Harvard Class of 2021 RD Thread

What is every ones word count? Mine is 200, and I feel like I should expand to around 300.

@ZBlue17 Mine is currently around 360 words. I don’t want to expand it too much. It already feels a bit inflated.

Quality over quantity guys. If what you have covered in the 200 words sufficiently covers what you want to get across to the reader, I see no reason to add just for the sake of adding more word counts…that would only waste time for you and the reader. Good luck guys!

^EXACTLY.

I’m not submitting any prompt because I’m writing about a topic of my own choosing (kind of an identity essay? I connect two very different things that I’m into). To be honest, though, I’m not even hoping for a Harvard acceptance. I’ve done nothing crazy.

I’m getting ready to upload an arts supplement on Slideroom (instrumental). I was planning on uploading just a video. Should I upload a music resume as well? Harvard doesn’t ask for it. (Williams asked for it, so I have one ready.)

For those of you who did the topic of your own choosing (like me), did you guys put whatever prompt/topic you chose? I haven’t submitted mine yet, but I didn’t because I just copied my essay over from the Princeton application.

@doorrealthe I included mine! It’s better to have it than not.

@DreamforIvy did you just copy the Princeton prompt over?

No, I copied last year’s Yale prompt!:

Please reflect on something you would like us to know about you that we might not learn from the rest of your application, or on something about which you would like to say more. You may write about anything—from personal experiences or goals to interests or intellectual pursuits.

oops, somehow my roommate letter turned into a 600+ word monster

i hope that’s ok, lmao

Can you take down the uploaded additional essay to make edits or once it’s up can it not be removed?

@ap012199 as long as you haven’t submitted your app, you should be able to take down the file, edit it, and then re-upload it.

a 671 word roommate letter i love myself :")

best of luck to everyone!

(oops, but I didn’t include any prompt at all)

Also, I’m debating whether or not to upload any creative writing samples to my Harvard portal… Do you guys know if it could potentially hurt me? (I’ve already linked to sites where they can see my writing in the additional info section of the app, but still.) (Also my optional supplement talks about poetry, so I feel like I should upload something.) (But also I’ve uploaded abstracts as well and too many supplemental materials??) (And I’m applying for engineering lmao.)

@scarletwitchx from what I heard you should not submit any other writing samples, as AOs would think that you are trying to make up for something. As you are interested in poetry, however, it could work. Wait for more answers

Hey all! Good luck to everyone! Quick question: what are all of your feelings about submitting a resume on the applicant portal to Harvard?

@coffee-and-cramming again, heard some bad rumors about sending resumes on the applicant portal

@coffee-and-cramming Only send a resume if it expresses stuff that was not on your Common App–otherwise it’s redundant and useless. But I’m not the expert in this matter.

So what do y’all recommend for writing as the prompt in the doc if you just did a topic of your choice? I reused my Princeton culture supplement