Chance me class of 2022

[Minnesotan1010]

Hey guys,

This is my first time posting I will be applying to be a part of 2022

Intended Concentration : Economics and Government

GPA - 3.8uw 4.7w
UMN GPA - 4.0 I take classes at the local university so I have two gpa’s
13th Percentile class rank

ACT- 34 composite
SAT II math ( 780)

Class Rigor:

I took the hardest classes available to me. Starting junior year I was taking classes part time at the University of Minnesota and all my other classes at school were either AP or honors.

Extracurriculars:

President National Honor Society
Capitan of Debate Team
Varsity Ultimate Frisbee
Founder of NGO - designed to help illiterate children in war torn countries
3rd place Chinese speaking contest out of 304 contestants
Model UN senior member/ advisor
Advisor to former Prime minster of Somalia on diaspora relationship and young people.

Summer:
Intern at Best Buy corporate (1 yr)
Research assistant Immunology lab (3yrs)

Hooks - African American Male (URM) and First Generation

I plan on applying to Harvard EA
and I was just wondering if I have a chance.

[Minnesotan1010]

bump

[gibby]

Truthfully, for HYPMS it could go either way. I posted this several years ago and haven’t had the chance to update it with the class of 2020 and 2021, but you should look through those decision threads as well.

If you look through the College Confidential Harvard and Yale Class of 2019 Decision Threads and just focus on test scores, you’ll see that URM tests scores are just about the same as non-URM test scores. So, there seems to be very little bump from being a URM based on test scores.

Harvard Class of 2019 SCEA Decision Thread http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1714730-official-harvard-university-2019-scea-decisions-only-p1.html

#11 - Female, Black, deferred with ACT 29

21 - Male, Hispanic, accepted with SAT of 2220 and ACT 35

29 - Female, African American, accepted with SAT 2240

30 - Female, African American, accepted with SAT 2130

39 - Male, African American, deferred with SAT 2230

40 - Female, African American, accepted with SAT 2400

44 - Female, African American, sibling, accepted with SAT 2140

47 - Male, African American, deferred with SAT 2010 and ACT 25

57 - Male, Hispanic, deferred with SAT 2220 and ACT 32

62 - Male, Black, accepted with ACT 32

63 - No gender listed, African American, accepted with ACT 32

Harvard Class of 2019 RD Decision Thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1752941-harvard-university-class-of-2019-rd-results-p1.html

#1 - Male, Hispanic, accepted with SAT 2300

3 - Male, Hispanic, accepted with ACT 33

6 - Male, Hispanic, waitlisted with ACT 35

7 - Male, Hispanic, rejected with SAT 2340

10 - Female, African American, accepted with SAT 2100

21 - Male, Hispanic,accepted with ACT 31

33 - Female, African American, accepted with SAT 2380

Yale Class of 2019 SCEA Decision Thread

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1713050-yale-class-of-2019-scea-decisions-p1.html

3 - Male, African American (Questbridge), deferred with SAT 1940 and ACT 35

15 - Male, Hispanic, deferred with SAT 2400

17 - Male, Hispanic, deferred with ACT 33

18 - Male, African American, accepted with SAT 2230

33 - Female, Cuban, accepted with SAT 2270 and ACT 33

34 - Male, African American, rejected with SAT 2030

35 - Female, Hispanic, deferred with SAT 1980

46 - Female, Mexican, accepted with SAT 2170

Yale Class of 2019 RD Decision Thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1752938-yale-university-class-of-2019-rd-results.html

#9 - Male, Hispanic, rejected with SAT 2170

11 - Female, African American, rejected with SAT 2100

14 - Female, Latina, waitlisted with SAT 2200

20 - Male, Hispanic, rejected with SAT 2300

22 - Female, African American, accepted with SAT 2240 composite and ACT 35

23. Female, Hispanic, accepted with SAT 1910 (ranked 8th in her class of 465 students with an UW 3.9 GPA)

Granted, you really can’t make a judgment based on 32 data points on College Confidential, however every year The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education posts an interesting chart about African American acceptance rates at various colleges vs. the overall acceptance rate: https://www.jbhe.com/2017/01/black-first-year-students-at-the-nations-leading-research-universities-2016/

As you can see – depending upon the college – being a URM can boost an applicant’s chances, but by how much depends on the school. For example, at Cornell, the African American acceptance rate was 17.6% vs the overall acceptance rate of 14.1% – so a slight advantage. At Vanderbilt, the African American acceptance rate was 18.9% vs a 10.7% overall acceptance rate – a large advantage. However, at the University of Chicago the African American acceptance rate was 8.3% vs the overall acceptance rate of 7.9% – not that much different. And, at UCLA, the African American acceptance rate was 8.7% vs the overall acceptance rate of 17.7% – not very encouraging at all. So a URM’s milage will vary depending on the school. Unfortunately, there isn’t published data for the African American acceptance rate at HYPMS. If I had to make a guess, I would think Harvard’s African American acceptance rate would be similar to UChicago – so not much of an advantage.

Based upon the 32 data points in College Confidential, Harvard seems to attract more URM’s with top scores – and those students are rejected and accepted with about the same frequency as non-URM students. Yale seems to attract more URM’s with lower test scores (possibly because of Questbridge), but for the most part URM’s with low test scores are not being accepted. And just like Harvard, URM’s with top test scores are rejected.

Bottom line, I think your chances at HYPMS depend LESS on your GPA and test scores and MORE on the strength of your essays, the quality of your teacher recommendations and guidance counselor Secondary School Report and your interview report – basically what everyone else’s chances are based upon.

Best of luck to you.

[VANDEMORY1342]

@Minnesotan1010
I wouldn’t worry too much Harvard is a High Reach for everyone. But you will probably get into a top 10 school, and certain to gain admission to a top 25.

Harvard- High Reach(ACT could be higher EC’s aren’t impressive)