<p>Okay, so one of my close friends told me three months ago (November) that he got into Harvard. Today I asked him how after wondering a while how he was accepted so early. His parents also told us that he gained admission into Harvard, and he was on the deans list.</p>
<p>He told me that he knew the admissions council, so they took his application and sent it to the council. He also told me today (via text) that he took the SAT, and then got a pre-selection letter, and then they let him in??? ***..</p>
<p>His stats are supposedly 2200 SAT, 240 PSAT, president of few clubs etc</p>
<p>You have to understand that universities regularly exempt themselves from their own admissions guidelines if it behooves their own interests. The rest of us shall remain clueless. An example is an athlete at my school: she was accepted by Stanford with only minimal paperwork – no essays, just a transcript and the SAT (kind of as a mere “checkoff” sort of thing) and she was in. Indeed, on its website, Stanford specifically tells you that, basically, it can admit whomever it wants, however it wants, whenever it wants. I would certainly expect Harvard or any other institution to reserve all its rights to itself in the same way. Why shouldn’t they? So, if you’re friend heard “early,” then I wouldn’t be surprised. A local paper here published profiles of some high school seniors and one said that he was admitted to Yale (SCEA) and another, a lacrosse player, said that he had been admitted to Harvard (but, how could that be, since Harvard hasn’t sent out formal acceptances?). That answer is that Harvard simply told him he was in and told his counselor – no letter required . . .</p>
<p>I’m going to go out on a limb and say that either he was lying (or maybe he, or you, didn’t quite understand what had happened), or you have failed to give us the critical facts that would make the story plausible (e.g., he is a high-school All-American offensive lineman). Harvard does, regularly, give some (not all) athletic recruits so-called “likely letters” in the fall that essentially represent a commitment to admit them. That happens to keep top recruits from making commitments to other programs that are recruiting them, and that can deliver firm acceptances in the fall. That’s certainly what happened with the lacrosse player in kellybkk’s story. (Stanford, which isn’t bound by the Ivy League agreements, CAN accept athletic recruits whenever it wants, subject to NCAA rules, which are a lot more liberal.)</p>
<p>It is possible, although I haven’t heard any stories, that they would do that with one or two non-athletes with special talents (a professional opera singer getting booked a year in advance, the son of a billionaire ready to commit to fund a new center in Shanghai). Around now, they start giving early notices to a handful of what they consider academic superstars. I don’t think there’s any chance that “knowing the admissions council” (whoever or whatever that is) would produce an actual commitment in November (at least not one that anyone, including anyone else in the Harvard admissions office, was supposed to know about).</p>
<p>It’s my experience that most people who “got into Harvard” under otherwise inexplicable circumstances (not an athlete, heir/heiress, celebrity), especially when they don’t seem to be academically qualified, are fudging the truth. I was hit on by several high school guys this fall who, after hearing the colleges I am applying to, have claimed, “Oh, I already got into Harvard.”</p>
<p>I’m definitely not saying that <em>this</em> person is lying; certainly it says something that his parents are telling people that he got into Harvard. But the OP didn’t give us any reason for Harvard to accept him early.</p>
<p>Having done only precursory research into the Dean’s List, it looks like Lewis in 2002 planned to eliminate the Dean’s List… not sure if he actually did but that could provide evidence to support either possibility (that he’s lying or that he has actually been admitted very early). The term “pre-selection” (with or without the dash) yields no relevant results on Google. </p>
<p>Short version: It’s possible that he is telling the truth, but it seems very unlikely.</p>
<p>okay he SUCKS at sports. He doesn’t play any sports, no instruments, nothing. He sucks at competitions etc… </p>
<p>must be lying because the OPs brother started to think that i thought the OP was lying even though i actually believed the OP at first, so for his brother to get suspicion could mean that it is a lie… because if it was true, the brother wouldn’t even think that someone else won’t believe that OP got into harvard… too hard to explain psychology over internet</p>
<p>Wow did not realize. After sending him a text about how people said its very unlikely, he revealed his confidential secret(I wont go into details but ill give a concept)</p>
<p>He said he tested a (certain) medicine on a (certain) plant, first ever to do so.</p>
<p>Also he has a share in a free energy company with the CEO (a 20% share)… </p>
<p>indianguy - for future posts “OP” stands for original poster which in this thread is you. If you read what you wrote above with that in mind, you will see that it ends up making no sense (though we can interpret your mistake and figure out what you are meaning to say).</p>
<p>BTW I know an recruited athlete who received his acceptance the summer preceeding his senior year. He turned Harvard down for a nearby university that is known for its football team.</p>
<p>Well, for athletes with ambition in in pro sports, Harvard provides no advantage at all like it does for future investment bankers, future scholars, lawyers, doctors, politicians, etc. Harvard gives no particular advantange for recruitment/draft into pro sports teams. If anything, going to Harvard will kill their chances of becoming a pro athlete. I would think that the athletes who enroll at Harvard are doing sports only as an EC with their main career goals in elsewhere. A talented football player should go to UMichigan, Miami U, FSU, USC, etc., but not Harvard.</p>
<p>^Wouldn’t say he was a success. He barely managed to become the starting QB in a terrible team. He was a perpetual backup at his position until a few games into this past season. How do you call that a success?? Athletes @ Harvard = Aspiring IB @ community college. Maybe a little harsh, but athletes shouldn’t be deceived by Harvard’s academic prestige because athletes do not need to perform well in the class, but they should perform well on the field.</p>
<p>I do agree that is a bit harsh. The average career in the NFL is what, 2-3 years? Quarterback is the position that takes the longest to learn and rise to a starting job. Having spent the past season watching Jimmy Clausen from Notre Dame struggle mightily here in Charlotte, I have suffered through seeing that being a tippy top HS prospect and going to a football factory in college (under the tutelage of Charlie Weis) does not assure success in the NFL.</p>
<p>Succeeding in the NFL is even longer odds than getting into Harvard. I can understand that for the athletes that are qualified to be admitted to Harvard it can be a very rational decision to choose Harvard over a football factory.</p>
<p>The relative dearth of Ivy League players in the pros seems to have gotten worse recently. The Ivy League teams of my time sent at least a regular trickle of players to the NFL, and some of them had fine careers. Players I saw in college included Pat McInally (Harvard receiver, later Bengals punter), Reggie Williams (Dartmouth and Bengals linebacker, later a Cincinnati councilman), Gary Fencik (Yale receiver, Bears safety, a captain of the Superbowl team), John Spagnola (Yale and Eagles tight end), Kenny Hill (Yale and Raiders/Giants safety). (All of them were starters in Superbowls, and a couple of them were even on teams that won!)</p>
<p>Not to mention Yalies Calvin Hill and Brian Dowling, the latter of whom played pro ball for 20+ years in the Doonesbury comic strip.</p>
<p>^well, athletes choosing harvard is if they take harvard education (and the network and the prestige that come with it) as a backup in case their athletic career does take hold. But you shouldn’t go for your backup career as your first choice, you go for your ‘dream’ career as your first choice. Well, average career in the NFL is longer than 2-3years, more like 7-10 years I would say.</p>
<p>I agree, succeeding in NFL is longer odds than getting into Harvard, but if you have a shot at succeding in the NFL, then you pursue that dream first. A talented athlete will not take harvard as its first choice. What does the Harvard degree and connection do for Fitzgerald in his NFL career? Nothing. Well, maybe not nothing. But even his alum, Marv Levy recommended the Stanford grad as starting QB for the lowly Bills, not Fitzgerald. So, Harvard connection didn’t do much good in NFL. LOL</p>
<p>I’m not sure if Ryan Fitzpatrick can be considered a success though. He’s an average quarterback at best and is pretty much starting because the Bills have no depth.</p>