<p>
[quote]
Let's hear from some knowledgeable people who are reading this thread what the process is really like.
[/quote]
Please, Harvard can't even post its CDS. You think it's going to comment on admissions? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Harvard comments on its admission policies and procedures a lot. </p>
<p>(The online posting of the Harvard viewbook has been updated more recently than some Harvard admission office webpages.) </p>
<p><a href="http://www.college.harvard.edu/deans_office/NCAASelfStudy.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.college.harvard.edu/deans_office/NCAASelfStudy.pdf</a> </p>
<p>(There is a treasure trove of information in the NCAA self-study.) </p>
<p>Harvard's Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, William Fitzsimmons, is very accessible to the press and gives lots of interviews and writes articles about Harvard's admission process. (The links below are far from the only ones you can find with a simple Google search on his name.) </p>
<p><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=519210%5B/url%5D">http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=519210</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_34/b3998441.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_34/b3998441.htm</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=510012%5B/url%5D">http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=510012</a> </p>
<p>Harvard even hosts annual conferences on college admission, helping admission officers from other colleges keep up with the latest issues and trends. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.fas.harvard.edu/%7Esica/welcome.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~sica/welcome.htm</a> </p>
<p>And most of the information you'd find in a one-stop-shopping Common Data Set filing for Harvard you can find in the third-party reference sources based on Common Data Set and IPEDS questionnaires that Harvard responds to, for example, </p>
<p><a href="http://members.ucan-network.org/harvard%5B/url%5D">http://members.ucan-network.org/harvard</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.collegeresults.org/search1a.aspx?InstitutionID=166027%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeresults.org/search1a.aspx?InstitutionID=166027</a> </p>
<p>and </p>
<p><a href="http://www.collegeresults.org/search1b.aspx?InstitutionID=166027%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeresults.org/search1b.aspx?InstitutionID=166027</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Harvard&s=all&id=166027%5B/url%5D">http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Harvard&s=all&id=166027</a> </p>
<p>And it is very easy to meet Harvard admission officers all over the country </p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=365206%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=365206</a> </p>
<p>and to ask them any questions you have about admission procedures. </p>
<p>Anyway, I think the false statement made in this thread has already been refuted by the OP of the thread. But I invite other regular participants in this forum to add more details to confirm his statement if they like.</p>
<p>I've linked this article before (as have others), and it's a couple of years old now, but I think it's still a good, if somewhat gossipy, account of the Harvard admissions process. </p>
<p>And here's an old thread that also has quite a bit of useful information on the admissions process:</p>
<p>cosar dug up my old thread! :)</p>
<p>you know, luck has to play some factor. every time i look on CC, there are volumes of amazing people, and i can't who is a stronger applicant than everyone else at all. the fact of the matter is that nearly everything in a college application is highly subjective, and there has to be some leap of faith somewhere. i'm no expert on admissions, but there cannot be a science to this at all. it's an art, and art invariably requires interpretation, which is invariably subjective.</p>
<p>I think admissions officers would agree with you, and several have said as much for the record. Part of the winnowing is undoubtedly easy, but from the books some of them have written and the public statements they have made (for instance, Princeton saying they could easily admit a second, equally good, class) it's clear that the final decisions are indeed subjective, and changing some variables around the reading process a little would change outcomes.</p>
<p>it's sad to think of all of the great people who are turned away just because there isn't enough room... but the nice thing is, all of these top students fill other colleges, and those colleges then have an equally talented student body. it all works out, i suppose.</p>
<p>so basically we should just express who we are? Real talk = made of win lol</p>
<p>"it's sad to think of all of the great people who are turned away just because there isn't enough room... "</p>
<p>If Harvard expanded enough to accommodate all those great people, it wouldn't be Harvard any more. It would be like a huge state school -- with 50K+ undergraduates.</p>
<p>It seems to me that Harvard looks more for character and personality than grades and stats. Of course, you need around a minimum for your SATs and GPA to be considered. Now, do the first round of reps consider your essays=character or do they weed you out just looking at your stats. Also, say you are a great student and posses great qualities and uniqueness, except your SAT score is not in the 2300s, and your GPA is not exactly 3.8+, and you have not taken AP tests yet, and your ECs are strong but not "cure-cancer" type. Is that an automatic rejection? Because I fall just short of everything above, but I believe I would add to the diversity and my essay can prove it. Will Harvard see this?</p>
<p>
[quote]
It seems to me that Harvard looks more for character and personality than grades and stats.
[/quote]
I'd say that Harvard looks for all four, and plenty of applicants have them.</p>
<p>Just thought I'd bump this thread so that people could reread it again. its awesome.</p>
<p>@akahmed:</p>
<p>There's no "automatic rejection" at Harvard or any other "elite" private college, unlike some state systems that are required by law to trim their applicant pools based on certain quantitative criteria. So my best advice would be to just apply. Grades and scores are important, but they tend to predict college performance differently for different types of people, and Harvard and other elite colleges are well aware of this. A strong and convincing personal statement can more than make up for below-average stats (compared to the applicant pool) in the other categories.</p>
<p>I'm a Harvard grad (college and master's degree), btw.</p>
<p>How did he get into Harvard?</p>
<p>a: he cheated; </p>
<p>b: he's lucky; </p>
<p>c: he's a genius; </p>
<p>d: it is written.</p>
<p>^ that just made my day. i love slumdog millionaire. :D</p>
<p>Love that.</p>
<p>.snoissimda dravrah fo esac suoiruc eht</p>
<p>4.1.09</p>
<p>I hated that movie...</p>
<p>which one? ccbb was really good. slumdog was also pretty good.</p>
<p>"I don't understand how you're suppose to aim it at Harvard.</p>
<p>Am I suppose to name drop/make reference to the Harvard culture or buildings or professors in my essay?"</p>
<p>"You don't have to aim it at Harvard. Really. Your application should get crafted to give as good a picture of yourself as you can. T"</p>
<p>Honestly, I think mathmom has a point. The logic you seem to give works better for something like grad school admissions -- how great of a fit are the faculty at Harvard for X dissertation topic. Are you likely to go elsewhere, given there are more faculty in your area of interest elsewhere...are you accomplished at what most Harvard students are. Stuff like that. When you're applying as an undergraduate, I don't think there's a clear way to "sell yourself" to Harvard, definitely not so much as when you specialize. Best let Harvard decide the matter of fit, I think, as above.</p>