Harvard?

Hey guys,

I’ve been looking around on College Confidential, and would really like to know your opinions on my chances to get into Harvard SCEA.
My stats are below:

Objective: Major in Music and Economics or Computer Science
Grade: Rising Senior
SAT I: 1560
ACT: N/A
SAT II: 800 in Bio E/M (taking Chem and Math II this summer)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.00
Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 4.66
Rank (percentile rank if rank is unavailable): <15 (school doesn’t give exact rank until senior year)
AP: 5s and 4 on 4 APs so far, took 6 this year, likely all 5s but one (Physics 1)
Major Awards: Won many local and international piano competitions, competed in the top two most prestigious young adult piano competitions (basically top 30 in world)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Co-Founder and Co-President of school science club, and Operation Smile chapter, Co-Founder and Vice President of school history club, Officer of UNICEF, member of debate club, music club
Job/Work Experience: Job this summer
Community Service: Volunteering at hospitals, volunteer at lab, job this summer
Essays: I’m a pretty good writer
Teacher Recommendations: One will definitely be amazing, other will probably be fine
Counselor Rec: Probably fine

Other
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: <125,000

PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

THANKS IN ADVANCE

You look like a very competitive applicant, but then again, this is Harvard. To put a number on your chances, I’d say you have a 40% of getting in SCEA. Remember, you’re competing against athletes (who take up about 200 of the 950 ish spots), legacies, URM, and other people with very strong hooks. The significantly smaller group of unhooked applicants who are accepted have awards such as ISEF first place finishes. You do have some great awards in piano, your stats are right on track, but your ECs look slightly below average for Harvard accepted students. Write unique essays about why you love music or whatever, do a great interview and there really isn’t much more you can do.

One suggestion I have is to apply as a music major. You don’t really have anything that stands out in terms of economics, business or comp sci. You can always switch once your there.

Harvard does not admit by major, so whatever one lists on the application will not affect the final outcome.

@skieurope I know this but don’t you think it would be weird for, let’s say, a student who is an award winning poet to suddenly state they want to major in comp sci? I feel like Admissions would question whether the student actually enjoyed poetry or if he/she did it just to get into college.

Harvard’s SCEA admit rate was 14.5% this year. While your stats are above-average (everywhere) – a plus – you are also unfortunately an ORM and probably roughly 25-30% (ballpark estimate – no way to know for sure) of the EA spots are going to go to athletes and kids with some other hooks. So your chances might actually be pretty close to the EA admit rate. Which means Harvard is still a reach.

Make sure you develop a list of schools including reaches, matches and at least one safety, according to fit variables – like academics, environment, social vibe and cost – that are important to you. If you like and can afford all the schools you apply to, you are almost guaranteed a happy admissions result.

@doorrealthe and @skieurope: Admissions asks about a student’s interest to see if they have pursued that interest outside of the classroom. So, a student interested in CompSci is expected to have pursed those interests outside of the classroom and it would be a red flag if a student proclaims an interest in something that they have not pursued in HS.

@CornStalk - I read elsewhere in CC that someone established a rapport with the music department and got accepted. However, I am not sure if you want to pursue music at H.
Your stats are impressive except for weighted GPA and class rank. And like another poster said, being an Asian Male means a lot higher competition!

@MedSciBud that was from me! There was a girl who I PMed a while back who got into Princeton after establishing contact with a member of the music faculty there

That’s really a neutral, as thousands of high school students apply to Harvard having a similar background. I personally know very talented pianists – students who have been accepted to Juilliard, Curtis and Oberlin for piano – who were rejected from Harvard. I suppose the reasoning comes down to “how many pianists does an orchestra really need?” Two!

to quote @JHS from a previous post: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1907926-would-harvard-take-a-chance-on-a-kid-who-has-top-academics-but-very-lopsided-ecs-p1.html

@gibby Understood. But also assumes facts not in evidence, although the OP did not mention anything that would lead one to assume CS from the original post. Anyway, the OP really seems to be targeting a joint concentration of music/econ or music/cs. And I’m not going to even get into the pitfalls of attempting a joint concentration, as that’s putting the cart before the horse; OP needs to be admitted first, which is a long road ahead.

I don’t believe SCEA boosts one’s chances, despite the
higher % admission rate - it is a more competitive pool.
As evidence, some applicants deferred SCEA are admitted in the Regular action round.

^ very few who are deferred are admitted. Actually, I remember reading that if you are deferred SCEA, your chances of getting accepted in the regular round are even less than those who just apply regular. Maybe they’re around equal. I’m not sure.

I do agree with you that SCEA probably doesn’t boost your chances if your unhooked. That’s why I applied ED to a college because I believe ED definitely boosts your chances

The piano is a plus. Depending on the actual competitions.

You don’t have to major in music or write about music to appeal to admissions w/this, either. Many talented musicians at Harvard don’t major in music. And there are interesting intersections between music and CS.

Colleges understand that music takes a lot of time and commitment and understand if other EC’s suffer, and even understand if academic rigor suffers.

If you are as talented as you imply, it would be good to submit an arts supplement with a CD or DD (perhaps cued to the best 3 minutes), a music resume with teacher, programs, awards and prizes, performances etc., and then letters of recommendation from 1-2 people in your music life- and not just about music talent, also about work ethic, collaboration etc.

Thank you for the advice! The competitions were the Gina Bachauer International and Cooper International Piano Competitions. I will most likely submit a DVD with the music introduction.
Thanks!

I disagree with Gibby on Harvard needing two pianists by the way. Orchestra is not the only game in town. There is actually an organization for pianists, and they collaborate with composers as well. And ensembles. No need to major (“concentrate”) in music either. The BA is not a performance degree, obviously, but academic study of music with some credit for lessons and certain performance activities, and a performance component in a few classes.

Also some talented kids don’t do the double degree program (partly because taking lessons from an NEC prof. versus double degree program costs a lot less, and maybe a student wants a master’s elsewhere.)

I also don’t think you need an extracurricular in your desired area of study. Just make sure whatever you do do, you do for the right reasons-not for admissions. Authenticity is important, and if that means more focus on music and less focus on some other things, don’t worry about it. You’'ll end up in the right place.

Many students change their college majors, sometimes multiple times.