Need guidance - Harvard Transfer

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

Hello,

I want to apply to Harvard as transfer student, because I have already started university. Let me tell my story first:

I was born in a small town in Poland. My country is not prosperous, especially when it comes to villages like mine, we don’t have modern electronics and have outdated teaching system. As far as I can remember, I always loved to learn new things. When I was 5, my father bought computer (it was 2001 back then) for me after long time of saving money. When I first saw this device I already knew that I want to work with computers. Since then I’m truly fascinated by these machines. When I was 12 I started repairing computers, also signed up to numerous internet forums. My passion grew and I developed interest in computer viruses and hacking, so I started helping people with removing them. For today, I estimate my achievement for about 3500 computers repaired by 8 years. In the middle school I took interest in biology, started to read many books and ended school being the best from biology and IT. Next, I was admitted to the best high school in my town (about 300th in country…) and started playing guitar (I even was able to graduate from 1st grade of music school). My family has relatively low income, so I started working on website elektroda.pl (the biggest Polish website about electronics) where I translate various scientific texts from English to Polish. I have to admit that my high school was weird, because teachers didn’t like students and gave them at most 3 (equivalent to C in US), even if somebody was really good and talented in their subject (that’s insane). Because of that my GPA cannot be a big advantage (about 3.2), even if I was 3rd-2nd in my class during three years of high school. During last summer holiday I started working as a volunteer in KhanAcademy, again translating lessons from English to Polish because I want to help people somehow, I was also admitted to GeeksToGo University where I learn about viruses from MVP’s and other experts on a professional level. To develop myself better, I also take hacking classes at cybrary.it and train judo. Finally, I was admitted to the best technical university in Poland - Warsaw University of Technology (admission rate is about 6-7%, it depends on year) and I had big hopes that I will able to pursue my dream - I want to work in the laboratory inventing things, mixing powers of computers with biological engineering, but I had to return onto the ground. It turned out even if my university is the best in country, it does not have proper equipment, also I as a student I’m not allowed to work with apparatus (when we have something, it’s at least 15 years old). I signed up for the special interest group about IT security, but unfortunately we don’t do any project, we just listen to the lecture given by the teacher… Looking at my colleagues I can see that even if it’s the top school, they do not have interest in learning, they prefer drinking beer and playing video games. I think that at this university I won’t have any changes to develop myself. I started to look for better alternative and Harvard looks exactly like school of my dreams, so I want to give it a shot. I know that probably my chances are even lower than these 6-7% on my university, but I still want to try, they say that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

And there is my main question: would taking the TOEFL (English is my second language) and SAT be a good start? Or maybe do something else?

2

Very few students are admitted to Harvard as transfers, even fewer internationals. You are also blaming your teachers for your poor academic record which says more about you than it does about your teachers.

3

I completely agree with @TomSrOfBoston!

That’s an understatement. At Harvard, and other selective US colleges, it’s thought that recruited athletes are not held to the same high academic standards as non-athletes. However, the Harvard Golf team recruitment page notes: http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mgolf/faq

If that’s what Harvard is looking for from a recruited athlete, they are not likely to “lessen” their standards for a non-athlete like yourself.

It sounds like Stanford or Carnegie Mellon would be a better fit than Harvard. Compare the Computer Science courses taught at Harvard vs Stanford and CMU and you will understand the differences in both the philosophy of the schools and the kind of things you would learn at each institution. That said, it’s not going to be any easier for you with a 3.2 GPA to be admitted to Stanford or CMU than Harvard.

You’re correct. Harvard’s transfer admit rate is about 1%. In recent years more than 1500 transfer students applied and about a dozen students were admitted. See: https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/transferring-harvard-college.

Harvard doesn’t require the TOEFL, so they look closely at an international student’s SAT Critical Reading and Writing Scores. If your CR and W scores are each over 700, I wouldn’t think there would be any need to take the TOEFL.

Some General Advice:

See: http://www.hio.harvard.edu/statistics

From the above website, select STUDENTS, POLAND, and HARVARD COLLEGE (the undergraduate school) and you’ll see there are currently 5 students from your country attending Harvard who are freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors. That means that Harvard admits about 1 student from Poland every year and once in a while admits 2 students a year. Now Harvard doesn’t publish the number of students who apply from Poland each year, but I would think the number could be 100, or even 1000 – all for 1 or 2 slots. Those are terrible odds even with a perfect GPA.

To be admitted you have to be the best-of-the-best from your country – that means you have to have a high GPA (3.8+), high SAT scores (2100+), have stellar teacher recommendations which rave about your academic passion and drive, write a thought proving essay, and demonstrate that you are a person of good character. By all means apply to Harvard, as it’s kind of like buying a lottery ticket. You can’t win the money if you don’t buy a ticket, but your chances of actually winning are minimal. That’s especially true as an international student applying to US colleges with a 3.2 unweighted GPA. Honestly, I don’t think you stand a chance at all with your GPA (sorry). You should apply to more realistic choices in your country. Best of luck to you!

4

You are an interesting person with a lot of skills, talent and experience. You could probably already work in the tech industry!

However, Harvard really isn’t a good place to apply as a transfer. Very little room for transfers because almost noone leaves Harvard (they call it the “Harvard trap”; no one wants to give up the prestigious name even if unhappy).

Also, while Harvard is improving its computer science, it would not be the best fit for you. And some of computer science is quite abstract and theoretical: you sound like you want a more hands-on, project-oriented education.

Why did you choose Harvard? Is it possible you just don’t know enough about other schools? I think you might enjoy a technical institute more. Check out Worcester Polytechnic Institute as an example http://www.wpi.edu/. Also, in the same state as Harvard, UMass Lowell might suit you well. Olin is a college in Needham Mass. that is very project-oriented, though for engineering. These cover a small geographic area and I offer then as examples of different directions to go in. In the entire US there are many many options.

As for your GPA, I can see your point, that comparatively you are a top student. It is a different country and grading may be different. (I was first in my class in the 1960’s but my grades were all in the 80’s!). I don’t see that as necessarily an obstacle. Your record of accomplishments in study and volunteering are impressive. I am sure that to volunteer for Khan you had to qualify. I think you have a compelling story.

But Harvard is really, effectively, not possible, which is okay because for what you want to do, it is not a good fit anyway. Good luck!

5

Odd choice for school. Certainly MIT would be a better fit. Same odds but better fit if you got in.

6

Sorry for taking so long to response, but I had to take care of exams on my university.

Sorry if it sounded like this, but I assure you that I’m not. It’s extremely hard to fully explain how the whole educational system in Poland is build. You have only a few extracurricular activities to choose from (even in bigger cities the situation isn’t much better), additionally you do not gain any extra points for participating in them. When you go to the high school you are not able to choose which subject you want to learn (for example extended programmes from English, Arts and IT education), only you have a profile class defined by the school. When it comes to me, I applied for a profile where I had extended programmes from maths, physics and IT - I struggled with physics through 3 years because there was no option to switch it with biology classes. (As far I know, you can partially choose your subjects in private schools, but they are too expensive for a average family - other expenses than tuition fee are books, accomodation and every other things, school does not provide you anything) Teachers basically can do what they wish, especially when they’re good friends of a headmaster (or somebody from their family). What is more, our government is cutting back money for education year after year. Please do not take it as my attempt to show “how bad my country is”. I’m just trying to show you how it is like in Poland when it comes to education.

As I described above, situation in my country is kinda tough. I guess I don’t have much choice - I’m already studying on the best technical university in Poland, so I could only apply to school with lower level (and I don’t want to do this). :slight_smile: I realize that my chances are extremely slim, especially when it comes to transfer students. Still, I want to try, if not here then somewhere else - in both cases it will be a big adventure with learning for me. It’s a hard decision to go abroad - here just something doesn’t ‘click’, I don’t feel like ‘it’s a place for me!’ on my university and in my country.

Hmm, their site says something different - for applications for transfer students TOEFL is required. Could you tell me one thing - is TOEFL equivalent to SAT I, or are they considered as two different tests?

Harvard is not a technical school, like MIT or even my university. After 4 months I realized that I miss that diversity, I don’t feel fully comfortable in this type of school. Here we only have strictly technical subjects and are not able to choose something different than from set of subjects given to us by the university. We also do not have any other extracurriculars than technical nor joint concentrations (for example, I would love to take a joint concentration on computer science with music - I can’t live without my guitar and in the future I plan on learning playing violin).

7

They are considered two different tests. However, a Critical Reading (CR) and Writing (W) score of 700+ on each section of the SAT I would allow Admissions to understand that your English proficiency is high enough to succeed at Harvard College.

8

It makes sense that you want a more diverse environment. Thank you for the response which is very reasonable.

While Harvard does have computer music (electroacoustic), I think you might prefer Brown. Brown’s music major has three strands, and one of the strands is electronic/computer music. And Brown’s computer science is strong for undergrad. Dartmouth might be good too. But honestly, almost every school now has an electronic music studio. UMass Lowell is excellent for that too (in Massachusetts), as are many universities and colleges. And most will have better transfer rates than Harvard!