<p>Peng Shi (Silver IMO Medalist) and Yufei Zhao (Gold/Bronze IMO Medalist) of the Canadian IMO team deferred from Harvard? Unbelievable. Not to mention the remaining RSI students, and the Siemens national finalists. </p>
<p>Harvard has truly gone downhill with them deferring applicants of such high caliber.</p>
<p>When all is said and done, I think you'll find Harvard's class of '10 is just as strong and more differse than past classes, and the rest will end up a few blocks further south on Mass Ave.</p>
<p>Many deferred will be admitted RD (as per Byerly), and some will end up further south on Mass Ave, as Bandit TX suggests (and perhaps take courses at Harvard).</p>
<p>Self-assured and haughty is two different things.</p>
<p>What Ive observed so far</p>
<p>EA-admits: Self Assured, Confident, but Humble
EA-deffers: Smart, but Pompous and Haughty</p>
<p>I stand wonder at Harvard adcom's almost magical ability to discern the two.</p>
<p>Please forgive me if I've missed something in this thread, but clearly, some extremely accomplished science/math students were deferred. I'm curious to know if ANY of the top Seimens national/regional finalists who applied got in, and what about IMO winners.</p>
<p>I may get yelled at for saying this, but it was not until a couple of weeks ago that I knew what Seimens and RSI were, much less the other science competitions you guys mentioned. This is only my opinion, since I don't know any of you guys well enough to make an accurate judgement, but perhaps you seem too focus on just science and math? Harvard looks for well-rounded people. If you're not well-rounded, you must REALLY excel at your respective area. Math and science-wise, I'm sure the 1st place Seiman winner easily took hold of that position. Not to say that you other guys didn't deserve the position as well, it's just they can't accept every excellent math/science focused students in the EA round. There's really no point in saying Harvard was wrong for not admitting so-and-so now. I think it is better if you figure out why you were deferred by yourself and ask others who know you, not some strangers on CC. Besides, you were just deferred, not rejected. Yeah, I know the stats and being deferred might as well mean rejected, but that's not always the case. You have until April to make your application better - I would take advantage of it.</p>
<p>Bandit Tx, you are so arrogant in your brash assumption that harvard will get all the top kids at MIT/Princeton/Stanford and other school's expense.</p>
<p>I think anyone saying harvard is making mistakes should seriously reconsider. They know what kind of students they want, just because it isn't people who win certain awards doesn't mean that the people whoa re getting in aren't deserve. I would also like to poin out the definite bias of this site we see a miniscule percentage of applicants so we get a very slanted view.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>I'm curious to know if ANY of the top Seimens national/regional finalists who applied got in, and what about IMO winners<<</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>Yes, according to this earlier post, the Seimens #1, #2, and some others were admitted EA: </p>
<p>*Decision: ACCEPTED *</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I: didn't take them
[</em>] SAT IIs: 740 Math 1; 710 Spanish; 800 Literature
[<em>] ACT: 33 comp
[</em>] GPA: um..something like 3.96 unweighted
[<em>] Rank: 6th or so in my IB class
[</em>] Other stats: top 1% in county
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Essays: well I liked them I suppose
[</em>] Teacher Recs: didn't read them
[<em>] Counselor Rec: didn't read it
[</em>] Hook (if any): soccer team captain? not sure besides that...
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[<em>] State or Country: Florida
[</em>] School Type: public, but I'm in the IB program so it's a lil separate
[<em>] Ethnicity: white
[</em>] Gender: female
[<em>] Perceived Strengths/Weaknesses: um...spanish and chemistry are probably my weak points but thats mainly because I don't really like them...strong points probably math, english, history...
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: because they love me? nope, no idea...maybe the leadership w being soccer captain or something, or just that I'm pretty well rounded (I also play piano, have played other sports, and worked on some scientific research ish over the summer)
[/ul]Other Factors: brother is a sophomore there right now...and I had my favorite teacher slash principal slash soccer coach's wife write me an extra rec
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: congrats everyone! i can't wait to meet you guys!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Bandit Tx, you are so arrogant in your brash assumption that harvard will get all the top kids at MIT/Princeton/Stanford and other school's expense.
[/quote]
I have never said this anywhere in any post. What gives you that idea?</p>
<p>It was prefontaine #347</p>
<p>Bandit "Yet another reason some of you were deferred. Of the 151 from NY, probably over 100 applied to Harvard. Harvard would never fill that much of the EA class with very similar applicants. The bottom line is the competition was tough."</p>
<p>Actually, all 300 are in college now :p STS is seniors only. lol but, I get the point, yeah...</p>
<p>DoneMom--7 Siemens national finalists applied, three got in. Interestingly, it seemed to very well follow the Siemens rankings, too. The #1 and #2 individual got in, #3 and #5 got deferred. One of the #3 team members got in, while people from #5 and #6 teams were both deferred.</p>
<p>Another interesting note--Me and Huy (#3 individual and team) both got second interviews, and Huy ended up getting in. I'm not sure myself, but I've heard speculation that the interview was used to distinguish which of us got in EA? But eh, not like it matters anymore anyway ;) hehe</p>
<p>MusikAzn--Actually, Harvard isn't looking for the typical well-rounded kid who does 15 different activities (unless you're REALLY good at being well-rounded, lol), they're looking for people with real passions who are stellar in their field, and that's what a lot of the people who make Siemens, RSI, etc. are. I mean, personally, my passion for astronomy has practically dominated my life for the past year, and I am 100% certain I want to get a Ph.D. and go on to do research as a career (that's partly why I chose Harvard, boundless research opportunities ;)). Siemens was only a very very pleasant (albeit unexpected) reward for the work I put into my passion.</p>
<p>But I digress :p</p>
<p>Anyway, point is, I hate to give off the impression (as many of us math/sci deferreds seem to be doing) that we deserved to get in. From what I've seen, we're expressing indignation at the deferral of each other, not ourselves. Zogote, pengshi, these people deserved to get in, in my opinion, but they didn't accept a lot of math/sci kids EA this year. A lot of people seem to think I should have made it in, or will make it in come RD. Do I agree? Probably not :p But I appreciate it anyway, hehe.</p>
<p>You are clearly an applicant with remarkable accomplishments, yet you have successfully maintained an even-tempered and modest composure despite your deferral. Don't be discourage by some who post on this thread and have no idea what they are talking about.</p>
<p>I sincerely hope you will be accepted by Harvard in the regular round, and in any case wish you success in whichever institution eventually attend, Harvard or not.</p>
<p>Sorry, another offtopic question which I merely post here because of all the science-y kids who frequent this thread. How can I get in touch with an affliliated fair for ISEF? is it too late?</p>
<p>Side Note: My name is Arun too, like spydertennis. I believe this is cool.</p>
<p>Thanks :) I really appreciate the support (sometimes I do feel like I'm acting too pompous and all :) and I hope you're right!</p>
<p>Psychic Alchemist, pm me with your location and I'll see what I can find.</p>
<p>musikazngirl--you are right, but alot of the applicants with the national math/science awards are also very well rounded.</p>
<p>*Decision: Accepted *</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I: 2210: 730 Critical Reading, 740 Math, 740 Writing (essay 11)
[</em>] SAT IIs: 730 Chemistry, 770 US History, 790 Math IIC
[<em>] ACT: 32 Composite
[</em>] GPA: 4.175
[li] Rank: 2/267</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Essays: Narrative about when my little sis was born, when I was faced with the loss of my only-child status. The optional one was pretty average in my opinion...
[</em>] Teacher Recs: Pretty good, I had a great relationship with both teachers.
[<em>] Counselor Rec: Good material, but poorly-written, heh.
[</em>] Hook (if any): My father has cancer, but I only briefly mentioned it in my interview, and not at all in my application. I did not want it to be a part of my acceptance. Otherwise, I guess I have a TON of leadership ECs.</p>
<p>[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[<em>] State or Country: Ohio
[</em>] School Type: Public, Suburban Cleveland
[<em>] Ethnicity: White
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Perceived Strengths/Weaknesses: Leadership, leadership leadership in terms of strength. Weaknesses: No national, or even state, awards.
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: Your guess is as good as mine. I was truly expecting a deferral, just for the fact that on paper I am probably a dime a dozen. It seems like so many more qualified applicants were deferred...
[/ul]Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: I am truly lucky, and excited to become the first person from my school to ever go to Harvard.</p>