<p>Anyone they send letters to aren't falsely hopeful. They were sent letters for a reason (high test scores, good grades, etc). I doubt they send them to many unqualified people. For a harvard board everyone sure is assuming the worst of them.</p>
<p>Yes, particularly from the standpoint of making the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative achieve its goals, it is a very good idea of Harvard's, and money well spent, to invite applications from families in the lower half of the United States income distribution, who now are VERY underrepresented at Harvard. Academic ability does not have a distribution as skewed by income as Harvard matriculation now does, and one reason people from a lot of families don't apply to Harvard is that they think Harvard is a school for rich families only. </p>
<p>Many high achieving students got such letters from Harvard, usually in spring time of jr year.
It's probably based upon some test scores (PSAT/SAT).</p>
<p>I took my SAT's for the first time in 8th grade. I guess I scored well enough for Harvard because they sent me a letter. That was two years ago and I since then I continually receive mailings from them.</p>
<p>I received many mailings from schools I was patently unqualified for. MIT and GIT both sent me stuff even though I got a 69 in the math section of the PSAT. US Service Academies sent me mailings even though I didn't indicate doing any kind of athletics. I also got mailings from schools I was totally unsuited for, like extremely Catholic schools--not just like Notre Dame but ones where all the classes are taught by monks. I did not indicate on the PSAT that I'm Catholic. ('cause I'm not!) </p>
<p>The point: getting a letter does not necessarily mean you have a fighting chance at the school.</p>
<p>I think Harvard's recruiting (advertising?) methods do give many applicants the idea that they have a better chance than they actually do. </p>
<p>Case in point, I got a call from Harvard this summer as a part of their minority recruitment program. They said they called because of my PSATs and minority status: the ironic thing is that my PSATs weren't that great (mid 220's), and I'm an Asian girl.</p>
<p>If mid-220s aren't good for you, then there is a problem, considering the highest score you can get is a 240. You definitely then have a misconception about the admissions process here; there are kids here, many, in fact, who have 1400s SAT I scores.</p>
<p>" received many mailings from schools I was patently unqualified for. MIT and GIT both sent me stuff even though I got a 69 in the math section of the PSAT."</p>
<p>Someone who gets a 69 on the math PSAT may score in the mid 700s on the SAT if the student has a better test day, studies for the test or takes more math. S's PSAT scores qualified him for National Merit Commended, and his SAT scores were a total of 100 points higher (cr + m).</p>
<p>There also are some people at the schools that you mention whose SAT scores are similar to your PSAT ones.</p>
<p>anxious- the Harvard Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program has 2 Asian-American Coordinators-student recruiters who, in fact, recruit Asians to apply.</p>
<p>xjayz--I didn't mean to sound as if I were disparaging my PSAT scores. I just didn't think they warranted a call or anything, but I think they call everyone who makes the cut-off/or are predicted to make a cut-off for national merit semis.</p>
<p>EAS--that's interesting...it's strange that they would need to recruit Asian students, though. Is it because Asians are technically labeled as a minority?</p>
<p>EAS - Are you talking about the Undergraduate Minority Recruitment or Harvard Financial Aid Initiative?</p>
<p>anxious: The SAT scores get you in the door. Your academics get you in the door. After that, it's all about you. Make your application shine.</p>
<p>Oh, I misremembered. I actually got a 67 in 11th grade, on the PSAT that went to colleges, and a 69 in 10th (yeah, I know that's weird). I suspect that schools can't target people by subject, just by the composite score. I'd be kind of curious if anyone actually knows whether this is the case. The college board website is pretty vague: "colleges and scholarship services may select students on the basis of a range of scores."</p>
<p>xjayz- I am talking about the Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program (UMRP). <a href="http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/prospective/applying/minority_recruitment/%5B/url%5D">http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/prospective/applying/minority_recruitment/</a></p>
<p>"The Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program assists the Admissions Office in extending its outreach to prospective students. The program is staffed by current undergraduates who coordinate recruitment efforts on behalf of African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American students."</p>
<p>HFAI recruits people on the basis of financial status not racial/ethnic background.</p>
<p>anxious- Yes Asians are a minority. I have worked as a UMRP coordinator before, although not for the Asian division, and I recommend that you contact the UMRP directly if you have any further questions because all the coordinators are students and very happy and eager to speak with prospective students!</p>
<p>Phoenix- Harvard and other schools buy lists of students who score above X composite score. Harvard does not receive the scores- they just get that you, Phoenix, scored above the cutoff point Harvard requested. The list has your name and your high school. Next is the not-so-fun part. For the UMRP, at least, all the high scoring PSAT test takers get sorted by their race/ethnicity. Then the coordinators for whatever UMRP division, say the Latino division, get to google/whowhere/otherwise look up on the internet the addresses and phone numbers of these Latino students. Then, letters get sent out and phone calls get made.</p>
<p>The College Board sends the students' high schools and addresses, too, as long as the students checked the box on the test form that indicates the CB can release that info. There's no reason for Google to be used. In fact, many students won't be found through Google.</p>