Hi everyone,
I’m really nervous about this fall. It’s been my dream since childhood to attend Harvard and I’m considering applying early. Also, a relative of mine is an assistant dean, and arranged an interview with my regional admissions officer in mid June (not sure if that could help). I think the interview went pretty well. So here’s my stats, please chance me and give me any advice you can.
~white male at small private catholic school
~ranked one in a class of 90
Grades:
Freshman: honors geometry= A+ Honors algebra 2= A honors English= B+ Honors world history= A Italian= A+ Honors biology= A
Sophomore: honors precalc= B+ AP world= A honors chemistry= A honors English= A Italian= A+
Junior: AP language and Comp= A APUSH= A+ honors physics= A+ honors calculus= A+ Italian= A independent study of AP psychology (didn’t offer at school)
Senior year schedule: AP lit, AP gov, AP calc AB, AP bio, Italian 4
Test scores~
SAT: 2200 one and only sitting at this point, world sat ii: 750 also taking Chinese with listening (I’ll explain later haha), lit, and math 1 in the fall
AP world: 4
APUSH: 5
AP Lang: 5
AP Psyche: 4
ECs~ First I’ll start out with Chinese. I’ve self studied since I was very little and then went to Yale Chinese School every Sunday for five years to become literate. This year I won a state department NSLIY scholarship to study abroad in China for the summer (acceptance rate: 15%). We stayed with a host family and studied at the 4th best university in china for 6 weeks. Anyway, I also interned for my state’s gubernatorial campaign during midterm elections. Additionally, I volunteer 3 times a week at a local elementary school and volunteer at church a ton. I’ll have over 100 hours of documented community service by the time I apply for college. In school I am class president, serve on student government, National Honors society, president of the international club, and founded and lead the debate club as president. I also run varsity cross country and play varsity golf. I am really hoping to study IR in college, or some similar route so as to use my language skills. I also independent study Russian and Latin. I really appreciate your opinion on my chances for EA at Harvard and any advice in general. I almost certainly left something out so feel free to ask questions. Thanks~
Also, if anyone is willing I can pm my common app personal statement. Thank you so much for taking the time to read all this.
Crapshoot still but you have a chance.
The only way you don’t have a chance is if you don’t apply. However, your credentials, while competitive, do not stand out for Harvard. You may sneak through the lottery, but I’d guess that the overall chance is low, and I don’t think you are strong enough to get accepted SCEA. If I were you I’d save EA/ED for schools with a better chance of admissions and apply to Harvard RD, hoping for the best.
What part of my credentials makes it less likely to be admitted SCEA??
I was under the impression that showing commitment was a boost
The SCEA admission rate is always higher than the general rate. For the Harvard class of 2019, it was 16.5% (997 out of 5922). However, this probably reflects a stronger set of credentials than for the overall applicant pool, and includes legacies, recruited athletes, and others with hooks or unusually strong credentials. Applicants who are competitive but who do not stand out strongly are much more likely to be rejected or deferred.
I am assuming you are an “unhooked” applicant and that a relative being an assistant dean won’t give you a boost. In that case, your SAT score of 2200 is below the 50th percentile. Your APs won’t count for anything and don’t stand out, and your curricular rigor is average at best for Harvard, and slightly weak in the math/sciences - not that it isn’t outstanding, but we’re talking about a ridiculous applicant pool. Your ECs do not stand out in any way - they’re perfectly nice, but they are average or slightly below for Harvard applicants. You are competitive, but all that does is get you into the lottery, and the conventional wisdom is that such applicants seldom get accepted SCEA. The eventual acceptance rate for those who are deferred is generally not considered to be much higher than for the RD applicant pool, though I’m not sure that specific CDS figures are available.
Showing interest by applying SCEA is great if you are at the 75th percentile or above or having other outstanding qualifications or hooks. Otherwise, there is a long list of people who would love to show Harvard their commitment every year who don’t really benefit from it.
Applying SCEA to Harvard won’t hurt you, but it will prevent you from applying ED or EA elsewhere, where you might be more likely to benefit from showing your commitment. Dartmouth - an incredible school for someone with your interests, and on your “high reach” list from your other thread - has a 25-30% ED acceptance rate, and you are above the 50th percentile in terms of your scores. It’s a reach, but a more realistic one for you than Harvard, SCEA or otherwise.
All of this changes if you have a hook. Again, I’m assuming you don’t.
Ok, this is the reason I posted this. I am worried about wasting my ED/EA opportunity at other schools. So, what are your thoughts on these alternatives.
1.) ED at Amherst- only qualm is that I’m worried about financial aid with a binding decision, although I love the school.
2.) EA to Georgetown- the EA rate at georgetown is LOWER than RD
I’d appreciate any more advice, this has been super helpful so far.
Georgetown makes tremendous sense given your interests, but (as you note) the EA admit rate of 13% is lower than the 17% RD admit rate. I don’t know enough about the ins and outs of Georgetown to advise you - that rate could reflect that there are more highly qualified applicants who apply RD to Georgetown than EA (because they use that card elsewhere). Your credentials very good for Georgetown.
If Amherst appeals to you more than Dartmouth as an ED option, then applying ED may make sense, IF you would be willing to commit there assuming you got in and the financial aid was adequate. Any aid offer which does not meet your demonstrated financial need will not bind you, even with ED. Amherst ED isn’t a given by any means, but you are certainly qualified.
You are a fine applicant, and you should stand a good chance of getting in to one or more very good schools. Applying to a very high reach like Harvard (a reach for almost anyone) is fine, as long as you are realistic and have a range of other options. I’m just not sure I’d use the EA/ED card there, as I don’t think it will do enough to realistically improve your chances.
Thank you so much, I’m so pleased I posted today. It has made me think more about this fall. I need to do more research on Georgetown and Amherst so as to decide which one I stand a better chance at using the EA/ED route. I think Georgetown is unmatched with SIS, but amherst’s small size is similarly outstanding.
Harvard EA will be very, very hard for you…
Obviously you have done a good job in school, but your stats are not competitive enough for Harvard.