Harvard Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>Just out of curiosity, what do you think my chances are for Harvard:</p>

<p>Sat 1 : 2080 - 740V, 670 M and 670W. I'm planning on retaking it for a score of 2100
SAT II: Math II: 680, Planning on retaking it for 700
ACT : 28
Unweighted GPA : 3.4
AP : AP HUG : 4, APUSH : 4, AP Macro : 5, AP Micro : 5, AP Calculus : 4, WHAP : 4, AP Computer Science : 4
Top 25% in my High School, It's a public school with 3000 kids</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<ol>
<li>Member of One Club for Three Years : I didn't have a leadership role but really enjoyed being a member.</li>
<li>Volunteered for 10 hours in summer of junior year, I was forced to but really didn't want to.</li>
</ol>

<p>Teacher Recs : Great
Essays : Great</p>

<p>Ethnicity : Asian American
Income : Single Parent, $100,000
State : Texas</p>

2

<p>I’m also applying to MIT and Stanford, both are my safety schools</p>

3

<p>Sorry but your gpa of 3.4 really is low for Harvard. And your extracurriculars and volunteer work are very minimal it seems! College is a lot to do with good grades, especially Harvard looking for that 4.0, but you need other things like sports and community service and leadership roles. What sets you apart from the next kid!? The average act score for Harvard is like a 33… Your SATs are pretty good! Sorry to be realistic but I think Harvard is a very very long shot </p>

4

<p>Your chances for Harvard, Stanford, or MIT are very low.</p>

5

<p>Yeah MIT and Stanford are considered safety schools by everyone so…</p>

6

<p>OP. Since you took the time to create such a “marvelous” post on H’s forum I will actually respond to your “chance” thread…which I rarely do…your chance of getting into Stanford is even less than 5%, Harvard even less than 6%, and MIT even less than 8% (actually nil for all three). But, more importantly, I know how much Stanford and MIT appreciates you for drumming up more business for their admissions cycle this year…especially Stanford since they were conservatively planning on only 45,000 or so this year. So thank you. 8-} </p>

7

<p>@IvyApplicant‌ </p>

<p>If you are genuine, then I suggest you look over some admissions statistics for your chosen schools.
You are severely misguided in assuming that MIT and Stanford could ever be classified as safeties. Furthermore, in my experience, I suspect that your scores and GPA are mostly uncompetitive. </p>

<p>Reconsider your schools list-- or start seriously considering how to differentiate yourself in a hyper-competitive applicant pool.</p>

8

<p>Berms For sports I play football and am on the varsity team but so are like 50 more kids lol, I don’t think I can write that</p>

9

<p>And for all of you saying I’m not real lol I am. I’m serious, I thought my sat score was good enough because everyone at my school said it was very high</p>

10

<p>@IvyApplicant‌ </p>

<p>In that case, I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions! </p>

<p>It wasn’t your résumé that made me think you were not real, but rather the way you listed Stanford and MIT as safeties.</p>

<p>All the best for your endeavors! </p>

<p>And yes, I do recommend that you raise your SAT score slightly. If you’re already retaking it, prep a little harder and shoot for 2200 at least. </p>

11

<p>@IvyApplicant: Read through these and evaluate yourself</p>

<p><a href=“*** Official Harvard University 2018 RD Decisions Only*** - Harvard University - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1627558-official-harvard-university-2018-rd-decisions-only-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/1588918-mit-class-of-2018-consolidated-ea-rd-results-thread.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/1588918-mit-class-of-2018-consolidated-ea-rd-results-thread.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“Official Stanford 2018 RD Results Only Thread - Stanford University - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/1630186-official-stanford-2018-rd-results-only-thread-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Then you’ll understand some of the incredulity of people when you listed MIT and Stanford as “safeties”. You will have some good choices next April. I highly doubt you have any chance whatsoever at H, S or M. Please meet with your guid counselor and develop a useful list of target colleges commensurate with your academic achievement to date. Good luck.</p>

12

<p>@IvyApplicant,</p>

<p>“Just out of curiosity, what do you think my chances are for Harvard:”</p>

<p>Very, very low. Much lower than the standard answer of 5%. </p>

<p>Median SAT score of admitted students: ~2235. Median GPA: 3.9+ unweighted. For the class of 2018, the lowest GPA of any admitted students was 3.4. Typical class ranking: Top three students in the class, or top 1% - 2%. Involvement in multiple extracurriculars. Letters of recommendation that state the student is one of the teacher’s best students. Ever. In his or her career. Essays: homeruns.</p>

<p>Median grades and test scores are even higher for upper-middle class ethnic Asian applicants.</p>

<p>On test scores and grades, you’re scraping the very bottom of the range. Your SAT II score is ordinary, your ACT score is less impressive than your SAT, and your AP scores add little to your objective measures. In the information that you’ve provided, there’s nothing to compensate for the weakness in your objective measures. Your extraordinarily low (for Harvard) GPA would be mitigated if your school was extremely competitive and notorious for tough grading, but top quartile isn’t what Harvard is looking for.</p>

<p>By the way, as others have mentioned, you have no realistic prospects at Stanford or MIT, either. That’s why folks looked at your post and said, “■■■■■.” No one who understands admissions at highly-selective schools to any degree at all is going to list Stanford OR MIT as his or her safety. It’s a ridiculous assertion.</p>

<p>Your objective measures should get you into a decent state school, and some better private schools, but not likely top tier. You don’t have a realistic shot at Harvard.</p>

13

<p>Just in case you don’t get it @IvyApplicant, see <a href=“The Harvard Crimson | Class of 2018 By the Numbers”>http://features.thecrimson.com/2014/freshman-survey/admissions/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

</p>

<p>The stats are going to be the same at MIT and Stanford – you will be way out of your league applying to H, S or M! Please talk to your GC about appropriate colleges for your GPA and test scores!</p>

14

<p>Okay guys I understand, I was in a misconception about these colleges because kids at my school said my Sat score was good enough and since I took many Ap classes, Thanks for all the help</p>

15

<p>@IvyApplicant,</p>

<p>Your SAT score is actually pretty good. But it’s low for Harvard. However, even if you were to raise your score a bit, the real problem is your GPA. These days, GPA is the first and most important objective criterion at which Harvard looks. A 3.4 is an okay GPA, but it’s not really competitive for an Ivy League school, or MIT or Stanford. And one’s GPA is difficult to improve significantly. If you had a 3.9 instead of a 3.4, a modest improvement in your SAT would start to make you a competitive applicant for Harvard or similar schools. </p>

16

<p>I’m a Harvard alum (AB, AM) and have been interviewing applicants for about 20 years.</p>

<p>I have very little to add to what folks have already posted. However, I will add a few things.</p>

<p>Given the data you’ve posted, you have almost no chance of getting accepted to Harvard, MIT, or Stanford. The sad reality is that you need to be a top student in all three (or at the very least, two out of the three) main areas: Test scores, class rank/AP scores, extracurriculars. As listed, you don’t make the cut in any of those areas. We’re talking top 1-2% in class rank, above 750 on SATs, or least a 700 or 30 on the ACT, and some major school or national leadership role.</p>

<p>Certain things which might mitigate this would be: An extraordinary personal story, coming from an extremely underserved community (I mean, 8 AP scores of 4 would be an amazing accomplishment at a school that only offers 1 AP class, or none— not so much if your school offers all 15 and everyone in your class takes 8 AP exams,)… or… </p>

<p>The one thing I WILL add, which others seem to have ignored, is that you mentioned that you played football. If you are top player who is good enough to play Div I or I-A, and the Harvard coaches really want you, that MAY be enough to tip you over the edge. If you’re just an average player and are not being recruited… well, then, I would say you have very little chance.</p>

<p>I’ve seen this before… but even in those cases, the recruited athletes didn’t have a class rank as low as yours. They were still typically top 10%. (I’m thinking of one recruited rower who had the sixth best CRASH time in the world and won Henley. His GPA was a little lower than you might normally think of, but he was still ranked like 8th in his class out of 200 students. His SAT scores were 2030, which is a tad low, but his SAT II were all above 700. So you see what I mean? He was almost the very best rower in the world— which sort of allowed some flexibility in the SAT area— but he was still a top student at his school. ) </p>

<p>It depends on how much they want you. I would say if you’re not a top recruited athlete, you have bordering on 0% chance of being admitted.</p>

<p>That being said, why not still apply? None of us here are on adcoms, and the world works in funny ways…</p>

17

<p>I guess my point is: Your SAT and ACT scores are low, your class rank is VERY low, and you have no significant extracurricular leadership positions as listed. Your AP scores are good, but not enough to balance those other three areas. </p>

<p>Don’t be discouraged, though. I’m saying very low for Harvard. Your transcript is still good, and would get you in to top middle tier places. You need better guidance counselor advice! </p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>700 is more like a 32 on the ACT but I agree with pretty much everything else being said.</p>

19

<p>Thanks for the advice Greg, I don’t think I am that good to be recruited for Div 1, I’m better than most people on my team but not that good, My school is very competitive and is a 5-A school here in Texas which means a lot of students so that’s why I couldn’t get in top 10%, I did talk to my guidance counselor and she recommended that I apply ED to UT Austin in which she says I have a very good chance of getting accepted and is a great school.
Thanks Guys for all the advice.</p>

20

<p>@GregB77777 I disagree with this advice of yours

I recruit/interview for your rival. I advise kids/families to look seriously at the overall viability. Your school and mine have been under 10% admit rate for many many years. Applying to a private school like H isn’t easy nor cheap and could detract from time better spent on other apps.</p>