<p>okay, harvard's been my dream school since i was in elementary school.. my brother went there and both my parents attended Harvard grad school(yes, i know it doesn't count as a legacy!) . I've visited the campus countless times. tell me my chances. i plan on majoring in history</p>
<p>SAT old - 1580, 790 in both subjects
SAT New - 2400
GPA - 4.0 UW
4.5 W</p>
<p>AP: English Lit, Language, American, Euro, World, Calc, Chemistry, Biology, Psych, Comp Gov, American Gov</p>
<p>mostly 5's and a few 4's</p>
<p>SAT II
Chem - 800
Math IIC - 790
English Lit - 800
Writing - 790
US - 790</p>
<p>ECs:
President of Young Greens, getting a Recc from Nader
Governor of Junior Statesman Massachusetts
Mayor of my Region (Junior Statesmen region)
Attended Princeton and Yale JSA summer school
Class President since soph year</p>
<p>If you want history, might I suggest Princeton? Princeton has a better history program than Harvard (not saying that Harvard doesn't have a good one, they definitely do).</p>
<p>Let me tell you something: your chances of getting into Harvard are as good as any other applicant's chances: 11%. It might be a bit higher since your brother attends there.</p>
<p>Personally, I know two amazing people with near perfect test scores like yours, perfect GPAs, who also had great EC's (from captain of soccer team to founder of the high school juggling club to some state and national music award, etc. etc.) And they were rejected by all of the Ivy leagues.</p>
<p>When it goes to that level, the competition is so ****ing close to each other than the Ivy leagues have to split hairs, and I'm pretty sure that maybe around 75% of the applicants have near-perfect credentials like you do.</p>
<p>I disagree with asianwazoo (interesting name btw) b/c I don't think your chances are the same as any other applicants. You are qualified, and not everyone who applies to Harvard actually is qualified, especially since it is such a 'brand name' school. I'd say your chances are probably more like 25%, but you definitely need to look into other schools, because face it, the odds are stacked against you.</p>
<p>i completely disagree. The average applicant's rate of admission at Harvard is 11%. So you're telling me this guy is Harvard's average applicant???? Give me a break. Perfect SAT I and nearly perfect SAT IIs and very solid in everything else. I hate to tell you your a shoe-in (because your not) but you have as good a chance as anyone who's not an urm or an athlete. I put your chances at over 50%.</p>
<p>"Perfect SAT I and nearly perfect SAT IIs and very solid in everything else."</p>
<p>I hate to break it to you, but that is Harvard's "average applicant", so to speak...I should know: Perfect SATI, SATII 800x4, 790, 780, 770, (700), AP 5s across the board, USACO, AIME, volunteering, music (competed nationally), and I still didn't get in (waitlist)</p>
<p>Then again, social ECs seem to count for more than science ECs, so you may have a better shot than I did</p>
<p>exactly. you two are very similar and i gave him a 50% chance. Go flip a coin. it came up tails for you and you got waitlisted. Maybe he'll flip and it will come up heads for acceptance. a 50% chance for admission is still a 50% chance for rejection.</p>
<p>Go read the posts from 15 Dec (EA) and 01 Apr (RD). Almost every school has a thread on who got in and who didn't, with stats. Count the reject 1600's.</p>
<p>"I hate to break it to you, but that is Harvard's "average applicant", so to speak...I should know: Perfect SATI, SATII 800x4, 790, 780, 770, (700), AP 5s across the board, USACO, AIME, volunteering, music (competed nationally), and I still didn't get in (waitlist)."</p>
<p>This is flat out wrong.
While I realize you may be exxagerating a bit, only a certain percentage of applicants are "highly" qualified (lower than you think), especially with their record number of applicants each year.
However, I am definately not arguing the fact that there are many "highly" qualified applicants that are rejected each year.</p>
<p>id say you're in the lead. but you've gotta finish the race with an adequate presentation of yourself through ur app, essay, and interview.</p>
<p>(you seem too emotionally attached to harvard. try not to be, cuz it makes things that much more painful if it doesnt go your way. that kinda happened to me with stanford.)</p>
<p>Agreed with kilaerone. nothing is guaranteed...and above 50% chance....no way.</p>
<p>The ways to set yourself apart would be to do well on the national olympiads (USAMO, USPho, USACO) and research. Being an Intel Finalist or Semifinalist (or Siemens Westinghouse semi and finalist) are probably huge factors for admissions.</p>
<p>Kid from my school had 1600, 800, 800, 790. But, he was also an Intel Semifinalist and a Siemens Westinghouse Semifinalist.</p>
<p>Of course he has a 50% chance. This is the percent of perfect scores that are accepted. Could it go either way? Sure. We also know that this kid's strengths are in history, so expecting him to win Intel or something is riduculous.</p>
<p>I'm sorry to those of you that were waitlisted/rejected w/ similar credentials, but at the same time -- 50/50 is totally possible and makes numerical sense.</p>