<p>What is up with the Harvard Recruitment Program thing? I am not one of the recruitees, but I just want to know what exactly it is.</p>
<p>Bump
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<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I would be interested in knowing more about this also. </p>
<p>Someone from Harvard called last month and asked if our S had any questions (left a message on our machine). I thought this was a nice touch and wondered how many people they were calling (or what list my S was on).</p>
<p>I am not sure what program you are talking about. Harvard buys all lists from National Merit of students who are within the range of students whose stats meet Harvard's admissions standards. </p>
<p>While I don't know specifics, I am sure that this includes students whose stats qualify them for things like National Merit, National Achievement, National Hispanic, and who have relatively high stats (1200 v & m) and appear to be low-income, rural, minority, in underrperesented states, etc. </p>
<p>Getting a call or an application isn't a guarantee at all of admission. It simply means that one probably has SAT scores that indicate that if accepted to Harvard, one has the ability to graduate. Keep in mind that about 85% of Harvard applicants have those kind of stats, but there's only room for Harvard to admit about 1 in 10 candidates.</p>
<p>Also just because one has SAT scores that meet Harvard's standards doesn't mean that one has the curriculum, grades, ECs to make one a prime choice of admission. Older S, for instance, had very high scores, but mediocre grades, and got plenty of info from Harvard, which he quickly trashed because he knew that there was no way that he would get in.</p>
<p>I've noticed that this year there seem to be more students reporting getting called from Harvard. I am guessing that's part of Harvard's stepped up efforts to recruit both underrepresented minorities and low-income students. Both groups of students are more likely than, for instance, upper income whites/Asians in the Northeast to think that they don't qualify for admission or can't afford to go to Harvard even though they may meet admissions standards, and Harvard offers generous need-based aid.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, not getting contacted by Harvard does NOT mean that you have no chance of admission. For instance, you may not have checked on the PSAT or SAT form that it was OK for the College Board to share your name and address with colleges.</p>
<p>um, NSM, may i ask why is H doing this? don't they have enough applicants already without any advertising?</p>
<p>banedon, Northstarmom is talking about demographic change -- no, Harvard does not have nearly enough applicants who are rural, or working-class, minority, first-generation-college, Midwestern, etc. There are populations in East Coast suburbs where every star student applies to Harvard, but also thousands of high schools where it just isn't on the radar. The kids may have heard of it, but they don't imagine it as a place where a kid like them would ever go.</p>
<p>Also, Harvard can't just rest on its brand name and assume that the best candidates will always come to it whether it reaches out to them or not. That's basically what Harvard Law School did for many years, with the result that other schools that put more effort into innovation and student relations raced ahead of it, and in the past ten years HLS has had to run to catch up. The College doesn't want to get complacent and make that mistake. Kids today have a lot of great choices, and if you want to hold their attention, you have to position yourself in the market no matter who you are.</p>