I created a few mobile applications in high school, and I was wondering if it would be appropriate to submit a video that quickly shows a little bit of each of my apps onto the Harvard Slideroom. Would making my apps be considered “substantial talents beyond standard high-school level accomplishment”?
Or would it be better if I were to upload a short document about my experience developing mobile apps on the student applicant status portal?
I read this link, but I’m not sure which way would be better.
Creating a website that demonstrates your mobile applications and including the link on your Common Application is probably better than submitting something on Slideroom, which is kind of static.
FWIW: These days it’s pretty common for top colleges to receive applications from many students who have created some sort of computer or mobile app. Five years ago, when my daughter was a freshman, there was a fellow student who had sold his app for a reported $12 million when he was 16, so it’s kind par for the course for schools like Harvard. So, you should understand your competition and make sure that your mobile apps are in the same league as these students: http://www.emergingedtech.com/2015/01/8-mobile-apps-created-by-high-school-students/
@gibby, What you say is true but somewhat beside the point. It’s like saying, many Harvard applicants have an SAT of 2350. That’s tue, but it still something the applicant did, and should nonetheless be reported.
@notjoe: I wasn’t suggesting the OP not report his mobile app creation – sorry if that was the impression you or the OP took from my comments. I was trying to address several issues. Here with a bit more detail are my points:
Creating computer or mobile apps is not as rare as the OP thinks. Many high schools now require all students to take at least one full year of computer science and many students often take more advanced courses which end in student's creating mobile or computer aps that are then entered into competitions or are available for download on the AP Store. Some of these aps are quite successful and have made students thousands of dollars, sometimes million of dollars. As the OP did not detail how sophisticated his ap was, I was just trying to give him some background about the level of competition he might encounter at a school like Harvard.
Although the OP could submit a Slideroom presentation of his mobile app, IMHO the best way to demonstrate his computer proficiency is to create a website that would display the ap in demo mode and give an Admissions Officer, such as Harry Lewis, Dean of Harvard's Computer Science Department and faculty member of Harvard's Admissions Committee, access to the code, whether that's in Java, Python, SQL or what have you. None of that can be accomplished well in Slideroom.
“it still something the applicant did, and should nonetheless be reported.”
It should be reported if it’s of sufficient quality. If it isn’t, providing a link is a waste of the admissions officers’ time and reflects poorly on the applicant’s judgment.
@gibby Unfortunately my web development skills are not very good. Mobile app development is very different from web development, so I will not be able to code a website to display my work on a website (unless I used a website builder).
However, I am interested by your idea about giving my code to an admissions officer. Would it really be beneficial to do so? While I have no problem sharing my code, I don’t know how well Harvard will be able to understand my code. I’m sure they will understand the syntax, but I do not use comments in my code because I work alone and I always know what each piece of my code does. Additionally, my most recent app is approximately 5000 lines of code (plus or minus 1000 lines) spread across several files. I don’t know if 5000 +/- 1000 lines is considered a big project for high school students, but the lack of comments in my code combined with its length make me feel like they might only glance at it for a little bit before putting it aside. Should I still consider sending my code anyway?
Harry Lewis, who is the Dean of Harvard’s Computer Science Department, has taught Bill Gates and William Zuckerberg, in addition to David Malan who is teaching Harvard’s CS50 course. I’m sure Dean Lewis will have no problem understanding your code. And, as a computer science professor, he’s going to be more impressed with what’s under the hood rather oohing-and-aahing over the shiny exterior.
^^ Sorry @gibby but trying to read poorly or undocumented code is extremely painful. I doubt anyone would take the time to even try, especially Dean Lewis. It would go in the trash heap if they sent it.
If the aps you created are competitive, you should submit them vis Slideroom or a website. But as you’ve got two opposite opinions about submitting the code - and as neither @Falcoln1 nor I sit on the Admissions Committee – it’s your call about that.
Agreed that it is your call but I would again caution that I have never heard of someone sending 5,000 lines of code in in (let alone uncommented which would make it essentially indecipherable). I think it would call into question your judgement. I would liken it to sending in a 65 page unpublished research report that has bad grammar. AO’s would be saying what are we supposed to do with this?
If you feel strongly about how good these apps are then perhaps your idea of including a video showing what they do might be the way to go. You could also choose to write a brief description of them detailing how many downloads you’ve gotten and include a link to where they can be gotten. Think hard before doing any of this if they are truly worth mentioning as @gibby suggests.