Hey everyone! I wanted to hear thoughts on what you think Harvard values. My daughter has a 1520 SAT and 3.87 gpa, while a classmate of hers has a 36 ACT and 4.0. However, my daughter’s essays and extra curriculars and essays (according to multiple classmates and a college counselor) are stronger - for example, she’s had articles written about her in USA Today and has been on ABC News. She helped me write a cookbook that’s being sold in Barnes and Noble, she created two websites/companies, and also did a lot of work on pushing girls in STEM. I guess what I’m going at is, would Harvard rather take someone with average grades and great activities/essays, or an applicant with perfect grades and test scores but average extra curriculars? Since they’re both from the same school (historically they’ve only sent 1-2 students a year), would Harvard only pick one? Also, if it helps at all, we live in Kentucky (smaller applicant pool I’m guessing).
@foolgirl I DM"d you to ask for a few clarifying details, but the short answer is I don’t have confidence in divining what that is.
Is it a bad sign if Harvard hasn’t requested for my first quarter grades?
@beepboopbabadook School quotas aren’t really a thing, so if your daughter gets denied, I don’t think its because they only wanted 1-2 people from your school. And from what I’ve read, Harvard prefers multi-dimensional applicants versus just applicants with good grades, so I think your daughter is preferred.
The “get girls into STEM” thing is a bit overdone now, so I don’t think that’s going to help her a lot in admissions. And the website creation activity is also nothing that helps her stand out.
The most unique thing about her is the cookbook and the thing with USA Today and ABC News. But I don’t know how the admissions office would consider that, but it’ll be a way to differentiate herself.
And also, I think you’re underestimating how competitive the Kentucky area is for students. Kentucky is one of the more competitive regions, especially with students from the Jefferson School and other magnet schools. Most of Harvard’s acceptances come from the magnet schools. From the lawsuit, Kentucky isn’t one of the 20 states that Harvard considers underrepresented.
@tiffsworld I’m in the same boat! In your opinion, are your classmates who received interviews stronger or weaker applicants compared to you?
How are people seeing uploaded documents on their portal? Is it because they used the portal to send other supplementary materials? Others can’t see this, right?
@qwerty66 Just login the portal, and see the uploads. No supplemental materials uploaded.
My son (also applying to Harvard SCEA) also got something uploaded internally. Any insight on what this could mean @foolgirl or @hgrad2010?
@FishMan4212 Did your son submit any supplementary material that could have been reviewed by a faculty member?
Yes, he submitted a research article @qwerty66
@FishMan4212 when did you see your son’s upload?
@foolgirl I check infrequently - it was added last week. You?
Oh no! I uploaded two research articles I wrote, but don’t see anything uploaded internally. Does this mean they just didn’t review my work? Can I surmise I’ve been deferred/rejected?
@TylerJHong @FishMan4212 I honestly don’t know–it could be faculty correspondence reviewing the supplemental materials, but that’s just me speculating. I know for a fact that AOs will ask faculty to review materials occasionally --not always, though. I’m just not sure that this is how the faculty members and the AOs document things, but could be.
Wait, what does it look like when someone uploads something internally?
Is it on the admissions portal?
@Euclid314 Yes, it’s on the portal.
@FishMan4212 it was uploaded this week.
As comic relief December 13th is officially the first day of Christmas…if you know the song you can probably plug in Harvard for your true love and acceptance or deferral as your partridge in a pear tree? deep breaths everyone-12 more days!
My son had contact this week asking for his updated 2k and 20 minute erg scores. Not sure if this means anything or if it’s just coincidental that it was requested now. Trying not to speculate or read into anything at this point.