivies are crazy tough to get an admit

18

@wisteria100 thanks for the input!!

19

@gibby yeah… do you think it could’ve been the ACT score for Brown and Pomona?

20

OP, you’re worrying a lot. Iirc, your basis is good enough to apply high. But always this overlay of worry. Your early results are likely institutional considerations. Maybe lots of Pomona applicants from your area (or expected in RD.) Brown didn’t reject you. It does no good to try to parse now.

Yes, ACT subscores matter. Imagine a kid with weaker scores related to his academic interests. Yes, an interview is “eyes on” the applicant. The fact an alum can’t swing an admit doesn’t mean adcoms don’t care about this view.

For the record, I wouldn’t advocate the white lie. Rather, deflect with an alternate truth; if possible, a strong point. Depends. But, eg, why didn’t you apply early? I looked at my choices carefully, I knew xxx about why H is my top choice. But I had Nationals in November (or my internship kicked in or I was organizing X,) and wanted to balance my time.

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