<p>Should our goal be to select a student body with the highest possible proportions of high-ranking students, or should it be to select, within a reasonably high range of academic ability, a student body with a certain variety of talents, qualities, attitudes, and backgrounds? Wilbur Bender asked. To him, the answer was obvious. If you let in only the brilliant, then you produced bookworms and bench scientists: you ended up as socially irrelevant as the University of Chicago (an institution Harvard officials looked upon and shuddered)....</p>
<p>Fascinating.</p>
<p>I spose it's fair- America hates to elect folks that are much smarter than them. If Harvard wants politicians and powerful people, they had better let in more than the intellectual elite.</p>
<p>Where's the source of this article? I'd like to read more of this.</p>
<p>very interesting. wheres that from and what date was it published?</p>
<p>I just read the exactly same article last week. I printed it out from a library database. It's really nice though, shows that Harvard doesn't only look at academics.</p>
<p>Karabel... I've seen that name somewhere before. Ivory... no Ivy Tower. Hmm, The Chosen maybe. I think he wrote something about Jews being excluded from Yale.</p>
<p>this is taken from the New Yorker </p>
<p>here's the full article:</p>
<p>Harvard's not the only school that did this kind of thing. My high school English teacher was admitted to Yale via that system. He went to a prestigious boarding school, interviewed with an adcom member in October, was later told that he got a 1, and knew that his acceptance was secured. He was class of '68, which he said was the last year it was done.</p>
<p>It's not. The system has changed but the idea is still implemented. A formula still exists. That is why people with 1300 get in while 1590, 5X800, 11X5 AP get rejected on EA.</p>
<p>Makes sense. You don't want to end up with a ton of dull geeks. I went to a Harvard thing in my city and the admissions/financial aid guy who was there was claiming that they were trying to craft a class that works well together and has something to give to the Harvard community.</p>
<p>explains why essays are so important. they can show that a candidate is dynamic and passionate, something no number of APs can touch on.</p>
<p>isnt it sad how my only sliver of a chance hinges on whether they accept students like that. and to be honest, i think they can find enough people that are smart and cool. if your missing one (or your app is) then you have a very small chance at entry. im missing the smarts. oh well at least im a cool guy and my app reflects that. (well i havnt done one yet, but my ec's etc.)</p>
<p>so interviews ARE important?! someone tol dme there were not for cornell. yes, i realize this is a harvard board.</p>
<p>interviews arent that important at least not like your personal statement (essay)</p>
<p>I would disagree. The interview is the only time Harvard can have assess/evaluate a candidate face-to-face. I believe that it is really easy to write a great personal statement with months to prepare; however, Harvard tries to clarify that you are a person that would add to the incoming class by seeing how you interact with others in the real world. If anything, given great recommendations, test scores, etc. a bad interview would be greater grounds for rejection than a bad personal statement.</p>
<p>(Of course, this is all MY opinion...)</p>
<p>Most psychological studies show a very small correlation between how qualified interviewers say you are for a job and how well you actually perform the job when they conduct unstructured interviews. I have no clue how much importance Harvard places on them though.</p>
<p>Well, most students who apply to Harvard are capable of doing the work, but Harvard wants more than drones.</p>
<p>I understand, but I'm also talking about social skills like getting promoted (which is more closely linked to social skills than quality of work as soon as quality of work is above adequate).</p>