From Community College to Harvard?

<p>Hi everybody.I would like to ask you if someone has experience with Community College and then applying to Harvard.I know what I should do,getting the best grades possible,honor classes,ACT,SAT,volunteering work,great references,awesome essays,etc.But my question is:is it really possible?How about my age?Would that be a problem?I am 29.I know the first year I have to live on campus,but I don't have a single problem with that,well if I get in,of course.
I live in the times when everybody says everything is possible and I hope it is true.
Does someone has the same experience or really know someone who got in from CC and was over 25?
Thank you very much for any kind of advice.
Erin</p>

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Actually, transfer students have a hard time getting on campus and into the Houses. At least, that’s the way it was in the '80s. A lot of transfers lived off campus.</p>

<p>I’m afraid I can’t be very optimistic about anybody’s prospects for transferring to Harvard. Gaining transfer admission is way harder than gaining freshman admission. And, whether it’s fair or not, almost all successful transfer applicants come from other elite colleges and universities. My senior year, I roomed with two transfers–one from Univ. of Michigan, and one from Williams Coll. Honestly, I’ve never encountered anybody who transferred from community college to Harvard.</p>

<p>I know that’s not the answer you wanted. Sorry.</p>

<p>Hi,thank you for your opinion.
I really don’t care if I live on campus or not,I would prefer to live out of the campus,if possible but I read that freshmen must live on the campus,at least for the first year.My concern is if it is possible for me to get in as an undergraduate student.I know it will take a lot of time and hard work but I would go for it if I knew it is possible.
Why do you think it might not be possible for me to get in?If I have the best GPA and other important things with the highest scores?
I am not really sure what transfer mean,I would like to start as a freshman=undergraduate,I study CC because I didn’t attend High school here in the USA and I need all those tests and transcripts,etc.
Would you have any advice for me?:slight_smile:
Thank you!
Erin</p>

<p>I don’t see why it would be impossible. But to put it in perspective, two years ago (I don’t know the data for last year) there were 12 transfer students. 12. The transfer rate is ridiculously more competitive than the regular admit rate, which is already ridiculously competitive. </p>

<p>I would not under any circumstances expect to be admitted as a transfer, simply because it’s so difficult. But that’s not the same thing as impossible.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, Erin, if you have been taking community college classes, you will not be able to apply as a freshman. Only students who have never attended college (or taken college classes while they were still also enrolled in high school) may apply for freshman admission.</p>

<p>Hi,could you please tell me what is the difference between transfer and freshman?:slight_smile:
I don’t want to transfer there,what I plan is to apply as a freshman,to start from the beginning.Is it still possible from CC?I study that because I need the transcripts,teacher’s recommendation letter,etc I don’t have.I attended regular High school in Europe.
I really appreciate your help.
Erin</p>

<p>Yeah I guess I assumed you were asking about transferring because of what Sikorsky said. If you’ve taken college classes you would be considered a transfer, not a regular applicant.</p>

<p>A transfer applicant is an applicant who has already attended another college and earned college credits there. This describes you.</p>

<p>An applicant for freshman admission has not enrolled in another college for credit (unless he or she did so while also still enrolled in high school). </p>

<p>Because you have previously been enrolled in college, you will be considered an applicant for transfer admission. You will not be eligible for admission as a freshman.</p>

<p>Thank you both very much for your answers!!!That was very helpful.
The truth is I am not enrolled in any college right now,I have the application ready for community college and was ready to go there this fall with the plan to transfer to H.I think I didn’t understand understand properly what is transferring all about or transferring to H.My councellor didn’t know I want to apply for H.,I said I want to go for 4-year college.H. is different kind of competition,right?Do you have any idea what chance do I have have to transfer to H?The best grades,of course.Anything else I should do?</p>

<p>Again,thank you very much for you time answering my questions!!!
Erin</p>

<p>To be frank, your chance of transferring into Harvard if you go to community college is virtually zero. Harvard accepts fewer than 7% of applicants for freshman admission; the acceptance rate for transfer applicants varies somewhat from year to year, but it’s always significantly lower.</p>

<p>But I feel I must ask, what is it about Harvard? There are over 2000 four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. What’s got you so stuck on this one? (I mean, I know there are hundreds of really good reasons to want to go to Harvard. What are yours?)</p>

<p>I love the prestige and respect of that school that might help me to do the work I want to do,that is work with the people around the world,help the people in need,do something positive to change the things,…I know it might sound as a cliche,but it is really true.
I want to study psychology or sociology.I just love that school,the professors,students from all around the world,I don’t know about any other school that is so open to students from such a different countries,its publishing services,…
I know about the acceptance rate,I heard that the number for transfer students might be around 40!?
I don’t know,do you think I might have better change to do my bachelor’s somewhere else and for masters come to Harvard?
Thanks again for your time and frank opinions,it hurts to hear that but I like that you are honest with me.
Erin</p>

<p>I just read the rate for transfer students to Harvard is 3 ,yes 3 students from community colleges.That’s not high.That really sucks!!!I don’t know what else to do,I think I have no chance then because I didn’t attend High school here in the US…life sucks…:-(</p>

<p>^You do know there are other schools in the US besides Harvard, right?</p>

<p>I think you need to spend some time DEEPLY researching colleges, as your claim that you “love the prestige and respect of that school” (Harvard) suggests that you have NOT done this and have merely become fixated on the NAME Harvard. So yes, as you suggest, your reasons for wanting Harvard do sound like a cliche. </p>

<p>As Sikorsky advised you above, there are indeed over 2000 four-year colleges and universities in the United States, of which Harvard is but one. There truly are so many great schools that can provide you the opportunities to “do the work [you] want to do…help the people in need.” To assume that you CANNOT do these things unless you attend Harvard is extremely misguided. You are not only, by implication, dismissing the hundreds of other extraordinarily effective educational institutions in this country, but dismissing the extraordinary achievements of those who have done precisely what you say you want to do, with degrees earned at schools other than Harvard.</p>

<p>If you are truly motivated to do the things you claim you want to do, NOT going to Harvard will in no way prevent you from doing them. Your future does not depend upon Harvard.</p>

<p>Therefore, I urge you to think more deeply about your educational and professional goals and how they might be achieved at a broad range of institutions. The hard work now begins for you: researching a range of colleges and universities, assessing their fit for you, and then applying. Good luck!</p>

<p>I am adding this after reading your most recent post (“Life sucks”!). Get a grip and start doing the hard work of researching American colleges and universities. With more than 2000 available, you have many options. Life only “sucks” if you choose not do do the hard work of researching and planning intelligently for your educational future.</p>

<p>I have to admit that all of you are right.I know there are more than 2000 colleges and universities in this country and maybe I am little bit obsessed with Harvard.I’ve always thought that you can do anything in your life if you work really really hard.So why not me?I don’t know how but I will try to go for it anyway,maybe start with the community,maybe with regular 4-year college,do my bachelor’s degree and for master’s try for Harvard…Have no idea now.
Thanks all of you for your honesty.
Erin</p>

<p>Of course I know that but don’t want to go anywhere else…That school means something for me,the top of everything…</p>

<p>If you aren’t enrolled, why not apply to a four-year college right away? There are ways of getting the tests and everything that you need. International freshman students are accepted every year at colleges here. If you have done well enough in school up until now and you do well I the tests, who knows, you might be able to get into harvard without having to transfer! That said, I would also apply to “back-up” schools. Those are schools that are not your first choice but that you wouldn’t mind going to.</p>

<p>Erin, you are really setting yourself up for GREAT disappointment in life by saying “I know that but don’t want to go anywhere else.” What will you do if you do not get into Harvard? Frankly, your chances are slim to none if you do not have an exceptional record of pre-college academic achievement. And, as you have been advised, transferring to Harvard from a community college is exceptionally rare enough that you should assume it will NOT happen and plan accordingly.</p>

<p>But how will you plan if you are so deeply uninformed about the American educational system? Erin, Harvard is ONE of the best of MANY American institutions of higher education. Harvard is NOT “the top of everything.” Truly, you are robbing yourself of the opportunity to investigate seriously and fully the amazing riches of the American educational system by remaining perversely wedded to a “fixed idea.” You are limiting your own possibilities by not thinking broadly and, above all, realistically!</p>

<p>No one is saying you cannot apply to Harvard. But your chances are slim and you need to plan accordingly for an educational and professional future should you not be admitted.</p>

<p>Let’s face it,I know I have zero chance to be admitted …now…but if I start somewhere,don’t know where,community or regular 4-year university I will get to that school later,I just don’t want to let it go.I am 29 and I feel I didn’t achieve anything in life yet and THAT school will be IT.I have totally no academic record here so it will be much more difficult for me because I didn’t attend High school here.
I know I have to do a lot of thinking but I feel like my life will not be complete if I don’t get to that school…someday…</p>

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<p>Erin, you are twenty-nine years old. That’s simply too old to believe that kind of fairy-tale nonsense. Do you really think that the tens of thousands who were starving last year in drought- and war-ravaged Somalia didn’t have food because they didn’t work “really, really hard”? Do you honestly think that Hillary Clinton is not the President of the United States because she didn’t work hard enough, or because, as Amy Pohler said in that brilliant SNL sketch, she “just should have wanted it more”? Personally, I believe that “you can do anything” is one of the most pernicious lies that we tell young people. There are some things you cannot do. Some women cannot bear children, no matter how desperately they want to. You cannot win an Oscar or a Nobel Prize if you just “work really, really hard.” The Academy or the Nobel Committee must select you, and they don’t, you don’t win. But this “you can do anything” crap suggests that any time a person fails to accomplish something, the only possible explanations are weakness of will and moral deficiency.</p>

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<p>Several very sensible and experienced posters have told you that if you persist in thinking this way, you are setting yourself up for needless disappointment. I will add my voice to theirs. As another senior poster on these boards is fond of saying, you are “fetishizing” Harvard. You are making it some kind of idol, some kind of Holy Grail, for no particularly good reason. And you are being thoroughly dishonest with yourself. If your goal were really to “work with the people around the world,help the people in need,do something positive to change the things,” then you’d know that you could do that with or without going to Harvard. Your goal is to go to Harvard. That’s a perfectly fine goal, but it’s ridiculously stupid to treat is as a do-or-die matter. Like winning a Nobel or an Oscar, getting into Harvard is ultimately out of your control.</p>

<p>If you really want to “work with the people around the world,help the people in need,do something positive to change the things,” then start now figuring out how you’re going to make that happen, starting from where you are right now. You’re 29; time’s a-wastin’. And good luck to you. The world needs motivated altruists and idealists. But if what you really want is to go to Harvard, you’ll inevitably be disappointed. Either you’ll never get there, or you will get there and discover that no university, not even Harvard, can measure up to the romanticized notions you’re carrying around in your head.</p>