<p>Just had a question: are they looking for the student who has top notch stats and national distinction in an area? If the student has both, what is his chance of acceptance? Is he a clear admit?</p>
<p>Truthfully, very few applicants fall into the “clear admit” category any more. If a student has both stats and national distinction, that is indeed a plus. However, much depends on other variables. For example: if a student is NOT applying for financial aid, that might be a plus, as colleges have a limited financial aid budget and students willing to pay full-fare are often needed to balance out the students that require financial aid. See:<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10reed.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10reed.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks, but what about Harvard specifically (of course, they have no finaid problem)?</p>
<p>Each year, Harvard’s admissions office is given a budget for financial aid – and they must stick to that budget. For example, if the admissions office were to select the “best” 1600 applicants regardless of their ability to pay – and ALL 1600 of them required financial need, Harvard could not afford to enroll every student. Here’s the ugly truth about college admissions: For every student requiring need, there are one or two students who pay full-fare. So – for Harvard, and any other college for that matter – your chances of being a “clear admit” are better if you do not need financial assistance – which obscures the overall picture of an applicant’s chance.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks but let’s say you can pay full fare or that finaid is not a factor–what then?</p>
<p>If FA is not an issue, your chances are much better than those students who have the same stats but need FA.</p>
<p>Ok thanks–anyone else?</p>
<p>gibby wrote:</p>
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<p>So gibby, you’re saying this statement, taken directly from the Harvard website: </p>
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<p>is a lie?</p>
<p>I know Harvard and Georgetown aren’t the same schools, but Georgetown said that their admissions and financial aid departments are separate, meaning they don’t consider at all whether or not you need financial aid before determining whether or not to admit you.</p>
<p>Please read the article about Reed College, which is also need blind: [Reed</a> College, in Need, Closes a Door to Needy Students - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10reed.html]Reed”>Reed College, in Need, Closes a Door to Needy Students - The New York Times)</p>
<p>After an Admissions Committee decides on your fate (which, in Harvard’s case, is need blind), they must go to a second round to reconcile what they can afford. How else do you think this is done? After all, an admissions Committee is not given a blank check.</p>
<p>But one’s ability to pay does not influence the admissions decision at Harvard, which I believe was the premise of the original question</p>
<p>Initially one’s ability to pay does not influence the admissions decision at Harvard. However, once the Admissions Committee submits a list of applicants to the financial aid office, the FA office looks at the budget they were given by the administration and determines if it is workable. If the numbers do not reconcile, they must do one of two things: cut the number of students that are requiring need, replacing them with full-fare paying students, or try to get the administration to increase the overall financial aid budget.</p>
<p>If Harvard admissions has to submit their list to the FAO for final approval, then it’s not really need blind, is it?
A few facts:
60% of the undergrads at Harvard receive FA
Harvard’s endowment is currently - despite the lousy market - 32 billion.
If every member of this year’s incoming class required full pay of tuition, room and board it would amount to about 80 million, or about one-quarter of 1% of the endowment.</p>
<p>OP, the chances of being accepted by Harvard are in no way influenced by your ability to pay.</p>
<p>Gibby wrote:
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<p>Unless Gibby has some source that s/he has not yet specified, this is just wrong with respect to Harvard, though it is true with respect to Reed (whose financial picture is very different from Harvard’s). Gibby was clearly incorrect in claiming that at Harvard “For every student requiring need, there are one or two students who pay full-fare,” since, as danstearns points out, about 60% of Harvard undergraduates receive financial aid. Perhaps Gibby didn’t pay close attention to the following quotation from the article about Reed:</p>
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<p>Havard is clearly among the nation’s richest colleges, and Harvard admissions has consistently said that admissions is need-blind, and that it will meet the full need for all students. I believe them because I’m confident Harvard can budget enough financial aid to keep its word. </p>
<p>So, financial aid is a misleading red herring in response to OP’s original question. To answer that question more directly, students with strong statistics and national distinction are a Harvard target, and having both improves one’s chances. But, there’s no guarantee. What level of national distinction, in what field, and how an applicant stacks up with other people with similar credentials, are among the many variables that could make a difference.</p>