My chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
21

<p>Word, Nana. I strongly, strongly agree with you. Even if one is aware that they are qualified, or have a strong chance, I really think that aiming for the upper echelons is still mandated; nay, required. Never compare yourself to just within your race; you should be thinking about the Asian & White applicants that may have had that head start...but inside drive yourself to trounce that. College, in my opinion, has become the great equalizer; look at it not as a final culmination of ability, showing your top percentile of blacks or whatever, but as a way for you to rectify external pressures that stop you from shining. A sort of bounded instilled arrogance can help in this respect. =D</p>

<p>A fellow Negro,
- Xander</p>

22

<p>ya gotta do what ya gotta do</p>

23

<p>Stanmaster22, if you're trying to submit your SAT scores in, you definitely need to retake it. Or, you have the other choice of submitting your ACT scores in. Other than that, your activities seem below average of what an average Harvard applicant would submit. If you have anything special, for example, awards that correspond with your interests and if possible, your ec's. I don't know your awards listed will help you that much towards your admission to Harvard, but this is just my opinion (I may be wrong)</p>

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<p>i included all the tournaments i won for karate and also my training to enter the olympics. that is my main activity that i stressed on my resume even though i cant get awards for it.</p>

25

<p>That's really good, then I think you have a better chance at Harvard.</p>

26

<p>Unlike some paranoid Pete's here afraid you'll take their spot, I'd say you have as good a chance as any. I would definately emphasize your Olympic training, which is very unique and demonstrates dedication, and your ACT is good enough to put you right in the mix of everyone else. I'd say, like almost everyone else at this board, you have a crap shoot on your hands. You (like me) should hope they're looking for someone like you from your area. Good luck :)</p>

27

<p>kudos to Nana and caramel for carrying the torch for us black folk. Its great to see that we are about to discover our full potential. I think its sad that anytime white people hear of a black person at a prestigious school they always assume that they are somehow inferior to they white students there and it is even sadder when blacks use affirmative action as an opportunity to under achieve. !!!</p>

28

<p>o and am a black afrocaribbean with a 1490 so and i am 1/123 at a predominantly white and asian school another guy in my class who is also black got a 1600 that should dispel the myth of unintelligent blacks</p>

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<p>Do you go to Phillips Academy Andover? I think I met said 1600 person.</p>

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<p>o, i doubt you know him, we go to school in trinidad.</p>

31

<p>I just got deffered. Would it be a good idea for me to take the SAT again in january?</p>

32

<p>You have nothing to lose by studying hard this break and taking the test again. More than likely with more studying, you can raise your score.</p>

<p>Yes, it is possible to get into Harvard with the current score that you have. But, why not act like most other deferred candidates would do -- do everything in your power to strengthen your stats?</p>

<p>You know that the very fact that you are black will cause some people to assume that your score was below the average for Harvard. It would be a nice feeling to go there and to have stats above their average.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, on the College Admissions board, there is a thread called "reality check/low scores hope" that was posted by a white guy who got into Duke engineering ED with a 1350. What he thinks may have tipped him in despite his relatively low SAT was that he had worked for an engineering firm.</p>

<p>It is interesting that not one person is telling him that he stole a spot from a more qualified white or Asian candidate. I am sure, too, that when he goes to Duke, no one will look at him and assume that he is not qualified.</p>

<p>In fact, someone posted in support, ""1350 is the 25th percentile at duke."</p>

<p>Which means that a full 25% of students at Duke today had scores LOWER than 1350. (At Harvard it is 1380, but same deal...."</p>

<p>I did not mention that thread to have him flamed or anything (please, please do not do anything like that), but simply to point out that we know that black people are regarded differently because we stand out due to our skin color.</p>

<p>Anyway, while it's true that you have done extremely well on the SAT compared to other black people and, frankly, compared to most students in the country, I still think that you should study this vacation and take the test again. Your present scores may get you into Harvard, and also are high enough to indicate you are capable of graduating from Harvard. I just think that it would be good to challenge yourself to see what you are capable of doing on the test instead of settling for being among the best blacks.</p>

<p>My own son, a junior, got above a 1400 and will be taking the test again in Jan. to try to raise his score. He knows that he's in the top 1% of African Americans, but wants to see if he can do even better. Since there's such a shortage of college-bound black males with high scores and rigorous curricula, I doubt that raising his score will increase his chances at college acceptances, but it's nice to see him challenging himself to find out what he's capable of doing.</p>

33

<p>One last comment: I detest the National Achievement Scholarship program. Why? By honoring African Americans for scoring in the 87th percentile of the SAT, to me the program indicates that African Americans are less capable than are the (overwhelmingly white and Asian) students who get National Merit by scoring in the 99th percentile.</p>

<p>I think that instead of being inspired to work hard by getting National Achievement, black students on the whole are inspired to skate because they see that black people can get scholarships and recognition for accomplishing less than whites and Asians do. The program puts a ceiling on black students' aspirations.</p>

<p>I think that National Achievement should give scholarships only to black students who achieve scores at least at the National Merit Commended level.</p>

<p>I think that National Achievement commended should be for the scores between the 87th percentile and the National Merit Commended level, 95th percentile.</p>

<p>If this occurred, I think that black students would take the time to truly study for the test in a dedicated way similar to how the immigrant students do who manage to get 750 verbals on the test despite beginning to learn English at age 13.</p>

34

<p>I agree with you totally about the national achievement program . I do feel like I have it easier than my classmates because of my skin color and I don't think this is right. Most of them recieved higher scores than me on the PSAT yet they get no recognition and this is unfair in my eyes.
I have decided that I will study over the vacation and take the SAT in January. Thank you so much for your advice and I really hope I can improve my score enough to get into Harvard.
I have a question about the test. Am I able to wait to see my scores than send them or do I have to rush my scores to all my schools?</p>

35

<p>" know at my school, when I got a 1230 on the SAT the first time I took it, my college advisor told me that it was a greeeeeat score and it was going to take me wherever I needed to go. "</p>

<p>I had a mentee, African American female, who got a 14 on the ACT. I told her to take it again and to really devote herself to studying for it.
Her guidance counselor (who also was black as am I), told the girl not to take the test over because her score was higher than the average in her predominantly black city, which had an average ACT score of 12!
Unfortunately, the girl followed her GC's advice. She got into the second best public university in her state, but dropped out after a year. I know that she had the ability to do the work. However, I think that her going in with scores so much lower than the university's average (about a 23) caused her to feel that she was not capable of handling the work.</p>

<p>As inspirational speaker Les Brown says, "Don't let someone's opinion of you become your reality."</p>

36

<p>Stanmaster,
I can't answer for all of your schools. Harvard will take your top 3 SAT IIs and your best verbal, best math SAT I (even if these are from two different testings). Thus, when it comes to Harvard, list Harvard when you sign up for the test.</p>

<p>I think that most competitive colleges handle the scores similarly to how Harvard does, but to make sure, check with the other colleges' admission offices.</p>

37

<p>Ok thank you. I just wanted to know what you think of my chances if I break 1400? My wrestling coach recently sent out an extra letter for me that describes my work on the wrestling team, in her gym class, and my participation in her club, the key club. I dont know how much that will help but I wanted to know if you think I am on the right track to being a more competitive applicant.</p>

38

<p>I think that even right now, your chances are higher than 1 in 10 because your scores (all of them) indicate that you are capable of succeeding at Harvard, and because it is so darned rare to find black males with "A" averages, and National Achievement Scholar SATs.</p>

<p>I don't have a crystal ball, so won't give odds on how much of a difference it will make if you break 1400. However, I know a current black Harvard student whose SAT was around 1250. This student was inner city, first generation college, had done major leadership in high school and had a nonathletic EC that had been at the national level.</p>

<p>I also have seen black students with scores in the upper 1400s accepted, and black students with scores in the 1300s and 1200s rejected from Harvard.</p>

<p>Harvard really does take a variety of factors into consideration.</p>

<p>I hope that you are applying to more top 20 colleges than Harvard. I would bet money that you can gain admission to a national university or a liberal arts college ranked between #10-20 in the US News rankings. Whether you can get into a college ranked 1-9, I can't predict. Good luck!</p>

39

<p>I applied to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Dartmouth, Duke, Washington University in St.Louis, Cornell, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, Tufts, Tulane, UMich, SUNY Binghamton. Is this a good list? I got into Michigan honors already so I decided to overload on reaches but I'm not sure if my list is good or not.</p>

40

<p>Your list looks fine in that I predict that you'll get at least 4 more acceptances, possibly more. The only thing that I wonder about is that the schools are very different. I am wondering how you decided to apply all over the country and to such a vareity of types of schools. I think that you should think long and hard about what you want from your college experience because you are likely to have several nice options, and if you don't start thinking now about the factors that matter to you, it may be very hard for you to make a decision by May 1.</p>