<p>Stats:
SAT:2230 (Math:750, Critical Reading:720, Writing:760 one sitting, didn't take it a second time though maybe I should have)
SAT IIs:US:770, Bio:750, Chem:770, Spanish:800, World:760, Math II;780
GPA:4.0
Rank:2/450
Other stats:Soph yr: AP world-5, AP Psych-5
Junior Year:AP US-5, AP Chem-5, AP Bio-5, AP English Language-5, AP Calc BC-5
taking AP Physics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Spanish, AP English Lit, and AP Gov my senior year
Subjective:
Essays: wrote about my mixed heritage (Dad is Mexican and Japanese; Mom is Irish, Italian, Russian, and Romanian), and my weird feelings about it growing up
ECs: president of math team, vice president of sci olympiads, also involved in Spanish Honor Society, National Honor Society, and art club
Teacher Recs:didn't see them but I'm sure they're good
Counselor Rec: we have a pretty good relationship so I'm guessing it's good
Hook (if any): part Mexican so I guess I can be considered a URM?
Location/Person:
State or Country:California
School Type: large public school (about 450 kids?)
Ethnicity: mixed
Income Bracket:middle class
Gender:F
Other Factors:
General Comments:</p>
<p>Ec’s are far too weak for H’s standards. Numbers are decent but nothin out of the ordinary. Realistically I would put you at about 10%, as you are (somewhat) a URM</p>
<p>10% chance? Don’t worry. not offended. I know that realistically speaking, harvard is a reach so I’m prepared to not get in.</p>
<p>You are either hispanic or not hispanic. If you are unsure see </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/641650-hispanic-latino-defined.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/hispanic-students/641650-hispanic-latino-defined.html</a></p>
<p>All your numbers look good. I dont see much community/volunteer work here. I agree your hook is your heritage and if you fit the definition you should use that (check the box). Hispanic is severly underrepresented, so ill put you at 1 in 4. GL.</p>
<p>yeah. forgot to mention I did volunteer work at a hospital my junior yr. Didn’t do it freshman or sophomore year so kinda regret that.</p>
<p>Yeah if you’re definitely URM, then I would bump up my chances a bit</p>
<p>Don’t see too much which is gonna differentiate you from absolutely all 30,000 applicants.</p>
<p>You’ve stumbled upon on an issue with chance threads: every poster will have a different opinion, and none of their opinions matter, including mine. All that matters is what an Admissions Director thinks, and as far as I know, none are posters on CC.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, here are my thoughts: </p>
<p>1) As your dad is Mexican and Japanese and your mom is Irish, Italian, Russian, and Romanian, you are of mixed-race and could check 3 boxes on the Common App: Hispanic, Asian and White – or any combination thereof. It all depends on how you see yourself. I think you should check all three boxes, as you are writing your essay about the mixture of cultures.</p>
<p>2) Harvard, and all colleges, discount community service and volunteering, as so many students just do it to make their applications look good. My daughter, who is a junior at Harvard, had no community service when she applied – zero, zilch, none – and that didn’t seem to be a problem or a concern for Admissions.</p>
<p>3) Your stats are within Harvard’s range, so you are fine. Harvard is not a meritocracy whereby the highest scoring students get chosen over those with lesser stats. That’s not how holistic admissions works. Many students every year are rejected with perfect SAT/ACT scores in favor of students with “average” stats.</p>
<p>4) Any poster that proclaims what percentage of a chance you have, has no idea what they are talking about. My daughter was rejected from Yale and Princeton, but accepted to Harvard. You would think that whatever Harvard saw in her application, Y and P would see the same thing. But that’s not how Admissions works. Every school is looking for something different – and what they are looking for varies from year to year – so, your chances actually vary from year to year. Your chances also depend on how your teacher recommendations, guidance counselor report and essays (none of which you posted) stack up against everyone else who is applying. So, it’s virtually impossible to predict with any certainty what chance you have. You just have to send your applications out into the universe and hope for the best. </p>
<p>Good luck to you!</p>
<p><em>slow clap</em></p>
<p>Thanks gibby. You really helped put things into perspective. Yeah, I’ve gotten a lot of mixed responses, some telling me I have a strong chance and some telling me I don’t have a good chance because of my relatively weak EC’s. I guess I’ll just have to send my app in and hope for the best.</p>
<p>I don’t respond often to chance me threads, but I decided to respond to yours. I would say that you have a very good chance of being admitted. My DD was admitted to H six years ago with similar stats (slightly higher SAT I, though), ECs, and had, as you, a very diverse ethnic background (parents/grandparents born in four different countries). My sense is that H and other ivies appreciate this type of diversity (you can do a search under my profile for the other Ivies that she was admitted to). And, yes, IMHO, you can certainly indicate that you are a URM. Best of luck to you - you have impressive credentials.</p>
<p>“relatively weak EC’s”</p>
<p>One extracurricular activity is not better or weaker than any other – everything you do is fine! Extracurriculars let a college know what you do outside of the classroom. Colleges are looking for commitment and passion in whatever you do, so it is better to have devoted your time intensely to several activities rather than having dabbled in many of them. See: [Guidance</a> Office: Answers From Harvard’s Dean, Part 3 - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/harvarddean-part3/]Guidance”>Guidance Office: Answers From Harvard's Dean, Part 3 - The New York Times)</p>
<p>"The term “extracurricular activities” covers an enormous amount of ground. We are interested in whatever a student does: in addition to school extracurricular activities and athletics, students can tell us of significant community, employment, or family commitments. There are many who spend a great deal of time helping to run their household, preparing meals and caring for siblings or making money with a part-time job to help the household meet expenses.</p>
<p>Unfortunately many schools have had to curtail or eliminate extracurricular activities and athletics, or they charge fees for participation. In addition, many students cannot afford expensive musical instruments or athletic equipment — or have families without the resources to pay for lessons, summer programs and the transportation networks necessary to support such activities.</p>
<p>Admissions Committees keep these factors in mind as they review applications, and are concerned most of all to know how well students used the resources available to them. Extracurricular activities need not be exotic — most are not — and substance is far more important. A student who has made the most of opportunities day-to-day during secondary school is much more likely to do so during college and beyond. This applies to academic life as well as extracurricular activities."</p>
<p>While I agree with most of what he/she posted, I believe one element of gibby’s post #8 needs a bit of clarification.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>While incidental volunteering and random community service “hours” are probably fairly meaningless, adcoms DO value true dedication to volunteering and community service.</p>
<p>Consider the State Honorees of the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards [Americas</a> Top Ten Youth Volunteers](<a href=“http://spirit.prudential.com/view/page/soc/30131]Americas”>http://spirit.prudential.com/view/page/soc/30131)</p>
<p>Every year this program recognizes 50 middle school and 50 high school students for their community service and volunteering efforts. A few years ago I had the opportunity to attend their award ceremonies. These students weren’t resume padders; they were “doers”; their passion and accomplishments were simply mindblowing.</p>
<p>I doubt that college admissions was at the forefront of any of their minds as they developed their projects, but I am sure that college adcoms took note of what they’d done.</p>
<p>At one event at the weekend ceremony I was seated with four HS honorees and asked them about their college plans. Three of the four were headed to Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>I believe that wasn’t a random result.</p>
<p>I’m sure what Gibby meant was not the kind of volunteer where you “found your own non-profit and benefit a lot of people.” He meant the kind where you go to bakesale or beach cleanup or help out a middle school festival on weekends for keyclub or some other volunteer club. Although they may accumulate up to like 300-500 hours, that kind of volunteer is not really meaningful for top-tier colleges like harvard.</p>
<p>^^ That’s exactly what I meant. Many middle schools and high schools have graduation requirements that mandate community service hours – that kind of volunteer work is what colleges discount.</p>
<p>Gibby and lovenerds - I completely agree.</p>
<p>OP - You’re qualified. Take comfort in that. You might get in; you might not. But either way, you ARE qualified. Which means you’ll have plenty of good options if you apply to an appropriate mix of colleges.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>