<p>Hi. I have recently been called by Harvard's Undergrad Minority Recruitment Office (They left a msg). The thing is, I'm not a minority, I'm Asian.</p>
<p>What does this mean? Is it a mistake? I haven't called them back yet.</p>
<p>Asians are minorities in this country. They aren't underrepresented minorities, but they are minorities. It wasn't a mistake.</p>
<p>What does it mean if you get a call?</p>
<p>The call is about the same as getting a postcard in the mail urging you to apply. It's just another way for Harvard to convince people to apply.</p>
<p>aren't high quality asians over-represented in the applicant pool?</p>
<p>Yes, but they are still minorities. The sole purpose of the minority recruitment office is to reach out to minorities and answer any questions they may have about Harvard, regardless of whether they are overrepresented or not.</p>
<p>It means that you ended up on one of Harvard's lists of tens of thousands of students who may have the stats that mean that if accepted to Harvard, they'd graduate. 90% of Harvard's applicants qualify for admission that way. </p>
<p>To get the best possible student body, Harvard reaches out in a variety of ways to students of all races and nationalities who seem qualified for admission. That includes using the minority student office to reach out to Asians, not just underrepresented minorities.</p>
<p>Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but undergrad recruitment called my house as well. Does this mean I would have a decent shot a getting in?</p>
<p>I am African-American, male, so I guess that would be just a step above Native American as there are more black males in prison than college. I am really trying to way my options because I was planning on applying ED to another school, but this Harvard call through a wrench in my plans. It has my parents excited, but I'm trying not to read too much into it.</p>
<p>Getting a call from Harvard means you are among the tens of thousands of students whose SAT or PSAT scores were at least at the mnimum for Harvard acceptees. Probably all H knows about you is that your scores are within a certain broad range (They buy lsits of students from places like College Board). Such a call doesn't mean you have a decent shot at getting into a college where about 1 in 11 studenst is acepted.</p>
<p>For instance, my s, an African American wtih cr, m scores totaling 1540 gota nice call from H, too. However I know that since he had about a 2.9 unweighted, his admission chances were zilch even with his being a legacy.</p>
<p>However, you might want to rethink applying anywhere ED. As a black male with presumably decent scores, you don't need any tip students might get from applying ED. By applying ED, you may be shutting yourself out of even better offers including for merit aid at some schools. You'll also be preventing opportunities to compare financial aid/merit aid offers.</p>
<p>^^
I fully agree. I did not get one of these calls, but I scored a 2370 SAT and I'm a Black male. I assume you guys probably put Harvard down as one of your top choices for the national merit thing in May or something (which I didn't). I've gotten lots of mail from the minority recruitment agency at the schools that I did put down. Coincidentally, I regret putting down those schools as my top choices...I now have a new top choice that I wish to apply ED to. Yeah, don't read into it much, you should know whether or not you're competitive for Harvard without some guy calling you. NSM, did your son end up applying to Harvard though?</p>
<p>No, my S didn't apply to H. He was very aware that his chances were zilch of getting in, and while he wanted to go to an academically-oriented college, not a party school, he didn't want the overall intensity at places like H. He is going to his first choice college, a 2nd tier LAC that gave him merit aid. </p>
<p>Older S had similar scores and grades, and an excellent, unusual academically-related EC. he applied to Columbia mainly because I wanted him to apply to an Ivy to see if they'd accept him. That was his only rejection. He was accepted to 2 top 25 colleges, and chose to go to a second tier public that gave him tons of merit aid, and ended up being a place where he partied too hard, studied not at all.</p>
<p>i got a call, and i kind of said that harvard hadnt crossed my mind (ouch)</p>
<p>truth is harvard doesnt have my major, and i didnt want to act interested.</p>