Harvard SCEA Results 2024

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

SCEA results came out on 12/12

Put your result, stats, ECs, etc. here to help future applicants. Use this format:

PLEASE REPLACE THE [* BELOW WITH JUST [ BEFORE POSTING
[B][size=4][color=#008000]Decision: Accepted[/color][/size][/b]
[B][size=4][color=#FFA500]Decision: Deferred[/color][/size][/b]
[B][size=4][color=#FF0000]Decision: Rejected[/color][/size][/b]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Weighted GPA:
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details):
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details):

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major:
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflections:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

General Comments (if any):

2

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 33
SAT II: Math II: 800, Spanish: 790
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): N/A
Weighted GPA: around 4.16 W or (94-95)/100 (17 A, 2 A-, 1 B+)- I took the maximum course rigor possible. Due to prerequisites, I was only able to take 7 APs.
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): Lang: 5, APES: 4, APUSH: 4, Stats: 3 (was in more AP classes but had to miss other tests due to a surgery
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Micro, APES, AP Lit, AP Calc AB, Chinese III
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • I played for the top ranked hockey prep school in the nation. I was selected to be on my District team (4 states) 3 times and was elected for my league all start team twice. I was also the captain of the team 11th and 12th grade. (9-12, 36 weeks, 45 hours) NOT RECRUITED NOR WILL I BE
  • I currently play in a junior hockey league who competes in a high caliber league. I currently play with players ranging from the the ages of 18-21. I am one of the youngest in the league. (Gap, 42 weeks, 50 hours)
  • I manage a stock portfolio worth about $8,000. I have had positive returns for about 2 years. (10-Gap, 52 weeks, 12 hours)
  • After 11th grade, my Stats teacher personally recommended me to be the school Statistics advisor. We had a bio-medical program at our school the would conduct research project, and I would go in weekly to assist in the statistical analysis. (12, 36 weeks, 5 hours)
  • Since 9th grade, I have been taking online non-credit economics, business, and finance courses. At my school, dual enrollment was not an option, so I went on Coursera.com and Harvard Extension School to self teach in my interest/ intended area of study. I have taken about 15 courses throughout HS. (9-Gap, 20 weeks, 8 hours)
  • I have participated in nationwide summer hockey tournaments. At theses, the best talent from around the country would come and compete infant of college coaches. I have been selected for all-start teams of these tournament on multiple occasion. I got interest from D1 coaches, but due to the spine surgery I had, these talks never really materialized. (9-Gap, 6 weeks (other half of break), 15 hours)
  • I volunteered as my dorm Spanish Tutor. This was not an official school position or paid, but many of my friends where taking Spanish so I would assist in homework and aid in exam prep. (11-12, 36 weeks, 4 hours)
  • I volunteer as a hockey coach for toddlers who are learning to play hockey. My coach this year, host a program for learning to play hockey, and every three weeks (every class), I come in and assists in running drills and correcting technique. (Gap, 15 weeks, 2 hours)

Job/Work Experience: N/A

Volunteer/Community service:

Summer Activities:

  • Founded a business/ economics consulting class for entrepreneurial hopefuls in a poor area of Panama. Was my own initiative and not part of a programIn the extra info part I said how on family trips I noticed disparity in opportunity for people with lack of education, so I decided to use my queried knowledge to teach entrepreneurial hopefuls. I used a combination of previous class notes, power-points, youtube videos, etc. to teach about 10 students the basics of maintaining a successful small business. The senator I worked with wrote me a glowing LOR about how I am the "best" person she has ever worked with. I currently have plans to expand next summer. (10- GAP, 6 weeks (during break), 8 hours)
  • I was the lead volunteer at a understaffed hospital in Panama. This was also not part of program. I personally helped create a lecture series/ program to teach rural citizens the basics of HIV prevention and early cancer detection. Managed the implementation, promotion, and even helped teach some of the classes myself. I also lead a group of volunteers in task such as patient comfort, physician assistance, and everyday hospital operations. My mentor for this also wrote me an excellent LOR, almost "glowing" (10-Gap, 6 weeks, 35 hours)

Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App: 7/10 Harvard Supplement: 8.5-9/10

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): Stats Teacher: 8/10

Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): AP Lit Teacher: 8/10

Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): Not Sure about this.

Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):

Panamanian Politician that I worked with to setup business advising group (would be equivalent to a Senator): 9/10- “GLOWING”- “best ever”

Hospital Volunteering Mentor: 8/10- almost “glowing”

Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): Never was contacted for an Alumni or an AO interview

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: NO
Intended Major: Economics
State (if domestic applicant): NH
School Type: Boarding/ Prep School
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, First-Generation American, NOT First-Generation College

Reflections: I’m not quite sure what got me deferred. I thought it was my ECs but from what I’ve been told they are strong (not the best by any means). Also with my test scores, they where within range, especially for many URM admits, but my ACT could have been higher. Also, the lack of awards may have held me back, but with that, I did the most possible given my hockey schedule and the lack of groups such as DECA or FBLA present at my school. I was also not allowed to start chapters when I approached school hierarchy.

Strengths: Hooks, ECs?, LORs,

Weaknesses: Maybe Test Scores, possibly essays not being world-class.

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I don’t know for sure.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: N/A

3

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 790 Math, 790 Reading
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 800 Math 2, 790 Biology M
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.94
Weighted GPA: 4.70
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%
AP (place score in parenthesis): Chinese (5), Gov (4), APUSH (4), Biology (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: most rigorous available
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, DECA International Top 10 Finalist and 3x State Champion

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • DECA (President), my school had a very weak chapter when I first joined. My first year, I was the only state champion from my school. My second year, I took the position as a mentor and coach, personally tutoring 16 students doing events I had experience in. 12 of those students became state finalists and 8 became state champions. My common app essay was about this.
  • Research Team (President), I guide high school students through the process of conducting grad-level research.
  • Research Internship (3 years)

(Soph Year) Co-infection of canine respiratory viruses

(Junior Year) Analyzed biosynthesis of essential components in cellular respiration pathway. 3rd place at ISEF regionals, Yale Award for most outstanding exhibit.

(Senior Year) Increased photosynthetic productivity for improved agricultural yield, will be listed as a co-author on the publication

  • Finance Club
  • 4-figure sneaker resale business. I worked as a sales associate at a skate/streetwear clothing store one summer and used my earnings to invest in Yeezys, which I resold for a sizeable profit. Kept doing this and made it a business. I wrote my ec supplemental on this.
  • Youtube channel with an average of 300,000 views per video. I make funny videos with the intention of spreading positivity. This channel serves as a creative outlet for me.

Job/Work Experience:

  • Zumiez sales associate

Volunteer/Community service:

  • I do simple science experiments with elementary school students to help foster a passion for science from a young age.

Summer Activities:

  • Research Internships (described above)

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
I’m going to make the disclaimer that students often misjudge the quality of their essays. I am a strong writer and I spent probably over 30 hours crafting my essays, so I can only speak on the effort I put in. I have no idea how AO’s would read them.

  • Common App essay about DECA leadership. Vivid narrative focusing on the rewards of mentoring students. Themes about learning the impact of my voice and how I can use it to help others find their confidence and passion. Wholesome essay.
  • Harvard supp about my research and its applications in a solution for world hunger. Tied this into my desire to help solve 21st century challenges using problem-solving skills from bio research. My systems thinking, combined w business skills, will help me bring innovative solutions to the public.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): Physics teacher who saw me improve from a C to an A throughout the course of the year. We weren’t super close, but he did tell me he would do everything he could to help me get into Harvard. He’s known to write really good rec letters. (7/10)

Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): Math teacher I was super close with and would often go to to talk about life. Connected me w someone on wall st so I could interview him and find out if the career path really interests me. He was my go-to for advice when I was having problems. (8/10)

Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): I’m close with my counselor. I go down to see her a lot and she often tells me how impressive I seem, and how sweet of a person I am. (8/10)

Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):

  • DECA advisor. Good rec, not as glowing as I would’ve liked it to be. (7/10)
  • Research mentor. She wrote about how my bio problem-solving skills can be applied in business, something along those lines. (8/10)

Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Great, I really clicked with my interviewer. I was an econ major at Harvard, which is what I want to go to. We talked about the economics of elite college admissions, obv something I had researched a lot. It worked out because it’s something he’s interested in as an economist. He was really interested in my sneaker resale business and asked a lot of q’s about how that all works.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Econ
State (if domestic applicant): MI
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public/STEM Magnet
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Reflections:
Strengths: Extracurriculars, Awards, Essays. I’m internationally ranked in DECA, which is a rating of 1 in Harvard’s point system for extracurriculars. Strong leadership spike and business spike. Secondary spike in biology/research. I framed it as a way to solve social issues using my bio understanding to create innovative solutions, and business skills to bring such solutions to the public. I thought I did a pretty good job tying together those two separate fields into a direction for my future.

Weaknesses: Rec letters maybe? I don’t know if any of them would be “glowing.” No sports. That’s a ranking of 4 in the “athletics” category which is pretty bad, but it shouldn’t matter that much since I have at least a ranking of 2 in other categories.

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: No idea. I honestly thought I would’ve been accepted because I really did everything I could and even compared my profile against the rubric that came out in the affirmative action case to make sure I had all my bases covered. Most likely fit issues, Harvard has many econ majors trying to get onto Wall St already.

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Don’t know yet

General Comments (if any): Harvard has been going brazy w deferrals this year. You’re not alone.

4

Decision: Deferred
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1220 (570 English, 650 Math)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: N/A
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 95.92/100 or 4.0/4.0
Weighted GPA: N/A
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 33/150
AP (place score in parenthesis): Did not send any because they were low. AP Lit (2), AP Bio (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP (Calc BC, Psychology, Physics 1, Stats, Comp Sci A, and Lang) and Honors Sociology
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Academic Awards of Excellence in Geometry, Algebra, Physics, and Biology. Character Congress Award for Responsibility

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Mainly volunteer work. Barely have any leaderships
Job/Work Experience: Work as a cashier
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, detail
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details):
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): Was never contacted for one

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Mathematics
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Small, public
Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese)
Gender: Female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflections:
Strengths: Strong rec letters
Weaknesses: Stats, SAT scores
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was surprised that I was deferred
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

General Comments (if any): I still don’t know how I got deferred because my SAT scores were wayyyy below Harvard’s average, especially as an Asian student who is intending to major in math and wrote my supplemental essay about why I want to become a doctor. Don’t lose hope. Stats are not everything.

5

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1530 (780 RW, 750 Math, 23 essay)
ACT (breakdown): 34 (36 English, 34 Reading, 31 math, 33 science, 11 essay)
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school does not rank or give percents
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (5), US Gov (5), Calculus AB (5), English Language and Comp. (5), US History (5), Psych (5)

Senior Year Course Load: Chinese IV, AP Calc BC, Honors Physics, AP Lit, Economics, Child Development, Personal Fitness (online), Symphony Orchestra, AP Comparative Gov

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none, but regional awards in journalism, music, and Chinese language

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Sexuality and Gender Equality Club (President), Orchestra, Newspaper (Section Editor), NHS

Job/Work Experience: part-time job at local gym, spend 15+ hours per week helping with siblings

Volunteer/Community service: only 50 hours with NHS and orchestra

Summer Activities:

Mostly helping with family (40-50 hr/wk)
Creative Writing
Last summer, founded a local activism initiative raising awareness for Sudan crisis

Essays (rating 1-10, details): no idea what the rating is, but I did make my readers cry so there’s that and one of my readers said it’s one of the best she’s read; supplemental essay about my LGBT+ experience, well-written but no Faulkner novel

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): 7/10, AP US History teacher. Not super close but I did start a few traditions in her class and she often said I was one of the best/ quickest learning students she’s had. Told me she wrote my recommendation about my intellectual vitality and curiosity. I want to major in History so relevant to that.

Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): 6/10, APLAC teacher and NHS advisor, not close at all but I’m a very good writer so she supported that, has written me a stellar recommendation to become a newspaper editor but still not very close

Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): honestly no idea. I don’t know her well (transferred schools midway through HS) but she knows my family situation and can support that.

Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): no interview

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: double major Government and History
School Type: top-ranked public school
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): n/a

Reflections: I think I’m an average candidate for Harvard (given what I see on CC, below average), but I think my essays showed my personality and authenticity well
Strengths: essays
Weaknesses: everything else lol
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: no hooks, no out-of-the-world ECs, no interview, etc. honestly was expecting to get rejected.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: accepted to University of Michigan- Ann Arbor

6

Decision: Deferred

Objective: Chemistry Concentration
SAT I (breakdown): 1540 (790M 750RW Superscore)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 800 Chem, 800 Math II, 760 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9+
Weighted GPA: 4.422
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (5), US History (5), English Lang (5), Comp Sci (5), Chemistry (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Community College Organic Chemistry 1 and 2, AP Literature, Computer Science Data Structures, AP Physics CM, AP Gov
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, first place regional science fair awards, research awards, 3x National Latin Exam Magna Cum Laude

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
-Varsity PF Debate (Co-Captain); first student from my school in 10+ years to attend grand national finals, nationally ranked, within top 10 in my state
-Private FIRST Robotics Team (Co-Leader and Programming Director); competed in three states, won Judge’s award, but never made it past regional. Nothing crazy
-Science Olympiad (Secretary); state and regional medals
-App Development Startup (CMO); won’t go in depth for privacy reasons
-Science Bowl; I run team practices and study for my concentration topics in Biology, Physics, and Chem. 3rd place team in the state

Job/Work Experience:
-Taekwondo Weapons Instructor, former international Bo Staff competitor with top 3 ranking titles in tournaments

Volunteer/Community service:
-Science National Honor Society (President); exposing research and internship opportunity to students in my school who wouldn’t have it otherwise (highlight of my presidency), featured on school news, announcements, and hosted events for parents on getting their children involved in academic science.

Summer Activities:
-State Residential Governor’s School
-Acclaimed Research Internship at largest research university in my state, conducted proteomics/bioinformatics research on Mass Spectrometry Bio-marker Detection

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App Essay (rating 1-10, details): 8-9; wrote about how I used to be internationally in a sport when I was younger until a birth defect made me stop. Polished it up a lot after I sent in Harvard application.
Harvard Supplement (rating 1-10, details): 7; wrote on the prompt “What is your favorite element and why”

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): AP Chem Teacher (10, loved me)
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): AP Lang Teacher (10, I was an engaged student and he’s a published author)
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): 7-9, large school but good relationships
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): Research mentor (idk the quality)
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): ~5. It was bland and interviewer had to leave within 40 minutes to go to work.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Chemistry
State (if domestic applicant): don’t wanna say
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): lmao no

Reflections: I didn’t expect to get in
Strengths: Extracurricular and chemistry hook
Weaknesses: Interview, Harvard supplement, classes

7

Decision: Deferred

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 800m 730r, 1530
ACT (breakdown): 36 math, science, reading, and English
SAT II: 800 Math 2, 780 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.96
Weighted GPA: 4.87
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5%
AP (place score in parenthesis): world hist (4), euro hist (4), psych (5), human geo (5), calc ab (5), English lang (4), chem (5), physics 1 (5), calc bc (5), apush (5), stat (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): French SL (4)
Senior Year Course Load:

-ap/ib English lit
-ib advanced calc
-ap/ib physics 2
-ap microeconomics
-ib theory of knowledge 2
-ap physics c electricity and mechanics
-ib history
-ib chemistry
-ap art history

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

-cocacola semifinalist (2% of applicants) (found out end of November and updated through the portal so dont know how much it helped me)
-chemistry olympiad participant
-amc 10 honor roll, not that significant but supposed top 2.5% of scores
-Thomas Jefferson uva book award only person in my grade to receive it junior year
-national semifinalist and ap national scholar
-later became one of the 8 nominees for student of the year but couldn’t include in my app

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

Ronald McDonald House Volunteer: copresident and cofounder since sophomore year. I put most of my time during high school towards this club we host a lot of fundraisers and volunteer activities. We have about 150 members on our online club registration and we have raised a total of $6,200 through the club. I have had many positive experiences through our volunteer events and the club has built a very strong relationship with the house.

FBLA: president since junior year. I definitely put second amount of time towards this club in high school. I worked to increase membership and state qualifiers significantly when I was president my junior year. I was also the first person from this club to qualify for the nationals conference

Florida Student Association of Mathematics: Region 2 coordinator which meant I was in charge of the region in regards to recruitment and tryouts. I guess this would count as a state leadership position. I was also on the Florida ARML team in 2018 and 2019.

Math Club Coach: I coached my middle school math club and each year we went to state mathcounts and our students won awards.

Math Honor Society President: did not really do much for this extracurricular activity, basic school officer position.

Lacrosse: part of my school’s varsity team since freshmen year and started a club team the summer before my senior year. Was also invited to join the Northeast Florida girls lacrosse team where we competed in the largest southern tournament.

Martial Arts: earned my black belt and teaching certificate and I teach at my dojo twice a week.

Piano: was playing since I was about 5 years old. Won some city and state level awards.

Job/Work Experience:

I was a self employed tutor and recently started working in a restaurant but I did not list these on my commonapp.

Volunteer/Community service:

see above for Ronald McDonald house, region 2 coordinator, math club coach, and karate

Summer Activities:

Stanford Math Camp: has about a 5% acceptance rate, takes 40 students each year my year had 20 seniors and 20 juniors. To my knowledge, pretty prestigious camp.

Ross Math Camp: Idk acceptance rate but I have heard anything from 5 to 10 to 15% acceptance rates. I believe we had about 60 students at my camp. To my knowledge, a decently prestigious camp.

Attended ARML (see above)

Also volunteered at Ronald McDonald house and played lacrosse the summer before my senior year.

Essays (rating 1-10, details):

commonapp: ill give it a 7 wrote about my experience and leadership with fbla how I worked with recruitment and members to end up doubling the district competitors and tripling the state qualifiers

supplemental: ill give it a 7-8 I wrote about my experience volunteering at the Ronald McDonald house, how I grew my club over the years, our fundraising, and how our relationship with the house has grown so much and is very strong right now.

short essays: in general ill give them a 8-9 because like they were pretty self explanatory I dont really know how you can have a good one vs a bad one. I think my additional academic activities were pretty good. I wrote about ross, arml, and chemistry olympiad.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): Ill give it an 8. Its my physics teacher and I’ve had him for three years. We are pretty close and talk about a lot of stuff.

Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): Ill give this a 7. Its my statistics teacher from junior year. we weren’t very close but I knew that I was a good student of his.

Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): Ill have to give this a 10 because my guidance counselor and I are extremely close and we just bonded so well over the last four years. She said she would help me to the best of her ability.

Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): I submitted two recommendations from my two karate instructors and Ill rate each of them a 10. They sent them to me to read and they were glowing.

I also sent my Stanford math camp professor’s recommendation which I will rate a 5-6 because we weren’t very close I know he just based his recommendation off of my counselors. However since I was close with my counselors I can guess that the recommendation did highlight some of my positive qualities. However I read online that AOs dont really care much for summer program recs which is why I gave it a 5-6.

Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 7 pretty good, had a nice conversation about lacrosse, karate, and volunteering.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Intended Major: mathematics
State (if domestic applicant): FL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: medium
Ethnicity: asian
Gender: female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflections:
Strengths: I think that I had good summer programs and leadership experience through my extracurriculars. I also think that my extracurriculars helped me seem well-rounded because I had a lot of experience with sports.

Weaknesses: didnt have many national/international awards. I think my essays could have been better.

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: (see weaknesses) also in my city there were 2 legacy students who were accepted. my city isnt very big so I can imagine that IF harvard wanted to accept me they really couldn’t early LOL

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: dont know yet

General Comments (if any): honestly not that upset it really just made me explore new schools which I appreciate. I am now excited for the future

8

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1560 (790 math) (770 reading)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 790 Math II; 790 chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 100): 98.19
Weighted GPA: (out of 113): 110.19
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/524
AP (place score in parenthesis):
Calculus Bc (5); calculus ab (5); statistics (5); world history (5); human geo (5); ap lang (5); chemistry (5); physics c: mechanics (4); us gov (5); us history (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Math SL (7)
Senior Year Course Load:
IB Math HL; IB English HL; IB History HL; IB Chemistry HL; IB physics SL; IB Spanish SL
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

  • UIL Spelling state championships (2nd) (2018-2019)
  • National Merit Semifinalist
  • National AP Scholar

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • UIL Spelling (president) (2016-2020): We memorize spellings of 1500 words and then know the meaning of 300 words. We compete at district, regional, and state levels.
  • Mock Trial (founder and president) (2017-2020): Mock trial is pretty self-explanatory. We qualified for state two years in a row, but never performed well at state.
  • Welch Summer Scholars Program (summer 2019): I did chemical engineering research with a professor of chemical engineering at a public state school. We researched whooping cough vaccines. I wrote a research paper. (the research paper was not published)
  • UIL Cross-examination (co-president) (2017-2020): Basically policy debate. State qualifier for two years.
  • UIL Literary Criticism (2018-2020)
  • NHS (National Honor Society) (2018-2020)
  • National Hispanic Institute Debate League (2017): Did this for one year, where I competed at a state tournament in the mock trial division.
  • Varsity swimming (2016-2018): Quit swimming my sophomore year. I doubt the adcom even looked at it.
  • Science Olympiad (2019-2020): Joined my senior year (this year). I doubt the adcom even looked at it.

Job/Work Experience:

  • N/A

Volunteer/Community service:

  • Beyond the Border (2019-2020) (co-president; co-founder) (300 h) I worked with asylum seekers at the border, whose families would be processed by detention centers for long periods of time. Basically, I worked with their children and taught them english, math, reading, and art. I wanted to give them a little love and care after their tough journeys to the border. This activity was pretty big and the adcom talked about it in the letter they sent back to me. The American federation of teachers (the 2nd largest teacher's union in the US) invited Beyond the Border to go to a conference about immigration and education. We were also featured on our local news, our local chapter of ABC, and Telemundo. I wrote the supplemental Harvard essay about my experience with Beyond the Border.

Summer Activities:

  • Welch Summer Scholars Program and Beyond the Border
  • Summer econ classes at local community college
  • SAT classes
  • Traveled a little bit.

Essays (rating 1-10, details):

CommonApp: definitely 10/10. I was interviewed by an admissions reader after my alumni interview, and they talked a lot about my essay. The essay was about my cultural identity and how it related to the English language as a whole, and it took a lot of time. I went through a ton of drafts/ideas before I landed on the perfect one.

Harvard long essay: 9/10? Like I said earlier, I wrote about my work with children seeking asylum from latin america and what educational access meant to me. I wrote and extended upon the details I put in my commonapp and my resume so that the adcom would know that this activity meant a lot to me.

Short answers: 7/10. Idk. Wrote these really last minute. i don’t think they counted for much.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
disclaimer I have no idea what they wrote so these ratings are not at all definitive.

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): from my english teacher. Idk what she wrote. we were pretty close so i’ll say 8/10 or higher.
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): from my math teacher. I have had him for three years consecutively, so i’d say 8/10 or higher.
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): My counselor and I are extremely close too. I’d say 8/10 or higher.
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):

  • 1st additional rec from my UIL spelling coach. I read this one and he talked a lot about personal details that the adcom might have missed. It was a great letter! 9/10.
  • 2nd additional rec from the professor I did research with. It was co-written by her and by the graduate research mentor that guided me. I have no idea what they wrote so I really can’t give a rating on this. I loved my graduate mentor though, and I am fairly sure it was a positive recommendation.
    Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
  • 1st interview: i had one interview with a Harvard alumna. it was extremely short – around 35 mins – and I don’t think I was able to talk enough. She was extremely nice, though, and our conversation flowed very well while it lasted.
  • 2nd interview: a harvard admissions reader contacted me asking for an interview with them. I was basically freaking out at this point, but I said yes and we set it up. I actually accidentally never read the first email they sent me, and I only caught it when they sent me another email asking to interview me. Phew close call. But, the interview was through skype and it was very nice. I was able to talk extremely in depth about my extracurriculars, my cultural identity, my family, cultural assimilation, and about my future plans. The admissions officer who talked to me was also super nice and friendly and it felt really relaxed and conversational. 10/10.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: YES lol
Intended Major: put undecided on my application.
State (if domestic applicant): state in the south, bordering mexico.
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public school (although i do their IB program, and we meet in a separate building)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

  • Well, I don’t think I have any hooks, besides my personal insights into my cultural identity lol. Besides that, I come from an underprivileged part of my state, so there’s that going for me.

Reflections:
I STILL CANT BELIEVE I GOT INNNN. It’s pretty crazy. I’m very happy that things worked out and I am so appreciative for everything. #Harvard2024

Strengths: My essays, EC’s, community service, APs?? (I self studied like 6 of them)

Weaknesses: My SAT is pretty average for Harvard, and I have no major awards on a national/international level.

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

  • My essays and ECs really pulled through for me. Also, there was some luck to it, ngl. :wink:

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

  • My public state university.

General Comments (if any):

  • GOOD LUCK TO RD KIDS!!! And, if you are a future applicant looking back through the college confidential results threads… STOP!!! AND START YOUR ESSAYS RIGHT NOW. I cannot stress how important essays are. Also, Do what you love and what you’re passionate about and you’ll be golden. Also, make sure to demonstrate that you care about your community and others around you. It doesn’t have to be an incredible mission trip to another country that is extremely expensive… it can be in your local community. Oftentimes, service to your own local community is viewed much better than service in some foreign country(that likely shows off your privilege).Good luck! If anyone has any specific questions, just PM me!
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PLEASE REPLACE THE [* BELOW WITH JUST [ BEFORE POSTING

Decision: Deferred
then rejected in RD

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1500 (790 Math, 710 English)
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 800 Math 2, 730 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.87
Weighted GPA: Doesn’t do this
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2
AP (place score in parenthesis): EngLang (3), CSP (5), SpanLang (5), Phys 1 (4), Chem (4), EnvSci (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Linear Algebra, AP Calc BC, AP CS - A, AP Phys 2, Chem 3 (orgo), English, Spanish, Latin American Studies.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Environmental Club founder and president created an app that measures water and carbon footprint of products at the supermarket by scanning them, Research Assistant for a Mathematical Education Masters Thesis, Global Issues Network Service Project and Conference participant also organized a local conference, NHS, German Classes, Tennis Player (non-competitive), small 3week internship with a material scientist.

Job/Work Experience: None

Volunteer/Community service: In Extracurriculars

Summer Activities: Summer At Brown, JHU Innovation Engineering, SIP Internship Online (wrote a paper and sent it as a portfolio).

Essays (rating 1-10, details): Wrote about how I made paper at home, about lost in translation of idioms b/c I speak 3 languages now fluently, a letter to my roommate about my sustainable shopping habits, etc.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): All good, my philosophy teacher, chem teacher, and bio/engineering teacher
Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): 9 (he is famous in my school for writing great letters
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): 8 (let me read it… pretty good)
Teacher Rec #3 (rating 1-10, details): 8 (let me read it… pretty good)
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): 9
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 8 (my research mentor, he liked me)
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): 8… IDK? But he knew my family because he interviewed my brother who is at Harvard.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Mechanical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): Colombia
School Type: American School in Colombia (they teach half in English and half in Spanish)
Ethnicity: Latino
Gender: Female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A

Reflections:
Strengths: research paper, app portfolio, good unique extracurriculars, decent essays.
Weaknesses: Ap scores, subj test score (chem), no major awards, could have had a more tied up story.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: good strategy

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

Accepted: MIT, Columbia, UPenn, Cornell, Harvey Mudd, Georgia Tech, Jacobs, Lynn
Waitlisted: Yale, Olin
Rejected: Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, CalTech
Withdrew: Duke, CMU, Yale-NUS b/c I had already gotten into my dream school and some friends were applying here.

General Comments (if any): Honestly, I thought I had a better chance cause my brother goes there and he told me there were a lot of siblings :frowning: