To those denied admission:

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>You guys should be PROUD. Because you, unlike so many others APPLIED. So many people say of Harvard, "Probably won't get in. Why bother?"</p>

<p>Nothing ventured nothing gained. </p>

<p>Also, you're just as good as everyone who was accepted. They are not any better than you. Seriously, in all likelihood, you have the same scores...grades...courseload...lovely essays...class rank...sparkling recommendations...extra curriculars...leadership positions. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, tell him to stuff it!</p>

<p>Ivy admissions are completely luck of the draw, because almost all of their applicants are qualified. The admissions officers even admit this!</p>

<p>So give yourself a pat on the back!</p>

<p>Congratulate yourselves :-)</p>

<p>And have a lovely time at your next-in-line college (often a better match, believe it or not)!</p>

2

<p>I was rejected. I appreciate the rhetoric. I didn’t become valedictorian or volunteer 1,000 hours so I could get into Harvard. I worked hard in high school because I have a progressive disposition. Nobody, not even Harvard, can judge my accomplishments and deem them unworthy. I am not ashamed to be rejected, I am determined to work harder.</p>

3

<p>amplifiar842:
Thanks for your post. It put a smile on my face and made me feel better. And noggin291, I agree with you 100%. We can’t let college admissions define us. I have absolutely no regrets in applying. And can you believe it? Life goes on after a Harvard rejection.</p>

4

<p>guys sersiouly don’t stress about this. college is all luck! it’s really such a crap-shoot.
I personally know kids that got into HYP and waitlisted at columbia or penn. At a school nearby, in which the valedictorian was the only one who got into columbia, there were three students that got into harvard, and yet were concomittantly rejected from both yale and columbia. I also know people into princeton and not yale or harvard. Or people into yale and not princeton or harvard. </p>

<p>i used to think getting into college was much more important than it actually was. i know after having gone through the process that but it’s just a game of chance. I’m glad that I learned for the sake of learning as I did. What college you get into is truly NOT A REFLECTION OF YOUR WORTH. Last year, the valedictorian of my high school with the same sat i / ii and rank as me was accepted to yale early. In fact, virtually every single valedictorian of my high school in the past 10 years was admitted to HYP. With respect to the valedictorian last year, I did way more extracurricalrs than him. </p>

<p>Personally, I was recruited either through likely letters or scholar programs to every single ivy-league school (except for brown, in which I was still accepted) which means I was in the top 2% of applicants (for dartmouth top 500/18,000, columbia likely, cornell tanner and iriving dean scholarship, upenn vagelos science scholar). Nevertheless, I was rejected from the trifecta. dude, it’s their loss. I know plenty of people who got into harvard without a single likely. which leads me to my next point…</p>

<p>THE PROCESS IS ENTIRELY POLITICAL. Maybe, they were looking for artists, maybe brazilian lacrosse players, maybe african american hockey players that want to major in finger-painting. ugh, who cares about such a superficial implementation of diversity.</p>

<p>There was an asian immigrant from Hong Kong in my class who was ranked 10th and 110 points lower on sats than me and did barely anything in terms of extra curriculurs. To his credit, he did start the men’s badminton club/team. But that’s it. He was accepted to every school he applied to including HYPSCBU except for MIT. He was the only student in my school accepted to Harvard or Princeton.</p>

<p>In the end, I couldn’t be more content with the school I chose, which is UPenn. The Vagelos Scholar Program is a great fit for me beacuse I would really love to become a reserach scientist and get a masters in four years. It really does work out in the end (mostly :slight_smile: ).</p>

<p>Guys, please don’t take these rejections to heart. Grow from them. Show them that they missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, that they are fools for not accepting you and that they will regret it. Harvard rejects unite!</p>

5

<p>I haven’t applied to university yet, and for that reason I have no right to be on this thread. But reading your comments is pretty inspirational. I’ll keep these things in mind if I get rejected next year lol.
Congratulations for your hard work and good luck!
btw, noggin291, did you actually do 1000 hours of volunteering?</p>

6

<p>this is a really nice thread…</p>

<p>thanks you guys</p>

<p>IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE YOU GO; WHAT REALLY COUNTS IS WHAT YOU DO</p>

7

<p>hey i didn’t get into harvard either, but i got into dartmouth, brown, and columbia. if you have any opinions or thoughts, which one should I choose? (that is if I can afford any of them…)</p>

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<p>I’m sure they’ll all be pretty good about giving you aid. Those are obviously all very good schools, and you probably can’t lose between them. All have almost unmatchable resources. At this point, it just comes down to what you think is a best match for YOU.</p>

<p>Columbia would be good if you want to be in a city. You have all the benefits of living in New York…night-life, entertainment, shopping galore, all kinds of foods. Lots of culture at Columbia.</p>

<p>Dartmouth has a pretty well laid-out campus, and the buildings are quite attractive.</p>

<p>Brown…I’m partial to Brown, myself. I’m fairly certain there are no core requirements and all classes are pass/fail. The emphasis is on learning, not making great grades. The thing about grades…good grades are the result of working hard to reach your teacher’s goals. It’s a good philosophy. You’re not punished for not being perfect. The rest of the country needs to catch on. I’m sure the kids at Brown are less stressed.</p>

9

<p>btw yes i really did volunteer 1000 hours. i started my own charity, where we rebuilt computers and donated them to underprivileged youth. Weve rebuilt and donated 50 machines. I also founded a scholarship and raised thousands of dollars for the fund. I volunteer for 2 local organizations and 1 government program. I have also volunteered for about a dozen local charities. I done about everything…painted, raked leaves, built a nature trail, planted a garden, given motivational speeches, read to 1st graders, et cetera. It’s probably a guess, but I would suggest that I may have spent too much time helping others that I didn’t study properly for SATs. And btw, i did none of that for Harvard, I did it because I saw a need and I provided it.</p>

10

<p>Good post, amplifiar842. I applied to HYPM, not expecting to get accepted to any of them. I was rejected from Harvard, Yale, and MIT, but somehow I was accepted to Princeton. I’m happy that I had the opportunity to apply to places like Harvard and will definitely apply again when Grad School makes its way around the corner. As of right now, I’m off to become a very happy Princeton Tiger.</p>

11

<p>That was an extremely uplifting message, thank you! I knew the odds were stacked against me, but the experience of applying, visiting, interviewing was rewarding and made me think of my graduate school options in well. I will be attending Syracuse in the fall, something I was equally as excited for. </p>

<p>To everyone: Because some people can be unnecessarily mean, if you tried, and did not get in, keep the smile on your face for the people who have something to say, did they even try? Probably not. You had the experience and grew from it, best of luck in any thing you choose!</p>

12

<p>lumpi you are truly ignorant. Accept the fact that about 5-10% in a class are international students. They keep the colleges more diverse and give them an international reputation. One thing you haven’t thought of is that countries like Denmark and Sweden have ridicilously high income taxes and therefore the education is free. By going to the US where income taxes are much much lower, and less money from taxpayers go to education and consequently families are required to save up money for their kids collegetuitions one has not only high tax but has to save up. So going from Denmark or Sweden to an American college is really expensive and only rich people can afford it, or you can take huge loans.</p>

13

<p>My son was just accepted to Harvard (granted off the waiting list). He attends an international school in England. Few students apply to Harvard and the school discourages the collecting of extracurricular activities. He played rugby, was in band and was active in the tutoring program. That was it. He has, however, made the most of his international experience wherever we may have been posted and has taken challenging courses, including 4 years of Russian.</p>

<p>He was accepted at Brown, UChicago, Georgetown and Williams. His SATs were 2200. He has a 3.8 GPA. </p>

<p>You don’t need spectacular spec’s to get into Harvard. You need to be genuine and stand out in some way.</p>

14

<p>sadovaya, did your son find out via phone today?</p>

15

<p>sadovaya: don’t generalize from your son’s experience. You have no idea what what said by your son’s teachers/guidance counselors or by his interviewer. There are typically several factors which influence a decision, and unless you see his admissions file, you will not know what they are. Maybe it was the Russian studies, maybe the school he attended, maybe something else. Feel blessed he was accepted into so many excellent schools, and enjoy the rare luxury of making a choice that really can’t go wrong, no matter what.<br>
I’ve been interviewing for H for over 10 years, and I’ve been reading the reunion reports of my classmates for 35 years (which certainly dispels any notion that going to a school like Harvard guarantees anything). There is absolutely nothing guaranteed to always succeed in the case of admissions, and there is much more random good luck operating than we can sometimes bear to admit.</p>