The official decision thread question?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hey it's quite contradictory when I saw people did generous EC and grades and etc etc etc whatever you can think of rejected from Harvard yet some of the people posting in this thread <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/681434-official-harvard-university-2013-decisions-thread-9.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/681434-official-harvard-university-2013-decisions-thread-9.html&lt;/a> are quite normal. Some are really not extraordinary at all. Are they holding back something?</p>

2

<p>Probably their essays, recommendations, and so on are sparkling.</p>

3

<p>Not to mention, tens of thousands of people apply. As you can see, almost all of the people, clearly including those who were rejected, are pretty damn incredible applicants. Harvard will tell you that up to 90% of its given applicant pool is fully qualified and deserves to go crimson. </p>

<p>That’s when you chuck out the 10% of the applicant pool that should go to work out the outlet malls and then roll the dice for the remaining 90% :P</p>

4

<p>hm… But out of the extraordinary they picked some of the normal ones… I cant understand Harvard</p>

5

<p>If you’re referring to grades and scores, I think Harvard is a little less concerned with grades and scores than other factors.</p>

6

<ol>
<li><p>I would be skeptical of any self-reported information, like the things that go into those threads. I can say I have a “brilliant essay” all I want, but maybe Harvard didn’t think so…</p></li>
<li><p>A lot depends on presentation. I could do the coolest, most impressive stuff in the world, but it doesn’t matter if I didn’t emphasize it enough in my application…or if I made it look superficial.</p></li>
<li><p>Harvard adcoms are probably better than most of us at perceiving whether or not one deserves admission. What impresses us may not impress them, as they review thousands of applications a year.</p></li>
</ol>

7

<p>I second the above post- a lot of people are modest on these boards as compared to others who tend to exaggerate their achievements. At the end of the day the ad com at Harvard know what they are doing when picking the class- I just hope I am one of those picked next year !!</p>