<p>Thanks for your honest answer. However i got the feeling that if this rep was at some elite prep school he would have answered the questions of the kids who were inquiring about Harvard in a different fashion. His attitude basically seemed that he was at our high school because he had to be there and written off any possibily that anyone from our average public school would even have a chance. But i’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and hope his reasons were what you stated. I am curious about your statement though about the way to stand out is by excellence, accomplishment and attitude. Explain that to the few students from our high school who graduated with 108 GPA’s 2350 SATs outstanding ec. leadership positions , and great personalities who didn’t get accepted to Harvard- perhaps that is why students including my daughter ask Admission reps how to stand out to get into Harvard when they see that all those qualities you stated still weren’t enough to get then in.</p>
<p>Hey LTMREM, </p>
<p>I’m sorry your experiences with the Harvard admissions office did not go well. Like any other large organization, there are bound to be employees who are less than cordial. Perhaps the guy was just having a bad day, or had something on his mind. Or maybe he’s just a jerk. They do exist everywhere, and probably in every admissions office around the world. Please don’t allow one bad experience to discourage your daughter from considering applying to any school, especially one that has a program that she’s really interested in or excited about.</p>
<p>LT- I wish there was a good explanation to give to the highly qualified applicants you described who met with rejection. The only factor, and the most important one to reiterate to the hopefuls is the reality of 7%. </p>
<p>From the beginning of college dreaming, it is important to have those top students imagine 100 people like themselves, spread out over the globe. Then count ten or fifteen who are near-Olympic level athletes who are needed by Harvard coaches. Then pinpoint the top wimmers in Intel, Siemens, and other elite competitions, as well as national level musicians, published writers, researchers. Then mark legacies from generous-donating families, faculty kids, and outstanding URMs who have succeeded despite deplorable conditions. How many spots are left for unhooked but qualified applicants? Not many.</p>
<p>So, even though the rep was guilty of bad manners, the message may have been realistic: everyone’s chances are slim. Besides, a little tarnish on the Harvard reputation makes it easier to swallow if a rejection comes. And should your DD get lucky in the admissions roulette, that story will become a jolly anecdote in her compendium of Harvard tales.</p>
<p>Thanks- fauve and WindCloudUltra for your words of advice and words of reason. I will show my daughter your posts. No matter where she ends up going to school i have told her make the most of the experience and enjoy it . Thanks again for letting me vent</p>
<p>After learning my friend’s son got rejected by all of the top schools, I am little discouraged and have to tell my son to temper his own expectations. That kid has 4.0, has tons of AP (he took calculus BC as a sophomore!), great scores, president of his class, captain of state champion sports team and so on. My son is top of his junior class and has very similar credentials, little less sports more into debate and science.<br>
Again and again I read the schools want to match kids who are a good “fit.” Exactly what does that mean? How can a good fit for Harvard not be a good fit for Stanford? How does AdCom determine good fit? Is it the essay? Interview? And is there anything left to do between now and application due date?
I don’t want to sound like a helicopter parent but I do feel it is my responsibility to help my kids through this difficult process.</p>
<p>Regarding the ambiguous “fit” quality, colleges prefer to obtain some sort of basic sense of exactly what niche an applicant would fulfill if he or she were admitted. This is particularly why it is so apparent that the students who demonstrate successful and passionate – rather than superficial – involvement with a particular activity or field of study receive much better admissions success than those who have the proverbial laundry list of commitments.</p>
<p>I ask this rhetorically, but does your son have any particular unique worldly experiences that could potentially contribute to the collective diversity of the university? I, for instance, moved 21 times and attended fifteen different schools across six continents, which clearly translated to a fair portion of admissions success.</p>
<p>This is comedy but holds some grains of truth, I think, of what goes on inside the admissions office:</p>
<p>[Inside</a> a Harvard Admissions Decision (On Harvard Time) | HUTV | Harvard Undergraduate Television](<a href=“HUTV | Harvard Undergraduate Television | Turn us on”>HUTV | Harvard Undergraduate Television | Turn us on)</p>
<p>I was never involved in college admissions but at other levels. The head of admissions once jokingly told us to shuffle the applicant folders at random and just pick the ones on top. One of my friends in college said he majored in French because medical schools want to diversify their student pools. Since he got into UCSF med school I guess he was right.
I think my son will face the same problem that he is all around an outstanding kid with great academics and EC’s but really no WOW factor.<br>
We just went to Haiti for relief work at an orphanage, does that count?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There’s nothing ‘clear’ about it.</p>
<p>Hey lowelllbell
Your post has really informed me about IVY league (specifically Harvard) admission.
I noticed many of you ridiculed the “misconceptions” that many students have such as placing contests/grades as a higher priority, but doesn’t winning contests or scoring highly on these contest exams differentiate an average student with high grades that is ubiquitous at Harvard from an award-winning student (slightly less common)? Would it put a student who does not have much achievements at great disadvantage?
Also, do internships help college admission a lot?
Thnx</p>
<p>This is really helpful and i learned alot from it … I am an eight grader and will be goinh into high school next year, I really want to get into a good college and one i was looking into is Harvard. After reading this it seems very hard and alot of work. The other thing that is setting me back is the price of the school. i looked and its very expensive. So that is probably a big setback itself. I was wondering if someone could message me back just to maybe tell me a little bit more on what I will have to do starting High School next year. Thanks :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I can imagine that my frequent change in residence factored into my evaluation.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Harvard has the nation’s top-ranked financial aid program, although all families will not qualify and, of course, certain financial variables may be given greater sensitivity elsewhere.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Furthermore, if one finds that the initial estimate provided by Harvard is unreasonable, then one can always appeal: I did, and successfully reduced my estimated family contribution from upwards of $17,000 to $9,500. They are sensitive to relative hardships.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Truly, it depends on the motivation for going there and how well he can convey that in his application and probable interview.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Granted, while at Harvard, I met several world-class athletes and intellectuals. However, rest assured that this is not the norm. Intel finalists can and do get rejected. Average students (and I use this as a relative term) who work hard to distinguish themselves in whatever way they can and excel in their chosen task, given their circumstances, are what I believe Harvard - and, indeed, any competitive school - looks for.</p>
<p>So I have a question/ need advice… I am a sophomore currently enrolled in a college preperatory. I get Bs and Cs for the most part because I am a little lazy when it comes to school work but I realize that I am going to need to work much harder. I am starting a retail business and am also going to begin buying and selling stocks. I am very interested in business, politics and foreign affairs. It is a dream of mine to go to Harvard, I feel that I would fit in very well and I believe that the best possible education would benefit me very much in my future endeavors. So my question is can I still do it? Can I make it into harvard? In my middle school I got straight As and when I changed to a private school something changed. I think of myself as an intellegent individual and I know that without a doubt I can do it, I just haven’t. So if I work very hard my junior and senior year would it be possible? And of not is there anything at all I can do?*</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I would advise you to use proper spelling when making such claims, or at least making an effort to proofread. Remember, practice is just about always better than theory.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Honestly, no one knows these things besides the adcoms. However, most schools do look for a strong and consistent level of academic achievement throughout applicants’ academic careers.</p>
<p>I went to a college fair and again and again the recruiters kept saying “be yourself” and whatever you want to highlight in your application, essays, or interview, you have to convey who you are. I ask them exactly what they mean by that and got just vague answers. I have the feeling they don’t want to discourage kids who don’t have perfect grades and scores.
Any way I go on short term missions a lot and this year we had a great opportunity to go to Haiti and visit an orphanage. I didn’t want my son to go because he would miss 10 days of school and two golf tournaments, but he really wanted to go and promised to maintain straight A’s. Turns out it was a “life changing event” in his own words.<br>
Some time it seems I am more worried about college than he is.</p>
<p>well i hav a question ! im actually in middle school and in 6th grade i got all A’s and two B’s in the whole school year and for mi final grades i got staright A’s. Now i am in middle school and i got straight A’s in the first quarter and A’s and two B’s in the second and A’s and three B’s in the third. i might get a a C in the fourth and one B and the rest A’s. im also in a magnet school in all gt classes and i get a high school credit every year im here if i pass mi spanish final exam. if i get straight A’s all through 8th grade and high school can i still get into harvard or did middle school just mess it all up! (i plan to bring myself up and do better over the summer) so please help me . i hav been trying really hard to find someone that goes or went to HARVARD! i want to get 7th grade done already, i am freaking out and think i need a therapist! help me please…i promise to grreatly improve myself! & please tell me the honest truth! i can handle that! (very well actaully)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>bleep1,</p>
<p>I have good news for you- your 6th and 7th grade grades are NOT reported on your college applications. You haven’t messed anything up. The rare exception is if you get high school credit for a middle school- mine included 8th grade Spanish and math, and it sounds like yours includes Spanish.</p>
<p>So just focus on doing well in the future, and most importantly, RELAX! You have many, many years until college applications, and freaking out over them now won’t help anything. Furthermore, there are much more important things in the world than getting into Harvard.</p>
<p>Enjoy the rest of middle school!</p>
<p>thnx! i realized i really jus did freak out too much! thnx again!</p>