<p>I've been told by one of my teachers that it is significantly easier to get into Harvard if you are from inner-city Boston or from Cambridge. Is this true?</p>
<p>I have heard the exact opposite: that there are a very large number of very qualified applicants living in Cambridge/Boston.</p>
<p>Doubt it. Being from Boston means that the applicant pool is a lot more competitive. Its really competitive if you are from places like Boston/MA/NJ/NY/PA/CA?MD/VA. So that means your competing against a lot more qualified applicants as opposed to somewhere like Wyoming (no offense to anyone there). It some ways I'd even venture to say that it can be harder.</p>
<p>Ouch. What if it's a working-class neighborhood notorious for having many students not even complete high school? I can't imagine that there would be too many qualified applicants from an area like that. And Harvard is probably familiar with the surrounding neighborhoods, so could it work in my favor? I am a white male so I don't have the URM hook, but my teacher did mention that Harvard wants to draw more students from the Boston area. I have heard similar things about Penn looking to admit students from urban Philly. Does anyone have any conclusive evidence (articles, stats etc) confirming or refuting this?</p>
<p>Johnny - I don't know if I'd say it's "significantly easier." But I think that, due to the proximity, Harvard will definitely be aware of your school's profile, and recognize the adversity you probably faced.</p>
<p>Additionally, Harvard has some well-established relationships with some Boston high schools (Boston Latin is one, supposedly...).</p>
<p>Schools are known to give special consideration to applicants from the communities in which they are located. For Harvard, it's Cambridge and Boston; for Yale, it's New Haven. While Harvard has a well-established relationship with Boston Latin, it is correct that it seeks out students from disadvantaged schools and communities.</p>
<p>In general, it's much harder to get into Harvard from Boston, Cambridge and other areas near Harvard. That's because of the flood of excellent applicants, including legacies from those areas. Harvard isn't going to fill up its class with people from the Boston area.</p>
<p>However, Harvard has had a hard time attracting disadvantaged students from Cambridge, and at least as of about 8 years ago (when I was at a meeting at Harvard and heard the admissions dean say the following), Harvard was trying hard to attract disadvantaged Cambridge students (with the stats to succeed at Harvard) to Harvard.</p>
<p>I don't know if the same was true about disadvantaged Boston students.</p>
<p>Several years ago, Harvard admitted 11 students from the Cambridge public school. Every year, there are some from that school. As far as I know, there are students admitted from places like Dorchester, East Boston, etc... Rumor has it that Harvard's plan to expand into Allston means cultivating good relations with Boston. Giving a tip to Boston students is one way of doing so (and that does not mean Beacon Hill residents attending private schools).</p>
<p>It depends if one is talking about the greater Boston area (including such places as Newton, Needham, Sharon, Weston), or about "inner city Boston and the Boston public schools." As part of their efforts to increase socioeconomic diversity, places like Harvard do look at the lower income areas of their own cities. They compare the "disadvantaged" Boston students to the "disadvantaged" other area students, not to the students from the suburbs or from private schools. It is difficult to get even the top disadvantaged students to consider the top schools at all; going to college in the first place is an accomplishment for them. It is easier to talk to a kid from East Boston about going to Harvard than it is to talk to him/her about going to Princeton or even Dartmouth, with their attendant transportation costs and the student's unfamiliarity with the area. For that kid, with Harvard in the backyard, why look anywhere else? Since Harvard will likely get more of these students applying, it may be "easier" for a student from the Boston public schools to get into Harvard that for a student from the NY public schools.</p>
<p>The problem with "tipping" Boston area students is that hundreds of extraordinary students apply to Harvard from that area, and since Harvard isn't going to completely fill its class with Boston area students, many outstanding Boston area students will be rejected even though many also will be accepted. </p>
<p>Given the fact that the Boston area has a disproportionate amount of legacies (a tip factor in itself), excellent private and public schools, and kids of faculty members from Harvard and other top colleges, the field of applicants is far, far above what's typical for Harvard apps across the country (and most Harvard apps have lots going for them). Someone who would be an average Harvard applicant in the overall pool shouldn't count on their Boston area residency as tipping them in.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Someone who would be an average Harvard applicant in the overall pool shouldn't count on their Boston area residency as tipping them in.>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>That goes without saying. The same applies to legacies or anyone else. But the real question is: does someone who is an excellent applicant get a tip from applying to a college located in his or her community? the answer is yes, whether it is Cambridge/Boston for Harvard, New Haven for Yale or Philly for Penn. Looking at the admissions results for S's friends, that seems to bear out this observation.</p>
<p>I don't know, Marite. When I think about the members of my Harvard class who came from the Boston area, they are some of the most extraordinary members of my class, and always were. They include: an opera singer, a state supreme court justice, a URM who entered with soph standing and was a 4th or 5th generation legacy. Many were star students at the top private and public schools in the Boston area, and had parents who also taught at some of the top colleges in Boston (and the students reflected their enriched home environment) including at Harvard (being a faculty kid also conveys an admissions advantage at most universities). </p>
<p>I know that some Boston public schools have 20 or more students admitted each year to Harvard, but still, those students are some of the top students in the country, with accomplishments far above those of many vals and sals from other areas who apply to Harvard.</p>
<p>My kid at Harvard knows a lot of kids from the Boston area. While I'm sure that they are well qualified, I don't know that they are the most extraordinary members of the class. Then again, maybe they are - who knows? There are a lot of modest people there, for sure.</p>
<p>If you look at the Freshman Register, you will see that there are a lot of kids from Massachusetts, as well as New York and California.</p>
<p>The 11 kids who got into Harvard a few years ago are all well qualified, and some are super qualified; but not all are. Same with students from Boston. NSM: I have heard again and again that Harvard gives a tip to students from Cambridge and Boston while MIT does not. The admissions results from our school bear that out. But again, Harvard needs to cultivate good relations with both Cambridge and Boston in a way that MIT does not.</p>
<p>I have heard that Harvard sends staffs to some local high schools in Boston Area
each year to interview applicants.</p>
<p>Yes, I live and graduated from Cambridge, Harvard does have special town-gown relationships since Harvard doesn't pay land taxes. The Dean of Admissions personally interviews students from our school for early decisions/action. That's what my friend who got in early said.</p>
<p>At MIT, we have their assistant Dean of Admissions and special person who have experienced Cambridge school system read over our apps. I know since I applied and thru a MIT that I know told me the assist Dean read my app. I also got a call from a lady reading my app that worked at my school now working as admission officier there.</p>
<p>MIT doesn't have as special of relationship with Cambridge as Harvard does. Harvard accepts on average 10-11 kids from Cambridge, MIT far fewer.</p>
<p>Boston Latin School has a special relationship where they guarantee like 20 students admissions into Harvard.</p>