How to Get into Harvard College?

<p>Freshmen these days…</p>

<p>Are things like the Green SAT System worth it? </p>

<p>Harvard is one of the “lottery” schools-- the chance of admission is so incredibly low no matter how qualified you are, that it’s like playing the Powerball lottery game. Only applicants w super-hooks (e.g., your father is POTUS or Bill Gates) can reasonably count on getting in. By all means apply if you are that interested, but keep in mind that there is a lot more out there than just Harvard vs community college.</p>

<p>The sooner you get over your Harvard obsession, the sooner you can constructively focus on putting together a pragmatic list of attractive alternatives.</p>

<p>@GMTplus7:</p>

<p>Agree that it’s a lottery without a superhook to get in to H, but you can create a superhook; it’s not all family. For instance, if you’re a recruited athlete or win the Intel Science Fair (obviously if you cure cancer or negotiate world peace), your chances are pretty good. ;)</p>

<p>Recruited athlete or win the Intel Science Fair: NORMAL HOOK</p>

<p>Father is POTUS or Bill Gates: SUPER HOOK</p>

<p>Cure cancer or negotiate world peace: YOU DON’T NEED HARVARD</p>

<p>Coriander- and advice from high school kids.</p>

<p>Harvard doesn’t want kids who focus on the name, it’s not a well-considered reason. And they may produce many great achievers, but they exist first as a college, a four year experience- not a job factory.</p>

<p>I don’t agree it’s lottery, in general- not all kids are adequately prepared- or even get that H is more than the name. Apologies, but they think things like more APs and USAMO are the distinctions H values in their freshman class. Sheesh, read the links and do some research. Harvard has it in print, online. Easy to find.</p>

<p>What some think of as “lottery,” is really the final culling, those last cream candidates, the final 6000, who represent the traits, accomplishments and perspective the college likes, when institutional needs have a large influence in determining the final 2k. </p>

<p>Get really, really good at a sport that is one of Harvard’s 41 ;)</p>

<p>This thread has some useful information about Harvard Admissions: <a href=“Chance Threads - PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING ONE - Harvard University - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1420290-chance-threads-please-read-before-posting-one-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Chances are, if you do everything in high school to look good for Harvard, you will not get into Harvard. </p>

<p>.
obviously good test scores and grades are the most important factor. then comes Ec’s, sports are good but not worth much unless you’re recruitable. music is solid. club leaderships are the most important type of EC to attain alongside stuff like research. do whatever it takes to attain club leaderships, obviously do well in the club and show initiative but also make connections with people (suck up, act likeable, whatever it takes: “network”) as they are also important. even then nothing’s guaranteed but if you work hard and make the right connections you can set yourself to have a far better chance at getting in than most in this forum would admit. </p>

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<h2>No, that’s actually a prerequisite</h2>

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No, then would come teacher recommendations . . as in this quote from William Fitzsimmons

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Actually no. Here’s another quote from Mr. Fitzsimmons

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No, that’s not correct. William Fitzsimmons has been very straightforward about what Harvard looks for.

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<p>Don’t believe everything Fitzsimmons said either, you could technically con your way to Harvard as one did. Nobody caught him until his parents forced him to come clean.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/05/19/wheeler_case_shows_flaws_in_college_application_process/”>http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/05/19/wheeler_case_shows_flaws_in_college_application_process/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>^^ I was just trying to correct anaconda’s misinformation. Since the Wheeler incident, Harvard has become more diligent by contacting GC’s to confirm information on applicants they are seriously interested in, but what they value still remains the same. </p>

<p>^^ sorry I forgot about rec’s. you’re right they’re the most important after grades and scores. but they’re sort of harder to control on your own, be respectful to teachers and just hope for the best is what I’d advise.
also, there obviously isn’t any one thing harvard looks for, but I notice (admittedly from purely anecdotal evidence) that those with a lot of leadership positions fared better when applying to harvard and I think I’ve had people on this forum tell me that I shouldn’t really bother with harvard because I don’t have a lot of leaderships (not the type of person they look for); again, this is purely my feel, but harvard seems to place more importance on it than other peer institutions like MIT, stanford, caltech, etc. obviously it’s not any one hting. </p>

<p>edit. also forget community service. also try to do something innovative in community service other than simple volunteering.</p>

<p>also seeing how underrepresented the poor are and how overrepresented the very rich are at harvard, I highly doubt they give equal value to extracurriculars like taking care of one’s family or working a part time job at a store which are almost exclusive to low income families to those extracurriculars which are more accessible to the rich. </p>

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<p>How about homeschooling or unschooling? You can write transcripts and recommandations yourself. That would be the next frontier to get a leg up. The consulting companies will latch onto that idea pretty soon and I see many people moving to that route until it’s jammed at some point.</p>

<p>Anaconda, you have some challenging colleges on your list. Sincerely, you should be processing the sort of info gibby shares and digging for more like it, (usually online, one way or another,) for all on your list. You can learn from that. You would see, eg, that it’s not “a lot of leadership positions,” but the nature of the responsibilities and the balance- including the sort of “leadership” qualities that often don’t come with a glossy high school title. I don’t know were you get ideas like “do something innovative in community service other than simple volunteering.” Or that the lower SES kids Harvard covets are not highly engaged in impressive ways- even when they have, eg, family responsibilities. </p>

<p>Homeschooling is another matter. There are checks and balances. You can see homeschool supps on many college websites.</p>

<p>^^
I guess my experiences in life have just jaded me, a girl in the grade above me got into Haevard Yale and MIT (waitlisted at Princeton) 4.0 2400 and incredible EC’s on paper with tons of club leaderships (some of the most coveted ones in my school), except (at least in the clubs I also participated in) she did little to nothing out of ordinary and in a few she completely or basically quit her duties after admissions; ie little passion. It obviusly worked and duped admissions, she’s a good writer, I’m not that surprised. How passion would be perceived from 5 sheets of paper seems more to be based on how skilled/dedicated of a writer and how well one was able to impress ( read dupe) teachers than any actual passion. A kid in my grade did no clubs in middle school and flipped a switch the first day of high school into suddenly “caring” about all of these clubs (which had similar equivalents in middle school) and now has obtained an impressive set of leaderships (to go along with near perfect scores and gpa) and have no doubt he’ll get into a very impressive list of colleges next year despite having little actual passion (he himself told me he does these clubs for college in essence and everyone knows it) in fact most people I see engage in extracurricular activities largely or purely for the purpose of college admissions and it seems to work for them, I really am no different and did only stick or dedicate myself as much to some activities for college’s sake. Sorry for saying, but I don’t think adcoms are omnipotent beings that can judge the level an depth of passion a person they’ve never set their eyes on has from a few sheets of paper.</p>

<p>Again these are just the words of a 17 year old and perhaps my school/ area is just toxic and not representative of the norm.</p>

<p>No one can tell you how to land an Harvard or any other Top ranked school admission. All you can do is put in all your best effort in everything that you have done and plan on doing, and apply.
There is definitely no silver bullet for this one, and it is definitely not a one size fits all approach.
I will also add that you spend a bit more time on the Harvard college admission page and see some of the things they look for in an applicant. Even with this, it is no guarantee, but you will have an idea of what you are dealling with.
Best of luck to you.</p>

<p>People overrate how difficult it is to get in, in my personal opinion, if someone is driven enough and hardworking enough (along with not having to deal with non-academic distractions (family, personal etc)) and willing to do whatever it takes, (s)he can’t guarantee him or herself a spot at havard (or a peer institution) but can give themselves a far better chance than the regular “qualified” applicant, it’s just that very very few people are that driven. As a “qualified” applicant myself, I know there are things that I cost myself due to lack of hard work or willpower at critical moments, and I bet most of the other regular qualified applicants have a few regrets themselves like that, and for just the ordinary qualified applicant it’s really a huge toss up (unless they’re majorly hooked) with probably a well under 20% of getting in. Not so for the driven few, they have a better chance. My advice is to give it your all, make it so yuk have no regrets about what you did, none at all. I know when the rejection letters come next year I won’t be blaming others first (although some others would have contributed to it), I’ll blame myself for not giving it my all at some points and places, doing less than was possible. I was mostly driven in my life, in fact it’s one of the qualities I pride myself on, I just didn’t have the work ethic or the drive to power past my poor work ethic all day every day. Sorry for the rambling, but the key is to give it you your absolute 110%, never one day fall short of doing what you should do. Don’t let your work ethic falter ever. Then you’ll have a really really good chance at Harvard or any other college and if uou don’t get in feel free to blame others or the luck of the draw, but I think if one works this hard they’re likely to have at least a 40%ish chance at acceptance.</p>

<p>Anaconda, passions…uh, more CC stuff. You need to break from CC and do your own research and get excited about your own chances. If you want to dismiss all the conventional wisdom and the words of the colleges, instead go with anecdotes and advice form hs kids on a forum, you do so at your own risk. Your choice. </p>

<p>If you don’t know what they look for, if you guess, if you won’t go read what they say- and if you dismiss it all- good grief. </p>

<p>ps. How do you know you are a qualified applicant?</p>