@Robbyb right, that’s why I said in non band sports like fencing. I didn’t mean Football/basketball.
@Robbyb my post is unequivocally true. I said, “in nonband sports”.
@moscott thanks, yes I think this would apply to my son. He is an accomplished rower but not a monster. However his academic accomplishments are at the top. And he was a later recruit for ivies-early October.
Harvard’s recruitment policy is the same across all 43 sports. Athletes get a huge boost. It just so happens that fencers are generally more academically talented on average than say baseball, football or basketball players. So, perhaps, the mean scores and grades are higher. If Harvard wants to keep the mean at 1 SD below last year’s class, it will not want to waste a low score on a fencer when there are probably many with 32+ ACTs. Howev, without fencing, the applicant would be just another smart kid and be far less likely to be selected. Crew is similar. my friend was All American lightweight st Harvard with 33 ACTs
I know the athletic policy is contentious among alumni because students son’t really care about 90% of their games. almost nobody goes to fencing. swimming or even baseball games, so why does Harvard expend so many valuable slots for the players?
Exactly. I guess if one hasn’t been through the process it’s difficult to know the process
?Meant for nrsebayer
@Robbyb again, you are in the ballpark but not completely accurate. Harvard for nonband sports like fencing requires their recruits to be at the level of a typical admit academically. Do you think I’m making this up? My daughter isn’t going to Harvard. She received her LL from another school. I personally just concluded this process and spoke at length with Peter Brand who is the coach of Harvard’s fencing team. He explained how many high ranking recruits couldn’t get pass the AdCom at his school and he referred him to friends at other Universities with less stringent requirements. I have zero reason to make this up lol
@Robbyb if you have a recruit who is among the best in the country, sometimes the world in a sport that Harvard has a team in, and is also academically on par with another applicant, I would think Harvard would recognize how uniquely talented, focused, and dedicated this student must be and would consider said student a welcome addition.
anyone on here planning to major in physics?
@ShanFerg3 so your daughter is not going to Harvard? Are you an alum?
No, she received her LL from another school. No I’m not.
@briantai3412 I’m guessing the admissions officers are working on something in the intervening period, perhaps going over contentious cases or reviewing any new information that comes in.
I’m going to try to not think about Harvard during my vacation, lol 
. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Does anyone have any good tips for waiting out these coming three weeks? Other than binge eating my anxiety…?
@MeanestBean just close your eyes and set your alarm clock for 5 PM EST on 12/13
Okay so it’s too late now to submit a research abstract for scea…but if I did, would it have helped? I decided not to because I haven’t won any amazing awards for my research and I have some results for the project but I still want to work on it more. I honestly don’t know if it would have helped or hurt (or been neutral) to my application, and do many kids end up submitting supplementary materials?
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
May I kindly remind users that the primary (but not exclusive) readers and posters of this thread are SCEA applicants. All users, including parents and those with no Harvard affiliation, are welcome to post, but must still adhere to the rules of the forum. Specifically, posts needs to be at least tangentially related to Harvard and SCEA. And since this site is not a debate society, let’s move on from debating the nuances of fencing recruiting (or any athletic recruiting). Each user’s point has been made and defended, so nothing more to say here.
@MeanestBean Try watching a good movie like Bridge of Spies:
James Donovan: I have a mandate to serve you. Nobody else does. Quite frankly, everybody else has an interest in sending you to the electric chair.
Rudolf Abel: All right…
James Donovan: You don’t seem alarmed.
Rudolf Abel: Would it help?
Same applies to getting an answer from Harvard quite frankly
@briantai3412 how do you know it comes out at 5 PM EST? I thought it was 7