<p>"Do they look for that in all fields? I told Harvard I wanted to concentrate in linguistics. There really aren’t many HS opportunities to get involved with linguistics other than reading Saussure or whomever in your free time (which I did do, but only because I had a Cambridge interview coming up. I stick to wiki ), which one could easily lie about.</p>
<p>The ComApp doesn’t include a Why [insert major here]? essay so I definitely did not tell Harvard why I wanted to study linguistics, and there were no activities on my app which indicated interest. I imagine that there are many students not able to pursue activities that demonstrate interest in their prospective concentration. How can Harvard, or any school that cares, know that these students are being honest?"</p>
<p>Harvard and similar schools know that most students will switch majors at least twice while in college.</p>
<p>However, it is probably more likely that a student with a deep, DEMONSTRATED interest in the arts or humanities will end up in some humanities/arts major than would a student with a deep, demonstrated interest in science who plans to major in biochemistry and become a physician.</p>
<p>Consequently, a student who has, for instance, studied Latin in high school and self studied Greek and is #1 or #2 statewide in Junior Classical League probably has more of a chance of getting in than a student who was #1 or 2 statewide in science fair and has self studied genetics.</p>
<p>^Okay, thanks. I see what you mean. I wasn’t thinking of an interest in languages as demonstrating an interest in linguistics. Now that I think about it, I studied Latin (my school requires three years of it), did well on the nat’l tests, studied French, did even better on those nat’l tests, and included some references to eytmology in my ComApp essay.</p>
<p>My kid, an Asian, has SAT 2380(800/790/790) and SAT 2(800/800/790), 4.0 gap (unw), 5.16/5.25(weighted). 10 AP all 5 and 2 real college courses by junior year. Received ‘Dear loser’ letter from H/P/Y, waitlisted at Wharton, UC, Duke,MIT. Will head to PA state U. FYI, Kid took AP calculus at 10th grade and then took the one time SAT I in the same year. He choose business/Economics in all his application. It was such a horrible day on April 1st in my family. There must be something terribly wrong in the application. Our HS has at least 10 HPY. 11 upenn/duke etc. Time to burn these SAT review books now so my younger children will get into HYP.</p>
<p>^^GR3, I feel for your family, but on the bright side, if your kid is in the honors college at Penn State, he’ll be challenged, and if he decides to go for an advanced degree, I would expect that he will do much better the next time around. Anyway even now, waitlists do come through, as it did for my daughter with far weaker credentials, so don’t lose hope.</p>
<p>Misery loves company. Honestly, this does make me feel better that I’m not alone. I’m an asian, SAT 2390 single sitting, 800 and 770 SAT 2s, 4.0 gpa uw, 4.7 gpa w, 9 ap courses after junior year. Chose business or economics for all of my schools as well. Rejected to yale, princeton, wharton, stanford. waitlisted to mit and harvard. Looks like I’m headed to Berkeley, which I’m honestly fine with.</p>
<p>More company. SAT 2320 single sitting. 3.9gpa uw. High 700s SAT IIs, bunch of APs & self-study, chose business/economics for all my schools. Received dear loser letter from Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Yale. Waitlisted at Brown, Cornell, Duke, and Wharton. Looks like I’m headed to UNC. And unlike you Handlebars, I’m not fine with it. I worked my @ss off in high school, and now I’m going to the same college that all my friends who slacked off are going to.</p>
<p>Yeah, when I was filling out my app, I didn’t think what you put down for your major would matter, since you can change it at a later date. However, in retrospect, I would have put something different. Something less common.</p>
<p>^dont get me started with “in retrospect” lol</p>
<p>in retrospect, if I had known how poorly I would do with ivies, I would’ve applied ED to columbia, upenn wharton, or duke
in retrospect, I would have asked to read all my recs so I wouldn’t be questioning them now
in retrospect, I would not have gotten my hopes up so high
in retrospect, I would not have applied to so many schools, just to get rejected and waitlisted everywhere. waiting a thousand dollars :(</p>
<p>Hey SwaGGeReR, I feel for you. But on the bright side, at least you were able to get waitlisted to Wharton. That was my #1 choice, and I got straight up rejected. </p>
<p>But anyways, this is the way I think of it: As long as you’re going to a college where you have good opportunities, then you’ll be fine. It’s what you do with your opportunities that makes the difference. And besides, you’ll be probably able to get a higher GPA at somewhere like UNC over HYP. </p>
<p>Plus, the prestige of a university isn’t as much as I thought it was. I mean, when someone gets to know you, they’re judging you as a person and not your college, unless they’re really superficial. </p>
<p>One thing that made me feel better was visiting Berkeley. I met some of my brother’s friends and they’re all honestly amazing people. I’m sure you’ll be able to find people like that at UNC, so it’s not like the entire school consists of your friends who slacked off. </p>
<p>Just focus on doing well at UNC and make the most of your opportunities. Besides, what’s the point in complaining now? Look forward to college with an open mind and get excited about your future. Or I guess you could keep praying that you get accepted from those waitlists… But I prefer to move on.</p>
<p>The prestige of a university isn’t concerning making friends, it’s referring to having a more resourceful alumni network and being able to create better connections in whatever field you pursue.</p>
<p>You’re right about having those initial connections. However, it’s not like those networks are nonexistent at other schools, they’re just smaller. I think that if you use all your resources at a state school, you can be just as successful.</p>
<p>And I believe that if employers realize that you’re a d-bag from Harvard, they’d rather pick the kid from a state school with similar qualifications.</p>
<p>First off, I think Northstarmom is really doing a good thing by clarifying a lot of these things patiently and in what I find is one of the few ways that isn’t misleading or heavily biased.</p>
<p>Comment:
</p>
<p>As she herself mentioned, when people read an application, how it sounds to them depends a lot on how they’re feeling. I happen to be a believer in a really strong way that to let an essay that isn’t extremely straightforward and informational in nature influence the decision is utter foolishness. Diverse interests and strengths, ECs – all these are understandable, because there are lots of talents the top schools want to foster, and of course have the student contribute back to them. Unfortunately, some of the essays some colleges seem to have one write do seem rather a joke.</p>
<p>well, first of all, i would kill to have stats like you guys who are posting here. 2390 in one sitting? that’s impressive. </p>
<p>but i understand it does suck to have such a great application and get rejected from top schools. i didn’t have good test scores so naturally i was rejected from my top choice (Columbia).</p>
I am not debating whether connections are existent at other schools or not. In fact, what you said further emphasizes my point: the most prestigious schools give you a better equipped alumni network, simple as that. </p>
<p>Your second point is pretty moot, why would one compare a d-bag from Harvard with a what I presume to be a “non d-bag” at a state school? If an employer is given the option between a d-bag from Harvard and a d-bag from a state school, I have no doubt which option (the former) he or she would choose.</p>
<p>“The prestige of a university isn’t concerning making friends, it’s referring to having a more resourceful alumni network and being able to create better connections in whatever field you pursue.”</p>
<p>Important to realize that depending on where you live, your flagship state university may offer better connections than you’d get if you went to an Ivy or similar school. From what I’ve seen in the various places around the country where I’ve lived, the farther one gets from the NE, the less helpful Ivy connections are and the more important are connections from the state’s flagship university.</p>
<p>In fact, depending on where you live, having an Ivy background may be a detriment because people – including employers – may assume you’re too sophisticated or snooty for their establishment. This even can occur at large institutions.</p>
<p>Wow, this is exactly how I feel. So many things I wouldn’t/ would have done, if I had known the entire college process a little better. Definitely wouldn’t have set my hopes up so high and apply to an insane early reach that I had no chance at. Too bad I didn’t realize all of this before I applied.</p>
<p>Shhh we’re trying to make ourselves feel better that we didn’t get into Harvard!! I’m just trying to find optimism that I don’t have to go to an Ivy league school to be successful. At this point, I’m sure many others on this site could use some optimism as well.</p>