<p>Hello guys, i want to know my chances for harvard</p>
<p>1210 sat</p>
<p>3.45 uw 3.9w</p>
<p>Great Ec's
Recommendations from principal, instruction coordinator, and ap physics teacher</p>
<p>african american male
bone marrow donor
10 honors and 3 ap's</p>
<p>Somewhat limited resume, but an African American girl who posts on these boards got into Harvard early with similar stats, so don't lose hope! Good luck!</p>
<p>hey, gatechboy, i think i saw u in duke forum too...</p>
<p>i know. i applied to a lot of top schools. i feel that if you dont apply, you will never know</p>
<p>That's the spirit! :)</p>
<p>By the way, how were your essays? A lot of the time they either make it or break it for minorities.</p>
<p>how is this essay</p>
<p>As I climbed the staircase to the second floor of one of the school buildings in the county, I was unsure of what to
expect in being selected onto the Multicultural Steering Committee meeting. According to the catalog, a group of
students from various schools would come together and talk about the growing diversity issues in our county schools.
The information for this meeting was given to me by my counselor, who recommended that I represent our high school
at these meetings. I was honored to be recommended, seeing that my counselor could have recommended the reigning
junior with flawless grades and perfect SAT scores, or the class president. As I looked back up from the catalog, a surge
of apprehension attacked me, as I was finally presented the chance to share my ideas on promoting diversity within our
schools.
At the first meeting I was very nervous contributing very little to the dialog. After the meeting, I found myself dispirited.
However, at the next, and throughout all the remaining meetings, I gradually overcame my temporary stage fright and
began to share my positions on diversity and what we, as students, can do to raise public awareness of the issues. One
of my suggestions was to hold more diverse oriented events around the county. I felt that by allowing everyone to
experience a taste of different cultures could raise awareness of our growing diverse population. At the last meeting,
the lead committee was present. In this meeting, I was able to expound on some of the viewpoints and ideas I had
expressed in the previous meetings directly to the lead committee, who decided to take some of my ideas into
consideration. After the meeting, I was congratulated by several teachers and principals. However, the most flattering
compliment came from my own high school principal. The next day, my principal made a personal visit to one of my
classes to tell me how proud he was of the enthusiasm I brought to the meeting and how I represented our school in
such an inspiring way. At that moment, I felt a great sense of achievement as a high school student. I also begin to
realize that while it is a great accomplishment being named the class president, captain of the football team, or
valedictorian, it is just as rewarding to get involved and make a difference in your community.</p>
<p>I'd bet this is not the essay u submitted to harvard.</p>
<p>why do you say that. i was on my supplemental</p>
<p>While that essay makes the writer seem like a caring, politically-aware candidate for admission who would definetly help diversify the campus, the end result will not stand out among the 22,000 other essays because all the writer does is "tell," next to no "show."</p>
<p>That is so hard to do..to "show" and not "tell". I took a writing course, and that was one of my main problems--I struggled in that area. You could use descriptive words..but to "show" something is still different. It's pretty difficult.</p>
<p>use concrete verbs and nouns, eg, instead of "I gradually overcame my temporary stage fright" try something like "I found that my hands slowly unclenched, my heart was no longer pounding in my chest and my breath came in easy rhythms onces again." Ok, a bit much, but yu get the idea.</p>
<p>I'd say you have about a 1 in 10 chance.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Somewhat limited resume, but an African American girl who posts on these boards got into Harvard early with similar stats, so don't lose hope! Good luck!
[/quote]
People with 1200 SATs add so much to Harvard.</p>
<p>all of you people who criticize students for not having 1500+ SATs really need to reexamine your egos. your hubris is disgusting. just because others dont have high SATs that doesn't give you the right to start criticizing others. i hope Harvard doesn't accept such condescending people.</p>
<p>
[quote]
just because others dont have high SATs that doesn't give you the right to start criticizing others.
[/quote]
I wasn't criticizing anyone/you as a person. I criticize the fact that someone with modest intellectual abilities is admitted to Harvard over better qualifird individuals.</p>
<p>What was the other essay like? I feel like there was a lot of thesaurus use in this one.</p>
<p>Forgive me if I interpreted you incorrectly, but assuming that your statement that people with SAT scores of 1200 add so much to Harvard is sarcastic, you are then implying that people with SAT scores of 1200 do not add much to Harvard. Second, I assume that your statement that you criticize the admission of people of modest intellectual abilities over that of "better qualified" (presumably high intellectual abilities) individuals.</p>
<p>Your premise in examining this particular case is that intellectual abilities are ascertained by SAT and GPA in every case.</p>
<p>By correlating intellectual abilities with the SAT and GPA you disregard other factors of interest that may tremendously offset SAT and GPA.</p>
<p>In stating sarcastically that people with low SAT scores, i.e. 1200 (low is again a subjective term, but I assume that you meant it in that regard) contribute very little to Harvard, you indirectly denigrate those that have low SAT scores and were admitted to Harvard, yet contributed something. You suggest that people with low SAT scores do not contribute much to Harvard, which in turn generates ill and resentment amongst the low SAT score populace.</p>
<p>In that manner, by indirectly generating ill amongst those with low SAT scores that have some ability that cannot be ascertained by the SAT and by generalizing them amongst those with low SAT scores with modest intellectual abilities, you are being critical of those with low SAT scores that are admitted/will be admitted to Harvard and have contributed/will contribute something to Harvard, who may not necessarily align with your assumption that a low SAT score correlates with modest intellectual abilities.</p>
<p>Again, forgive me if my assumptions about your statements are wrong.</p>
<p>Clarifying out of boredom :)</p>
<p>Regards.</p>
<p>And how do you know that others who are "less academically qualified" than you are getting in? What basis or evidence do you have for your claim. You lack a warrant to your claim. If your assuming that we live in a meritocratic society and that everyone has an equal opportunity for academic success then you are sorely mistaken. How can you judge the academic ability of a student who grew up in a poor household with five brothers to Joe Smoe who lived in a posh upper class mansion and had all the resources in the world available to him? So much for a meritocratic society when the playing field is so skewed.</p>
<p>Moreover, mensa I have been reading a lot of your posts and you have a firm belief in tests such as the SAT and IQ tests as being able to measure academic ability. Your screen name implies this as well. I also assume that since you are so academically talented (according to your perspective) that you understand the meaning of intelligence. New studies and advances in cognitive and neuropsychology within the last twenty five years have dramatically altered the meaning of intelligence. In particular (coincidentally he happens to be at Harvard) Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences states that intelligence can't be defined by a numerical value that is given by the SAT or an IQ test (WAIS R), but are rather any one (or many) of a variety of intelligences. Moreover, Brazilian street children, for example, are quite capable of doing the math required for survival in their street business even though they have failed mathematics in school (Carraher, Carraher, and Schliemann, 1985). Similarly, women shoppers in California who had no difficulty in comparing product values at the supermarket were unable to carry out the same mathematical operations in paper-and pencil tests (Lave, 1988). Similarly, another famous study that I can't remember who authored found that construction workers when told the depth and perimeter of a given area know much concrete is needed to fill in the given area, whereas many people who are trained in a school environment need to use mathematical formulas and calculations to figure out the amount of concrete for the same depth and perimeter. Countless research has concluded that intelligence is very much shaped by the context (environment) in which you learn it. Poor kids who don't have the same resources might not be dumb (as evidenced by your interpretation of the 1200 SAT score), but intelligent (they just can't demonstrate their type of intelligence in a quantitative way). Imagine if you gave the Brazilian kids or construction workers an apitude test. They would fail it and you would incorrectly believe they were dumb when in reality they were just as smart as the other folks who were trained in Western schools.</p>
<p>Still convinced that IQ tests measure academic ability?</p>
<p>Within the context of an isolated academic environment, such as a single high school, I'm sure they could comparatively measure academica ability to some statistical extent.</p>
<p>assuming all students who apply to harvard have the same access to resources and are all raised in the same school environment (i.e. the urban school has the same resources and opportunities as the rich suburban school).</p>