<p>basically, grades and scores is the plain bread. EC's, essays, and teacher recs are the the meat, cheese, and lettuce.</p>
<p>sadface, that sounds like basic essay writing i learned in elementary school - intro & conc paragraphs are the bread, body paragraphs are the fillings & goods inside.</p>
<p>anyways, that was well put.</p>
<p>Heh, I actually needed this post. :) Makes me feel better!</p>
<p>Crap, I guess this means I have to make the essays amazing.</p>
<p>your essays become more important as you fall more on the border of accepted or rejected...</p>
<p>afitscher, what high school in upstate ny did ur brother go to? im from the area and wanted to know if the school was really good or not bc i think that makes a difference for harvard. my school is bad but we sent someone to harvard last year.</p>
<p>to the people on the first page who are giving the OP a hard time, I just got into MIT as a white male with a 3.5 and 2150, no AP science, no national science fairs, etc. It is possible. There is more to it than a 2400.</p>
<p>i'm so happy to see this thread, honestly. i was seriously giving up hope, not having a 2200 and not having discovered the cure for cancer. thanks guys :)</p>
<p>wny, outside Buffalo</p>
<p>DADADADA~~~!!! The deadline is approaching... Still writing my essay.... I've been procrastinating till now..... Still this thread really gives me some hope... ^^</p>
<p>make urself unique, unlike my brother i am not nearly as creative to get myself into HYPSM</p>
<p>afitscher, was your bro recruited for tennis?</p>
<p>i definitely agree with the fact that it's not all about grades and scores. but i think that's mainly because all of the incredibly statistically qualified applicants to schools like harvard. like the adcoms always say, they could put together a grade of students who all scored 2400 on their SAT, but obviously they don't. i think, in general, very high grades/scores put you in the RUNNING for admission, but it's hard to make decisions based on that since nearly everyone applying has such incredible qualifications. it's rare to hear of someone with lower scores/grades getting in without a connection/recruitment/etc... an essay will definitely make any application stronger, but idk if it can get an unqualified applicant accepted.</p>
<p>additionally, the work at harvard is presumably difficult and requires a large amount of intellect and academic focus. grades show that you have worked hard and successfully in high school, and scores show your ability to prepare for exams etc. and i think that, while it's clearly not the only part of an application, they place TONS of value on it, since it is usually an accurate prediction of future successes</p>
<p>I totally agree. Everyonw thinks academics are the most important for Harvard and it is to a certain extent. Harvard looks for individuals who they know will succeed and be different.</p>
<p>my bro wasn't recruited but he ended up being a walk on, he never even submitted the fact he was interested becuz he can be oblivious, a coach saw him playing with one of their top players n he barely lost...lol</p>
<p>Um yea, interesting story, but when you look at the statistics, MOST people accepted into Harvard have 3.9+ GPA, 2200+ SAT's (yes, I'm being generous here), hardest course loads. About 95% of admits have at least that much</p>
<p>exactly. except in special cases (like this one, apparently), near-perfect grades/scores are just the first requirement for just consideration in the decision process at schools like harvard</p>
<p>and good for them! im not taking anything away from their acumens, merely stating everyone has a chance...id rather take a shot at being more unique than 24/7 nerds and focus on being creative more than pulling all nighters before an SAT to make my 2380 a 2400...id rather be a more social and well rounded person than the kids you see with hunched backs and 50 lbs of books in their bag...places like HYPSM like down to earth kids also, just less....lol they need the reputation of being prestigious so they deny a bunch of kids like my brother....oddly enough he got into princeton and brown too he is a arrogant guy considering it was the three schools he applied to lol...i wud never do that with those stats</p>
<p>I think people are overestimating how many "Amazingly qualified applicants" there really are. Keep in mind that 20,000 people apply for Harvard, 1700 get accepted, and there are only 200 people with 2400 SATs and 1600 people with 2350+ in the world. There are even less with both good SATs and good GPAs and even less with good SATs, good GPAs and hard class loads. </p>
<p>Multiply this with the other 5 top notch schools, HYPMS, and that should give you a fairly good chance into getting into those schools. To the above comment, keep in mind that 30% of people who get a 2400 take it cold.</p>
<p>Honestly, what I don't like is overemphasis on EC's. If you have a passion for something then that's great, no need to be awarded for it. Some people haven't developed a passion for anything yet or simply haven't had the opportunity to do so. That doesn't mean they don't have the potential to do so. I have never even heard of the USAMO until a couple weeks ago. I skateboard pretty darn well, but colleges don't recognize that type of stuff.</p>
<p>this is not give anyone hope...your description of him wasn't sufficient. im sure one at least one part of his application really shined.</p>
<p>afit- would you mind telling us his race? It's a pretty big factor (not to be racist or anything).</p>