Harvard Chanceme

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

Could someone please chanceme!! I have never used college confidential before so I’m not entirely sure how this works.

Demographics
· Gender: Female
· Race: African-American
· Residence: Midwest
· Type of School: Public
· Hooks: First-generation, low-income, ESL: only knew Amharic (Ethiopian Language) for the first 5 years of my life, I know two alumns; one is related, and the other is a close friend whose two other brothers also attended Harvard
Intended Major(s): Biology
Academics
· GPA: UW- my school doesn’t do this; W- 4.49
· Rank: We don’t have one. But I got into cum laude so I am top 10%
· Honors/AP: Not a lot offered, but I took 10 APs total - the most I could’ve possibly taken
· Senior Courses: 5 APs

  • 3 Dual Enrollment courses
    Standardized Testing
    · ACT: 32 (33 superscored) + 11/12 Essay, but I did not submit it
    · SAT II: None
    Extracurriculars/Activities> Captain, Varsity Cross Country and Varsity Track & Field
    • Develop vision and structure for the team
    • Lead team warmups and workouts, and organize team dinners and other activities
    • Participated in XC state team and received 3 varsity letters for both sports
  • 18 hours a week

Leader, Church Choir
• Lead weekly choral practices to learn songs in Amharic paired with biblical lessons
• Organize lessons for the younger choral group (age 3-11)

  •   14 years, 13 hours a week> Business Editor & Staff Manager

Yearbook
• Oversee the duties of staff members, delegate responsibilities to students to call/visit
businesses, personally sold ads ($150-$2500).

  • Photography business: Did senior photos and other events
  • 7 hours a week> Co-president,

Anti Racism Project
• Lead and facilitate weekly meetings with professionals to educate the community
• Administered the community outreach team, strengthening our school’s anti-racism
efforts

  • Raised over $400 during the summer for the Black Resilience Fund
  • 7 hours a week

Sinfonia Orchestra
• Plan and facilitate events that provide opportunities for cultural exchange
• Serve as secretary, ensuring that all work was carried out properly and efficiently
• Serve as 2nd violin section leader

  • 7 hours a week

Co-President, Origami Club
• Lead weekly meetings that include fun origami-making activities
• Develop vision and structure for the club
Vice-President, National Honor Society

Community Service:

Volunteer, Public Library
• Read to first and second graders who need additional literacy support
• Promoted and supervised the summer community read
• Circulation Assistant: helped library staff keep track of inventory

  • Over 400 hours, a little more than 25 hours a week
  • I’ve done it for the past 7 years

Tutor, Geometry & Chemistry
• Serve as a one-on-one tutor for younger students in high school
• Prepare students for assessments and exams> - 10 hours a week

Research, Mentoring in Medicine
• Learned from professionals in the medical field, such as cardiac surgeons, about their careers
• Conducted surveys within the community regarding the effect of COVID-19 on mental health

  • 30 hours a week in the summer>

Team Member
• Take customer orders on the register and communicate orders with team members
• Prepared meals for customers

  • 20 hours a week

Team Member
• Assist with customer orders on the register and ensured the store was running smoothly
• Assembled fresh, handmade meals

  • 25 hours a week in the summer

Accepted into an extremely competitive internship at my local hospital, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to covid.

Skills: Lightroom Classic, Adobe Photoshop, Basic Python, Fluent in Amharic, Proficient in Spanish

Awards/Honors
· Cum Laude Society
· National AP Scholar With Distinction
· National Honor Society
· Collegeboard National African-American Scholar

  • Questbridge College Prep Scholar and Finalist

Letters of Recommendation
Incredible!! They are well-known for writing good recommendation letters, and I read one and it was amazing!

Essays
Common App- Talked about how my family were immigrants that trekked through a desert for refuge, and how their adversities shaped mine and how I am able to survive in a majority white community where I have faced much opposition because of the color of my skin.

  • This essay was said to make people cry

My Supplements - 1. The acceptance I found on my cross country team 2. My career choice of wanting to be a cardiothoracic surgeon, and how my love for my homeland Ethiopia, a developing country, shaped this desire (also said to make people cry)

2

It looks like you have a lot to contribute on campus and to the mix of a class. You have overcome some obstacles, a key criterion, and represent some diversity in a few ways. You are involved in a lot of useful activities, many of them for many years, which shows depth of commitment.

It would seem that you have a good chance, but admission is 5% or below so you need to have other schools that you are interesting in, obviously.

Your letters of recommendation will be a big plus. Don’t stress about interviews. Make sure you make good use of the main and supplementary essays to help the college admissions folks know you.

3

@compmom Thank you so much!! I appreciate your response!

4

@“leah.tad18” It looks pretty good! Just one thing might hurt your chances. Sense you are part of a low income family, your ACT score is pretty low if you’re planning on scholarships and financial aid. I’d recommend taking the ACT so that you can get more financing options and scholarships.

5

@“Autonomous Potato” Harvard and the other Ivies give no merit based scholarships. It is all need based aid.

6

If I were an admissions committee member reading this, I would want to meet you. I think that you have a shot. You won’t get into every Ivy or little Ivy that you apply to, but you’ll get into some, and I bet that you will get an excellent fin aid package. Where else do you plan to apply? What’s your safety?

7

She’s doing Questbridge. For Ivies and little Ivies, financial aid is entirely separate from academic admissions (scores, GPA). Most schools are test optional this year. There is no penalty for not submitting.

8

I decided to go test optional since my ACT score is pretty low ahaha, I just hope going test option won’t penalize me. Thank you for your feedback!

9

Aw that’s great to hear!! Thank you for your responsed! A few other schools I am planning on applying to are Duke, Johns Hopkins, Uva, Upenn, Brown, so on… and my safeties are OSU, Indiana University, and UMass-Amherst.

10

Actually I am not doing QB, I decided to opt out and just do QBRD so that I could apply to Harvard REA. And that’s great!! I really hope I am not penalized.

11

Hey, That’s fine! forgot about Test Optional for a moment… haha