Not a legacy
Hispanic
Male
Applying to humanities
Applied REA
36 Composite ACT
740 Chem SAT Subject Test
780 Math 2 SAT Subject Test
5.132 Weighted GPA
4.000 Unweighted GPA
28th in class of 667 students
(Top 5%)
AP’s: four 5’s and four 4’s
Vice President of Fundraising
(Raised a few thousand dollars for my class)
Very involved in Student Government
Chapter founder of “My Little Free Library”
Founder of Community Service Program that benefits homeless students at my school
Treasurer of Thespian International Honor Society at my school
Major role in all school musicals
Nominated as Best Actor for the National High School Theater Awards
State critic’s choice winner in Florida for Thespian competition
@harvard2024, this is your first post. On what basis are you saying “low”?
I disagree. @JakeZim I think you have a shot at getting in, for sure, but like everyone else, don’t count on it and make sure you have other schools that you could be happy attending. Your acting/musical theater activities are an important part of your application, and I hope you are submitting an arts supplement with a video, a resume with performances and awards, and a letter or two from a teacher or director related to theater.
I would be curious to know more about the community service to homeless students.
Be careful not to pad your application. What was involved in the little free library? Should that be listed? Is it in a community with no library, for instance? Did it take a lot of initiative to get going? If so, great, keep it.
Thanks for the advice! I unfortunately missed the deadline to submit a video of any performances, but I did submit a resume. I started the little free library because I have difficulty reading myself, and I wanted to inspire more people to read in the community, but I’m afraid the only place I explained this was in my interview. Will it help that I’m a person who applied in the humanities with an obvious intention to join their drama program since not too many people with my stats would be applying for drama? Or would they only want to accept people who are #1 in the nation at drama with acceptable stats?
I ended up getting deferred and then waitlisted. So we’ll see, maybe I will get in and maybe not. But I got into Stanford which I think is the slightest bit more difficult to be accepted to so I’m still happy.
Stanford is great. I really felt you would get into a great school, based on your acting especially, and am glad you have. Even if you got into both Harvard and Stanford, it would be a hard choice. I hope you say yes to Stanford!
Glad to know that someone else is in the same boat. Do you think with covid-19 we have a shot because of students not getting into the country internationally, students taking gap years, and students no longer being able to afford it with their original financial aid?
I agree, I didn’t mean it like that, but it definitely sounded like that. I’m not happy that it has a lower acceptance rate, I’m happy because it makes me feel all the more grateful for an acceptance that I don’t feel I deserve. It makes me feel like I could have gotten into Harvard had I played my cards right, so that’s what I meant by I’m still happy. It’s like the same logic behind being waitlisted. It’s like I was good enough, but things didn’t go my way. But I am very grateful for what I have.
@JakeZim I know - I was just poking some fun at you. You did really well, so congratulations and good luck!!
PS. I personally think that Stanford is a better choice than Harvard, but that could also be because the first president of Stanford was my academic great-great-great-grandparent (your academic parent is your PhD advisor).