<p>Female African American
GPA: 3.8 UW, 4.1 W
Will graduate with 6 APS and 4 honors
All 4s on AP exams
Take an extra course after school
SAT: 1960 (720 W, 700 M, 540 R); my deafness is the reason why my verbal is so low
SAT II: Math IIC-750, Biology-590, US History-610 (4 on AP exam)
3rd decile- I transferred from bad public school w/ no honors classes to a VERY competitive rural school; I was top 10 in my old school, but now I am top 30; my GC will explain this as well</p>
<p>WORK EXPERIENCE
Student volunteer at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (9,10)
Lab research at University of Pennsylvania this summer</p>
<p>ACTIVITIES
National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine (11)
National Karate (9-10)
Health Science Academy (10-11)
National Honor Society (11)
Leadership Club (10-11)</p>
<p>VOLUNTEER
Community Outreach Program (9,10)
Tutoring (9,10)
Feeding homeless (9,10)</p>
<p>HONORS AND AWARDS
Academic Honor Roll (9-11)
National Karate Summer Program Award (10)
President's Student Service Gold Award (volunteering 100+ hours) (10)
A Venture Scholar (10-11)
Award for Outstanding Achievement in Leadership (11)
Presidents Education Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence (11)</p>
<p>Very hard to evaluate. On the surface, your scores would probably eliminate you, along with rank. With extenuating factors, who knows. You won't find many similar cases to evaluate. The next question would have to be, can you compete there and would it be a good experience for you. Only you can know. It is very intense course work and if you are struggling at a competitive rural HS, I question whether Harvard is the right place for you.</p>
<p>You look like a an extremely interesting person, and a very good student - especially with overcoming the deafness. I think that Harvard would be an extreme long-shot for you - no reason not to have on your list - just don't count on it.</p>
<p>Have you thought much about the rest of your list? We know your dad's opinion - now, what do you find appealing?</p>
<p>my friend got in with an SAT score of 2020 and she has no disabilities or anything. so i think your scores are great considering that you are deaf. harvard is a long shot for everyone, but i definitely think that you have a good chance.</p>
<p>If you are a current senior waiting for wait list news, I would think it very unlikely that you will get in, but I wish you well in your studies wherever you are going.</p>
<p>
[quote]
r u guys serious about the op not getting in? did u read that he/she is african-american? of course, he/she'll get in, the standards for blacks r not that high
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Come on man, all the URM's at top universities are as competitive as anyone else.</p>
<p>I would like to think that, but it wouldn't be true... just look around in this forum, look at the ED/EA acceptance threads... u'll see too many strong asian applicants getting rejected... blacks and hispanics however, with much lower stats, peculiarly get accepted... if ur statement were true, there wouldn't be any affirmative action</p>
<p>Yes, but if you're referring to the lower test scores, those often occur because the student concerned is in a crappy school which didn't prepare them for the SAT at all. Don't get me wrong, I think affirmative action is nonsense too, but being black/hispanic by no means guarantees your admission. You have to be one of the most outstanding members of your applicant pool to get into Harvard, whether that pool is the underrepresented racial minority pool or otherwise. Harvard is one of the rare schools that gets this right, as its minority retention rate is 80% (according to "America in Black and White" by Abigail and Stephen Thernstrom, both Harvard professors), as compared with other schools, where the highest any of them get is 69% (Princeton).</p>
<p>I totally agree with ur following statement: "You have to be one of the most outstanding members of your applicant pool to get into Harvard." the problem is that asians and blacks/hispanics r obviously not in the same pool... therefore, blacks that get accepted r definitely oustanding in the black pool, but thats it... I've never heard about an asian student with a "black" profile getting accepted at Ivies... and for the record, there r many poor asian that dont get any AA advantage</p>
<p>pearfire: "I've never heard about an asian student with a "black" profile getting accepted at Ivies..."</p>
<p>I'm black, with a 2230 and a 3.8uw GPA from a NYC specialized high school and I will be attending Harvard in September. At PreFrosh Weekend this past April, I met MANY Asians with stats lower than mine. In fact, nearly half the admitted class had stats lower than mine. </p>
<p>So what exactly is a "black profile", pearhead? Sorry, pearfire.</p>
<p>Yes, asians with "black" profiles don't get into Harvard. That's because they have stiffer competition. Your statement about "poor Asians", however, I think hits the problem with affirmative action right on the nose. Race-based affirmative action does not necessarily measure disadvantage. Many minorities, such as the black middle class, do not have inferior grades due to actual disadvantage, but due to cultural factors which need to be addressed. As such, the sort of black student who gets accepted at Harvard may be a step below the sort of Asian student who gets accepted at Harvard because black culture deemphasizes education compared with Asian culture (according to John McWhorter in his book "Losing the Race", black parents said the lowest grade they'd let their students get away with was a C+, whereas Asian parents said the lowest grade they'd let their students get away with was an A-.) Your "poor Asian" does not get the race-based affirmative action advantage, in other words, simply because he is Asian, with no regard to his socioeconomic status. However, at a school like Harvard, the context of his application will always be taken into account, and his low socioeconomic status, if he addresses it in his application, will get him points for pursuing all the available opportunities. MusicAzngirl here on Collegeconfidential is an outstanding example of such logic in the Harvard applicant pool.</p>
<p>However, you also have to consider that Harvard wants to diversify its classes, which may mean rejecting some asians with better stats than blacks because they want the cultural perspective which a black student could bring to campus. This is not due to any institutionalized reverse discrimination - it's just that Harvard doesn't want to be an all-asian institution any more than it wants to be an all-white or all-Jewish institution, because then the culture of the campus would be homogenized and frankly, rather boring.</p>
<p>Oh, and butterfly, congratulations on your outstanding accomplishments. I'm sure you and other students like you set a fine example of being outstanding in the minority applicant pool.</p>
<p>hey butterhead... first of all, I'm not gonna get into an argument with u... I'm not seeking any trouble or saying something outrages, I'm just telling the truth... and for the record, 2230 and 3.8 doesnt impress me at all, most harvard applicants have similar stats... there r far too many asian applicants with 4.0, 2300+, valedictorian bla bla bla that get rejected... @Canaday Madman, I can definitely understand ur point, and to a certain degree I can agree with Harvard's desire for diversity, but it seems that the standards for URM r WAY lower than that for asians/whites. I don't mind setting the standards down for them a little bit, but it just seems to be way too much atm... Just look at schools such as Oxford, they have so few blacks each year... and the reason is that they dont use AA...
@butterhead or wutever ur name is... I'm sure u earned ur place at harvard (maybe with ECs?) but definitely not due to ur academics</p>
<p>For the record, pear, I don't give a hoot what impresses you or not. And, unless you're an adcom, which is remote in the extreme, you wouldn't know who is qualified to be admitted to Harvard (or any other selective school) or not. </p>
<p>Your statement, which I highlighted in my message above, was and is patently false. Many Asians and whites, with scores lower than those of black applicants, are admitted to Ivies. In my case, my stats were at the midpoint of all Harvard admits, implying that half did better and half did worse. I would not presume that I am better qualified than those with lower stats, or that those with higher stats are more qualified than me. The admissions process is more nuanced than that, as it should be.</p>
<p>This is my final post on the subject. Its been real.</p>
<p>Good luck, I hope you get in and do well! (And luck is always important.) Your stats and awards are very reasonable, so just make sure your essay is amazing and your interview is solid.</p>
<p>your stats are decent. i think your dad is incorrect, though, and unless you pull your SAT scores up, then even by the lower standards colleges impose on black people, you won't get in. if you need assistant on the SATs or if you need assistance to train for a certain section, i know there are government programs that provide training free of charge. i'll look for links and try to private message them to you.</p>
<p>My question would be is that where you want to go? Are you going to be happy there? Do you have other choices? </p>
<p>While an Ivy education is certainly wonderful, so are having the family ties that get jobs and doors open for kids from the Ivies as well. I lost alot of respect for the Ivies during our last elections. Both were from Yale and both were flawed. </p>
<p>There are people in life who have to have a fancy car and there are people who just need a good car. Both get you where you're going. It's still up to you when you get there.</p>
<p>Opie, why did you lose respect for Ivies based on presidential candidates? Eliot Spitzer, Barack Obama, Paul Krugman, Alan Blinder, Bill Gates, Barbara McClintock, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Rehnquist, Roberts, Dr. Spock, Paul Graham, TS Eliot, JF Kennedy, Ralph Waldo Emerson....not a bad record I'd say!</p>