Lets say a student have these things
-30+ ACT
-700+ SAT II Subject Tests
-Top rank
-3.9+ GPA
-Awesome essays 9/10 or better
-Awesome Teacher Recs as the way colleges wanted 10/10
-Awesome Consular Recs 10/10
-Additional Letters from coaches
-Being the Vice President of the class
-Being member of Greenpeace, UNICEF, USAAmnesty…
-A lot of volunteer works
-Being the founder/captains of a lot of teams/clubs (Math, chess, English…)
-Coming from a low income family and being had to support his family financially
-Speaking 2 language fluently
-Being muslim or hindu or jewish (I am mentioning this as a question, are religions considered as under represented students?)
So we all know what colleges want but if we give them everything is there a way we will still be rejected? They cannot have that many perfect student. If we have all these things how can they reject us?
There are many ways, when a school accepts 5%.
They need trombonists and you play violin.
They need a shortstop and you play tennis.
They need actors and you were in math club.
Etc.
Schools build their classes, they don’t reward applicants.
Lets be honest, a 30 ACT? A 3.9? You really need to research stats a bit more.
@NEPatsGirl okay lets say 36 and 4 then i was just assuming numbers
Then when you think about it it is not pure success. it is %40 success and %60 what they need/luck.
I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news cavitgdc but even with those stats you have to fill a niche. You might, you might not. Either way, your earlier stats put you out of the game. With a 36 and 4.0, you would get a second look.
Also, who said Harvard is looking for the “perfect” student? They’re looking for those with something unique, something that makes them stand out from the other 35000+ applicants. They’re looking for people who not only have passion, but have acted on said passion and delved deeply in their interests. Which is why several times people with perfect gpas, test scores, etc. are overlooked. It’s not that something was missing from their applications per say, but rather just that their competition had qualities/factors that piqued the adcoms’ interests more.
There are about 32,000 ways to get rejected from Harvard. (Assuming 34,000 applicants)
“So we all know what colleges want but if we give them everything is there a way we will still be rejected?”
First things first: learn how to use commas. They’re a fun grammatical tool and help us understand your writing.
Oh btw to answer your question: No, religions don;t count in URM designations. Only ethnicities do (and even then, only if you are a US citizen or permanent resident). Being from a low income family may supposedly help though, as well as being a first generation college student (although to be quite honest with you I’m not really sure how they would come by knowledge of the former, seeing as though Harvard is need-blind). Could someone explain this to me please.
@paleselan Not to be rude but if you are in this Harvard forum you should be able to understand the sentence without a comma. And i apologize for the mistake, i didnt have a lot of time to study on grammatical tools since i started learning English 7 months ago 
@go4cornell
The Common App does include your parents occupations. It wouldn’t be that hard to figure out that the child of a teacher and a Walmart employee isn’t going to have a ton of financial resources.
Your question does not understand the holistic admissions that Harvard abides by. There are hundreds if not thousands of ‘perfect’ students that apply each year and that get rejected. It does not mean those applicants were not qualified, just not the students they built that particular class with.
Well, there is a sure-fire way to be rejected, which is to not apply.
However, there are no certainties in admissions.
A comparison of your “candidate’s” traits versus my actual stats (SCEA Class of 2019, Deferred):
-36 ACT -> Perfect SAT
-700+ SAT II Subject Tests -> Multiple perfect subject tests
-Top rank -> DNR
-3.9+ GPA -> 4.0 GPA
-Awesome essays 9/10 or better -> It’s hard to assign a grade to essays, but I believe that mine were very good. At least, that’s what all of my teachers/counselors seemed to think.
-Awesome Teacher Recs as the way colleges wanted 10/10 -> I waived FERPA rights. But, my counselor told me that they were good.
-Awesome Consular Recs 10/10 -> I waived FERPA, so I honestly don’t know.
-Additional Letters from coaches -> Additional letter from a very influential Hispanic businessperson.
-Being the Vice President of the class -> Ick. Student government.
-Being member of Greenpeace, UNICEF, USAAmnesty… -> I’d sooner attach myself to radical Christian fundamentalists than Greenpeace, but my hatred of Greenpeace is a topic for another day.
-A lot of volunteer works -> Led a variety of community efforts, and did service work in Mexico.
-Being the founder/captains of a lot of teams/clubs (Math, chess, English…) -> Treasurer/President of a few clubs.
-Coming from a low income family and being had to support his family financially -> Very low-income. However, unless someone felt like running from Griffin to Admissions with that information, I doubt it mattered. I didn’t discuss the circumstances of my upbringing in any essays because I felt that it was unnecessary.
-Speaking 2 language fluently -> No to this one, but I know Latin somewhat well.
-Being muslim or hindu or jewish (I am mentioning this as a question, are religions considered as under represented students?) -> Religions don’t count for URM designations. Since you seem interested, however, I’m Hispanic and a Catholic. (Aren’t all Mexicans?)
As well, I had 5s on five AP tests, and I will have taken ten by the time I graduate.
Applicants don’t get in based on stats + URM status. There are no certainties in admissions. I feel that this can’t be said enough.
Harvard isn’t looking for perfect. There is a good chance that if you’re too perfect, it looks like you don’t have any life, and have never experienced failure, thus making you inhuman… So yes, it is very possible for this student to get rejected.
Assuming you’re an int’l applicant (Turkish?), it’s not the stats that matter most of the time for top-tier colleges (like Harvard) as everyone who’s applying has stellar grades, great test scores, etc, etc. You need to have a hook that would put you in front of many, MANY applicants who maintain the same level of academic effort. AFAIK religions are not relevant in college apps, so they’re not considered URMs - try middle eastern maybe?
The way I see it, everyone has perf grades + something interesting. Try to be one of those guys. Improve your essays, talk about the challenges you’ve been facing. Turk oldugun icin ozellikle bunlardan bahsetmen guzel olur. Just throwing in my two cents.
@barisekim thanks for the advices. Well as it is said, i will buy a ticket from every college and hope to win the lottery. Have you attented a college in US?
@cavitgdc I’m currently a junior in the US. Where else did you apply?
@barisekim i did not apply this year. I am having an exchange year in US by State Department’s scholarship. So i am going to apply for class of 2020. But my list is
MIT
Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Maybe Darmouth
@cavitgdc I notice that your list comprises only of schools that are need-blind for internationals. Is this a mere co-incidence?