What can I do to make myself stand out amongst the large pool of qualified applicants?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

Hi, everyone!

It has always been my dream to get into Harvard and I know that having perfect grades and a range of extracurriculars won’t guarantee entrance.

Hence, I am asking you: What can I do to make myself stand out amongst the enormous pool of qualified Harvard applicants?

I’ve talked to my counsellor about other students who’ve gotten in from my area and apparently they all showed a passion for something or did something completely different that no one else had done before them. Could you perhaps give me examples of passions you pursued at high school? Or what outstanding, one-of-a-kind activities you engaged in during your senior summer?

Any help would be very useful! Thanks guys! :slight_smile:

2

Not what you are looking for, but “passion” can’t be manufactured and it especially can’t be manufactured for college application purposes. Be yourself and follow your interests.

3

What does Harvard offer you that you cannot get at Yale, Princeton, Stanford or 20 other colleges? When a school rejects 95% of applicants, you need to reevaluate your dream and expand your options.

Apply Sideways: http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways

Passion is a one of the most overused and misunderstood words in College Admissions. So, it’s best to not even use the word.

All selective colleges look for student’s who have made a significant commitment (3-8 hours a week) to something beyond academics. The idea is that a student’s time, energy, commitment, drive and devotion to any singular (or multiple) activity demonstrates a transferable set of skills – something that could be directly transferable to another activity in college, or something later on in life.

However, colleges are not extracurricular camps; they are academic institutions who are seeking to fill their classrooms with top scholars. So a wonderful EC only helps distinguish a candidate that already has demonstrated they have excelled in the classroom.

What does commitment look like? Well, I’ll use my daughter as an example. In high school my daughter loved theater. She audition for every play and musical her high school put on and got a role in each production every year. But that was not enough. She signed up for acting classes at HB Studio in New York City on Saturday and Sundays. She spent one summer at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in their acting program.

When it came time to apply to college, her EC list included 16 plays and musicals, acting classes taken at HB Studios and the AADA. Her list showed a strong commitment (10-16 hours a week) to something outside of the classroom. While colleges might have inferred passion from that list, what they saw was a list that screamed devotion and drive to something beyond academics. In addition, my daughter wrote her supplemental essay about always dreaming of the center stage spotlight, but when confronted with hundreds of pairs of eyes staring back at her, she froze up. Her essay was about overcoming stage fright. All of those factors helped colleges see that my daughter had the energy to do something beyond cracking the books, writing papers and getting good grades. That’s your goal.

Here is an article you might find useful: http://www.road2college.com/colleges-say-they-want-students-with-passion-but-what-does-that-mean/

4

^ You don’t MAKE yourself stand out among 33,000 of the world’s best applicants. You either stand out or you don’t. This isn’t something you have under your control – your asking this question belies the fact that you think opposite.

It’s not what you DO it’s who you ARE.

5

@Gibby said, “Passion is a one of the most overused and misunderstood words in College Admissions. So, it’s best to not even use the word.”

Boy, I agree with that one. I’m sick of the word and I’m just a casual CC user. I can’t imagine how tired of “passion” the readers of applications must be.

One way to look at it is that admissions at the super-selective colleges have this rare and valuable thing they can offer. By looking at your background and getting some insight into your character and interests, who is going to take this rare gift and do something really special with it?

6

Trying to do things to get into a particular selective school seldom works. Lose the “dream;” Harvard isn’t Prince Charming. Be yourself and apply to schools that fit you. Good luck!

7

step 1. you should get a dream bigger than harvard. harvard accepts those who want to do something for the world, that’ll actually make a difference in whatever they choose to do.

8

While I am not a believer in some of the banal statements already made, I will echo the statement that you ought to give up your “dream” of going to a school once acceptance dips below 40%. Think of it, would you bet your money on those odds?

What you ought to do is get excellent grades, test scores, and recommendations. From there nothing is guranteed. Unless you are the son of Bill Gates, daughter of Justin Trudeau, et cetera, your chances are similar to everyone else.

I always recall that one article speaking of the MIT applicant Taylor Wilson, who built a nuclear reactor in his garage and still wasn’t accepted. That should be your enlightening point that there is no one specific thing that can get you in.