HARVARD TRANSFER Fall2010

Transfer Students
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<p>lols you’re asking other posters for their stats but you won’t post your own unless you get accepted? anyways, here are mine:</p>

<p>HS: Elite NYC public (you have probably heard of it even if you’re outside the city)
GPA: 95.9 UW/100.0
SAT: 2230, 2380 retake 800CR/800M/780WR, 8 on essay
SAT II: 800 Math IIC; 790 Chem; 780 Bio (i took more, but I submitted these scores only for transfer)
ACT:35 (did not submit)
ECs: school newspaper editor, sports teams, lots of volunteer work(~900 hrs to date since jan 2008, tutoring
Awards: National merit, USABO semifinalist, AIME qualifier, scholastic honorable mention, some service awards, national ap scholar
APs: over a dozen, two 4s and the rest 5s
Waitlisted then rejected for freshman admissions</p>

<p>College: Honors program at CUNY
GPA:4.0
Credits, including in progress:99(over half are ap credits)
Course taken include: Bio II, Chem, several upper diviosn math classes, orgo, psych stats, creative writing
Major: Psychology
ECs: research mostly, i work at 2 labs and expect a few authorships, some club positions, secretary at health clinic, brief stint at an accounting office, editor of a few publications, hospital volunteering, student teaching, essentially HS 2.0
Awards: honorable mention for a prestigious national scholarship, 2 merit scholarships from school, finalist for a citywide fellowship, english department prizes, pysch honor society, math honor society</p>

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<p>Godot and Melonbread: nice. did you guys get interviews, if you dont mind my asking?</p>

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<p>No interview
Also since other people are saying their majors, I’m doing physics and math (planning to do physics in grad school; math mostly because I’d probably be within a few classes anyway just out of interest)</p>

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<p>^ This isn’t really relevant to this thread, but I’m curious: What do you think of UVA?</p>

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<p>I work for the government; however, I am not supposed to tell people my job position (not even family). I’m doing well for an 18 year old. Also, something that would stand out in my app. Is that I’m interning for the UN this summer in Africa! I’m also related to a president in Mexico, some of you might know this already.</p>

<p>-Best!</p>

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<p>UVA is great for a lot of people, particularly if those people want to go into humanities. I don’t particularly enjoy it, but most of my friends love it here.</p>

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<p>wow, lol i feel so inadequate…</p>

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<p>no interview. i’m not really concerned though; harvard is a shot in the dark for me and i don’t have any really outstanding ECs(USABO doesn’t count, if i made it to the camp/team it would be a different story), plus my college ECs are meh. furthermore, i might not be able to go to school outside of ny b/c i wouldn’t get TAP (the only fin. aid i could possibly get). instead, i want to do killer at my transfer school, get a few more authorships, TA for a couple of profs., try to get into the top 500 for the putnam, apply for and hopefully get a national scholarship(rhodes/truman/churchill), do a ton of volunteer work, get a part time job at a marketing firm, become an ace programmer, learn a few more languages, and then some more stuff. then i might have a shot at Harvard '13 for grad school ;)</p>

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<p>I know how you feel phosphorus lol. hang in there though. Almost everyone here is super human. No offense melonbread91, how in the world are you gonna get everything on your list done in 2 yrs? Even getting published in undergrad alone is enough of a hurdle, but win a rhodes, become an ace programmer and learn not just one, but a FEW more languages? WOW!</p>

<p>I am studying engineering, so may be that’s why it is a little difficult to get published in undergrad, but what kinds of journals have you published in? I am interested because I am also desperately trying to get published, but so far all attempts have led to rejections. I know the fields are different, but I am just trying to get a little knowledge of how you guys are going about it. </p>

<p>It is pretty clear from this thread that even if most of you don’t get in, you’ll do just fine where you are or where ever you go.</p>

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<p>I’m going to use a phrase I think is too common here on CC. I feel like for my app, ECs “will make or break me.” This is because I haven’t cured cancer and my “stats” are probably more average, at first glance, so ECs are the meat of it. But, I just think my ECs really define me as a person, and my (our) person(s) is (are) what Harvard is really judging for fit. In this sense, Harvard is not a shot in the dark for anyone (except, sorry, the truly “hopeless”), nor is there any one thing on one’s application that causes either acceptance or rejection.</p>

<p>Another CC cliche (but sound reasoning) common around decision’s time: this is why people with perfect SATs or even other amazing accomplishments get rejected from Harvard. It’s not about the accomplishments. It’s about education and the particular education with which Harvard might help you accomplish more. Even the smallest, little known people at Harvard have impact in smaller organizations they join after Harvard. Likewise, there are some geniuses and luminaries that we all know about–and that they came from Harvard. Harvard does select for successful people, it seems, but they don’t care how big or small the success after Harvard; these are people who know how to use education to get what they want.</p>

<p>Look at the idea of Harry Potter v. Hermione Granger. No offense, Hermione, but Harry would likely be Harvard admission’s “chosen one” because (as the whole series explains), Harry has those personal qualities which make him a good leader (even when a follower to Hermione’s advice) and successful person. He’s also generally known to be a good guy. Some people don’t like him–a very large majority at one point–but he still has his focus set on what he needs to do; he succeeds in the end. He has friends. And of course, if Ron got into Harvard, I’d initially be unimpressed with Harvard Admission’s decision, but he’d do fine too–hopefully Exceeding Expectations (for HP fans, an OWL grade~B/my pun).</p>

<p>This may be transfer admissions, but it’s still Harvard admissions. Harvard already has so many accomplished people, it’s not like adding (we hope) 25 transfers will change much in the sense of the college’s own prestige. Rather, they should and I think they do weigh the individuality of each transfer case in the same way as freshmen admissions so that, in a fair way, a certain number of “lucky” people will have access to one of the world’s finest educations. I think, we can expect a “well-rounded” transfer group joining the Class of 2012/13.</p>

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<p>^Well said MWE, I certainly hope I’m not one of the “hopeless” ones. I cannot wait until May 15th!</p>

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<p>loveeee the harry potter references! happy (50 min late) wizarding independence day!</p>

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<p>Haha. Incidentally, I did not write about Harry Potter on the supplement… I wrote about Rousseau’s Social Contract. What did you all put down?</p>

<p>Again, “hopeless,” by Harvard’s standards, means you will fail or do poorly in classes generally, and hence be miserable at Harvard. If they’re really mean (and by this I just mean justifiably tough), they’ll look at it from the perspective of a job recruiter: “Is the GPA at the student’s current college going to have enough weight to make him/her desirable? Will this student’s GPA at Harvard (a different standard) be a recruitable number?” Career counseling at my current college told me this recruiting number is around a 3.0, so this should be reassuring. It’s mentioned also, I think, in some Crimson article that Harvard transfers are the most motivated people on campus, and they stay that way. Hence, (I pray to the Almighty) that in some cases grades go up at Harvard because (admit it) it’s Harvard and you want to prove to yourself that you can make the most of a Harvard education. This is a good thing.</p>

<p>I doubt the latter “job recruitment” standards are that outrageously high, however. At an academic institution like Harvard, there’s nothing wrong in being average with your classmates (and it’s rumored that the average by Harvard’s standard of grading is a B/B-?). They just want to see that you don’t fall below average. (Or Mankiw will make fun of you, indirectly, in his economics classes).</p>

<p>Another personal judgment: I actually think that, indeed, at least for rising sophomores (biased again), SATs of at least 650+ per section (per the Harvard website) and AP scores and high school grades show best that you can do the work at the level which makes you capable of fighting the average at Harvard. Our college /and/ high school recommendations show, then, how we apply ourselves–but, hey, college is known not to be easy, so hopefully your professor (whom you got to know well :wink: ) wants to see your /personality/ get into Harvard. Also, college work shouldn’t be easy. You go to college to get educated, not to have your grades reflect that you already know everything.
[Socrates: I know that I know nothing] So, be willing to learn.</p>

<p>You’re welcome for the reading while you procrastinate? :wink: I feel, at least, that I’m getting writing practice out of this…</p>

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<p>MWE, I’d be surprise if you didn’t get into Harvard. Good luck to you! I was wondering if anyone know if decisions are sent out on a rolling basis or on a particular date.</p>

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<p>I assure you: I’d be surprised to get in. But thanks! :D</p>

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<p>@chrisjah: i work in two labs, one biochem and one social psych. i’m working on 3 social psych projects right now (recently compiled data for SPSS) and since theres only 3 people working on the projects, i would receive credit as a coauthor because i wrote the protocol drafts and ran most of the trials and interviews(grunt work). publication is currently pending because there is still some data left to analyze, but everything should be finished by early october. my PI gets published in social work and AIDS/HIV journals(these are not student run, but purely professional). it’s not really what i want to go into, but i’ll take any stab at authorship i can.</p>

<p>as for my biochem lab, i just handle the mice and help out in whatever assays/techniques my other PI needs to have done. i have a much smaller role in projects for this lab, since there are also several postdocs and grad students doing most of the work. I’d have to wait longer to hope for publication, but as long as I stick around and continue assisting(for the next 3 years), i’'l get a mention (as one of the lowest authors).</p>

<p>basically, it’s easier to get published in some fields as opposed to others.</p>

<p>and i want to do all that stuff as an undergrad because i’ve never learned programming, and always thought it was a pretty cool skill to have. also i want to pick up a few more languages because i think being a polyglot is cool and useful. as for writing a book, i just want to see if i can do it. and i don’t want a rhodes per se, but any good nationalscholarship (more along the lines of goldwater,churchill,etc). and in the process, become a more worldly person =)</p>

<p>of course, harvard grad school is a nice perk as well xD</p>

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<p>Hey guys–a few things. I got curious and quickly browsed through this thread; didn’t read everything in detail, but it seems like everyone posting is super driven, and is deeply passionate (hate to use this beaten-to-death word…but it’s still useful) about something (or multiple areas of study). You’re all going to do fine, whether or not you meet Harvard’s (somewhat) arbitrary standards (hey…how can you not be a bit arbitrary when you have 300-500+ of the best students in the country competing for 15-30 slots) for this transfer cycle. You’ll all going to do very well in the long run. </p>

<p>I was a transfer student myself in 06, and my fellow transfer friends and I were very happy to see the transfer program reinstated this year. In any case, hopefully a few of you on CC will make it in, and if so, do feel free to contact me via PM. </p>

<p>Just to clarify a few things: NOT getting an interview does NOT mean that you are not being considered. Anecdotally, probably around half of the admitted transfers received interviews. </p>

<p>Good luck everyone!</p>

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<p>thanks for clearing that up windcloud. After seeing everyone go on about interviews I was worried about the hysteria that might commence.</p>

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<p>…just wondering…how many of you submitted SATIIs?</p>

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<p>Thanks Windcloudultra. I am not sure, but was your major not Engineering? If it is, how have you found it?</p>