Chance me as a Harvard legacy for SCEA

Hey all,

So I’ve pretty much made up my mind that I am going to apply early to Harvard this fall. I’m pretty sure you all have seen my chance threads before, so Ill make this as short and sweet as possible. PLEASE RESPOND AS I WILL CHANCE BACK

*my mom is an involved legacy who donates and is an interviewer for Harvard

ACT: 33C, 34 superscore (may send both tests to Harvard)

GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.55 W

I take the most rigorous course load offered

ECs:

-freerunning/parkour: 20hrs a week, highest ranked between the three academies, just hired to become a coach

-piano: ~3-4hrs a week, take lessons once a week, in my school’s jazzband, have been a participant in the National Piano Guild for two years

-student body president and senior representative

-clubs:
-improv team:~4hrs a week, captian of the team and participant for 5 years
-photography club:~4hrs a week, president, have a gallery at the end of the year
-astronomy club:~2hrs a week, Vice President
-also took college astronomy class and got an A
-Key Club: ~1hr a week, member
-NHS: ~1hr a week, member
-have done ~200hrs of community service through Key Club and NHS

-work experience:
-camp counselor over summer at a park an at my freerunning academy

-year-round freerunning coach at my academy

-writing internship with a Harvard alum (just coincidence lol)

Thanks for chancing me! I’ll chance back if you ask me to.

Okay, I’ll take a stab at this.

As the ACT is thought to be more of a “curriculum based test” than the SAT, a student with an unweighted 4.0 GPA should be scoring in the 34, 35 and 36 range. Why is your ACT not in sync with your GPA? That’s probably the first question an Admissions Officer is going to ask. Does your high school have grade inflation? Does your family (a Harvard alumni family) lack the financial resources for you to take a test prep class? Or, does your family lack the resources for you to retake the ACT again and again to improve your score? Is English not your first language? Do you have test anxiety? Why are you not scoring higher? All of those questions will occur to an AO within the first 5 seconds of looking at your test score. In fact, if you submit both ACT test scores, an Admissions may start to question MORE why your test scores are out of sync with your GPA. So, I would only submit your best composite score.

From there, an Admissions Officer will look over your profile and see that, on paper, you resemble several thousand other applicants – even with the parkour (you underestimate how many teenagers are interested in parkour). What differentiates you from the rest of the crowd? They’ll dig a big deeper and look to see what your recommendation writers say about you. Are you the brightest student this teacher has taught in their career? Do you contribute to the classroom conversation? Is your hand always raised with thought provoking opinions and questions? Are you respected by your teachers? Do you inspire your classmates to work harder? Do your teachers think of you as a role model for your peers? Do you “shine the light” that others follow?

Beyond those questions, they’ll look to your guidance counselor’s Secondary School Report (SSR) to see how you compare to the average college bound student at your high school. Were there any extenuating circumstances? What did the faculty say about you in private conversations? Did you materially participate in the extracurricular activities you noted on the Common Application? Did you take the most demanding course load available to you at your high school?

Then, an Admissions Officer will look toward your essay. Of all the topics you could have chosen, what did you choose to write about? Are you mature? Thoughtful? Tolerant of other people’s belief’s? Would you make a good roommate? Would you inspire your classmates to greatness outside of the classroom?

Lastly, an Admissions Officer will look toward the interview report for a clue to your character. Did you look the interviewer in the eye? Did you have a firm handshake? Were you confident? Were you cocky? Could you carry on a conversation about current events? Past events? What was the last book you read outside of a classroom that inspired you? What do you consider your greatest weakness? What do you envy most in other people? What would your worst enemy say about you? What would your best friend say about you?

All of that information will go into the hopper and ultimately will become the basis if your file brought to the attention of the full Admissions Committee (not very student makes it to the full committee – only those students who the regional admissions director feels can garner the support of more than 51% of the committee are presented). In comparison to all other applicants, is that you?

As you can see, so much more than the statistics presented above goes into the decision. Bottom line: There’s too much unknown information that could tip the balance. You just have to send your application out into the universe and see what happens. Best of luck to you!

As a Harvard legacy, unfortunately you will be held to a higher standard than others. Apart from the low ACT highlighted by @gibby, the thing that worries me is your ECs. They are fairly standard. Apart from a handful of clubs, you don’t show any evidence of having done anything of national prominence.

What is your class rank (approx)? What part of the country do you live? Did you take the SAT?

Hey sorry to bother everyone. I know this isn’t my thread, but I have a question. What does @gibby mean when he/she says " What did the faculty say about you in private conversations?". How would adcoms be able to know what faculty says in private convos?

@gibby thanks for the response. I just took another ACT and am expecting a score in the neighborhood of 34; I have a 4.0 not because of inflation, but because I learn and retain information from class. On the ACT, however, I usually score in the 32-33 range because of my lack of time for the reading passages. It’s more of a timing issue than an intelligence one. If anything, I would think that admissions would view my GPA as a number more true to my ability than the score of a 4 hr test. And, yes, I do not have any national awards because of the time I dedicate to freerunning (it’s not really parkour, I just say that so people know what I’m talking about; do, however, have awards for my sport). Also, I may send admissions a video of me performing my sport (it will be professionally done by my academy). Will this be weird though? I doubt they’ll even look at it. I would also think that being ranked number one between three academies containing 1000+ students would make me stand out from the rest of the applicants. I’m still new to the Harvard SCEA world, so I just wanted to get out there. Thanks for your help!

I know it’s a long shot, but I want to give it a try!

Quite ridiculous to say that a 33/34 ACT is low. Also ridiculous to say that a 33/34 ACT does not align with a 4.0 GPA.

@golfcashoahu totally agree with you on that. I had to read the comment a couple times through to make sure I wasn’t misinterpreting it lol. Just out of curiosity, do you attend Pomona? I saw your profile pic. I really love that school and it’s up there in my top three.

According to Harvard’s most recent Common Data Set (http://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2014-15.pdf?m=1457640342), the 25th percentile is a 32 ACT, while the 75th percentile is a 35 ACT. That means that 75% of admits had a 32 or better, 25% had a 35 or better, and the “middle 50%” is a 33-34 ACT.

William Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s Dean of Admissions, has said this about legacy applicants:http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/5/11/admissions-fitzsimmons-legacy-legacies/

That would seem to indicate that successful legacy admits need to have a test score that is better than Harvard's average admit (the middle 50%). So, for a legacy applicant to Harvard a 33/34 is thought to be low.

Many high school guidance counselor's are overworked and don't personally know students when they complete the Secondary School Report (SSR) on your behalf: http://www.du.edu/apply/media/documents/2012CASSR.pdf. To complete the information on page 2, many GC's will look up a student's class schedule and ask your teachers in a private conversation what they think about you. Sometimes your GC will incorporate some of those comments in a student's SSR. Adcoms would only know of those conversations if your GC repeats them in the SSR.

You should practice each section of the ACT with an egg timer set to 5 minutes less than the time allowed. The trick is to train your brain to think faster.

@gibby ok I understand. So does this mean that my legacy status is actually going to hurt me if I don’t have test scores above average? When Fitzsions says “credentials,” what does he mean by that?

What are the subscores in your ACT?

@wisteria100 straight 34 superscored with a 35 in English, but 35 34 34 30 for my highest single. I scored 34 on science my first time though, so that’s why I’m wondering if I should send both.

I take credentials to mean GPA, test scores and recommendations, Not sure how William Fitzsimmons defines it, but as legacy candidates are expected to be better candidates, on average, then you’re going to have to prove your worth. Having an ACT that is at the “Middle 50%” is not going hurt you, but you’ll have to demonstrate to Admissions why YOU should be accepted over a similar non-legacy applicant with higher test scores. That’s going to involve teachers proclaiming you the best scholar they’ve seen in many years and your essays demonstrating exceptional character, which is an old-fashioned word meaning the way you develop your inner qualities: intellectual passion, maturity, social conscience, concern for community, tolerance, inclusiveness and love of learning .And even then, it’s a roll of the dice.

The OP is academically qualified with a 4.0 GPA and an ACT score in the 99th percentile. Being a legacy WILL help you; it’s a hook.

Legacies likely have higher scores because they attend better high schools and take test preparation courses. Colleges also want to defend why the acceptance rate for legacies is double that of other applicants. It puts them in positive light to say that legacies are more qualified so that people stop thinking people only gain admission due to legacy treatment.

I think you have a fighting chance. Gibby is correct that you’ll still need something to push you over the edge (essays, recommendations, or activities).

@golfcashoahu I’m with you about test scores, and @sgopal2 I’m with you about EC’s. I’m not sure how prestigious the National Piano Guild is as I’m not familiar with it, but it seems like your main extracurriculars come from forming/leading groups and getting involved in the community. I personally think that’s amazing, but it needs a more measurable way of showing how great it is. Like I know where I live the Green Club has been awarded a semi-prestigious “green ribbon” for making my school extremely eco-friendly. Definitely a national-level individual award would be a major plus. Just some suggestions, like @gibby said, something to push you over the edge

@ChessPlayer0004 thanks for the great info! I plan on attending a national freerunning competition in August and I’m hoping to take home 3rd. I’m also planning on submitting a few short stories to some writing contests.

“As the ACT is thought to be more of a “curriculum based test” than the SAT, a student with an unweighted 4.0 GPA should be scoring in the 34, 35 and 36 range”

Or

“So, for a legacy applicant to Harvard a 33/34 is thought to be low.”

I disagree with both of these statement-they reflect confusion about the point of the tests. A 33 is not appreciably different from a 34,35,or 36. No school will reject a student for a 33 and accept with a 34, all other things being equal. In fact, a 33 and a 34 and a 35 are at cumulative percentiles of 99%. Schools don’t view the ACTs as an exercise in getting a perfect score. Once a student reaches a certain criteria, they meet the standard and are evaluated on other dimensions. Feeling compelled to retake the ACTs when the student already scored a 33 would probably be viewed by some as excessively score focused.

@ gibby, "
According to Harvard’s most recent Common Data Set (http://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2014-15.pdf?m=1457640342), the 25th percentile is a 32 ACT, while the 75th percentile is a 35 ACT. That means that 75% of admits had a 32 or better, 25% had a 35 or better, and the “middle 50%” is a 33-34 ACT.

William Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s Dean of Admissions, has said this about legacy applicants:http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/5/11/admissions-fitzsimmons-legacy-legacies/
“If you look at the credentials of Harvard alumni and alumnae sons and daughters, they are better candidates on average,” said Fitzsimmons, part of what he sees as the explanation for the disparity in the acceptance rate."

This statement also reflects misunderstanding about scores. The scores are a reflection of the students selected by the school. That does not mean that the school chose these students because of their scores. Those students with the most impressive genuine achievements (a test score isn’t a genuine achievement) may tend to score higher but Harvard isn’t selecting more students with 35s over those with 33s because the scores are higher. Above a certain point, the difference in scores becomes meaningless. The point being made by Fitzsimmons is that the achievements of Harvard legacies are stronger and they have stronger test scores. the stronger test scores may support the idea that the legacies are strong but they are not being selected because they scored a 34 instead of a 33.

@lostaccount awesome info. I totally agree with it - now I understand the percentiles better too. Thanks.

@ap012199 @golfcashoahu I agree with both of you two. I am a little offended because I have a 4.54 GPA and am in the top 5% of my class in a very competitive school and I got a 31-32.

@ wcmcollege No need to be offended. Your 31-32 ACT scores are actually higher than your GPA. They place you at the 96th or 98th percentile whereas your GPA is at the 95th.