Harvard SCEA 2021 - What Are My Chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I know it may be out of reach, but Harvard has always been my dream school so I decided to apply Early Action there. I’m also applying to UMD College Park (Priority), UMBC (EA), UNC Chapel Hill (EA), and UVA (EA). I just wanted to know if I had any shot whatsoever at getting into Harvard. Here are my “stats”:

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 1550/1600 (800 M + 750 R/W + 21/24 Essay)
ACT (breakdown): 35/36 (36M + 36E + 33R + 36S + 9/12 Essay)
SAT II: Math 1 - 790, Physics - Scores Not Yet Available
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95/4.0 (B in Pre-Calculus G/T Sophomore Year)
Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 4.64/5.0 (Pretty low, I know)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%
AP (place score in parenthesis): US Gov’t (4), Physics C: Mechanics (5), World History (5), Calculus AB (5), English Language (4), and Computer Science A (5)
Senior Year Course Load: Spanish IV - Honors, Calculus C - AP, Advanced Object-Oriented Design G/T {basically, an AP-level class without an associated AP exam}, Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism - AP, Chemistry - AP, Macro/Microeconomics - AP, and English 12 - AP
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, National Merit Commended, NSHSS (not really an award)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): 4 Years of It’s Academic/Quizbowl (Webmaster and on Board of Directors), 4 Years of Math Team (4 Time County Champions), 3 Years of Model UN, 2 Years of Red Cross, Played rec-league basketball for 8 years
Job/Work Experience: Worked at Checkers Drive-In (Only 6 hours a week), Interned at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and participated in the Samsung Mobile App Academy
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer Youth Basketball Coach at YMCA, Volunteer at a local hospital, Volunteer through Red Cross Club, NEHS, NSHS, hopefully going to also be in NHS and National Spanish Honor Society
Summer Activities: Volunteering at the YMCA and hospital and interning at the US EPA, as mentioned before
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9, My first essay was really bad so I just scratched the whole idea and decided to write about my interest in computer science that suddenly developed in high school after years of wanting to become an engineer/architect. I can’t describe it well enough here, but it’s pretty good according to my English teacher and my own opinion.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 9 or 10 (english teacher), she always seemed to love my personality in class and how I brought differing opinions to everyday topics. She also thought I was really creative and unique in my writing and overall ability.
Teacher Rec #2: 8 (calculus teacher), she seemed really nice to me (not that it matters) and enjoyed my effort and success in the class. nothing real special though.
Counselor Rec: 9, I probably see my counselor more often that most people at my school so I’m pretty close with her. I’ve known here since my older sister went to high school, and she always asks me how I’m doing when I see her in the halls. She also always tries to put a lot of effort into helping me succeed (which she’s supposed to do, I guess)
Additional Rec: I might send in a rec from my internship at the EPA but idk yet

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Not yet
State (if domestic applicant): Maryland
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
School Size: ~1500
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: ~$100,000-125,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation born in America, Possibly URM (does being Bengali count?)

Other Schools Applying To: All 7 Other Ivy League Schools, MIT, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, UChicago, Rice, CalTech, possibly UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Duke, and the schools I listed above that I am applying to early/priority.

Thanks in advance to anyone that helps or even took the time to read this :slight_smile:

P.S. If you have extra time, can you chance me for the other schools I am applying too? Thanks

2

You are a really strong candidate and will likely be admitted to many schools. The first gen to attend college is a great asset to you. My advice: Write a great essay, not one that’s “pretty good.” It really needs to shine. Be creative and let who you are come through. If you read it and think there is someone else on the planet that could have written the same essay, scrap it and try again. Also, when you do your interviews and supplemental essays, really research each school. Get super-specific about why you want to go there. What classes do you want to take? What are you interested in? Did you recently read an article by professor so and so? What did you think of her Ted Talk? What would you like to know more about? You wondered what it would be like if you introduced XYZ into the equation. Good luck to you.

3

You’re a competitive candidate. You’ll get into lots of the schools on your list. Only drawback is all the schools you listed - that’s a lot of work that might jeopardize overall quality. I’d focus on schools you truly love. All the ivies are very different - if you love Cornell you probably won’t love Princeton, etc.

4

If all of these schools are affordable, and you actually like them all, you have a good list.

I will say, the eight Ivies differ: Dartmouth is heavily Greek and has the D-Plan, Princeton requires the senior thesis and has eating clubs, Yale has residential colleges and try-it-out course selection, Brown has the hippy vibe and open curriculum, Harvard has final clubs and lots of tourists, Penn is the Social Ivy and has a pre-professional vibe, Cornell admits by college and is known for rigor, Columbia has the Core and an intellectual vibe. And that’s just academic and social vibe – that doesn’t even touch on the environmental differences. The point is, while some seeds grow wherever planted, people with medium to strongly-held preferences aren’t a good fit for all eight Ivies. If you are one of these, I suggest you look harder at the Ivies to determine which fit you best, and then remove the rest. That will save you time and money and prevent you from potentially being admitted to a school that isn’t really in step with you.

As for your SCEA chances at Harvard, they admitted about 15% of SCEA applicants this past year. You are a strong candidate – probably stronger than most – but you have to take into account that a lot of heavy legacies, URMs and athletes get in through ED – big hooks. You may have a hook too, being first-gen. So i’d say your chances are roughly the same as that admit rate. Which is three times better than RD chances.

5

Thanks a lot for all of your opinions. I really appreciate it. I just want to reiterate that I’m not a first-gen college student, but rather the first-gen in america and a first-gen undergraduate in the US (my dad did his undergrad in Bangladesh but graduate at Phoenix and UCLA)

6

Your objective statistics are definitely up to par – likely the strongest part of your application. Your EC’s certainly do not lack in substance. This being said, make sure your essays are both strong AND unique. Too many applicants get in the ballpark, then submit an average and unexciting essay that puts them out of the running. Your essay topic is good, it’s your passion, but what you need to ask your self is “Does this essay convey an aspect of me completely original?” There are surely other students who will be applying SCEA or ED to the Ivy’s that will also talk about their interest in computer science. Maybe, just maybe, an essay about your time interning at the EPA would have a better impact (interest the admissions officers more) than how you became interested in computer science. Or possibly an essay about an app you have created (or helped create) would pique their interest more. Don’t be afraid to talk about something that seems too candid or too complex; admissions officers enjoy the specifics.

Pm if you want detailed chances for each college you listed, and best of luck.

7

You’re qualified.


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90% of qualified applicants are rejected.

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8

Thanks for the help @soze

9

For what it’s worth, re: #3:
“Cornell admits by college…”
So does Columbia.
And so does Penn.
Not sure of the extent to which Princeton’s School of Engineering and Applied Science applicants are separated from other Princeton applicants for separate consideration during the admissions process…

10

Bump

11

Hey, just wanted to know whether you got in REA?

12

@societal_hazard nope :confused: