So is visited many high schools this summer and have decided that I’m in love with Harvard. Obviously, it is one of the most competitive colleges out there so I’d like someone knowledgable to chance me. (And by someone knowledgable, I mean someone who isn’t going to say “it’s all a crapshoot” because I know it’s not-that’s just what most people on the internet say.)
So here it goes:
I’m a high income ($250k+) white male (Jewish) who goes to a competitive high school in NY. (My high school had a bad reputation from other schools, but it’s getting better.)
In freshman year:
Hebrew 99/91
Spanish 98/100
Math 92/98
Science 90/98
Social Studies 94/95
Science extra 96:96
In sophomore year:
Hebrew 97/97
Spanish 99/99
Math 96/7
Science 95/97
Social Studies 94/93
Science extra 94/96
In junior year:
Hebrew 96/96
Spanish 97/99
Math 96/96
Science 95/96
Social Studies 94/97
Science extra 95/97
(GPA is something between 3.9-3.96-not that it’s so much of a difference from a 4.0)
SAT-2250+
ACT-33+
My ECs, in my opinion, are amazing:
Mock trial
Model UN
Model congress
Created an app that helps the students schedule
I created my own company
I invested in many stocks and made lots of profit (if that counts)
I created my own help-the-disabled club in my school
Also in many clubs such as charity, chess, improv, and many others that the general public would not know about.
I am also on a few sport teams.
I have also won various awards.
I also play many instruments.
I have A LOT of community work.
In each of these clubs, if I’m not president, I contribute a lot. I am dedicated to most of these. (I didn’t really have the time to write details here.)
So what do you think my chances are? Good? Bad? MAJOR reach? A good fit?
Also if you have the time chance me for:
Penn
Columbia
Yale
Princeton
NYU stern
It is a crapshoot; you won’t find anyone who will say differently, not even in the “real world”. You’re kidding yourself if you think differently. There are many, many knowledgeable people on this site. Admissions at top schools with acceptance rates in the single digits is unpredictable. There are way more qualified applicants than there are spots; sometimes admissions officers don’t even know why they didn’t choose a certain student.
Sorry. No one on CC will tell you that there is a way to guarantee admission to any of those schools except having a very wealthy relative make a huge donation. those schools receive far more qualified candidates than they can accept. Many of the acceptances probably come from “gut decisions” because there is no other way to choose.
CAN you get into any of these schools? Of course. WILL you get in? Ask a Magic 8 ball.
Harvard’s not a high school. That aside, what specifically made you fall in love with it?
There is nothing so far that is glaringly off track, but projected scores don’t count, and your “amazing” ECs sound too diffuse. Pick a few and really develop yourself through them. Don’t do ANYTHING just because you believe it will help you get into schools.
This always reminds me of a magazine article I read over a decade ago that quoted an Ivy League admission officer stating that she could take the 20K ish applications files they had received, go to top of a campus parking structure, throw files off roof, go down, and the first 3K ish files she’d pick up randomly could be admitted because all the files looked same, smart kids with incredible applications. Good luck freshman35.
Why aren’t you giving specific SAT and ACT scores? Do you have subject test results? What is the difficulty of your high school course load vs what is available at your school?
Hard to say if your ECs have the “pop” required for these schools. Most seem to be school ECs – and these colleges see thousands of applicants who are about as qualified as you appear to be. They take.students who meet their minimum academic bar (and all I can see for sure in your post is that your GPA seems to do that) AND have something extra special going for them.
You might get in to one or more, depending on the overall strength of your application. But you should spend more time on matches & safeties – because you are a lot more likely to end up at one. Anyone can find and fall in love with reach schools; building a thoughtful list that includes matches and safeties that make sense takes a lot more work.
So obviously you have not taken an SAT or ACT yet. Many people think they can get scores like that and then don’t. If you do end up achieving everything on your application, you’ll have as good a chance as anyone competitive applying, which isn’t great. Harvard is hard. I also do not think your ECs are great for Harvard, unless that “created my own company” is a lot more elaborate than the five words you put down. It is a crapshoot. An admissions employee at Carnegie Mellon told me admissions is unfortunately very arbitrary, so do you really think Harvard is any less arbitrary? You could have gotten a straight 100 in every class, a 2400, 36, and helped develop a life-saving medicine and I would tell you that your chances were 50% max. The president of Yale stated that if they replaced the 2,000 accepted students with 2,000 rejected ones there would be “no appreciable drop in quality” and that sums up elite admissions in America.
You can’t project yourself for the ACT or the SAT. A guy at my high school who would be ranked #1 if we ranked got a 34 his first try. The girl who would be ranked #2 got a 24, and I (who would be ranked like in the top 25% at best) got a 30 my first try. It isn’t something you can predict. GPA and class rank aren’t always indicative of intelligence or the ability to take standardized tests well.
The vast majority of applicants to Harvard are not admitted, and your stats are middle of the pack. Have you visited any colleges that aren’t among the 6 most difficult to get into in the US?
That your true "love" for Harvard based on one summer visit will stand out loud and clear on your application, and give you an edge over all those applicants who are simply besotted with the Harvard name and prestige? I don't think so.
That your completely projected 50th percentile standardized test scores will put you over the top? Not.
That your list of 90+ grades in courses of unclear rigor will stand out from 35,000+ other applicants? Really?
That your "amazing" 12-20 ECs without any indication of time involved, depth of commitment, or level of proficiency, will win the day? Come on. Harvard (and the other schools on your list) would be much more impressed with 1-2 ECs that you did at a really high and committed level.
So based on what you wrote, @ClarinetDad16 seems to have nailed it.
Yes-and why are my stats middle? I have a an almost perfect gpa, good standardized test scores, and my ecs are great but I just didn’t didn’t elaborate nor write nearly all.
If you have real standardized test scores then post what they actually are. 2250+ and 33+ don’t mean anything - real scores are specific. Everyone assumes these are “projected” scores, which are meaningless. They are also only at the 50th percentile or so for Harvard and your other top schools, so they won’t do anything more than check off a box.
Your GPA is fine, but your curricular rigor is unclear.
As for your ECs, you come across as someone who has dabbled in a lot of things. Model UN, mock trial, “many clubs”, “on a few sports teams”, “various awards”, “play many instruments”, “a lot of community work”. These are all vague and non-specific, and you can’t possible do them all in depth and well. If you want better feedback, be more specific. But if you present yourself on your application at all like you did in the OP, you will probably get hammered.