<p>So I just wanted to asks question about the approach I've taken to college admissions.
Background:
I am a high school senior with competitive stats for the ivy leagues. I have a perfect ACT, a 4.0 GPA at a highly competitive private school, National Merit Semi Finalist, multiple APs (all fives), and 3 SAT 2s with perfect scores. My extracurriculars are also competitive. They focus mostly on government, and I have won debate awards on the national level, am Editor in Chief of School Newspaper, run my school's Model UN Club and Student Democrats, and am Class President.
My family has two extensive legacies: at Harvard and at Yale. These also happen to be my top two choices. My dad went to harvard, as did his maternal uncles, and all his cousins and their descendants on his mothers side. My sister also goes to harvard. My dads brother, his children, my dads paternal uncles and all of their descendants (as well as my other sister) have gone to Yale. Both legacies are well established and the families are well connected with the schools.
A relative on my father's side arranged an interview with me and the Harvard Dean of Admissions. The interview went very very well, and Mr. Fitzsimmons was incredibly gracious. He informed me that I should certainly apply to Harvard early and that I was a very impressive applicant and he would write a note on my file and advocate for me in committee.
However, my first choice is Yale. My uncle (an active alumnus) has offered to write a letter in support of my application, but it is not nearly as powerful as a recommendation from the dean of admissions. I have decided to apply to Yale early because it is my first choice.
Have I made a mistake by forgoing my advantage at Harvard (my close second choice) to apply to Yale (where it is harder to get in early and I don't have the same advantage)?
Thank you. </p>
<p>@Whattodo122 - Now that is an interesting situation! I suspect all will end well, whatever you do, as you are a qualified and connected candidate at both schools and it seems unlikely you would be rejected from both as a result of deciding to apply SCEA to one rather than the other.</p>
<p>However, it does sounds like you may lose some of the advantage you might have at Harvard if you don’t apply early, and it could potentially backfire if Dean Fitzsimmons understood you would be applying EA but you end up applying RD. Are you certain that you qualify for legacy consideration at Yale? My understanding is that Harvard considers only children of Harvard College alumni to be legacies. Does Yale have a less restrictive definition?</p>
<p>How strong is your preference for Yale over Harvard? Have you already submitted your Yale application, or can you still change your decision and apply SCEA to Harvard instead of Yale?</p>
<p>If you have strong reasons for preferring Yale, then no, you haven’t made a mistake. It sounds like you made enough of an impression on the Harvard dean that which application cycle you choose is not going to make a difference in his support. I’m sure he will still be advocating for you in committee, but it will be when you are in the larger Regular Decision pool, so his advocacy may have somewhat less benefit than it would have had in the early pool. It’s still an excellent contact to have made and could yet lead to your acceptance at Harvard.</p>
<p>If I were your dad, I’d probably make you itemize a few of those strong reasons before agreeing that applying to Yale early was a good idea. But if you had those reasons, I’d be supporting your decision.</p>
<p>@BldrDad Thank you very much for your response.
Yale does ask for family members on the application, and my uncle seemed to believe that with my sister there I was certainly a legacy, and with my extended family it just strengthened the legacy. Something to note is that my last name is probably more noticeable at Yale, seeing as my relatives at Harvard have my father’s mother’s maiden name.</p>
<p>Mr. Fitzsimmons highly encouraged me to apply early, saying that it would be nice to be in quickly at a competitive school and then be able to apply elsewhere, so he seemed remarkably understanding that I also was looking at other schools. He also indicated that the comments he put in my file would extend to RD. However, he did stress that I should apply SCEA.</p>
<p>I do like Yale a significant amount more, but I would never be able to forgive myself if I were rejected from Yale and then from Harvard RD, knowing that I squandered my opportunity at Harvard over a minute preference for Yale and got into neither.</p>
<p>@DreamSchlDropout Thank you for your input!
My father was slightly disappointed that I decided not to apply to Harvard, seeing as he was able to arrange the interview for my sister and she was subsequently accepted under SCEA and I assume he was hoping the same would happen for me. However he is very understanding and knows that I was by no means committing to Harvard by accepting the offer to interview with the Dean.
My decision has obviously polarized my family, with my sister and uncle (as well as my grand paternal extended family) in strong support and my other sister and father (as well as my grand maternal extended family) somewhat upset. I really do love Yale, but I don’t love it enough that I would give up this chance at Harvard if I had no chance at Yale whatsoever. I guess I came to the conclusion that I am confident enough in my ability to have a good chance SCEA at Yale that I am comfortable not applying early to Harvard, but now I am questioning that conclusion.
Thanks for your input!</p>
<p>@Whattodo122 - you could apply SCEA to Princeton or Stanford, and if you were accepted, you would know you were accepted for your merits alone. Then apply RD to Yale and Harvard. That would be a way to avoid polarizing the family by choosing one over the other.</p>
<p>I’m not really serious with that advice but it would be an interesting way to solve the problem!</p>
<p>Haha that is certainly an interesting response @BldrDad.
I would love to apply somewhere different than the rest of my family, but unfortunately (or rather fortunately) we have those bases covered as well. Both parents to Stanford for grad, multiple cousins at Stanford and Princeton, entire moms side (including mom) big donors and legacies at UPenn and Columbia.
I am incredibly fortunate to be so well connected, but it does make this process rather stressful on a very personal level. I also just don’t like Stanford and Princeton as much as Harvard or Yale. These two are really my top choices for reasons other than connections.
But thank you again for your advice, I greatly appreciate it!</p>
<p>I agree that you should confirm that you are a legacy at Yale. It does not look like you are. A close friend of mine was salutatorian, grades and test scores near yours, and was rejected outright from Yale EA. Highly-ranked equestrian too, ECs like yours (she was Class President).</p>
<p>I’m not sure why you wasted the Dean’s time with your interview, unless you were up in the air until you talked to him.</p>
<p>The other thing is, apparently your “other sister” wasn’t disowned for going to Yale, you have one sibling at each school according to your post. Are you just worried you will get into neither Yale nor Harvard?</p>
<p>@rhandco I was entirely up in the air until the interview. I greatly admired both schools and had been to both to visit and for reunions, but in one weekend I stayed a night with a cousin at both schools and interviewed with the dean. After several weeks of thought I concluded that I liked Yale better. I did not intend to waste anyone’s time.
My eldest sister was not disowned. I am not worried about disownment. I am mostly worried that my current course of action will lead to a situation in which I will be accepted to neither institution.</p>
<p>“I do like Yale a significant amount more, but I would never be able to forgive myself if I were rejected from Yale and then from Harvard RD, knowing that I squandered my opportunity at Harvard over a minute preference for Yale and got into neither.”</p>
<p>Haha, I love how right now you like Yale “a significant amount more” but if your choice should find you rejected from both then it will become a “minute preference”.</p>
<p>Human beings…masters of the art of rewriting history to conform to our beliefs about the present!</p>
<p>Will your life be over if you don’t go to Harvard or Yale?</p>
<p>I seriously doubt it. With your stats, you could probably do a year at any college, ace every class, and apply as a transfer student.</p>
<p>Or take a year off, and reapply to either.</p>
<p>Money = options. Knowledge of the system, being able to reapply = options.</p>
<p>The problem is that your family history is setting yourself up to think that if you don’t go to Harvard or Yale, you are not pulling your weight… That’s your family, not you.</p>
<p>Maybe find a completely different school and excel there. Reed College. WashU. UChicago. Have you even tried other places?</p>
<p>@rhandco I am definitely looking at other schools. UVA, UMichigan, Middlebury, UMD-CP, Georgetown, Pomona, Claremont McKenna. I understand this isn’t the end of the world, but Im just trying to do the best I can to get into my first choice school like everyone else.
@DreamSchlDropout Im sorry for my discrepancy in language. The point is that I would be incredibly happy going to either school, but I do prefer Yale for several reasons that are significant to me. But the difference is small enough that I would be thrilled to end up at Harvard.</p>
<p>No need to apologize. It’s a very normal and human thing to do. </p>
<p>Given the vast array of collegiate options it’s practically essential to magnify the slightest differences into matters of great significance or you’d never be able to make a decision.</p>
<p>In the end, it’s often the things you gave minimal weight that can end up proving to be significant. Case in point: I initially wanted to apply to Georgetown because I really liked DC when I went there on a visit. I convinced myself I should focus on academics and not be so easily bamboozled by location. Eventually I decided to include Georgetown on my list for academic reasons, but I had to talk myself into it because I was afraid I was romanticizing DC too much. </p>
<p>After I was accepted and attended Georgetown, I realized that location was one of my favorite things about the school. I spent one day of practically every weekend at the Smithsonian, immersed myself in the local music scene, tasted the cuisine of as many cultures as I possibly could…I enjoyed the academics as well, but DC made a rich contribution to my experience there.</p>
<p>Good luck with Yale, but as @rhandco astutely observes, you are in a unique position where it is practically impossible to fail. You may have a temporary setback, but there’s an ample safety net just under your butt that will pop you right back up.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but I am totally confused. This seems more like a soap opera than an actual discussion. Could I suggest that your remove all higher education institutional brand names and all titles and other things from your mind? Get out some paper and write down where you see yourself and what you will be doing in 5 - 15 years. Be as specific as possible. Now, track back. Does going to a university help reduce the time to achieve those goals (or make them possible)? How specifically? What specific assets (Capital equipment, facilities, people- fellow students, tutors, professors, laboratories, funding/research opportunities, travel abroad) would get you there fastest? Who has them? Make a list of them. What would make your heart soar- nights out in Central Square or New Haven (kinda joking here, but not really). Where will you find your emotional home?</p>
<p>This would be a good time to really take stock. Your goal is to identify what your heart wants to do in the next 5 - 15 years, and what people it wants to be surrounded by. Then, look at what opportunities in the (college) community are provided that will get you there fastest. Who do you want to work with? Go to the micro level of what lab, what halls will you walk down? What will you be doing day-to-day, and how does that feed either your soul or your plan for how you want to live your life? Get away from taking others’ advice on surface issues and dig deep into introspection. The brand names are valuable only to the extent that they consistently accelerate peoples’ dreams. What is your dream? Specifically (names of professors, friends attending, labs, bars/hangouts/extracurriculars/special programs) what will you do that will speak to you? This will all change in a month/year/few semesters. But please apply knowing what and what you are applying for. And it should not be a brand name; but rather some aspect(s) within the institution that makes the brand name sterling, personally, for YOU.</p>
<p>I have found the companion workbook to “What Color Is Your Parachute” to be a good exercise for this sort of introspection.</p>
<p>For example, if you told me that some acolyte of Che Guevara is doing great work on studying the path of socialism in post-cold-war eastern Europe and you want to be a part of that and that he has fieldwork going on in Romania, and you always wanted to visit there, but never thought you would find the time, go to his institution (regardless of the name of the institution)! For goodness sake, give the Dean something to work with when he goes to bat for you! Strike a path. It can change tomorrow, but do yourself the favor of not wasting this opportunity you have and lay out a destination! Don’t rest on your laurels- look forward.</p>
<p>Good luck. Make your best choice with the information you have. You will not regret it.</p>
Then apply RD to Yale and Harvard. That would be a way to avoid polarizing the family by choosing one over the other.</p>