<p>My daughter is Jr and yesterday got a letter from Harvard saying that based on her grades and SAT they would like her to apply to Harvard. It also said they will send her an application. As we had not visited Harvard or even gone on the web site it was a bit of a surprise. Does this letter mean anything or do they send it to a ton of people to boost their applicant pool? She has great SATs , grades and ECs but so does everyone in that applicant pool. Thanks</p>
<p>Two of my d's friends got this letter as well as phone calls from Harvard admissions because they were labeled as strong students who were also economically disadvantaged. Girls interested in science might also get such a letter. Minorities and those living in underrepresented states are also candidates. Harvard wants diversity, and it cannot create it without an appropriate applicant pool.</p>
<p>Don't read too much into it, though. My d. got such a letter from Princeton AND was a strong legacy, but still didn't make the cut in the end.</p>
<p>Colleges send out such letters based on PSAT's, SAT's, AP's or whatever mailing lists they can get their hands on. My daughter was recruited by MIT b/c of her high Math SAT (we presume) but she had NO interest in tech schools--only in liberal/fine arts!</p>
<p>10s of thousands of those letters go out to every high school student that makes the threashold SAT score. It means nothing in the admissions cycle.</p>
<p>Harvard sends nearly 50,000 of these types of letters out, which is more than double the number of people who even apply to H each year.</p>
<p>What is this threashold SAT score? 800 (on each section)?</p>
<p>top 5% or something like that.</p>
<p>Actually, I think Harvard sends out about 70,000 such invitations to apply, to the top candidates they have identified, based on SAT scores and other criteria.</p>
<p>The goal is to obtain a large and diverse group of able applicants from wgich to select a diverse and able class. The only 100% sure thing is that those who do not apply will not be admitted!</p>
<p>apparently a 2320 isnt good enough for them; i didnt get one</p>
<p>I know for a fact that unless you agree explicitly to release your scores, schools DO NOT ACTUALLY KNOW your SAT/PSAT scores much less know what extra curriculars you have. </p>
<p>From a purely pragmatic point of view, more applicants = lower admissions rate (=prestige) and more application fees ($$$). Yea so, dont read to much into it although it certainly doesnt hurt to apply anyway if you want to go there. </p>
<p>Oh and... MIT definitely does not recruit for "SAT" scores... MIT used to have a silver bullet option for US Olympiads (math, physics, chem, etc etc) but even that was rescinded. so theres my 2 cents.</p>
<p>As always thanks for the great (and fast) replies. It's auctually a relief the letter is bogus as she can now concentrate on the schools she really loves. Thanks!</p>
<p>I wouldn't call the letter "bogus", but I'm glad she is going to concentrate on schools she really loves. Even if it had been a serious effort to recruit her, she should not consider a school solely because of its name.</p>
<p>The letters are sent to students based on a variety of factors. There's particular interest in focusing on students who appear to have the stats to get into Harvard (based on SAT/PSAT scores and the self reported gpas that the students put on their SAT/PSAT forms) and are in underrepresented categories or cateories of students who are Harvard-quality applicants, but aren't likely to apply.</p>
<p>Since Harvard gets floods of excellent applicants from places like New England and urban areas in the NE in general and from high income students from professinoal families I imagine that more letters go out to relatively high stat students who are URMs, first generation college, live in rural areas, are in zip codes that indicate low income, and are in states like Idaho, Mississippi, Iowa, which don't provide a lot of Harvard applicants. </p>
<p>I'd also bet that the requisite SAT/PSAT scores to get a letter vary based on diversity factors. For instance, usually the minimum SAT score for having any chance of Harvard admission is a 600 (in v, m and writing). However, I doubt that H would send letters to white students in affluent Boston suburbs who had 1800 SAT I scores. Since there are an overabundance of stellar suburban Boston applicants to Harvard, maybe H sends the letters to only students there who have 4.0 gpas and scores above 2300. </p>
<p>On the other hand, H might send letters to Mississippi students of any race with 1800 SAT scores. That's because in some recent years, only one or two students have applied from Miss., according to one of my friends who interviews students there as an alum interviewer. Presumably, to help with geographic diversity, H would accept Miss. students with lower scores than might be acceptable from the NE.</p>
<p>Anyway, not getting a letter doesn't mean one has no chance. Getting a letter doesn't mean one has a stellar chance. H is a longshot for anyone. If you're interested, apply, while also making sure you put equivalent efforts into your safety and match schools. Make sure, too, that you LOVE your safety.</p>
<p>Mississippi here I come!</p>
<p>i got a letter... lol, just now, i just came to ask... lol, i only got a 1290... but im a a floridian latino... (lol, love how i added "but")... does that put me at like top 5% for latinos (12% nationally)????</p>
<p>So as an economically challenged minority student, I hold a greater chance of getting in?</p>