Current Harvard student taking questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>I’m not an international but I’m on financial aid and the way it works is that if they credit you for X in your package, it just means you owe them X less and how you choose to use that money is up to you, so you don’t get separately “reimbursed” for it.</p>

<p>You should be able to see how this works by looking at the difference between how much money they gave you and how much Harvard costs. Even though most full-riders are asked to pay $1200 or whatever the summer earnings thing is, the money they actually pay to Harvard ends up less because some of that goes to travel, books, etc.</p>

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<p>Hi there.
What do you think the chances are for a re-applicant?
Let’s say I’ve been wait-listed previously, and in the gap year that I took after being rejected off the wait-list,I started a organization for kids with Down Syndrome, got selected to represent my country in the World’s Scholar’s Cup and pulled up my SAT into the 2300-2400 range (previously 2150).
Would the fact that I’m reapplying lessen my chances? Or is it just a ‘to know’ bit of information that doesn’t matter much to the admissions committee?</p>

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<p>Eva0607,
You might receive a reimbursement if (Your fin aid package)-(All direct charges)=A positive balance. It will be up to you how you spend the leftover.</p>

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<p>^What, really???!!
That’s awesome!?!
Thanks for the info Polyglot :), I wasn’t really able to understand how the FA works properly from what was given and was thinking of shooting an email to the FA office.</p>

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<p>And direct charges are…room&board + tuition + health care? </p>

<p>And if yes omg that’s awesome!</p>

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<p>Hi there. I would really appreciate a few minutes of your time and much-needed expertise and a bit of patience for this unusually long post.</p>

<p>I’m from Singapore and sat for the November 2010 Singapore-Cambridge GCE A level examinations.</p>

<p>Unfortunately but rather justifiably, I did not do well due to a lack of preparation and concentration on academics.</p>

<p>My ECs:</p>

<p>Student Editor of Publications
Debate Captain
Class Chairman
‘Best speaker’ twice at 2 national-level Junior College (grade 11 and 12) debate competitions
Quarter-finalist at an international University-level debate competition
Adjudicator at World Scholar’s Cup (debate)
Member of non-profit debate organization; organized many workshops and co-organizer of national-level debate tournament etc
Debate Coach at secondary school (grade 7-10)</p>

<p>My SAT I score was 2110 and I plan to retake.</p>

<p>I plan to enroll at a private institution in the UK this year and sit for the UK GCE A level examinations in June 2012
i.e. retake my A level examinations</p>

<p>Assuming that I obtain A<em>A</em>A<em>A/A</em>A<em>A</em>A* in the 2012 UK GCE A levels (where A* is the highest grade in UK since 2008),</p>

<p>(Some of my questions lean more towards deducing the ‘inner workings’ of the adcom and as such even Harvard students would not be in the best position to offer advice. But I would like to understand the process and outcomes through your experiences and the type of people you have met, especially international students and your interactions with them)</p>

<p>1) Would you advise that I state in my application that I retook A levels or will the committee have the foresight to gauge that from the years in which I have taken my examinations; ‘I can’t hide that’, right?</p>

<p>2) Do US Universities discriminate against ‘repeat’ students, especially so for the Ivies and Harvard, in particular?</p>

<p>3) Would the ‘story’ or experience gained from repeating and ‘failing’ and then ‘succeeding’ be beneficial for my application (in particular, the essay) or would it drive home the message of mediocrity and ‘no track record of excellence’?</p>

<p>4) Have you seen or heard of any cases that are somewhat similar to mine and if so, what has been the outcome?</p>

<p>5) Given I take A levels (rather, retake) in UK and took O levels in Singapore, would I be put in the UK, Singapore or Indian pool of applicants (I’m an Indian citizen and have studied in Singapore for the past 10 years)?</p>

<p>6) Any advice on how to package my application and circumstances in the most favorable manner?</p>

<p>Thanks for your time, it is greatly appreciated.</p>

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<p>DE, I find your comments here to be very valuable and helpful… I have a 12 years old very bright young guy, who is an under achiever (he might already be doing a lot), I would like to seek mentoring resources from current harvard student who is willing to inspire him. Is there any such resources?</p>

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<p>Question about health care! Is the HUSHP Supplemental part of our quoted cost of attendance that we get financial aid for, or is it an extra?</p>

<p>When should we choose our preferred providers by?</p>

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<p>Are there french people?</p>

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<p>I’m sure you can’t answer for all students, but I’d like your personal opinion about technology at Harvard. </p>

<p>What sort of technology could you not live without at Harvard? Obviously it would be important to have some sort of computer (and probably a laptop, at that,) but what other additional technology do you find that you use on a daily basis? Printers, ipads, etc? </p>

<p>And when it comes to Harvard, is it Mac or PC? My brother has actually worked for apple for a while, so most of my technology is apple. I’m considering buying a new computer before I leave for college and wonder if you know of any compatibility problems Macs might have with Harvard systems. I would imagine for certain concentrations (computer science) a PC would be preferable, but I know I will end up in something liberal arts (where it won’t matter.) So I’m really just wondering about compatibility of Macs with Harvard systems in general.</p>

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<p>Almost all students have a laptop. Many groups of roommates share a printer between them, but some use libraries/computer labs to print. Having a shared printer is far easier than making 3 am trips to lamont to print. Apart from those two things, it varies widely. I don’t think I’ve met anyone who uses an ipad every day but I’m sure they exist.</p>

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<p>I think the majority of Harvard students use macs (because they can afford the outrageous prices!). Every computer lab I’ve seen at Harvard has both macs and PCs. Never heard of any compatibility issues.</p>

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<p>Dwight, would you happen to know when we’re supposed to hear about our financial aid package? Also, if I still haven’t received my grade for a class, should I be worried?</p>

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<p>I am absolutely the worst person to ask about financial aid deadlines because I uh…still haven’t reapplied for mine.</p>

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<p>I think it’s still too early to worry about it. I think last year it took me about this long to get my lifesci grade. Ask someone else in your class to make sure it’s not a weird glitch with just you, but if an entire class hasn’t been reported yet, the Harvard bureaucracy will start hounding your professor to get it done soon.</p>

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<p>Haha thanks, I’ll try to be a little more patient with both then :).</p>

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<p>What can you tell me about extracurricular/clubs at Harvard? Which stand out the most/are more prominent? Do you know anything about the ballroom dancing club?</p>

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<p>Are there french people?</p>

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<p>Stodaire, I’ve looked at your past posts. Yes, there are French people in all major universities in the U.S.; you don’t need to continue asking. Your best chance to attend a major college in the U.S. is to focus entirely on your school (after all, you are 14), improve your English, and spend MUCH less time on this forum (which is exactly the advice I give all 14-year-old American posters, as well). The fact that you are French will not hurt or help you; you can stop focusing on that. Focus on following your passion for the sciences, and see if you can get involved in doing something with one of the French universities in summer programs, etc. to get additional exposure. Good luck.</p>

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<p>This question is highly specific and I understand that most on this board will not have experience with it, but I appreciate any opinions you’ve heard/general impressions. </p>

<p>How is the African Languages department? To make a long story short, I am really passionate about working in Rwanda during my college years/shortly after and read that Harvard offers Kinyarwanda (although this was info from a few years ago so they may not still?) I wondered if there’s any chance that I would become fluent in Kinyarwanda if I took all available levels. Does the department in general aim for fluency or simply to familiarize students with languages? </p>

<p>The flip side of this is that I want to work with disadvantaged/inner-city youth as a career and know that Kinyarwanda would be almost useless for this while Spanish would be necessary in some areas. </p>

<p>I also thought I might take French since many Rwandans speak French. (But Kinyarwanda is so much more exciting! =P) </p>

<p>To make matters more complicated, I don’t wish to study abroad in Rwanda, any Spanish speaking country, or France. I’d like to study abroad in Italy or the Netherlands. =P </p>

<p>Obviously this is a question I intend to take to my adviser, but I just wanted a student’s opinion on whether any of the languages I’ve mentioned should definitely be avoided or taken at Harvard in particular.</p>

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<p>I have a mostly logistics question concerning money. How do you get the tuition money to buy books and food? Thanks.</p>

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<p>“I wondered if there’s any chance that I would become fluent in Kinyarwanda if I took all available levels.”</p>

<p>I don’t know about this language specifically, but in general, good programs don’t claim that you’ll reach fluency in a non-Indo-European language through classroom study. You have to live in the community to become fluent.</p>