How to stand out when applying?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>I'm a current junior, and Harvard is my dream school. I unfortunately have an incredibly low likelihood of being accepted. I got a 2200 SAT score (780W/770M/650R) with a 12 on the essay, but I am hoping to bring up my overall score (it was the first time I had taken the SAT). I haven't taken SAT Subject Tests yet.</p>

<p>For academics, I have above a 4.3 GPA weighted, 4.0 unweighted. I will probably be a National Merit Semifinalist/Finalist (not for sure, but my score shows that I most likely will be). I take all honors classes, and will be taking Calculus BC and one or both of the English/Lit AP tests this year. I'm in National Honor Society and will hopefully have a leadership position.</p>

<p>I'm involved in band (school, district, state, national bands). I teach private music lessons also. I'm involved in dance and am on dance team. I'm on the school newspaper and should be Editor-in-Chief next year, and I also write for an online news publication. I'm involved in debate. I'm in other clubs like Science Club, language club, Key Club, SADD, Literary/Art Magazine, Girl Scouts, etc.</p>

<p>Leadership consists of nothing big--just small things. I'm in a City Youth Council that I had to be elected to be in. I don't have any Student Council positions and never have, which will undoubtedly hurt me. I should be Editor-in-Chief next year, as I stated earlier. I'm secretary of Science Club, Vice-President of a language club, Officer of dance team, and I've received the Girl Scout leadership award.</p>

<p>I have a lot of service hours (100+ each year) but nothing too big in one area.</p>

<p>Wow, I'm realizing my chances are less and less likely as I get further into this.</p>

<p>I started something pretty cool at my school but don't want to post it here.</p>

<p>I'm white.</p>

<p>I have a lot I WANT to do, although I'm not sure how much will actually happen. I plan on starting a club (but now how long have I been saying that?) and I plan on starting something big in my community (don't want to give all my ideas away :)).</p>

<p>So WHAT IS IT that makes Harvard students stand out in applications? Essays? Recommendations? Hooks?</p>

<p>How can I improve my chances? I don't want fluff for an answer. Give me the bare and bones. I know it's not likely I'll get in... but what would help? Give me anything. I know it's a lot of luck. I know stuff like that. I know my test scores are low. But what can I do? </p>

<p>What can I do to make them remember my application?</p>

2

<p>You have guessed right.</p>

<p>There is a very slim chance for you to get into Harvard (as well as the 95% of applicants in ~35000 pool)</p>

<p>This is the unfortunate yet inevitable fate for many Harvard applicants. </p>

<p>Honestly, your SAT scores don’t even matter squat when you are applying unless you have below the two thousands score, so does GPA, so do most leadership and extracurricular activities. So how can an applicant stand out in Harvard pool?</p>

<p>Essay can definitely make you stand out, but I feel like essays need to contain your passion in what you love to do (also very good at doing!). Essay that encompasses your passion for dance and how your work has made you the best dancer in the north-east has a good shot of getting you in. </p>

<p>But any old essay, no matter how passionate, without substance/relevance can get you only so far.</p>

<p>If you read the past people who got into Harvard, you will find the most unique array of people ever. From national Irish dancing champion to the MOP/RSI participants, Harvard loves people with special talent or quality that most people don’t have (thus making them stand out). It is sad but true that many Harvard applicants have the leadership positions in National Honor Society or the Key club, or they volunteer at the soup kitchen or at nursing homes, along with having fantastic scores, grades, essays, recommendations. Most get rejected.</p>

<p>You need a wrestler, a bassoon player, an operatic singer, a volunteer maniac, a nerd, etc.
That’s the diversity Harvard is looking for. They are not looking for “well-rounded” students anymore. That’s the news of the past. Harvard wants people who are the best at what they do, so when put together as a whole, it would have a diverse and colorful student body.</p>

<p>I am not discouraging you from applying or crushing your hopes of attending this fabulous school. Just know that you should strive doing what you really love right now and focus on it. Whether that gets you into Harvard is irrelevant, because the time you spend on things you love is never wasted.</p>

3

<p>ditto the above.</p>

<p>Retake the SAT, given your other scores and PSAT, it is likely your CR score will go up if you put the time into studying for it. Your superscore should be very good if that happens.</p>

<p>Between now and senior year (especially over the summer) try to discover what you are passionate about (an academic field or extracurricular activity) and do something substantial about it. This hopefully will provide material for you to write meaningful essays about this passion and/or your experience around it.</p>

<p>Tisgur1 is right about being well-rounded not being the ideal anymore (with some exceptions). Random community service and joining clubs (even with some leadership) is usually not impressive enough for a school like Harvard. There are what 42,000 editor-in-chiefs each year? Also, starting a club senior year will not probably mean much to them either (they like to see a long-term commitment) unless it is truly unique and central to whatever your passion may be. Otherwise, it just looks as though you started a club for the sake of college applications.</p>

<p>I hope I am not discouraging you. I certainly don’t know the context of your life and what opportunities you may or may not have been afforded so adcoms may view your application in a completely different light.</p>

<p>What I am trying to say is that you have good grades and good scores, pretty good extracurriculars, what you now need to do is answer the question for Harvard why they should accept you over the other 35,000 candidates. It is usually because they see in you a demonstrated ability to excel in something which gives them confidence that you will someday be a leader in whatever else you choose to do. Find out what is that motivates you today and go for it. As Tisgur1 one said, no matter the outcome, you will be a much better person for having put your heart and soul into something meaningful to you.</p>

4

<p>Sorry to revive this thread… but does anyone have any recommendations as to how to stand out in the music category? I’m fairly talented and feel that music could help me out, but I need to do something MORE I feel like. Start something in my community? Or would that be seen as ‘only for my resume’ since I did it as a junior, even though I have something I really want to do for fun/to help others?</p>

5

<p>Nobdy knows your exact odds although it is certainly true that most people don’t get in. Don’t bemoan that it’s an incredibly hard school to get into, instead celebrate the fact that you’ve had a terrific high school career and have done everything within your ability to get in. GL</p>

6

<p>to stand out you should include a death threat in an essay</p>

7

<p>@Amplified
I applied to Harvard RD, and although I do not know the nature of my decision yet, here is my advice in terms of distinguishing yourself in terms of music.
I am an opera singer, and for the past 6 years or so I have been consistently dedicated to voice. I have taken classes at a music conservatory every Saturday, I have done opera summer programs for the past four summers, I have competed in several voice competitions and won a lot of them, and in general I have had a ton of performing experiences (singing at nursing homes, singing the National Anthem at a Cubs game, and singing in many other venues around Chicago and Italy). But here’s the thing, I never did any of this with the intention of padding my resume, I did it because I genuinely enjoy singing opera, and it’s something I might possibly pursue as a career. If you are going to stand out in music, it’s because it’s something you have been avidly pursuing for many years, it’s not something that you can just one day decide that you are going to take up for the sake of your Harvard application. “Starting something in your community” the summer before your senior year seems like a cop out. If you truly feel that music is going to help your resume, you should just keep doing what you are doing. But you should be pursuing music because you love it, not because you think that Harvard loves it.
Finish your junior year strong, write essays that you are proud of, and continue to do what you love to do. That’s what will make you stand out to Harvard.</p>

8

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<p>So, if I say Harvard is looking for well-rounded students, who’s right? Are two internet strangers more reliable spokespeople for Harvard than one internet stranger?</p>

9

<p>DwightEisenhower,</p>

<p>I’ll make it two to two, LOL. None of my son’s roommates are dancing champions, USAMO qualifiers, recruited athletes (although the suite to which they’re connected by a shared bathroom houses four athletes) or anything like that. Rather, they’re four really smart, really well-rounded young men who scored really high on the SAT/ACT, got great grades, participated fully in their life of their respective high schools, and showed a special quality that isn’t summed up either by the word “passion” or by some outsized accomplishment.</p>

10

<p>I would agree with Gibby. My son who got in early action is extremely lop-sided in an academic field and music. He has achieved at the highest level (top national and international) in his field of academics and music without divulging too much personal information. I know 2 others who got in early who are similar to him and 1 at his school who was a crew recruit.</p>

11

<p>@notjoe: That’s interesting because in my daughter’s suite everyone seems to have an overwhelming “passion” that they are pursuing with dogged interest. One girl is heavily involved in theater and film, including outside auditions. Another roommate is on the crew team and gets up at 5 in the morning for practice, the other roommate is on the ski team and is always going somewhere for a practice or meet. Harvard, like any other selective college, is made up of lots students with varied interests and abilities.</p>

<p>As most students applying to Harvard have really high SAT/ACT scores and great grades, it’s difficult to stand-out with just those qualities. If you’re not an athlete, or have a special quality or talent, then the way to stand out is to make others around you better. If you do that, you will have glowing teacher recommendations and an interesting story to tell in your essay. See:</p>

<p>[‘The</a> Ideal High School Graduate’ - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/ideal-grad/]'The”>'The Ideal High School Graduate' - The New York Times)
“I’m not sure Harvard has figured out what the ideal student is,” he said, clearly disappointing some cramped audience members. “But public service is a baseline. We’re trying to find people who make others around them better.”</p>

<p>Mr. Fitzsimmons called successful applicants to Harvard “good all-arounders – academically, extracurricularly and personally,” and he stressed the importance of demonstrating humanity and three-dimensionality in one’s college application. “I want to know, what is it this person does beside chew gum and produce good grades or scores?”</p>

<p>He warned against the superficiality of charismatic dispositions. “Charisma isn’t everything,” he said. “It actually makes a difference to have substance. And those quiet people can be incredibly easy to miss in college admissions, but they can be brilliant and wear incredibly well over the long haul.”</p>

12

<p>From what I have gathered in my college process, I can tell you that a definite and successful way to stand out is through your essays- and not your standard essay of “success” or portraying yourself like a god. In a pool of so many succesful and seemingly perfect applicants, you can stand out by admitting and discussing your weaknesses- your humaness. Also, you want to entertaing your reader (they are tired of reading so many essays!) so the best way is to make it humorous. Thus, combining these two points, you can make a succesful college essay by doing it self-deprecating and clever.</p>

13

<p>gibby,</p>

<p>I think that “passion” and “dogged interest” can be signs of that special quality for which Harvard looks. I don’t believe they are the thing, itself. But that’s just my guess.</p>

<p>I know that for my own son, as well as for his suite mates, they are all very bright, very hard-working, even driven young men. Each is stronger in some areas and weaker in others. But as far as I can tell, none is world-class at anything, and none display a “passion” or “dogged interest” in one particular field or endeavor.</p>

14

<p>^^ “Each is stronger in some areas and weaker in others.”</p>

<p>You seem to be agreeing with ohmmho in post#10 about lop-sidedness being a factor in admissions (without the world-class accomplishments), at least in your son’s suite.</p>

15

<p>gibby,</p>

<p>By the implied definition, EVERYONE is “lop-sided.” I’d hardly call a student who scored, for example, a CR 800, M 750, W 800 “lop-sided,” even though he’s stronger in humanities, and his relative weakness is math and science. Very, very few people on earth are equally strong in all disciplines.</p>

<p>My own son is like this. If he were not so very strong in verbal stuff, in languages, history, etc., he’d still hold up as a math/science guy. In fact, physics is part of his joint concentration.</p>

<p>Although my son is pretty darned good at languages and linguistics, he hasn’t published any novels (although he’s unsuccessfully submitted poems to various national publications, LOL), he’s not on the short list for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and he hasn’t won any national or international competitions for language or writing. He did get an honorable mention in an essay contest in the Archdiocese of Washington for Catholic high school students.</p>

<p>But that’s the sort of thing that although it shows some talent doesn’t suggest great “passion,” “dogged interest,” or world-class ability.</p>

<p>I don’t think that by “lop-sided” we mean the kid who gets high As in English and history (or math and science) and low As in math and science (or English and history). That’s just the normal way intelligence is distributed in ordinary folks.</p>

<p>Although Harvard has more than its fair share of students who are truly world-class in this or that pursuit, I suspect that most are like my son and his room mates - very, very good at most everything to which they put their hand and mind, and somewhat better in one area than another.</p>

<p>Harvard, I’m sure, is happy to take the student who is merely very, very good in most things, and is truly singular in ability in one thing. It’s quite likely that such excellence is a result of passion and dogged interest, which, as I said, can be signs of the special quality for which Harvard is looking. But they also take huge numbers of “well-rounded” students - folks who are merely quite good at an entire range of pursuits, academic and otherwise.</p>

<p>But test scores, grades, ECs, these are all prerequisites. They matter (a lot), but as qualifiers. They’re the price of admission for most kids like my son and his room mates, who don’t, as you often say, play the cello like Yo-Yo Ma.</p>

<p>Harvard is looking for something beyond test scores, grades and ECs. A lot of the signs of this thing for which they’re looking are mentioned by Dean Fitzsimmons in your quote: service orientation; holistic personality; well-roundedness. But passion, dogged interest and lop-sidedness can all also signify it.</p>