I applied SCEA to Harvard already, but I’m curious as to what you guys think of my case. Please be honest; it would be helpful for the rest of my applications.
Stats:
ACT: 35C (36E, 35M, 35R, 35S) Essay: 12/12
SAT II: 800 (Math Level II), 800 (SAT Biology M)
Class Rank: 1/~500 (unweighted; school doesn’t weight)
IB Predicted 42/42 Diploma Points (excluding bonus points)
IB Course Load: HL Language and Literature, HL Math, HL History, SL French, SL Business and Management, SL Biology
Major Awards:
Highest mark in the grade for 7 of 8 IB courses (Grade 11; most subject awards in school history)
1st and 2nd Place Model UN awards (provincial and international tournament, respectively)
22nd Place Fryer International Mathematics Competition (Grade 9)
RCM Level 10 Piano with Honors (highest non-professional RCM designation)
Extracurriculars:
Director-General and Chief of Staff on two major Model UN Conference Secretariats
President of school Model UN club
Piano for 7 years
School basketball team in Grades 9-10
I agree with Gibby. Your stats are impressive. And good job keeping up throughout the high school with your grades and good study habits. But your profile looks like the rest of other 10,000 Asians applying to Harvard every year. Harvard admitted 23% Asians to the class of 2021. I would think that each Asian applicants bring something special to the school. Academic is the first gate, and you don’t need perfect stats to convince admissions you are capable of handling work at Harvard. But your ECs don’t stand out among the Asian applicants. Looks very similar to the rest. So many Asian applicants do MUN, music, STEM, Intel Science, math olympiad. I think Harvard has enough of this cookie cutter type from Stuy, Science, Tech, Hunter, Bergen Academy, Whitney, Thomas Jefferson, etc. These are some of the best American STEM schools in the country with 70-80% Asian student in each class. And they all have stats like yours and better, and maybe something more.
Since you’re from Canada, you’re treated as intl applicant which makes it more challenging for you. Perhaps, Harvard treats Canada like one of American states, no humor intended. But if Harvard does than it is to your favor. I hope Asian parents and high school best hopefuls start doing more activities that are truly exceptional, not another cookie cutter ECs. And lot of these specialized ECs should start in Middle School when you’re 11 or 12, not when you’re 14 or 15. That is just putting a bullet on your resume. And Admissions see that miles away.
I’m sorry to be so blunt but, your accomplishments, although impressive academically, you are another one of 24,000 applicants to Harvard who has near perfect ACT and nice Subject scores. Subject scores are just noted and not given much weight to your academic accomplishments. If you spent 2-3 summers in the Amazon performing bio-science research living among the indigenous people and wrote a scientific research paper with a college professor doing that sort of research at his university, then that would make you stand out. But then you would have to demonstrate that becoming a bio-chemist or MD in Pathology is what you have been preparing and doing throughout your high school. I think that would be very impressive. Or you are someone who has passion in Renaissance History so you spent time in Italy and France over 2 summers to research and write a nice journal about your experience. Something like that. And you studied Latin, French, Italian so you can read manuscripts and original texts, etc. You live in Canada so how good is your French. Are you fluent? That can add points to your application.
I think you get my point. In the end, no one knows how the admissions will look at you. But certainly you don’t come across as a scholar because your ECs don’t give that evidence that your true passion is in academic scholarship. Someone who wishes to pursue a PhD in an area to discover something new and teach that to students at Harvard. You know where I am taking this. Good luck to you! I am sure you will go on to a school that is highly respectable in the US or Canada.
@Patriot4Life I think your assertion that Asians should start looking for “truly exceptional” activities is a bit silly, given how ridiculously competitive the college application process is already. How are students supposed to figure out what their true passion/defining story is when they’re 11 or 12 years old? Forcing that expectation upon applicants will only encourage parents to manufacture storylines/passions for their kids, rather than actually increase the number of students with a “true passion”.
Furthermore, the “impressive” extracurriculars you mention like spending time in Italy + France and bio-science research in the Amazon are absurd and probably only possible if your family is insanely rich and you live in a massively socioeconomically advantaged area with tons of opportunity. This process doesn’t need to favor the socioeconomically disadvantaged more than it already does.
As an experienced parent of Ivy League grads, I disagree with Patriot4life’s comments as well. You are a good candidate in many ways. I know it is hard to wait.
Did you submit a music supplement? in general, with your level of piano, a music supplement with a recording, a music resume, and letters of recommendation from teachers or directors, can help.
Regardless of whether or not you get in, this kind of thing concerns me, for your sake: “Highest mark in the grade for 7 of 8 IB courses (Grade 11; most subject awards in school history)” Learning really isn’t like an athletic competition. You will get more out of any college if you understand that grades are a measure of learning, not an end in themselves, And it’s not a race
I fear your EC’s are too generic. Incredible Stats, but while Stats get you considered, they do not get you into an Ivy League. They are more of a benchmark.
Essays are rarely deal breakers. Sometimes a really bad one harms, and a really outstanding one helps, but colleges know how much coaching goes on these days.
