I know people hate chance threads but...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>...but I just want to get a couple outside opinions. Harvard SCEA, what do you guys think? Please be honest.</p>

<p>Stats
SAT:
1st sitting - 770 R, 770 M, 800 W
2nd sitting - 800 R, 720 M, 800 W</p>

<p>SAT subject tests:
Math II - 800
Chemistry - 780
Literature - 740</p>

<p>APs:
5s on Stats, US History, Chemistry, Calc BC, English Language
4s on Macro and Micro Econ</p>

<p>GPA:
I think around a 3.9 unweighted</p>

<p>Class Rank:
no idea, my school doesn't rank - definitely in top 10%, maybe top 5%, but again, I have no way of knowing</p>

<p>ECs:
Violin - studied for almost 12 years, won many awards in local, state, and one international competition
Performing at Carnegie Hall (Weill Hall) this December
Performed with orchestra as soloist
All-Regional, All-State, All-Eastern, and All-National orchestras - first violin in all, concert master one year for All-Regional
Concert master of school and youth orchestra
First violin of string quartet
Attended a very intensive and exclusive music camp for 7 weeks
I am submitting a music supplement CD; hopefully that will be passed on to the department</p>

<p>JSA - Junior State of America, student political/civic awareness organization (this is my third year participating)
High ranking official in my region of the country
Chief of Staff in school chapter</p>

<p>Other:
National Honor Society
Tri-M Music Honor Society (president at school)
French Honor Society
Community service at town Historical Society, volunteer hours teaching SAT prep
Summer activities - this past summer was the 7-week music camp; summer before was a JSA program at Georgetown University; before that were CTY Johns Hopkins programs</p>

<p>Essay:
not sharing my topic but it's pretty creative and an unexpected writing style. I think it portrays me in a very positive light without being too pompous or bragging at all</p>

<p>Recs:
Both should be at least relatively good; both are very experienced in writing recommendation letters and liked me quite a lot. I'm thinking of getting my private violin teacher to do an extra rec.
Counselor rec should be also pretty decent, might be a little generic but I'm hoping not.</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
School type: Public
Hooks: none</p>

2

<p>bump 10char</p>

3

<p>please guys?? bump!</p>

4

<p>Why do everyone else’s chance threads get replies? Please! What’s wrong with mine?</p>

5

<p>Reach. .</p>

6

<p>You seem pretty smart, so you should know that Havard is a reach for everybody instead of freaking out about it and putting it on a thread… Sorry to be blunt. Your stats are good but again, there is no assurance with Ivy League schools.</p>

7

<p>What state are you from and what do you intend to study? I know I can’t know you very well from just this post, but you honestly seem like more of a Yalie than anything else… have you considered applying there SCEA? What draws you to Harvard over other schools that you seem to be a better match for?</p>

8

<p>@dellort I’d rather not say publicly, just because the specificity of my extracurricular details might give away my identity. I’m still not 100% sure, but I’m thinking of maybe going into psychology.
In terms of why I was drawn to Harvard over other schools, I really just felt like the campus and atmosphere fit me so much better than any other college I visited (I visited Yale as well). None of the other places I went to spoke to me and made me picture myself there like Harvard did. Cambridge was also my favorite of the surrounding metropolitan areas that I visited.</p>

9

<p>Just curious, what about this post makes me seem like a Yalie?</p>

10

<p>Harvard is a reach for almost anyone. Out of curiosity, why would you take the SAT again when your initial score was phenomenal?</p>

11

<p>I realize now that my second sitting really provided me no benefit, but at the time I wanted to shoot for something higher. I know that there’s no significant difference between a 2340 and the high 2300s. I did improve my superscore, though, so there’s that.</p>

12

<p>All Ivies are reaches. It’s a crapshot. You don’t know if you’re guaranteed to be accepted or rejected.</p>

13

<p>You look good. Just remember that the accept rate is 5.8% (and probably dropping).</p>