MY FRIEND'S CHANCES: HARVARD ADMISSIONS

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Can you please weigh my friend’s chances for Harvard application? It’s her dream school. She has also applied to Columbia, NYU, Berkeley and HMC. She also has other safeties.

SAT score- 2120/2400
SAT subject test level 2- 800/800
Grades: all 4 years- CBSE curriculum
grade 9- 9.2/10
grade 10- 9.8/10
grade 11- 8.8/10
expected grade 12- 9.0/10

no APs or anything

ECs-
finished 8 grades of ABRSM piano
Wrote for a magazine as an internship, and got paid
Excellent state ranks in various Olympiads
Inter-house prizes in singing (in school)
Part of the basketball team, but only won one tournament as a freshman
Some community service

Excellent essays, 2 recommendation letters

2

As in no AP’s, do you mean no AP courses? Does she take IB classes then? If not, does your school offer AP/IB?

3

No, she has not taken any AP courses or exams, or IB classes. Only CBSE. Our school does not offer AP or IB

4

She has won several competitions (small level) for book review competitions and the such.

5

Her academic record for CBSE is EXCELLENT, and clearly on par with the best AP/IB curriculum. EC’s are a bit on the low side for what Harvard wants, so it’ll depend on what her socio-economic status is, whether she attends Shri Ram or Dharavit Public School 23 - if she made the most of her circumstances, she’ll be fine. Her SAT score is low for Harvard and for Indian applicants, so, once again, her socio-economic background will be factored in. Her essays may well be the deal breakers. In any case, international applicants to Harvard have 1-2 percent probability - another way to say this is that the overwhelming odds are that she will not get in, through no fault of her own, but simply because they reject the majority of exceptional applicants.
For NYU and UCB, if her parents can pay full cost, I’d say she has excellent odds.
Columbia and HMC are “reach for everyone” colleges,and even harder for internationals, so her odds are probably 1 in 20.

6

She has about a 10% chance. Same as any other qualified applicant. Maybe less as her SAT score is well below-the-line for an unhooked applicant.

7

“normal chance” for internationals is 2-3%, not 10%. :s
So, odds are always low, but here they’re lottery-level.
No one should “expect” to get in.

8

I think a number of people here are overlooking the grade 8 ABRSM piano certificate. That makes her one of a very select few. With years of hard work, most people can reach levels 5-6, but after that you really need to have a gift.

With that said, SAT scores are very low for an international applicant (low even for a domestic student). What seems like a lack of upwards movement in her grades (downwards movement since year 10, in fact) will hurt her. The piano and olympiads make me reluctant to call her a no-hoper out of hand, and the admissions process is akin to pulling names out of a hat once you reach a certain level, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

If Harvard is your friend’s dream school, you should remind her that (and this is applicable to all HS students) her college admissions are not a measure of anyone’s worth. They’re one step up from flipping a coin, and should be viewed as such. I tell you this as a student who’s spent an unhealthy amount of time worrying about college admissions, against my own advice.

9

Tell her to do a bit more EC’s especially in piano given that she is highly talented.

10

Pretty moot as she has already applied. There is nothing in her application that she can change at this point.

11

^0br0123: you’re not a musician, right? because hmmmm there’s not much more she can do in piano. She already reached an elite level. :slight_smile:

12

She has a very high socio-economic status.
She certainly cleared the grade 8 exam, but the score wasn’t very good… or will that not make a difference?
Sorry, but I wrote the wrong expected grade 12 score… it’s actually 8.4/10… i mixed it with someone else 's.
She’s very worried about her lack of leadership. Will that make a significant difference?

13

Thank you for all for your replies, I’ll definitely take them into account when applying.
Chance my sister, guys!
http://■■■■■■/rzyRjm

14

If your friend’s grade 12 score is going to be even lower than her grade 11 score, that could be an issue. A significant one, actually. Colleges want to see you maintain your grades over the years, or even improve them if possible. A steady decline is very bad. To take an extreme example, an application that goes 10, 9, 8, 7 over the years will be seen very differently than one which goes 7, 8, 9, 10.

A lack of leadership positions is never a good thing. With a very low SAT score (by Harvard’s absurdly high standards) and grades that are on the decline, her extracurriculars would have to be exceptional. Even more so as an international-because Harvard only has about 200 foreign students in every freshman class, international applicants need to be one of the top 5-10 candidates in their country to even have a reasonable chance.

Those aren’t bad extracurriculars, but they aren’t spectacular. And leadership matters a lot to universities: they want people who will contribute to the school’s community and be self-starters. Being a member of a club can mean that you came to a meeting per month, or it can mean that you were a driving force behind the club. Being a leader requires that you put in a lot of time and effort. This is why universities will value the latter far more.