I think every admitted has some sort of strong spike. Whether it’s science or writing or music or whatever. Average well rounded kids don’t get in without SOMETHING
@gabby980 they might also think you are already an admit and don’t need the info now and will give a really late interview, I have seen that on some past threads. I wouldn’t look too much into it though, just wait and see what happens 
Does anyone know what specific hooks are? Are there more besides URM and low income? Also what counts as an URM. I am Sephardic (middle eastern/northern African) Jewish but I feel like that’s not a URM at Harvard as much as it is everywhere else in the world
What each college considers a hook is up to each college. And what weight, if any, such a hook will be, is also up to each college. AFAIK, Harvard has quantified neither. But in general, hooks are: an athletic recruit, URM, legacy, child of major donor, and (maybe) a bona fide celebrity in his/her own right.
Again, depends on the college, but in general, it means black, Latinx, descendant of the indigenous peoples of the continental US, Alaska, Hawaii. Some may further extend to include indigenous peoples of other Pacific island groups (e.g. Samoa, Tahiti) and/or indigenous peoples of other nations of the Americas.
Not URM
@skieurope yeah that’s what I thought thank you for confirming
The other major hook these days is first gen. I would also say child of a person of national/international prominence (e.g. Malia). Fair amount of press on “sparse country” residents, although I am not sure if the hype is about reaching out vs actually admitting. Low SES regardless of race may also be a favorable factor.
Are there any statistics published on acceptance rate for an applicant with a perfect GPA, 36/36/36/36, and all 800s? Do perfect scores matter, or do they just look to see that the threshold of 33+ is reached?
when they see perfect test scores it’s not like “OMG, LOOK!” they see perfect or near perfect scores daily. After the threshold is passed I got from the lawsuit that the other stuff actually weights more in the final decisions. Which is counterintuitive but is what the takeaway was.
No.
Not if the rest of the application sucks. Scores are just one part of the application packet.
Is the threshold 33? If I got a 32 with a 36 in English and reading will that hold me back if I also have a bunch of community service, leadership, etc that will factor more into my application @skieurope
I’ll also throw out there that Harvard is still a Liberal Arts college, I don’t think they relish being targeted by people who want to be doctors or engineers. You can do that anywhere. Math is math. Obviously they offer the gamut but they aren’t a pre-professional college. Hard to explain, but I think Harvard has so much more to offer non-stem students.
@cmc1999 Harvard has seen the success and rise of Stanford due to STEM(especially CS) and is indeed making an effort to enhance that area such as professors and the new SEAS building.
I definitely agree with @moscott, especially with so many applicants moving towards stem they will likely do the same
Stanford is a completely different animal in every way.
Of course! Extracurriculars and such are the main focus of the application. I was just wondering if there is some sort of difference for perfect scores as compared to the threshold, or if it all counts the same after the threshold is reached. Thanks!
Also, would it be worth it to submit a research abstract as supplemental materials (the research abstract is for a poster presentation with a mentor and has not been published)
@logosoverpathosm I did! (literally the same situation) I think it would be worth it
none of us know for sure, my instinct says it varies case by case. And I’ll add that until they stop repeating all these tests, the scores are sometimes dubious. There is a TON of cheating.
that’s really interesting… tests are repeated? Why would they do that? How sad! We have to pay so much to take these tests that have their validity questioned.
Particularly for dates when CB or ACT cancels a large chunk of scores, IMO.
$$$$$ Creating new tests costs money.