<p>We all know that Harvard looks beyond the regular slew of 36 ACT, 4.0 GPA, and science fair champions for admissions, because there are so-called "regular" people that get in with good but not GREAT stats.</p>
<p>So how do these applicants do it? Is it the essays, having some type of super-awesome activity that made some change in their community, or some other unknown factor?</p>
<p>I've never seen any "regular" people get in. People may get in with stats at the lower end of Harvard's already high scale, but such people are not "regular."</p>
<p>For instance, a first generation college student who also is homeless might get in with lower stats than typical for Harvard, but such a student certainly wouldn't be "regular."</p>
<p>The same would be true of the offspring of a multimillionaire donor or celebrity.</p>
<p>A person who gets in with lower than typical stats who is from an underrepresented state or region also wouldn't be "regular" because probably their stats are high for their state or region, and most students -- even valedictorians -- from their area would have no interest in going to Harvard.</p>
<p>The people who get in with lower than normal stats for Harvard definitely have something special going for them: a rare athletic talent, a documented interest and talent in a major that needs students, etc.</p>
<p>Or maybe being Black/Hispanic/Native American?</p>
<p>Northstarmom almost ALWAYS forgets to mention the above. A friendly reminder.</p>
<p>By putting their heart into their application, instead of rambling on CC</p>
<p>what is nonregular? If you have a "nonregular" background but are in the overrepresented ethnicity <em>cough Asian</em>cough Chinese* and your ECs are less than "regular" because of your "nonregular" background, does your chance cancel out? I don't think I made much sense...</p>
<p>Define "regular". Even if your stats aren't perfect, to get into Harvard, they still can't be "regular", as in 1500 out of 2400 SAT, B- average.</p>
<p>I have a strong feeling that a stellar (and I mean really incredible) essay could do it for a "regular applicant."</p>
<p>I am pretty sure that most current students are "regular people". If you think ever Harvard class has 1,600 superhuman international math/science medal winners, olympic athletes, Broadway actors, and billionaire progeny, then you would be what I call a tool for the spread of propaganda by the uneducated masses.</p>
<p>1600 isn't many when you are speaking of the world's finest</p>
<p>im pretty regular-im the opposite of a URM (white girl from ny) and ive won no national or even regional awards, nor do i play sports, nor do i have any legacy or other connections.<br>
it happens, sometimes.</p>
<p>In an interview with Dean Fitzsimmons, Alexandra Robbins wrote the following paragraph in her book, The Overachievers.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Harvard's Dean of Admissions and Financial aid, Bill Fitzsimmons told me that applicants have to do some unusual things to distinguish themselves is a "misconception". "In broad terms, there are three ways to get into Harvard," he said. Each year out of 23,000 applicants and 2,100 admits, about 200 to 300 students get in because "they are among the most exciting potential scholars of the coming generation." The second category consists of "people who do something extraordinarily well," 200 to 300 excelling in, say, dance, drama, or athletics, whose achievements "are almost surrogates for energy, drive and commitment." The third way to get into Harvard is the most common: students who have "plain old accomplishments on a day-to day basis. It is not about gimmicks, but about substance."
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>To "whenicomearound": Most people are exactly how you are. They don't have any connections. They don't have any national or regional awards. They just did the best they can in high school.</p>
<p>I can attest to that, a girl from my school was accepted and didn't really do anything that distinguished her. My school isn't exactly known to be the "elite," so yes, regular people do get into harvard!!!</p>
<p>The main reason that I created this thread is because of my personal relationships with people that have gotten deferred.</p>
<p>I know several over-achievers that had great academic stats, but then got denied from their Ivy-of-choice. After they found out this sad information, they all became incredibly apathetic, so I took a look at their applications while they were complaining about how they didn't get in.</p>
<p>Their essays were generic and annoying. They really did not do much at all, except for talking about their awards and academic accomplishments which, in my opinion, were pretty good. They were "day-to-day" accomplishers; there must be something Harvard uses to differentiate, and I think that it must be something that is unrelated to anything anyone is talking about.</p>
<p>To those folks that got in that don't feel like they are the next Bill Gates, what did you write about? What did you put into your application to set your apart? I don't agree with this idea that you don't have to be different. You gotta think different somehow.</p>
<p>It's also important to note that they need to complete a class: they don't just need URMs and athletes, they need people to play violin, people to be on the quiz bowl team, people to head the Libertarian group, and on and on. Now in any given pool of applicants, there's not guaranteed to be a good number of say, All-State award-winning tuba players. So maybe the "regular" white or Asian person with good or great stats but not much special about them gets in because he happens to play the tuba with some committment involved (a lot of time, strong interest, wrote an essay about it, something like that).</p>
<p>"To those folks that got in that don't feel like they are the next Bill Gates, what did you write about? What did you put into your application to set your apart?"</p>
<p>I didn't write about my accomplishments or awards in any of my essays. I wrote about my extracurriculars and what they meant to me - However, I didn't 'tell' this, I 'showed' it.</p>
<p>So as opposed to:</p>
<p>"I set up a blood drive so I learned leadership and how to care for patients and it had an immense emotional impact on me."</p>
<p>You went with:</p>
<p>"John said that he donated blood because it made him feel better. I told him that I made it possible because I felt the same way. I don't even know why I feel such compassion for service, but every life I save makes my day that much better."</p>
<p>I wrote about how my living abroad for six years, seeing poverty and oppression, impacted the way I look at things. I also made a documentary on this which I sent to them. I think those two things are what helped me most in the application.</p>
<p>Other than that, my stats are below average for Harvard (or other Ivies).</p>
<p>That really should not surprise anyone...documentaries are awesome.</p>
<p>Especially if you lived it, you know? </p>
<p>I bet it must have been pretty cool.</p>
<p>I'm willing to bet that, like a lot of people, my accomplishments can't be thought of as truly compelling. Meaningful, sure, but not compelling, and especially not as well documented as a video.</p>
<p>Well, we got once X factor: Doing something meaningful AND compelling. Not passionate, not even bad circumstance, but simply something interesting.</p>
<p>Something drastic, like writing a book?</p>
<p>dude, my friend is completely regular based on the fact that she got 2300+ on SAT, and then straight As, and do fairly well academically.
She doesn't do many ECs, only TKD, and some clubs, and tutors.
But one thing she did is that she went to a summer school session at Harvard. Other than that, she's really normal...and regular. So they do accept normal ppl. (oh, she's Asian as well, so the race doesn't affect anything)
btw, i don't think she has any leadership experience and her essays are normal too.</p>