Harvard Chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Stats
- Asian Male, no hooks
- 3.98 UW and 4.73 W GPA
- Public school, does not rank, IB Magnet Program (I've taken the most rigorous schedule of Pre-IB and IB classes since freshman year)
- SAT: 2370, Essay 10 (first sitting)
- SAT 2s: Math 800, Chem 780, Bio E 770 (all first sitting)
- APs: Bio (5), BC (5), Chinese (5), Comp. Gov. (5), Lang (5), Lit (5), Enviro (5), Euro (5), Human Geo. (5), Psych (5), World (5), Chem (4), Micro (4), Physics C Mech. (4), Spanish (4), Stat (4), Macro (3), Music Theory (5), USH (5), US Gov. (5)
- IBs: SL Chem (6), SL Spanish (6); will take HL Maths, English, History and SL Anthropology</p>

<p>Awards
- Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology Semifinalist
- National Merit Seminfinalist (235 PSAT)
- State AP Scholar
- National AP Scholar
- Certificate of Meritorious Service (600+ service hours)</p>

<p>Important ECs
- Served two terms as Student Member on the county Board of Ed; key achievements include serving on the Policy Committee and hiring the new county superintendent (elected to both terms by over 72% of ~64,000 middle/high school students)
- Paid Summer Intern at the National Institutes of Health for two years
- Organized thousands of people online against a proposed curfew; published a Washington Post op-ed and appeared on local CBS news to debate the County Police Chief
- Co-founded state association of National Honor Societies
- Vice President of Key Club at school
- Legislative Chair of state Youth Advisory Council
- Chairman of County Student Advisory Council
- Served on Executive Board of county and state student government associations
- National Honor Society member</p>

<p>Other Info
- Pretty solid essays
- Two pretty strong teacher recommendations
- Sending in 20-page research paper as supplemental materials
- Interview went relatively well; may have overdressed</p>

2

<p>You’re clearly a strong candidate, but the unfortunate fact is that most unhooked kids who read like you don’t get into Harvard. With a 6% admit rate and 50% of the admits being athletes, URMs, legacies and the very connected, even the very top kids who don’t fall into one of those categories has only a very, very small chance.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the reply! I know the disadvantages of being an unhooked Asian, so I was wondering if my stats and unique ECs are “enough” to put me into that 6%, especially as a SCEA applicant in the same pool as the legacies and athletes.</p>

<p>I also did some projections of past statistics, and I’d appreciate if anyone could confirm my numbers. </p>

<p>For 2011, about 35000 people applied, an increase of 5000 applications from 2010. Assuming a similar increase to 40000 total applications for 2012 and a similar percentage of SCEA applicants as before (say 18%), approximately 7000 people will apply SCEA this year, with maybe 900 out of that 7000 accepted early.</p>

4

<p>Dude the last person they want is an Asian kid who is so obsessed with getting in that he tries to make statistic projections for the number of applicants in order to derive some guesstimate of acceptances. Think about what you just posted and ask yourself if all that pondering will make you a remotely interesting candidate. Think like an Adcom.</p>

5

<p>@junefolds, Your flaming attempts aside, have you seen the Harvard thread on CC? Everyone is doing the math, because everyone wants to get in. The NYT blog on admissions does the math, because people want to know - “obsessed” Asians and otherwise. </p>

<p>Everyone who applies to HYPS knows the slim odds and does the math in their head to some extent. I think I portrayed myself as more than an interesting candidate in my app and interview, and just like everyone else I only chose to worry about the statistics on CC. </p>

<p>So back to the original question: based on this set of statistics, does anyone want to provide an honest opinion about my chances?</p>

6

<p>Here’s my honest opinion: I am making no judgment about who you are, but on paper, your application is outstanding in an average way. For the most part, you do what 90% of other Asian applicants do, except you do more and do better. I counted 21 (?) AP’s with mostly 5s and 4s - that’s outstanding, and while a lot of Asians take a double digit number of APs, not a lot of them can say they’ve taken 21. I’m assuming most were self-studies. If you indicate your motivation/drive behind taking so many, and how that differentiates you and defines who you are, that will help even more than the sheer fact that you took 21 APs.</p>

<p>Your ECs are also average in a pool for Harvard. The one thing I would say stood out most is the debate with the police chief on local television. You also seem to be on a lot of councils and governments. That all shows some great leadership and initiative, but again, you will want to seriously find some way to make all that stand out as much as possible on your application.</p>

<p>With that being said, yes, you are potentially able to be a part of that “6%” since there is no conceivable reason Harvard has to exclude you. However, with no hook and no super convincing reason on why Harvard should undoubtedly accept you, there is also the chance that you will not be a part of that number. My final word will be that if you get in, then you know exactly why, but if you don’t, then you shouldn’t be too disappointed or surprised.</p>

<p>And I’m an Asian male too, so I know what this is like. Anyways, good luck!</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1243996-chance-please-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1243996-chance-please-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>I must say, the point about the APs, after a certain point (15 or so) you’re already considered having taken the most rigorous course load. Anything after that does not really matter. I must reiterate what ELM277 says…a majority of Harvard acceptees have hooks. Nonetheless, Harvard still has ~20% asian. But a good fraction of them are those with major national awards (USAMO, other olympiads, NFL, Siemens/Intel Finalists). And all those people are vals (are you a val or sal, because this is important?) That’s just my take. </p>

<p>You have the academics, leadership, initiative too. Oh, and even if your school “does not rank” it still ranks, and they’ll report it to colleges. You def. have a shot, considering your activism, but just prepare yourself for the worst.</p>

8

<p>Wow! Amazing stats!! 99.9% chance.</p>

9

<p>Do you honestly believe all the statistics will help at this point? </p>

<p>Tell me, how does knowing how many people they accept help you get in?
It doesn’t.
Let me know when everyone on the Harvard board gets their acceptance letters.</p>

10

<p>@limdelbarton, Thanks for the extensive post! You were very honest, I appreciate that. I’m just crossing my fingers, then; good luck to you with Penn! I’m hoping my work in SGA will be what makes my application. At least around here, there aren’t many Asians in SGA.</p>

<p>@dblazer, Thanks for the post! We don’t have vals or sals at my school (we stopped ranking because apparently each rank used to go to more than a ten thousandth of a decimal point or something), but out of a class of 500, I think I’m probably in the top 2% if not top 1%. Also, it seems like Harvard’s Asian population has stayed steady at around 18% in past years and you’re right - a lot of them are high scorers at USAMO and other competitions. I’m hoping to differentiate myself with my work in student councils on top of Siemens and Intel.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone! </p>

<p>@junefolds, The New York Times released an article yesterday afternoon specifically to say that 4,245 people applied early to Harvard last year. Apparently, I’m not the only one who wants to know this information. Knowing the statistics is interesting and it’s a fun way to pass the time; I’m not expecting my chances to be increased in any way, but I simply want to be more informed about what my chances could be.</p>

11

<p>you inspire me</p>

12

<p>Dude…Siemens + extensive leadership + 21 APs + grades = some Ivy, even if it’s not Harvard…</p>

13

<p>You ave great stats and very nice ECs. You’ll get into many great school. Harvard? Who knows. Nothing here screams HYPS, but they’re hardly impossible.</p>