<p>I was rejected from Harvard and I am URM. I just wanted to write this for all URM's next year to compare to or look at. I wrote about my culture in my essays and what it meant to me. I also had 2 interviews with Harvard but I was ultimately denied. </p>
<p>School Type: public
Location: New York
Race/Gender: Black/ African American Male
Prospective Major: History
AIM: Hermes2623
Unweighted GPA: 94.75
Weighted GPA: 96.64
Class rank: ? of 385</p>
<p>SAT I Scores
SAT I Math: 670
SAT I Verbal: 660</p>
<p>ACT Scores
ACT Composite: 32</p>
<p>SAT II Scores
SAT II Writing: 660
SAT II U.S. History: 700
SAT II Math IC: 630
SAT II Ecological Biology: 620</p>
<p>Long-form Info</p>
<p>Extracurricular Info
Newspaper
Yearbook
Wrestling
Track
Karate - national competitor
Focus on helping America
Key Club
Art club
National Art Honor society
National Honor Society
Student body governemnt - treasurer</p>
<p>Venture Scholar
Who's Who Among American High School Students
High Honor Roll each year
Honorable mention - National Spanish Exam
National Honor Roll
National Society of High School Scholars
National Achievement</p>
<p>Venture Scholar
Who's Who Among American High School Students
High Honor Roll each year
National Honor Roll
National Society of High School Scholars</p>
<p>Those things that you mentioned as "honors" dont really mean anything. Just about everybody gets one of or more of those things, so it's no big deal. I personally wouldn't put it as an honor to any college.</p>
<p>Also, your standardized test scores are decent - unfortunately, "decent" isn't gonna cut it at Harvard. Remember that 25th percentile at Harvard is a 1400, so a 1330 is really pushing it even if you are a URM.</p>
<p>I suppose Im an URM (Im Portuguese, but never put Hispanic...just "other"). Anyways, Harvard sent me a pretty big packet with an App. too, but Im not even that smart compared to other applicants.</p>
<p>Some consider it hispanic and some dont. I know I'm a latina..but thats not necessarily hispanic. I dont speak Spanish, but I understand it. Spanish and Portuguese ppl can talk to each other without trouble, its mainly the accents and stuff that are different. I put "other" but if the app doesnt have an other, Im putting hispanic. Im even thinking about putting African American..cause my Dad is Cape Verdean and my mom is Portuguese.. so its a win-win.</p>
<p>They really can't tell me I'm not African American, which is what I love.. 'cause I certainly look white. But there is Cape Verde...right off the coast of Africa..</p>
<p>SO what youre saying is that you love being able to put down african american on the college app since you think it will give you a boost although you do not fit the general consensus of an african american along with the struggles that come with being one. Wow. colleges arent stupid and know when someone's pushing it. Put down what best reflects who you are</p>
<p>Yeah, I want to exploit the system if I can. And "Portuguese Islander" really isnt an option.. I'm not lying or anything. I'm sorry I don't have a troublesome life...they are asking for an ethnicity and I'll give 'em one.</p>
<p>lol "Yeah, I want to exploit the system if i can." Go ahead and do it if you want but dont be surprised if that "intent on exploiting the system" gets you rejected. Do what you want, but i was just trying to help you out.</p>
<p>"the general consensus of an african american along with the struggles that come with being one. "</p>
<p>Colleges don't give a rip about "the struggles that come with being one". All they care about is that they can say that they have black ppl in their student body. If you're african, but white, you're not gonna count. Remember it's "people of color" that they're looking for.</p>
<p>eyezonharvard - well my scores were fine for my other schools. I was accepted to Yale, Stanford, Dartmouth, Brown, Duke, Georgetown, and Cornell.</p>
<p>"I was accepted to Yale, Stanford, Dartmouth, Brown, Duke, Georgetown, and Cornell."</p>
<p>Note how I was talking specifically about Harvard. TBH though, I was prolly being a little harsh. URM's with lower stats than yours (hell even non-URM's got in with stats lower than yours) got in. As always there is that "crapsoot" element at work. </p>
<p>BTW, congrats on getting into all those schools.Which one are you gonna go to?</p>
<p>"Good luck getting in by planning to exploit the system."</p>
<p>lololol, good luck indeed. However, she wouldn't be exploiting the system, but merely taking advantage of all the things that the system has to offer.</p>
<p>That's pretty cool. I thought you were gonna say Yale, but - to use an overused cliche - it's really like comparing apples and oranges when it comes to a choice between those schools.</p>
<p>What was it that tipped the scale in Stanford's favor?</p>
<p>Stanford has amazing weather, great people, i loved the location, laid back lifestyle, and widespread campus. New Haven was a big turn off for me. It just isnt a nice city. And also they were so obsessed with being better than Harvard that it became overbearing. Also some of the kids were way too intense for me which is something I didnt find in Stanford. I just loved Stanford once I stepped on campus.</p>
<p>My daughter is interested in a couple of highly selective schools and we have wondered just what role her ethnicity has played in the large volume of mail we have received over the last year. She is a good student (National Merit Finalist and National Hispanic Scholar should not be a problem) with respectable scores (mid 700s on all sections of her March SAT), good ecs and state and national awards (National History Day and competitive cheerleading...now how's THAT for diversity...lol!) But I have wondered if certain ethnicities and cultural experiences are more 'desirable' than others. My husband is Mexican American and we are financially comfortable. D is keenly aware of her heritage and that she is of Hispanic Crypto-Jewish descent; but does the fact that I am Anglo and we are not poor diminish her culturally in the eyes of admissions counselors?? This is not about 'playing the system'. But do you really have to be a certain kind of minority in order to make a cultural contribution?</p>