<p>and nyu and BU</p>
<p>are you sure about nyu und BU?</p>
<p>I say you'll get in BU and NYU; NYU's Stern, however, is another thing, and is unlikely (if that's where you're applying.)</p>
<p>no, CAS...no chance at the others?</p>
<p>Right now, Harvard and Columbia are impossible. You might have better chance in sophomore year applying for junior position and have improved your SAT score to at least 2000.</p>
<p>I know two guys from BC who are applying to Harvard and both are in the Honors Program (top 5% of incoming class) here too and have freaking amazing college GPA, high SAT scores, stellar high school GPA, and very good essays. The competition is fierce, what can you do?</p>
<p>Hey, if you do get into those two schools, do post and show it off because we all have been wrong.</p>
<p>@ Umass</p>
<p>both Chanchito and myself are from Columbia University and from my first thoughts, you're chancing at getting into Columbia or Harvard will be low. </p>
<p>Scores aren't everything but if you have a good selling point, you may be in for a shot. You have a solid GPA at college and again - it really depends, I for one would say that a GPA of 3.5 at any Ivy league university will weigh almost the same as a 4.0 at Umass. And I don't even want to imagine how many Ivy kids are applying as transfers - its a warzone out there.</p>
<p>However, your work experience seems very promising. No one here on this board will be able to give you an accurate prediction but saying that, people on this board do have a good idea of the competition so at the end of the day, you will just have to wait till May 20th for the decision.</p>
<p>So true, there really is an element of randomness to these things. The admissions committees are extremely poor judges of future performance, whatever they may think of themselves. The economist Thomas Sowell wrote an interesting guide on choosing colleges, and he had this to say (among other things) about the admissions committees at major universities:</p>
<p>"The sad irony is that most college admissions committee decisions today bear little resemblance to the process envisioned by students who think that they just didn't "measure up" to some objective academic criteria. With so many applicants with similar academic credentials applying to a relatively few well-known colleges, admissions committees choose on subjective grounds that range from the fashionable to the ideological to the ludicrous.</p>
<p>One applicant to Harvard was favored by a committee member because, although he came from a high school that was like "a zoo" he still "seems to have remained human and pleasant." Another applicant was favored by one committee member because he "wrote a moving essay" and by another because "I sat through a high school football game with him and enjoyed his company and wide range of interests." Another applicant was recommended for rejection by a committee member who said, "I am 'turned off' by his very middle-class hitch-hiking around Europe" during the summer. Scientific it ain't.</p>
<p>There have been experiments done where the same set of credentials were submitted to the same college under two different names, with one being accepted and the other rejected.</p>
<p>At Harvard as elsewhere, administrators rather than faculty members tend to predominate on admissions committees. Most tend to be youngish people-often in their 20's-and at best fringe members of the intellectual community. They share, among other things, a belief that they can discern psychological nuances that matter when choosing among applicants-even though there is not a speck of evidence that they can. The Harvard admissions committee is by no means unique in this respect. The college admissions literature in general is full of attempts to play up amateur psychology and play down academic criteria. This literature includes persistent and even reckless attempts to discredit test scores in favor of undefinable qualities like "leadership," "commitment," and the like.</p>
<p>A doctoral dissertation studying the admissions process at Harvard concluded that most Harvard admissions committee members had been neither "brilliant students" themselves nor "truly original and independent minds." Yet they are expected to select students with the very qualities that they themselves lack."</p>
<p>Don't get completely discouraged umass, but follow Sowell's advice and apply to as many good schools as you can. Clearly you have potential, whether Harvard sees it or not. You never know what the admissions officers will decide.</p>
<p>Wow. Sowell's depiction of some admissions committee members makes some of them seem really elitist. Do you have a link to his study? I'd like to see what colleges he was actually looking at.</p>
<p>Anyway, if you haven't received your access code you can email <a href="mailto:admpin@fas.harvard.edu">admpin@fas.harvard.edu</a> from the email you provided in your application. Put PIN in the subject line, and in the body type only your first and last name. It worked for me before Harvard sent me a notification of my access code.</p>
<p>@ ohcomely,</p>
<p>nope it doesn't work for me. It only works once the application is processed. I dont think mine is yet.</p>
<p>thanks for your suggestion though.</p>
<p>Jackms is totally right. My college consultant used to work for the Harvard admissions office. She said it's not as random as it is subjective. A case that might be accepted in the morning (because there are muffins and coffee) might be rejected in the evening because they just want to go home. And that was in the late 80s; it's probably even more so now.</p>
<p>hey umass, how'd you get these internships at such a young age? I'm particularly impressed with the accenture one because I'm looking to do consulting.</p>
<p>just apply, have good grades, impress them and show them that you have potential. accenture was actually the easiest one, european parliament and especially jp morgan were a lot lot harder</p>
<p>well,Reddune, to your knowledge, universities have transfer admissions in order to DIVERSIFY the student body. Ok, so here we got 2 honors program nerds, with pretty much the same academic credentials,moreover, they're both from the school that is located figuratively speaking, 2 blocks from Cambridge, Mass. My point is, why would they want something that they already have in abundance, when there is great chance to "diversify the population"-get a guy from Europe with crappy scores?
P.S. Point of information: Since the enrollment of international students in the U.S. doesn't go down way too dramatically due to a substantial number of students from several asian countries, they might look differently at Umass' application.</p>
<p>Actually I thought the primary purpose for Transfer admission was to fill up the space for those who either dropped or transferred out to another college. You know.. for the sake of raising the revenue through tuition fee (ppl dropping/transferring out = less tuition fee for the school = less revenue), and also, it's an extra buck for the school if you consider the application fee. That's why transfer scholarships are so damn scarce...</p>
<p>Well, I'd like to think schools value what transfers add to their campus as well, and I think they do, or else they'd probably only take the smartest, richest students around.</p>
<p>In answering Hazarrrd:</p>
<p>I agree with you that universities want to diversify their student population, but that doesn't mean they will take everyone and everyone for the sake of diversity. There are certain academic standard one must meet before admission is granted. </p>
<p>The two examples I used serve as an example of the fierce competition umass will face--not just from BC but from other Ivy and superior caliber schools than Umass-Amherst. Furthermore, it is not appropriate of you to critique my two friends as "nerd" base on their academic achievement and on what little you know of them. One of them grew up in the project and struggle to get out of poverty and the other has amazing extracurricular activities that are mind boggling for a 21 years old. Their background stories alone COMBINE with their GPAs/SATs will give any applicants a run for their money (and their admission would certainly diversify any place they choose to go). That doesn't mean they will both get in, I doubt it; but it reinforces the nature of the competition that umass faces. </p>
<p>Finally, I don't see how or why their college's locale plays a factor in their admission or denial. Their college locates near Cambridge, not their home or their background.</p>
<p>P.S.
BC is not "2 blocks" from Harvard, it's more like 4-6 miles.</p>
<p>Reddune, I apologize for the sarcasm expressed in my comment regarding your friends, however, you do not know the complete lifestory of Umass. Neither do I, but I think it's inappropriate to praise the achievements of your friends when you are not completely acquainted the entire situation of this person.
As for the college's location,I would emphasize the fact that aside from their actual home or background, there is also such thing as "college experience". Since they're transfer students, their college experience does play a big role. And college experience in BC and in the university of Alaska(just for instance) are two different things. In addition,I don't get the idea why everybody thinks that those 75-90 spots available are going to be filled up predominantly by other ivies. Of course, their academic standards are similiar to Harvard's, but these people are not going to bring any significantly exceptional experience on campus, since their college experience is way to similiar to Harvard's atmosphere. Moreover, if it was just for the sake of revenue, they wouldn't foster international programs at Harvard in order to get more spots available this year. International programs management is an additional expense for the schools of that level.
P.S.As for the BC location, I know the distance, but there was a core phrase in my sentence "figuratively speaking".</p>
<p>However, I do agree with the fact that all applicants are expected to meed a certain academic standard. You're absolutely right. My point is, there are other curcumstances that they might consider. First of all, he is an international student from the country where the official language is not english. It already puts him in a different category. Consecuently, for example, he got 500 on verbal, or 550. But at the same time he got 107 on his toefl, so now his(or her?) SAT doesn't look that bad.</p>
<p>When do they start to look at candidate files? and subsequently post out acceptance/rejection emails?</p>
<p>In reply to hazarrrd:</p>
<p>Thank you for the cordial reply, and I understand where you coming from. I agree with you no one will or should get in just because they have are applying from other ivy or ivy-caliber schools. Background does play an important role, and in some cases, the tie-breaker between two similar candidates. With umass88 case (and sorry for keep using you as an example umass), however, the reason I believe he has a poor chance is because of his scores not his background or ECs, which is phenomenal! (I know a few stellar kids at BC would give their left amr for those opportunities). </p>
<p>It is most likely that umass88 will stand in competition against other international students instead of the domestic. umass88 will face other international students like him who not only have good ECs but also have good numbers going in their favors. I know a few international students from non-English speaking nations at BC and BU who have higher SAT than me (I know, it's a great embarrasment). So, when competing in that international pool, his international status will not excuse him from his low score (which I encourage him to retake). You can search CC, especially in the International Forum, and you'll find quite a few example of high scoring international students; I believe there is one from Istanbull who scores in the upper 2000s on the SAT. </p>
<p>I'm not number-centric in my view of college admission, but those numbers provide the basic rule of thumb (but only the basic) what candidate has the most likely chance of being admitted. Umass88's put him as a disadvantage right from the starting point, however, that doesn't mean he/she will never be admitted to Harvard, but it's very unlikely this year and with those scores. Once Umass raise that score to the 2000 something range and stay at Umass-A for one more year, and maintain his high GPA, he will make a very competitive junior transfer. </p>
<p>P.S.
Both my friends are applying as junior transfer by the way; neither of them have the gut to transfer during freshman year because they fear their grades weren't good enough.</p>