Early Action... help or harm?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>Arwarw- yes, yes, 100x yes. I felt obligated to respond after I read your response because I have been admitted to Harvard RD this cycle and I live very near UIowa and it was my safety from the beginning.
Consider Iowa if you’re a writer for sure.

  1. Amazing writing program
  2. Awesome college town
  3. great Big Ten sports
  4. Social Scene is tops
  5. it’s a great deal
  6. we could chill
  7. you will be admitted very early and you’ll get great merit aid</p>

<p>As far as applying Harvard SCEA, I think that definitely depends on the person. On one hand, I don’t really think it helps significantly. The acceptance rate is very artificially inflated with recruited athletes, legacy students, people with connections, and the like. For instance, in my admitted class I have Neil deGrasse Tyson’s daughter and Bobby Kennedy’s grandson. These are people who probably have their choice of college based on their last name. If they have their choice of anywhere, more often than not, they choose Harvard. These people typically apply early action to take full advantage of these benefits. (Legacy, recruited athletes, celebrities children all are given admission preference IF they apply EA, so they all apply EA, inflating the numbers.)
However, Harvard’s application is super super easy. The supplemental essay is optional, and I didn’t do it (I had no hooks and I got in) I applied EA to UChicago and I regret it because I didn’t feel I had enough time to really make all their essays really strong. Most top colleges require 2-4 supplemental essays, which take a lot of time. This is something you don’t run into with Harvard.
The biggest thing, though, is, will your application get stronger, relative to everybody else, with those few months. For me, I was an all-state cross country runner, I obtained many speech accolades, and I even authored a bill to be debated in the House of Representatives. Needless to say, I’m glad I applied to Harvard RD. Let me know if you have questions.</p>

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<p>@ChanceMeMaybe Wow thanks for all the great insight! My only question I guess would be do you think I even stand a chance at either of the application deadlines? Compared to people in my school and town, I’m great for sure with my test scores and GPA, but compared to applicants like you I just don’t know. I think my hooks would be that I’m an African American and that I work for a magazine, and I’m the only teen editor they have. I know ivy leagues really like for prospective students to already be active in their field so I figured that would help. But I never did any sports, I haven’t accomplished nearly any of the amazing feats you have and, I’m not famous haha. So… what do you think??</p>

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<p>I would substitute the words ‘extremely difficult’ with ‘improbable’. </p>

<p>‘Difficult’ implies that admission to Harvard is something that can be overcome with determination, hard work, smarts and other factors, which is simply not the case. Due to the large number of qualified applicants, you could be seemingly perfect and not chosen. You, like most everyone else, will probably NOT be admitted - even as an URM. I’m sure you understand that.</p>

<p>If you’re qualified academically and understand and appreciate the other early opportunities you’re forgoing to apply early to Harvard, go for it, but make sure you have a plan B, C and D that you’re happy with. </p>

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<p>@Falcon1‌ </p>

<p>992- 104-98-209-2-9-83-90 = 397/4692 = 8.46% ??</p>

<p>With 100% minorities EA admission (i.e. 595 of 595), % would look like
397/(4692-595) = 9.69% </p>

<p>With 50% minorities EA admit rate (i.e. 595 of 1190), % would be
397/(4692-1190) = 11.33%</p>

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<p>@moshot

You win! :)>- </p>