Chance an interesting candidate

Colleges & Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hey, so I'd say I'm not a 'unique' candidate and was wondering what you guys think my chances are (I know it's 8 days before we find out but i'm curious)</p>

<p>White Male
SAT - 2020
GPA - 3.82</p>

<p>Clubs-
Investment club outside of school (President)
Future Billionaire Investors Club (Founder+President)
Debate Team (letterman)
Then other small stuff</p>

<p>Community Service-
Camp Counselor
Homeless Shelter</p>

<p>Obviously from that ^^ I have a 0% chance of getting in.</p>

<p>But, during my junior year I founded a financial newsletter (on trading stocks) that profited over $50,000 in 3 months before I was told to shut it down because I was under 18. And now I'm working on starting my own hedge fund (I will be the youngest person ever to do so), which will be open in 3 months...... I'm hoping this 'x factor' could be something that makes me stand out and have a chance, because I know Harvard takes a couple kids like that each year. And I wrote my essay on the whole story about my newsletter/hedgefund ... what do you think??</p>

<p>I also submitted a sample financial report of mine with my app.</p>

<p>All comments are appreciated, thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>Send me your recommendations report first. Let me look it over and then I’ll comment on your chances…</p>

<p>LOL</p>

<p>Just kidding. Congrats on your achievement. Don’t torture yourself here. Random strangers’ thoughts on your chances won’t do anything – it’s like eating marshmallows. Nice for a second. Worthless afterward. Leave CC, enjoy your life. If you continue your achievement path, you’ll have a great next four years.</p>

<p>Good luck – at Harvard or not!</p>

3

<p>“… before I was told to shut it down.”</p>

<p>Are you saying you were doing something illegal?</p>

4

<p>I just wasn’t properly registered, if you want to say that’s illegal then sure</p>

5

<p>Registered with whom? </p>

<p>Did you do any trading at all? I’ve been trading since 16 (legal age is 19 here) via trust funds which is 100% legal.</p>

6

<p>Hello Pontair. How are you doing today?</p>

<p>I have good news: you are going to be in the class of Harvard 2015.</p>

<p>That is all. Don’t ask me how I know.</p>

<p>Have fun at Harvard!</p>

7

<p>do i hear savarin?</p>

8

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<p>“Saverin” is spelled with an E.</p>

9

<p>haha in way’s im alot more advanced than saverin imo, thanks AynRandy I hope you’re right, haha. </p>

<p>@ladeornmc: registered with the SEC … and I’ve been trading since 14, made about $40,000 doing that in 2010 … that’s not including the money I made with my newsletter</p>

10

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</p>

<p>I lol’ed.</p>

11

<p>lol, i meant to say than saverin was, haha good call though</p>

12

<p>Interesting. Guess I’d have to look at the SECs claim, don’t see why if you ran your newsletter through a corporation or trust they’d come after you. One of my essays to Harvard, Yale and Columbia was actually on getting sued by the FTC and Harpo (FTC didn’t amount to anything and settled with Harpo, as did everyone else sued). </p>

<p>One thing I found important in applying was not trying to sound as if my financial stature and accomplishments were astounding, but rather a starting point based on a hard work ethic and financial savviness.</p>

<p>Compared to Harvard’s alumni a six figure yearly income before entering College is impressive, but does not make one an exceptional individual in business. A living going into college isn’t by any means an indicator of future success, quite often it’s the opposite because of misplaced priorities. </p>

<p>I used that point in my essay to solidify my opinion that my money is a basis on which future success should be easily built on and that the best use of financial success, even if it oppresses that very success over the next 4-8 years, is to spend it on an education that best aligns with your future aspirations.</p>

<p>Hopefully it worked out alright. It’ll definitely make more of a statement on schools that aren’t need-blind like Harvard. Paying in full wherever I go.</p>

13

<p>Wow, good stuff, what’d you get sued for may I ask?</p>

<p>And you’re perfectly correct I could’ve done my newsletter through a corporation and filed with the SEC. But I was under 18 at the time so I couldn’t make a company and therefore couldn’t have the newsletter.</p>

<p>I agree, making money young is a great starting point for sure, but by in no way means ‘you’ve made it’. That’s why I’m looking forward to a college education and learning much more about the financial markets and basically everything else, haha.</p>

14

<p>Sure, both the FTC and Harpo filled lawsuits in early 2010. The FTC named 200+ domains and 40+ individuals and I believe Harpo’s lawsuit named 55 individuals. The FTC sued for deceptive advertisements and unfair billing practices (negative forced continuity) and Harpo’s lawsuits varied but I was sued for defamation of character and, forget the exact terminology, but basically unlawful use of her likeness without explicit written consent from Harpo. Several individuals were also sued by Dr. Oz.</p>

<p>The FTC named 20+ international guys but only ended up going after one (I’m in Canada) who lives in Israel. I talked to him once in August and he said his lawyers sent a written reply and never heard back. Domestically nothing much happened, few guys settled for low five figures and a few more guys settled for six figures. </p>

<p>Either way the settlements that finally came back were laughable given the revenues of the individuals. Guys who settled for 100 or 200k were doing that in any given day during 08/09.</p>

<p>Almost everyone in Harpo’s lawsuit was actively sought out. This was the one that worried me. But everyone either settled or didn’t hear back after a bit of correspondence. I can’t get into my settlement but guys I know, who did higher revenues than I did, settled for low five figures. </p>

<p>I don’t think I slept for a week after hearing from Harpo. Had to lawyer up, go over the claims, etc. So stressful but an amazing learning experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything. As I’m sure you’d agree dealing with the SEC. When the FTC sued that was a whole different ballgame, but didn’t phase me too much. Actually travelled to NYC the next week for a planned vacation and took a picture standing in front of the FTCs headquarters. </p>

<p>Getting sued by any public entity, especially at a state level, is usually a non-issue with a proper legal team. Been a few big settlements with the FTC in other industries but the SEC is definitely the biggest threat to anyone’s pocketbook. </p>

<p>I’ve (meaning domain names) been named twice on the Florida’s attorney generals site a year or so ago and have never heard from them. Coincidentally it was about election time and a theme of the campaign was, “Stopping deceptive billing practices on the internet”. </p>

<p>Attorney generals are the absolute worst. Ignorant and corrupt. Some of the stories, and some of the payments if you know what to look at in their financial records, are absolutely criminal.</p>

15

<p>ladeornmc, are you at Harvard currently? :cool:</p>

<p>To the OP:</p>

<p>Newsletter? Were you running yet another pump and dump?</p>

<p>Custodial accounts make it very easy (and very legal) to trade when you’re a minor… I’m not sure why or how you would be doing anything illegal solely as a minor, other than running a pump and dump or other trading fraud that would be ugly if a minor were eaten by the SEC. You said you earned “$50,000 in 3 months,” but you didn’t say what your principle was. I trade, Buffett trades, and just remember that multi-billion dollar firms on Wall Street beating the S&P by 30% is considered spectacular. </p>

<p>If you were doing something illegal, such as pump and dump (which I cannot possibly imagine your newsletter would/could be used for anything else), I would not suggest telling admissions officers this. Of course, it’s your judgement.</p>

16

<p>hahahaha, the reason I became so succesful was because i was NOT running a pump and dump, so TONS of investors would follow me because I wasn’t screwing them like every other newsletter. The $50,000 came from advertising revenue because it was so popular. I had to shut it down because I was under 18 and you cannot give financial advice technically unless you are registered, and I couldn’t get registered because I was under 18… (I’ve said this like 6 times … haha)</p>

<p>And the way I make money trading is I do derivates and microcaps longterm (3-6 months) after doing VERY extensive research and contacting the company, doing market analysis so on and so forth, so far it’s been really successful, that’s why I’m opening a hedge fund.</p>

17

<p>What was the name of the newsletter? Did you have a website? What was the URL?</p>

18

<p>hahaha I will not tell you … but I can GUARANTEE that if you trade microcap stocks you would have heard of me</p>

19

<p>@GordonGekko No, senior in High School now. If I got into my top schools I’d probably pick Columbia over Harvard to be in NYC.</p>

<p>A little ironic your username and you’re hate of pump and dumps, lol. Running a pump and dump with such limited capital like OP would have would be an impossibility unless he was working closely with a few other guys running newsletters that had much bigger user-bases and capital. </p>

<p>The SEC busted a few guys in Western Canada back in '10 and they had hundreds of thousands of subscribers, spent hundreds of thousands in advertising a day and invested millions through off-shore trusts primarily in order to profit marginally off shorting penny stocks. </p>

<p>They made a lot of money, but had resources that dwarfed any smaller investor like OP. </p>

<p>Sounds like OP was running a legit operation but got taken down by the SEC for just the age thing. If there was any indication of pumping and dumping involved age would not have been a factor is prosecuting severely.</p>

20

<p>I’m not sure if you’re a semi-delusional highschooler strangely glorifying illegalities and being banned by the SEC as a means to get into Harvard, just because Harvard has a super-prestigious name; or perhaps a ■■■■■. Also why you won’t post your all-so popular penny stock newsletter URL is beyond me. :rolleyes:</p>