<p>Thoughts? 10 char.</p>
<p>Not really - Harvard is need-blind. Financial aid is not considered until an accepted decision has been made. I guess, socioeconomic status can play a role in an indirect way if your essays, teacher rec’s, or other aspects of the application where you decide what you want to say. Also, if your family donated a building. The thing is, Harvard has enough money to pay off every undergraduate tuition and then some.</p>
<p>Not really. As the above poster said, formally the admissions office has no idea what your financial background is. </p>
<p>In reality, however, the admissions people may get some idea of your background by your school report, which will talk about graduation rates, college attendance, free lunches, etc., and they can get a picture to some extent from the education level of your parents. Since Harvard looks at achievements in light of available opportunities, it is thought that one’s inability to hire SAT Tutors and get driven around to gymnastics practice every day is not held against him/her. But there is no explicit system for this and I wouldn’t think that a poor background would overcome significant flaws in your application, though it certainly would distinguish you from Harvard’s overwhelmingly well-off applicant pool if all things are “equal”. And much of it is presented indirectly in the application, through the aforementioned things or essays or recs, rather than a checkbox in the case of racial background.</p>
<p>See <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1420429-lower-class-great-grades-very-impressive-colleges-true-false.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1420429-lower-class-great-grades-very-impressive-colleges-true-false.html</a> for a longer discussion on this.</p>
<p>Anything unique can be an advantage. I interviewed a Questbridge applicant for my alma mater and his story of abuse, going into a foster system with one out of eight siblings, yet rising to become a top student was very noteworthy and I explained it in great detail in my write up.</p>
<p>Which school was that too? I wanted to do questbridge myself, but they didn’t have Harvard as a partner school</p>
<p>They usually know. They can tell by the occupation of your parents and what colleges your parents graduated from, etc.</p>
<p>I think its obvious through the use of a fee waiver, correct?</p>
<p>The use of fee waivers increased 39 percent, which did tell them that they attracted many more low income students this year. Also, in my own essay, I went in depth about financial trouble and certain circumstances/hopes. Obviously, they’d be aware of my economic background after reading them.</p>
<p>adamgeek and starktony: read what Dwight says in post 3. The school report has extremely detailed info on the economic demographics of the HS. % free/reduced lunches is a very precise measure of poverty of students within the school.</p>
<p>This is from last year I believe on H’s website.</p>
<p>“HFAI is one of Harvard’s highest priorities, and once again we were able to attract outstanding students from families with annual incomes under $80,000,” said Monica Del Toro-Brown, co-director of HFAI. Precious Eboigbe, HFAI co-director, noted, “Our students worked closely with staff and alumni/ae, forming a partnership that enabled us to reach out to talented students from modest economic backgrounds who never dreamed Harvard was possible.” Added Devery Doran, HFAI co-director, “We are particularly pleased to see a larger number of students admitted from families with incomes under $65,000.”</p>