I am glad you are applying. Harvard does have holistic admissions, but there are benchmarks. If you do not get in, you can imagine an admissions panel saying they wished they COULD admit you, instead of a more negative alternative. This is a what the heck application and you should not be upset if you are rejected. But you will know, and it sounds like not applying would haunt you.
People focus on getting in but you also need to realize how hard the work can be once you ARE in at Harvard. There are many more books to read and the reading is denser than at many other schools. There are so many places where you can learn and grow and graduate with possibilities so work on not thinking Harvard is “dream school.” And if you want grad school, your GPA will be higher if you go elsewhere!!
One of Harvard’s admissions officials told my counselor that a 4.0 GPA and 2400 SAT “was about as useful as a wooden leg in a forest fire.” She then went on to say that they would much rather take some with significantly lower statistics who had accomplished a great deal despite adverse circumstances, or had done something truly original or novel. That certainly has been the way it has worked at my school.
@sadovaya While the beginning part of that may be true, I believe that the latter part of your comment is true to a certain point. I think one may have to cross a certain academic threshold to even make it past the first review (please excuse me, as I am not an expert on the process) to then have the other parts of their application considers. Thank you very much for the encouraging words though!
Good evening everyone! My account was banned so I made this new one. Looking back at this thread, I find myself cracking up. I was recently rejected from Wellesley, BU, and UChicago so that is a clear indication of my chances at Harvard. I’ll just prepare for the rejection coming my way in 8 days and 19 hours and just accept it. It’s just that you sometimes get caught up in something that’s not possible and get stuck in this trap assuming that a rejection or your circumstances deem you worthless or incapable of succeeding and being happy in life. That is absolutely not true. I realize now that if all I do is focus on Harvard and act as if the rejection is the end all, be all to my life and what lies beyond these short 18 years of my life thus far, then I have automatically delayed my future success and inhibited the chance of imminent successes that exist within opportunities that are already here. So I guess Harvard will be a reality for medical school (a challenge within itself lol) or graduate school.
