<p>Country: Bangladesh
Race: Asian Indian
High School GPA: 4/4 (unweighted)
SAT Score 1840 (I know it is low)</p>
<p>ECs:
President, AROHON (A Non-profit Youth Movement Organization- the largest of its sort in Bangladesh working with NGOs and the United Nations on projects like Road Safety, Hygiene, Climate Resilience and recently Autism)
President, AROHON Youth Empowerment Club (A club helping youth in the age group of 15-24 in being better thinkers, career advising, education, activism etc.)
Volunteer (Head of Designing and Development Department), Bangladesh Physics Olympiad
Member, Bangladesh Astronomical Association (Organize the official Bangladesh Astronomy Olympiad)
Youth Adviser, Education and Government, United Nations Youth Advisory Panel (this organization is the only, official youth organization working for UN Bangladesh Country Team as advisers, policy makers)
Vice President and Lecturer, Sunnydale School Science Club (I prepared courses and taught Physics and Astronomy)
Research Assistant, A Project of University of Newcastle Australia, Funded by World Health Organization (Project titled 'Review of nationally relevant evidence of the effectiveness of households and community WASH and climate resilient interventions')
Research Assistant, A project of an NGO named LIFE under a Dhaka University Professor (Project Titled 'SURVEY REPORT ON HIV/AIDS AMONG THE SCHOOL GOING AND OUT OF SCHOOL STUDENTS & THEIR GUARDIANS AND TEACHERS')
Freelance Writer (published in Physics Olympiad Magazine and some national dailies)
Amateur Swimmer, (also teach beginner swimmers)
Glass painting (Natural scenes and abstract)
Gardening (gardener at my family's gardening estate)
Ceramics (specifically China Clay ceramics)</p>
<p>Current Year Courses:
Mathematics (Mechanics and Pure Mathematics)
Further Mathematics
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
English Literature and Language (Taking courses privately; not from school)
Philosophy (Taking courses privately; not from school)</p>
<p>A graded paper on a book involving historiography, literature and philosophy.</p>
<p>Please understand that everyone’s chances are low, with only a 6% admission rate. So maybe your chances are 6% but because you are an international, remember that only 10% of the class will be internationals. Much will depend on how your accomplishments are viewed and it looks like you have some nice ones.</p>
<p>The good news is that they can admit anyone they want on any basis if they think you are exceptional. The bad news is that your SAT score is almost outside of any accepted range. The bottom 25% of the admitted class has about 710 or 720 in each section. Look at the graph on this link and see how few of the class of 2017 had that SAT score (this is just a poll by the student newspaper though.)
<a href=“The Harvard Crimson | Class of 2017”>http://features.thecrimson.com/2013/frosh-survey/admissions.html</a></p>
<p>@imrakibul96: Go to the above site. From the drop down menu select HARVARD COLLEGE (the undergraduate school) and BANGLADESH. As you will see, currently there are 2 students from Bangladesh at Harvard College, meaning that on average Harvard Admissions accepts about one student from your country every two years. Even with perfect tests scores, your chances are slim to none.</p>
<p>@imakibul96 - on the face of it, your SAT scores would likely disqualify you unless the rest of your academic record is stronger than appears at first glance. Have you take any SAT subject tests? If not, you should take at least two (in science and mathematics) if possible. You could also consider retaking the SAT, or taking the ACT if possible. You are running out of time so research test dates and deadlines ASAP.</p>
<p>@gibby - Frankly your comment makes no sense to me, because you have no idea how large the pool of applicants from Bangladesh was for the last 2 years. What if there were only 2 applicants and they both got in? Then the odds seem pretty good, don’t they. Now of course that is also unlikely to the extreme, and @imakibul96 would seem to have low odds based on test scores at least. Although I imagine Harvard does give some leeway on the SAT for non-native English speakers, I doubt it extends that far. So that is the bottom line, but you cannot draw that conclusion via your methodology.</p>
<p>^^ Although an applicant doesn’t know how many of their fellow countrymen have applied, they can get an idea of what countries Harvard seems to heavily draw from. For example, currently there are</p>
<p>147 students at Harvard College from Canada
60 students at Harvard College from the United Kingdom
50 students at Harvard College from China
39 students at Harvard College rom Germany
22 students at Harvard College from India
2 students at Harvard College from Bangladesh</p>
<p>Just looking at those numbers, a Canadian applicant would seem to have a better chance than a student from China – even though both of those countries I imagine have hundreds (maybe even thousands) of students applying every year.</p>
<p>The Harvard club in my country just said that the college often receives no applications at all during a given admissions cycle from my country. So I have to agree with @fallenchemist- the numbers don’t make much sense without the number of applicants mentioned as well.</p>
<p>@gibby - Your reasoning is baffling. Don’t you think that there is a very high probability that the network of Harvard grads, and many other factors, is much stronger in countries like Canada, the UK, China (especially over the last couple of decades) Germany and India than in a country like Bangladesh? Not to mention the wealth in those countries and the ability of larger group of families to afford Harvard, and of course the sheer population numbers of China and India. IMO, you should drop this line of argument. It fails in every sense. If a Bangladesh native has the academic chops and the resources, they have every bit the chance of getting into Harvard as any other international, I am sure. My strongly educated guess is that, besides the factors already mentioned which leads to few applicants from Bangladesh, there are also far fewer students qualified for Harvard than in those other countries. Which all in all leads to few matriculants. But on an individual student basis, being from Bangladesh has no more impact than being from any other foreign country.</p>
<p>@fallenchemist, do you think that there is no ‘bump’ from applying from an underrepresented country?
Suppose two equally qualified candidates applied to Harvard, one from Trinidad and the other from Canada-- don’t you think that the candidate from Trinidad would have a <em>marginally</em> higher acceptance rate?</p>
<p>I’ve seen that colleges like to brag about diversity of international students by listing the countries ‘represented’ within the student body. This makes me think there may be a slight boost for applicants that would allow the colleges to further that bragging. This is not to say that an unqualified applicant would suddenly have a chance…</p>
<p>@Bemusedfyz - I thought about bringing that up, and I very much suspect it is true. But I have no direct knowledge of that, and even if we assume it is true I don’t know if we are talking a very slight effect or something more. Harvard has enough countries represented at the school that it doesn’t really need another “pin on the map”, but if I was forced to come down on one side or the other then I would say you are right. Everything else being equal (which is really never the case), a student from a country rarely represented at Harvard will probably get in over the one from a more commonly represented country.</p>
<p>Hmm. Thanks for that opinion @fallenchemist! I’m glad that you concur.</p>
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<p>This is a very strong point for the converse, however. Ironically enough, this would probably also be the case for most colleges where applicants would need the little boosts from extraneous factors-- from Dartmouth to Stanford.</p>
<p>^ Unless, of course, you’re one of the applicants whose admissions chances tended towards 100% – probably the top few% of the admitted class. Contrary to CC’s popular opinion, I’m very sure that these beings do exist-- I just don’t believe that they can be identified prior to admissions decisions (short of an IMO gold medal). My guess is that the type of applicant who receives an offer of admission from H, Y and P had more than just luck on their side. I suppose that what I’m alluding to is that I really don’t believe that admissions are ‘a crapshoot’ as some say-- at least for certain applicants. I do understand why people on CC say that, though-- it’s the easiest way to answer the ‘chance me’ threads for HYPSM.</p>
<p>^What are your thoughts on this, @fallenchemist?</p>
<p>Getting back on topic, the international acceptance rate at many top colleges is half the overall rate. Your SAT scores are not competitive at all. You should definitely expand your search.</p>
<p>It wasn’t really off topic until post #13, because someone had proposed an explanation of low chances from the OP’s home country, and then it was pointed out that the explanation had flaws. But it still related to the OP’s original query about their chances. Once someone tried to make it more general than just Bangladesh, it was off topic.</p>
<p>There’s at least a hundred people applying from Bangladesh to Harvard and plenty of them have 2250+ SATs and some have major awards like IMO.
However do not let this dishearten you as it is obvious that Harvard does not solely look for good scores and awards. Be sincere in your statement ask your teachers to write meaningful recs and cross your fingers. Retake the SAT on January if you can. Good luck!</p>