Harvard EA and others

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>apparently this is the cool new thing in my school...that's how dorky we are.
today was the last day of junior yr and here i am worrying about college! all the pressure from family and friends ahh! please let me in on your expert opinions, my friends have spoken highly of this message board. </p>

<p>I have already spoken to my GC, and she "approved" of the following list, but i don't quite trust her...the GCs in my school are suppose to be horribly uninformed...</p>

<p>REACHES:
Harvard (EA)
Yale
Princeton</p>

<p>MATCH/KIND OF REACH:
Brown
Dartmouth
Amherst
Swathmore
Williams
UC Berkley</p>

<p>SAFETIES
Cornell
Boston College
Middleburry
Colby
NYU
UCLA</p>

<p>White female from private school, MA
Mom went to Amherst undergrad and Harvard Law School (im told only undergrad counts for legacy??), Dad went to Harvard, two brothers at/went to Harvard, sister went to Princeton--transferred to Vassar. I'm expecting average-good recommendations/essays</p>

<p>SAT:
7th Grade- 1280- 760 V, 520 M (I've been told that this doesn't count? I'm not 100% on this though, a little worried about the math..actually a lot worried! I advise others to not take this test this early on)
Sophomore yr- 1470- 800 CR, 670 M
MARCH- 2300 (800 CR, 800 WR, 700M)
MAY- 2320 (780 CR, 800 WR, 740 M)</p>

<p>SAT IIs: 800 USH, 800 World History, 690 Math 1C (620 first time), 800 Math llC, 800 Literature, 780 Physics, 700 Chemistry, 800 Biology (680 first time), 800 Latin, 800 French, 620 Japanese
*Quick q: as you can see, ive been taking sat lls my whole life or so it feels like it...i really do not want to take any more tests!! is it necessary that i retake japanese?
Rank: 2/140
APs: 1 sophomore year, 6 APs </p>

<p>ECs:
-All activities for 4 years (im assuming i will continue them senior yr)</p>

<p>Varsity Tennis- (captain junior and will be senior)
Gymnastics Team- (will be captain senior yr)
Cheerleading Team- (co captain junior and will be head captain senior)- i dont know if it makes a difference but our school team competes in nationals</p>

<p>Student Council- Secretary (junior yr), President (senior yr)
Debate Team- member
Mock Trial- member</p>

<p>14 years of gymnastics and tumbling
Various pageant awards (I'm not sure, are these appropriate to mention on my apps?)
Did radio commercials and print ads for various teen magazines (same question as above)
Numerous tennis and cheerleading camps throughout the summers
Assistant Coach for JV Cheerleading Team</p>

<p>This summer I will be interning at a law firm. </p>

<p>*I'm a little worried about my ECs. I'm afraid I haven't really done anything significant in terms of academic extracurricular activities...it was difficult to gain leadership positions in debate + mock because i missed too many meetings (b/c of sports) to appear devoted (which i guess is fair to say haha)</p>

<p>One last q: Just how much donation is necessary to make any impact on admissions? My family is by no means wealthy-i guess you can say we're "comfortable". Would say 5,000$-10,000$ a year be just a chunk of change for them? </p>

<p>Thank you for your time, you guys are great. I've looked at many of the posts, and all of you guys are amazing and will end up sucessful in one way or another :)</p>

2

<p>you make me sick. you're like definately in already.....</p>

3

<p>no such thing as def...which is why im going to end up applying to like 15+ schools! im worried sick..as much as you are. my sister (2 years older) had similar stats (1600 SATs in one sitting but slightly lower sat lls) and better extracurricular activities but was rejected (flat out rejected, not even deferred) from both Harvard and Yale. What's more interesting is that she was also rejected from many of her match and safety schools- Duke, Brown, BC, UChicago, UVA, Swathmore AND Boston University (which was her ultimate safety school...this rejection came early on and made her veryyy nervous!!) She was accepted by Princeton, Dartmouth, Williams, Amherst, and Penn...she ended up in Princeton, was extremely turned off by the level of snobberyy, and transferred to Vassar which she is very much happy in. Anways moral of the story is, anything goes in this crazy college admissions game. But I'm still flabbergasted as to how she was rejected by BU...</p>

4

<p>Lauren, my D applied to 15 schools this year. It turns out, she didn't need to, but when you are aiming high, it's good insurance. It sounds like you have a good plan. Remember that Wellesley and Smith are great safeties for females with high stats.</p>

5

<p>OMG! WE should get married!! lol....well, i'm applying to like 15 schools too...actually, exactly 15 (i narrowed my list down) lol..But your scores ARE AMAZING! ane your extra curriculars are really good, although not as good as your scores, but still. When compared in the overall picture, all you need is some awards, go out and win some cheer competitions (solo) or some other stuff, you'll do fine! Don't worry....just believe! ;) lol..</p>

6

<p>Cornell is not a safety for anyone....kids got into harvard this year and were rejected from Cornell. That is the most obnoxious thing I have ever heard in my life. No ivy league school is a safety.</p>

7

<p>In addition, your matches are not necessariy matches. Plentyof people apply to these types of schools with your credentials - more than there are actually spots for.</p>

8

<p>thanks for your responses, do you have suggestions for more appropriate safeties? i agree with you that i will most likely not make it into all my match schools, i just consider a "match school" as a school in which i fit its credentials in terms of stats (as you mentioned, bc of limited spots, doesn't mean i will actually get in). </p>

<p>ps- any input on retaking japanese sat lls?</p>

9

<p>Wait, how do your parents prepare you and your siblins like this? How do they raise you? Because obviously they have a strategy that most of us don't know...</p>

10

<p>I guess you are referring to how they raised us to be devoted to academics... my two brothers are naturally smart so my parents really didnt have to do much with them. they were the type of kids who watched the discovery channel for fun. my sister is less studious and i guess you can say she and i are not as "smart" as my brothers but my sister has very specific goals in life which serve as the driving force. and mee...i just consider myself to be extremely hardworking. in order to raise my math sat score, i sat myself down everyday 3x a week during the summer and did every problem imaginable (in the beginning on my practice tests i got 500s and 600s). i did a lot of my studying for sat lls in the van while driving to cheer/gymnastics competitions while the other girls were screaming and having fun. im not naturally smart, im just willing to sacrafice a lot for school.</p>

11

<p>About your donations thing. Haha, $5-10,000 a year is...pocket change. Maybe if you added another zero, and made it quarterly =)</p>

12

<p>add another 0 LOL:) my dad has been paying his annual Harvard alumni fees for the past 30 years but i think it's a really small amount...he pays the bare minimum to be in the alumni association in order to get the Harvard newsletter so he can see whose been sucessful (then he pretends he's not jealous when he def is haha). he was thinking of donating more if it would help me get in...but i guess it won't unless it's like a million. </p>

<p>being a legacy sucks because when you DON'T get in, people think wow even as a legacy, she couldn't get in!!</p>

13

<p>Wow, I guess you have that inner motivation that most of us lacked in the early years...or even later
Getting in at harvard is a hard challenge even for legacies ( don't stress too much:))</p>

<p>I usuallly get ****ed at these posts(usually they do deserve it), but I see that you are a meticulous worker hoping for the best</p>

<p>So I give you my condolences and good luck!:) (not that you need it)</p>

14

<p>Apply to all of your matches and reaches. AWS are as hard to get into as HYP, so they're more reaches. Either way, your excellent scores and solid EC's will earn you admission at most of those places</p>

15

<p>Is your dad an alumni of harvard college or of the graduate school? If he's from the college, then you're a legacy, which really helps at harvard. If he's from the graduate school, it doesn't count.</p>

16

<p>I think that you'd be better off applying to fewer, more carefully selected schools schools, say 7-10. Doing this would give you more time to tailor your applications to each school -- something that makes a big difference in whether you'll get accepted. </p>

<p>I also think that you don't have any schools on your list that I would consider safeties except possibly Colby. Every school that you have as a "match" is one that I'd consider a reach for you. While you have strong stats, interesting ECs (certainly put the modeling and pageants on your application), you are from Mass., which will hurt you big time because of the flood of other stellar Northeast applicants to the same colleges. Unless your pageant wins are truly spectacular -- such as being Miss Mass. or something, they may not impress adcoms that much at the top colleges on your list.</p>

<p>I even heard of a Junior Miss (Northeastern state) who got rejected by H even though she had some 800s. Apparently all she had going for her were high stats and a major pageant win and didn't come across as having true intellectual curiosity. Her arriving at the interviewer's doorstep wearing high heels despite a recent snowfall didn't impress the interviewer either.</p>

<p>Your being a Harvard legacy is nice, but there are also many excellent Harvard legacies in what I am assuming is your region of the country.</p>

<p>Perhaps colleges such as Trinity, Boston University, Fordham would work as safeties.</p>

<p>The top California public universities are insanely difficult to gain entrance to for non in-state residents. They even aren't automatic acceptances for stellar in-state residents.</p>

<p>For donations to make an impact on admissions at places like HPYS, it takes probably a $1 million donation.</p>

17

<p>The consensus seems to be that I need more safeties. My parents + GC don't agree, but I'm glad you guys told me this b/c I dont want to end up without a school to go in the fall next yr. However, I don't think I will be
applying to schools like Fordham. I feel like I worked way to hard to go to a 3rd-tier school. I was thinking more along UMich and Trinity as safeties. I have my reach/match schools set, I just need help finding more safeties. Is UMich still too risky as a safety? Please suggest more safeties!!
- Northstarmom: Thank you so much for all your advice! I will take all you have said into consideration. WOW I didn't realize how difficult it was to get into UCs, I will definately remember that when applying. Haha and also, I am definately not like the girl you described in your post. I hate high heels and ONLY wear them in pageants. More significantly, I enjoy questioning, reading, writing, and the whole exciting process of learning. </p>

<p>If it helps here is a closer look into my extracurricular activities:
*My biggest concern is coming off as a "bimbo" because I realize pageants and cheerleading have certain reputations...although insiders will know that they both require tremendous work. Cheerleading especially is mentally and physically demanding...for anyone who criticizes this SPORT, can you do three back flips then twist your body in the air AND land on your feet? And all this synchronized with the rest of your team, mind you. Sometimes I feel like I should have focused on debate/mock or played the violin which would have been better for getting into college. I jsut hope colleges will just consider that I have been devoted to SOMETHING I love and worked hard in that. </p>

<p>PAGEANTS
Miss Junior Pre-Teen ___________ (hometown)
Finalist for Miss. Junior Pre-Teen Massachusetts
Miss ___________
Competed for Miss. Junior Massachusetts (was kicked out in round one hehe it was a mess, i stumbled on the steps!)
*Plus A LOT of local pagents (from middle school to junior yr, participated in 35+, fyi Miss Congeniality is a real title!)
*As Miss _____, I organized a volunteer program gathering underpriviledged kids for dance/gymnastics/singing/acting. we meet on saturday and sunday
mornings during the school yr. we have an end of a year performance inviting parents and friends. we use half the proceeds for necessary expenses for
the org (costumes, props etc) and donate half to a charity of the kids' choice on a vote. </p>

<p>CHEERLEADING
Universal Cheer and Dance Association All-Star
New England All Star Challenge Finalist
Competed in:
USA Junior Spirit Nationals
USA All-Star Nationals
USA Northern CA All-Star Classic
Performed in:
Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade- 2003, 2004
London Varsity Spirit New Years Parade- 2005
Hollywood Christmas Parade- 2004
Camps:
UCA Camp- 2002-2004
Elite Survivor Camp- 2004
UCLA Cheer/Dance Camp- 2004
*Various awards including Leadership Award, Most Spririt, MVP, Most Valuable Cheerleader, Best Jumper, Best Tumbler etcetc
*Coach says I qualify for NCAA I (although it won't help in admissions in the ivies. interesting tibit: Pres FDR was a Harvard Cheerleader)</p>

<p>TENNIS
Ranked in New England Lawn Tennis Association (NELTA)
National High School Tennis All-American Foundation (NHSTAAF) All-American
Harvard Tennis Camp- 1998-2002
Amherst Elite Camp- 2002-2004
*Coach says I qualify for NCAA II and III schools (of my choice of schools this would include Williams and Amherst)
*Various awards in camp, club tournaments, school (MVP all 3 years)</p>

<p>In the 2005 school year I won the Best Female Athelete Award awarded to one female athelete in any sport in the school. </p>

<p>-I haven't really done anything too significant w/ modeling/acting. I modeled prom dresses for Seventeen magazine, had a part in a Got Milk radio commerical when I was younger and a lot of other even smaller things. Signed with ID Modeling agency.
-I haven't done ANYTHING signficant in terms of debate/mock although my team itself is very competitive and moves onto states consistently.</p>

<p>If you are kind enough to respond, I would love it if you can answer my two main qs:
1) Should I retake my Japanese SAT ll? (I receieved a 620)
2) What safeties should I consider?</p>

18

<p>thank you zephyr151 and dooit!</p>

<p>safiamilk- my dad went to harvard undergrad and georgetown law.</p>

19

<p>Well I'll be honest here, I think you have a really good chance. If your sister was like this, then the only reason I can think of why she was rejected was the 1600 SAT score because HYP only accepts like every 1 outta 4 people with a perfect 1600 and some schools like to brag about how many they reject. I don't know why she wasn't accepted at her matches/safeties. You're ranked #2 and 2330 is your best score, which is very good because you have a ton of good ECs. I mean a real ton of good ECs. </p>

<p>For Japanese, you're around the 62-70th percentile for those who studied the language in school. I really don't see why you took Japanese, you have 2 good 800s in other languages..but you've already done it..if you think you can get a higher score then try to retake. </p>

<p>Now you said you don't want it to look like you have no intellectual curiosity but come on. You can consider yourself a recruited athlete, can't you? Did you know the bar for recruited athletes is very low? Very low, as in 1400/2400 SAT scores will get you in?</p>

<p>Definently mention ALL of your awards and ECs, don't leave anything out cuz it will make you look "ditzy" or whatever, that's just a stupid sterotype. And all of those people that play violin for 9 years..well frankly...too many people have that on their resumes. And here you have something a bit different, because you have a mix of good scores, plus cheerleading and tennis and the pageant and gymnastics. Most who put "9 years of violin"..well that's all they have. So don't consider it a detriment to your application.</p>

<p>I think you've done a good job, a really good job, you've definently worked harder than a lot of high school kids work. And this shouldn't be considered "sick", you were fortunate to have parents who knew what the competition was like and thus prepared you. And you should have good recommendations if your GC can see all what you have done for the school. And one more thing, if you donate this whole summer to your applications, then you should be able to make a good application with good essays and applying to all of these schools won't be such a bad option, especially if most use the common application.</p>

<p>I have another question..what's the deadline for Harvard EA? Because you want your recommendations to be good too, and if you ask at the beginning of senior year, they may be kinda sloppy and quickly written.</p>

20

<p>Thank you so much. It's too late for me to get recommendations because school already ended for me. I'm going to have to get my recommendations when I come back to school for senior year. I believe Harvard's deadline is mid November.</p>

<p>I think I can raise Japanese to the high 600s, the highest I can get is probably a 700-720 (this is if i study a lot during the summer). There is no way I will break a 750. Still worth studying for?</p>