<p>i asked a similar question about my counselor rec but i need some advice about something... so. i live in a small town in the south of puerto rico where no one ever goes to harvard and has no idea what the ivy league is. i go to a normal school and come from a veryyy low income family. my school counselor doesnt know anything (seriously) about the college app process in the US. the reason i'm saying all this is because i asked her to include a scool profile with the mid year report, and afterwards she gave me a copy of such profile. much like her rec letter, it's filled with all sorts of imaginable errors (except spelling thx to spell check). so i was wondering if this school profile will somehow end up hurting me. </p>
<p>on one hand, it kinda makes me look quite competent by comparison (lol), being able to write complete sentences in english and having decent sat scores. its also an honest and accurate protrayal of the actual opportunities and guidance that have been offered to me here (at least when it comes to college counseling and english class).</p>
<p>on the other hand though, im worried that with this "profile" of my school the adcoms wont take my grades seriously.</p>
<p>does anyone know how familiar the adcoms are willing to get with high schools theyve never heard of?? im quite sure no one from my school (prob not even my town) has ever applied, so they wouldnt know about the school. is this more likely to help or hurt me??</p>
<p>Because of the very low number of Puerto Ricans who go to college, they are highly desireable URMs. (Not considered international. PR is part of the U.S.)</p>
<p>Being a high performing student from a h.s. that has never sent students to Harvard is a big plus. </p>
<p>Being a student with Harvard-quality grades and scores (having at least a 600 on your SAT I CR and m is the bottom minimum) who comes from a school that is not very good is a big plus. Consequently, your counselors' errors in English could help you by indicating the odds you had to overcome to do well in English. </p>
<p>thanks to all of you. northstarmom, that was most helpful (and extremely good to hear :) ). as you said, we're not international, Puerto Ricans are us citizens; we belong to the US but we're not a state (this is somehow complicated/ambigous/undefined).</p>
<p>i was also wondering, do the adcoms take a look at your fianancial aid application to determine your income level before they make an admissions decission?? my counselor explained the income thing on the fee waiver she wrote (and I corrected) but i dunno if a fee waiver would make it to their hands.</p>
<p>Harvard is "need-blind" which means they accept you without considering whether you need money. That said, they probably will be aware that you are needy, but will consider it a positive rather than a negative. Harvard's endowment is so enormous they really can afford to pay for anyone who needs the aid.</p>