What are my chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

I posted this a while ago in a different thread, but I feel that the people reading this thread might be more cynical and could help bring me to face reality.

In all seriousness, what’s a rough estimate of my chance of admission to Harvard? My application was geared towards physics.

GPA: 4.02 weighted (my school doesn’t record unweighted)
Rank: 1/160
ACT: 34 (33 Math, 33 Writing, 33 Reading, 36 Science)
Sat II: 800 Math II, 760 Physics
AP’s: I’ve taken 5 tests and gotten a 5 on all except one which was a 4, and I’m taking 4 more courses this year for a total of 9/10 that my school offers. One, Chemistry, was an independent study.
College Courses: I’ve taken courses in Science Research at SUNY Albany and in Precalculus, Calculus II, and Calculus III at Ulster County Community College.

Ec’s and Awards:
Coca Cola Semifinalist (finalists aren’t out yet), NMSQT Letter of Commendation, AP Scholar with Distinction, RPI Medalist (not sure how relevant this one is), Scholastic Art and Writing Honorable Mention, Scholar Athlete all 4 years, blah blah…

I participated in varsity track and cross country since 8th grade, and I’ve been to states 4 times. Also a team captain in both.
I’ve been a student in Isshin Ryu karate for 10 years. I’m currently a black belt and have placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in local competitions. I also volunteer for the dojo.
I’m a student member of the Board of Education and am currently on a committee to reform the guidance program.
I founded the Human Rights Club, which goes on field trips to amnesty-type events and raises awareness. I’m president of the Tech Club, and I learned to code on my own and made several video games which I presented to the school and during some of my interviews.
I write and edit for the school newspaper. I have a science column.
For three years I’ve helped freshmen integrate into high school by meeting with them every week for a year.
I’m an officer for NHS and I’m in charge of the school’s tutoring system (I recently made the process paperless). Also lots of volunteering through this.
I’ve been a stage manager and sound engineer for the school play for three years.
There are a bunch of other things too, like Math Team and Science Olympiad, that aren’t as relevant.

I conducted research in quantum optics with a researcher from Harvard for two years, and I wrote a paper and am registered to participate in the ISEF-qualifying competition near me. I submitted my paper/abstract to Harvard.

In addition to what I thought were good letters of rec from my teachers and guidance counselor, I also got letters from the Harvard researcher, my district’s superintendent (because we’re both on the board and I’ve worked with him) and from my cross country coach.

I wrote my Harvard supplement about how working at Harvard allowed me to think and learn at a higher level, and how it made me realize what I wanted to do with my life. I also had to spend a couple months self-learning quantum mechanics, multivariable calculus, and electromagnetism so that I’d be able to understand what I was doing. I wrote about that as well.

Honestly, my primary concern is that I don’t have great awards. How detrimental might this be on my apps?

2

Reach just like for virtually all applicants.

3

Welcome to College Confidential.

You seem like a wonderful applicant, as are most students who will ultimately be rejected. As Harvard receives more qualified applications than they have seats in their freshman class, Admissions uses a student’s teacher recommendations, guidance counselor’s Secondary School Report (SSR), essays and interview report to choose one high performing student over another. They look for wonderful scholars of good “character” – that’s an old fashioned word meaning the way you develop your inner qualities, intellectual passion, maturity, social conscience, concern for community, tolerance, inclusiveness and love of learning. Unfortunately, none of those qualities can be gleaned from a post like yours.

The best that can be said from your post is that your GPA and test scores are within Harvard’s range, so you will be a competitive applicant. Do you have a chance? Sure! How much of a chance is anyone’s guess.

“The waiting is the hardest part.”
– Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

4

Thanks for your input. I realize that I’m basically begging for validation but I am pretty nervous and Harvard is one of my top choices. How do my ec’s look? And do you know what kind of weight the letter from my Harvard mentor might have?

5

Harvard is an academic institution, not an extracurricular camp – so they are MORE concerned with a student’s performance in the classroom. Admissions looks at a student’s extracurricular activities to gauge the level of commitment they have made to something beyond the classroom. The idea is that a student’s energy, drive, determination, and commitment is a transferable skill – something that could be transferred to another activity in college, or something later on in life. Based upon what you wrote, you seem to have that. However, when Admissions builds a freshman class, they look at a student’s extracurriculars to make sure that the institution is not recruiting too many students interested in one particular activity. For example, admitting 50 tuba players when only 4 are needed is not helpful to an institution’s orchestra. Ditto with being a writer on your school newspaper, or a non-recruited athlete who is on their high school’s cross country team, or a member of the school’s local chapter of NHS. Without knowing how many other students are being considered for admission who have similar interests as you, it’s impossible to say how your EC’s look.

I would think it would be a positive element, but keep in mind – and this is just a guess – about half of Harvard’s Summer School students probably get a professor to write an additional recommendation to the college. So, the weight of your letter all depends on how it stacks up against other students who have submitted additional recommendations from Harvard professors. So again, it’s impossible to say.

6

You have the academic credentials and your Ec’s are certainly sufficient. It will be those elements along with your letters of recommendation and your essays that will in combination determine whether you will be accepted or not.
I hope you are and if you are not it will very likely not be because you weren’t worthy.
Someone who has excelled at the level you have will have wonderful choices to make among schools and a very bright future.
Best Wishes!

7

Come on. You know perfectly well that, on paper at least, and presuming that everything you say is true, you look like the kind of person Harvard accepts. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who look like the sort of person Harvard accepts whom Harvard doesn’t accept, so you get to wriggle and squirm like everyone else. Everything gibby said is true, but no one would tell you it was a waste of time for you to apply to Harvard.

Here’s what you are doing wrong, though: First, you are trying too hard. Three supplemental recommendations is two-and-a-half too many. The impressive one, as long as he knows how to write a little, is not the Harvard researcher but the district superintendent. You’re obviously a science kid, and someone paid for you to spend the summer at Harvard, so obviously you worked with a researcher there. What’s special is that you are a science kid who is also working with the school board – that’s a little sparkle.

Second, I hope you are not as insensitive in real life as you have been in this post. You know perfectly well that you are a winner. People tell you that all the time. You are obviously a big deal at your school. You have done a bunch of impressive things, and you have had some opportunities that aren’t available to everyone. Then you post here talking down your achievements and wringing your hands with self-doubt. How do you think that makes the 99.9% of students who don’t have a resume anything like yours feel? Why is your need for praise from strangers so great that you are deliberately contributing to the worst aspects of College Confidential, the culture of anxiety and hyper-critical evaluation? A real leader – and I suspect you are one – doesn’t do that, even to strangers.

Stop fretting. Assuming you applied to more than one college, you are going to be accepted someplace great, maybe a lot of places. Harvard may or may not be among them, but it really won’t matter. Your personal qualities have much more to do with the quality of your college experience and your post-college success than the relatively tiny differences between Harvard and dozens of its peers, some of which are likely to accept you. Looking back ten or twenty years from now, you will know for certain that getting into Harvard or not will not have been a critical juncture in your life.

8

Bump

9

I don’t see your reason for bumping this, but if you truly need another opinion I’ll give you mine. Actually I’ll just repeat what @JHS wrote, as he said it better than I possible could.

10

As you have an 800 on Math II, I’m sure you can appreciate the quantifiables. William Fitzsimmons is on record as saying that 80% of all Harvard applicants could do the work on their campus and 40% of all applicants have an absolutely stellar academic record.

Let’s do the math: 36,000 applicants times .40 = 14,400 applicants with a stellar academic record, which includes GPA and test scores. However, Harvard only has room for 1,660 incoming freshman – and about half of those slots were taken up with students accepted in the SCEA round. So, approximately 13,000 students are rejected every year with stellar academic records – meaning perfect GPA’s and test scores or ones that are near perfect, just like yours. Will you be one of the lucky RD acceptances? None of us know!

11

You have the same chances as all competitive applicants. CC chances mean nothing in the end. They don’t factor into your decision, and sometimes they can disillusion you. Wait until April for your real decisions to come.

12

What do you mean when you say you did research with a Harvard researcher for two years? Can you be more specific? I just want to make sure you are not overstating this.

I would say that you come off as an overachiever who is involved in too many things. Do you ever relax?! I find the karate interesting, and the work with the superintendent. Some of your other EC’s are interesting too, but just too many of them to have depth, unless you are a person who doesn’t sleep!

I am also concerned about your essay, which would seem to be focused on impressing Harvard with some pandering to them and some bragging as well. I think you could have chosen a better topic.

You meet all the requirements for admission, on paper, and you know that, as others have said. “Character” is important and not sure you are demonstrating that (and the bump concerns me too, how anxious are you?) though you may certainly have it- we don’t know you.

Remember that admissions is primarily assembling a class and it is important how each individual contributes to the whole. I don’t know if applicants fully grasp that, and it is antithetical to the kind of ramped up, competitive kind of spirit you seem to demonstrate. Though your contributions through EC’s and your letters may very well show a wonderful generous kind of person who simply doesn’t shine through in this context.

Above all, please know that Harvard is just a school. It is not a trophy, and once in, you do the work, hang out, and generally live life as you would at any school. There are many great schools out there and you will surely get in to a place where you can thrive and succeed. Good luck!

13

@compmom I’ll respond in the order you asked:

The research I conducted involved developing a mathematical model for a superlens, a lens that has infinite resolution potential. It was a continuation of my mentors previous work, but I did most of the heavy lifting. I submitted the paper I wrote to harvard admissions, and she wrote me a recommendation, as stated above.

You’re actually right. I get very little sleep these days because of everything that I’m doing, but that’s sort of how I like it. I need to feel involved. You don’t think having all those activities in different topics might hurt me (as opposed to those applicants who do one thing on a godlike scale), do you? My other concern was that my ec’s weren’t impressive enough for harvard admissions, considering that there are kids with IMO medals and AIME scores. How would you say mine stack up?

When I wrote my Harvard supplement, I was following the advice of a friend of mine who went to harvard and also wrote about his research at Harvard’s facilities, so I figured it might be appropriate. He also had similar ec’s to mine, so I took his advice very seriously. This was also only my Harvard supplement. My common app essay was about getting to really know my brother after we hated each other for several years and how we used horror movies to bond.

About the bump: I’m actually very anxious about it not because I don’t know own if I’m qualified, but because I’m concerned about how I look compared to the other 32000 applicants who do crazy things and get crazy test scores. From what I’ve looked at on the internet and from talking with the friend I mentioned, there are students at Harvard who were worse than me, and some who were better, so I appear to fall somewhere in the middle as far as being impressive goes. I just don’t know what to think, and I really REALLY want to go to Harvard (it’s part of the reason I interned there). On other forums where I ask this people tell me I have a good chance, but I guess I’m too cynical to relax about it.
Thanks for your time.

14

Oh your actual common app essay about bonding with horror movies sounds great. Glad you clarified that. Great topic.

Harvard is not filled with superhumans.

You have a good chance, yes.

I know it is hard, but you just have to wait. Noone can get a real sense of you online.

There is no hierarchy of humans who are better or lesser than others, only an infinite variety of individuals.

Wishing you good luck in the difficult period of waiting and in results!

15

I was accepted!!! Thanks everyone!

16

Congratulations! Well-deserved. In the next 4 years, enjoy Harvard but try to get more sleep :slight_smile: