Is Need-Blind Hurtful as well as Helpful?

Applying to College
1

<p>As in, if Harvard doesn't look at a families income for admission, then what chance does a low-income student who didn't have too much opportunities stand against a rich person with hundreds of opportunities?</p>

2

<p>bump…</p>

3

<p>Highly selective colleges claim to use holistic admissions policies, which take the totality of an applicant’s environment, experience, and achievements into account. The standard answer from an admissions rep at one of those colleges would be that coming from a less-opportunistic environment won’t hurt you because they consider all that.</p>

<p>I suspect that how much that answer plays out in practice very much depends on the specific college.</p>

<p>I know one member of the Harvard class of 2015. He came from a mediocre small-city high school. His father drives a truck, his mother is a postal clerk. So it’s possible for someone born without a silver spoon in his mouth to get into Harvard.</p>

<p>But understand that it’s incredibly unlikely that any individual applicant will get into Harvard or any of the other super-selective schools. They turn away people with perfect ACT/SAT scores and stratospheric GPAs. The odds are against everyone, no matter what their background.</p>

4

<p>So if holistic, and need blind university will still look at a families income right? Such as for example being low-income and having less opportunities? </p>

<p>But even if they are holistic, and need blind, and they don’t look at family income what-so-ever, how would they determine if you do have less opportunities then the other?</p>

5

<p>“Need blind,” as I understand it, means they don’t consider the fact that you might need FA as a negative factor in admissions. If you come from a low-income background and overcame the obstacles that obtains and achieved great things in spite of it, that will work for you.</p>

<p>They can look at more than income - where you live, the characteristics of your high school, teacher and GC recommendations - and you can craft your essay to speak to your struggles and (most important) how you overcame them, and what those struggles taught you.</p>

6

<p>Thank you for the help!</p>