I am still in the process of submitting a research brief to the uploader on Harvard’s website and am concerned because I think it could have a positive impact on my admissions decision and I do not know if they have already weeded out my application. Of course, I am not going to call the office, but given that I have a 33 ACT and 3.9+ GPA, what is the probability that they have eliminated my application for the possibility of acceptance? How does Harvard’s preliminary round of determining applicants’ qualifications work? Is it based upon purely Academic Index?
@TomSrOfBoston Thank you! There are so many astounding applicants in this year’s regular admissions cycle, as is the case every year, and I just want to make sure that my talents, which aren’t necessarily a 4.0/36 ACT, are recognized by the admissions committee at Harvard.
I’m inclined to agree. Assuming your essays and recommendations match your background, you would most likely not be eliminated during the early stages.
@YesPolyglotGal@WasatchWriter Thank you! My essays were about being diagnosed with ADHD and how that enabled me to connect to my community more as a transplant from the East Coast who was unsure of how she fit into the mainstream California culture. I have no clue about rec. letters but I had 1 science, 1 humanities, 1 social sciences.
Although difficult, try to put this aside. You’re in the last semester of a successful HS career. You need to immerse yourself into enjoying it and the accolades you’ve achieved. Is a Harvard YES or NO going to change that? So what? Live these next few months – you’ll never be a HS senior again.
I made a point to go out with a bang: academically, I strove to hit all As in the toughest courseload – because I COULD and not to impress anyone. I asked out many of the girls I was too shy to ask out before. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I made GREAT memories with my friends. I went to Spring baseball games. I had a wonderful spring and summer. You should too. You’ve earned it.
Wherever you’ll land this Sept – they’ll be blessed to have you. Be confident in that.
@vibrantviolet, of course it’s possible that they’ve “weeded you out”. It’s also possible that they’ve reviewed your application and already made the decision to admit you. And anything in between is also possible. There’s no way of knowing.
Admissions works differently at different schools. At Harvard, all admitted applicants are presented to the full admissions committee, and must be approved by the full committee with over 50%. But the majority of applicants don’t ever make it to that point. Applications are reviewed as a group based on geography by regional subcommittees, and those subcommittees chose which applicants to present to the full admissions committee.
Based on your profile, you have some questions about academics, but also some compelling ECs and awards. I’d guess that a subcommittee wouldn’t want to make the call on you by themselves. But there’s no way of knowing.
Ultimately, @T26E4’s advice is the way to go: your life won’t hinge on acceptance to Harvard, no matter how important it seems right now; enjoy your remaining pre-college career and “go out with a bang”, whether you get admitted or not.
@renaissancedad@T26E4
Thank you very much! I understand that I have succeeded within the context of my school, and I hope to go out with a bang as well. I suppose that at this point, all I can do is wait.
Nonetheless, just out of curiosity, not out of a desperate need to analyze my stats, I am wondering if factors mentioned in my profile (that I attend a Waldorf school and have “compelling ECs” for example) impact prelim. admissions. Do subcommittees just scan the application over to make sure there are no catastrophic test scores and grades? Thanks again!
I doubt attending a Waldorf school would have any impact, one way or the other. Compelling ECs can certainly impact preliminary reads.
Here’s a summary of how the process worked a decade ago. The number of applicants have increased, but I don’t believe the process has changed substantially:
@renaissancedad Thank you so much! I appreciate the passage you attached and your insights.
I have a stray bad grade and am currently finishing up a college course that I took outside of school in the subject in which I acquired that grade. This would obviously benefit my academic rating.
Do you have any further suggestions on the latest I should submit the transcript for this college course? If I get an A in it, which is likely at this point, will submitting the transcript after March 1st do any good?
Considering they will have looked at 35,000 X 16 = 560,000 grades I don’t think one grade coming in late in the process will have any impact at all but that’s just my opinion.
@Falcon1 While I understand where you’re coming from, by that time, my app will probably be in the second of the three stages. So, it’s not actually within “35,000” applications and of course, I would alert regional representatives.
Considering that long quote is from a kid, “as detailed by my admissions officer,” it’s second hand, at best. And no, they do not take every applicant to final committee. There are processes in between that cull down those they make final decisions on.
Depending on where OP lives- and assuming she did make it through first cut- good chance she’s been reviewed once and possibly twice.
My point was more that do you really think that after having seen more than a half a million grades, one A will really make or break anyone’s decision so late in the game? It’s seem that you do, so give it a whirl. Probably can’t hurt. Good luck!
@lookingforward, of course they do not take every applicant to the final committee. That was not stated anywhere. But as far as I am aware - from multiple sources - all admitted applicants at Harvard are presented to and approved by the full admissions committee, which is quite different from some other top schools (Stanford, for example). Harvard’s basic admissions process has been fairly well documented.
I agree with @Falcon1. 1 more grade won’t make a difference, especially at this late a date. If the OP hasn’t already been eliminated, she will have been moved on to the next stage based on the overall strength of her application, and at that point grades are a secondary factor.
RD, the game has changed considerably since 2006. Think of articles that date back that far as quaint history, some pieces still applying and some changed. And be careful with digests from “in the know” for-profit counselors. Some of the Gazettes info is lifted verbatim from a 2009 NYT The Choice column.
The sort of thing I’m disputing includes this, “During the process, every member of the admissions committee reviews each applicant at least once in a committee meeting.” Multiple opinions are collected before finalists are presented and of course there is culling and fine-tuning, by the regional rep, depending on the perspectives of other reviewers.
^ I agree with what you are disputing, if you Internet it to mean that the full committee reviews all applicants. That clearly isn’t the case. By all accounts only a small fraction (roughly 15% or so) make it to the full committee review, with about 1/3 of those reviewed being admitted. There is clearly a lot of culling done by the regional rep.
