Chance Me, I Chance You :)

Colleges & Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Don't know I should waste my time/money on applying. What do you guys think?</p>

<p>OBJECTIVE
GPA: 3.98/4.00 unweighted (1 B, soph. year, most rigorous courseload offered at school)
SAT: 2340 (800 CR, 740 M, 800 W)
SAT II: 770 Math 2, 710 US History
Awards: National Merit commended, National Achievement Semifinalist</p>

<p>SUBJECTIVE
Extracurriculars/Leadership: Mock Trial (3 years, President), Varsity Soccer (4 years, Captain, Regional Finalists, League Champions), Yearbook (3 years, Copy Editor), Black Student Association (4 years, Vice President), Robotics (3 years, some international/regional awards), California Scholarship Federation (2 years, Chapter Founder, President), Private Tutor (4 years)
Job/Work Experience: Summer Internship at BP
Summer Activities: university classes, mentor at Robotics camp, summer internship at BP</p>

<p>Demographic: African American middle-class female from CA. Interested in poli-sci/econ.</p>

2

<p>Apply! You have nothing to lose, and your test scores and grades and all that are competitive enough that you can’t count yourself out.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>You are a competitive applicant, but so are thousands of other students. It’s impossible to predict anyone’s chances as so much of the applications process is subjective and comes down to how an admissions director “feels” after reading your teacher recommendations and essays and compares them to all other applicants. This is true for all students, including URM’s. I have know many African American students who have been accepted and others who were rejected. You need to just send your applications out into the universe and hope for the best. Good luck to you.</p>

<p>See: [Guidance</a> Office: Answers From Harvard’s Dean, Part 1 - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/harvarddean-part1/]Guidance”>Guidance Office: Answers From Harvard's Dean, Part 1 - The New York Times)</p>

<p>"Many people believe “best” ought to be defined by standardized tests, grades, and class rank, and it is easy to understand why. Such a system, another Harvard dean of admissions, Bill Bender, wrote in 1960, “has great appeal because it has the merits of apparent simplicity, objectivity, relative administrative cheapness in time and money and worry, a clear logical basis and therefore easy applicability and defensibility.”</p>

<p>While we value objective criteria, we apply a more expansive view of excellence. Test scores and grades offer some indication of students’ academic promise and achievement. But we also scrutinize applications for extracurricular distinction and personal qualities.</p>

<p>Students’ intellectual imagination, strength of character, and their ability to exercise good judgment — these are critical factors in the admissions process, and they are revealed not by test scores but by students’ activities outside the classroom, the testimony of teachers and guidance counselors, and by alumni/ae and staff interview reports."</p>

<p>“Personal qualities and character provide the foundation upon which each admission rests. Harvard alumni/ae often report that the education they received from fellow classmates was a critically important component of their college experience. The education that takes place between roommates, in dining halls, classrooms, research groups, extracurricular activities, and in Harvard’s residential houses depends on selecting students who will reach out to others.”</p>

4

<p>I agree with the others: you should apply, with the understanding that when it comes to admissions at Harvard and its peers, nothing is certain.</p>

<p>But nobody will look at your application and think you had no business applying.</p>

5

<p>I think you guys are being a little pessimistic here.</p>

<p>The OP has a near perfect SAT score, near perfect GPA and several solid extracurricular activities that demonstrate leadership and commitment over several years. </p>

<p>These stats alone make her a strong applicant even among the Harvard pool. Add on the fact that she has one of the strongest hooks as an African American–wouldn’t you be surprised if she were rejected? </p>

<p>Maybe the only thing she is missing is something only a fraction of the applicants have (and something that is extremely uncommon among URMs especially)–an outstanding extracurricular honor like published science research or a physics olympiad gold medal.</p>

6

<p>I think I’m being realistic. Yes, the OP has near perfect scores, but testing is only one part of the applications package, and it’s not as important as your teacher recommendations, guidance counselor report and essays – all of which the OP did not post. As a URM, the OP will be compared to all other URM’s in the applications pool. But as we don’t know who else is applying and what is in their applications package, it’s impossible to say what the OP chances are.</p>

<p>BTW: See: <a href=“http://www.jbhe.com/firstyearenrolls.html[/url]”>http://www.jbhe.com/firstyearenrolls.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In 2008, Harvard did not list the number of African American applicants who applied, but Columbia had 1959 students, Yale had 1700 students, Cornell had 1895 students, Brown had 1261 students, Princeton had 1383 students.</p>

7

<p>ITA with gibby. </p>

<p>I have stopped being astonished when astonishingly good applicants don’t get into Harvard. I’m also sad that this is the way it is.</p>

8

<p>^^ That said, I think the OP should definitely apply, as the overall acceptance rate for African American students in 2008 at peer institutions (UPenn, Brown, Cornell) is about 21-22 percent.</p>

9

<p>Still in agreement.</p>

10

<p>I think you’re a shoe-in: you’ve already got the false modesty down perfectly! All kidding aside, you should definitely waste your time and money applying if you want to go there. You have a way better than average chance of admission with good numbers, good ECs and a hook. Good luck!</p>

11

<p>Apply pls. Your stats are superior to mine and I’m still applying! </p>

<p>:3</p>

12

<p>Just apply already. You have good scores. Decent EC’S. Overall, a generally strong application.</p>

13

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<p>I suppose there may be a small number of applicants, perhaps in the dozens, who are shoo-ins every year. But I think if you have to ask whether you’re a shoo-in, you’re probably not.</p>

<p>And I also know that, as good as schoolgirl1023 is–and she’s certainly good enough to get into Harvard–there are nevertheless way more applicants who are equally good in the applicant pool than there are beds in the freshman dorms. </p>

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<p>This trait persists years after college. You can see it still in the Class Reports that they publish around reunion time. “Imagine my surprise when the [pick one: Nobel Committee/MacArthur Foundation/Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences/Pope/etc.] selected me as…”</p>

14

<p>I think you have a very strong chance. I honestly think that even without your URM status, you’d still have a better chance than most. There is no reason why you shouldn’t apply. If anything, I wish my extracurriculars were as strong as yours. I’m definitely not as strong a candidate as you, but I’m still applying because I figure, what the heck?:3</p>

15

<p>Wow thanks! I’m definitely applying now. I hope the admissions officers are as optimistic as you guys…</p>