What do you think?- Harvard

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>I am posting to ask your opinions on how my profile looks right now, to be applying SCEA to either Harvard or Princeton (not exactly sure which one yet though)</p>

<p>Now, don't get me wrong. I know that you are all students/parents , not adcoms. I know no one has accurate chancing (and I've read Gibby's post, which he is completely right about). But tell me what YOU think, as a CCer who has better knowledge on these things than anywhere else on the web, nonetheless, having seen fellow students get in these colleges.</p>

<p>ACT: 34
Rank: 15/550
Subject 2 Test: Bio 730, Chem 720
GPA: 3.9 unweighted / 4.88 weighted
Course load: Most rigorous available at school</p>

<p>Major awards: </p>

<p>2013 Davidsons Fellow
1st place at International Environmental Sustainaibility Olympiad (ISWEEEP), 2012, 2013
2nd place and 3rd place Intel International Science Fair (ISEF), 2012, 2013 respectively
1st Place Patrick J. Hurd Sustainability Award National - EPA, 2012</p>

<p>ECs: Senior Class President, As Senior Class President-elect my junior year, I helped construct our school's first student conference room in our library, Debate Varsity Member and Mentor, Science Fair, Arsenic Remediation efforts overseas through nonprofit. </p>

<p>Volunteer Experience: Help in arsenic poisoning remediation efforts overseas using my science project inventions , pretty much that's it, but I spent over 300+ hrs here.</p>

<p>Summer: Attended 3 summer camps, 1 in 9th grade, 1 in 10th grade, 1 in 11th, all were done under full merit-based scholarships, and were related to Science and Engineering</p>

<p>Ethnicity/Country: South Asian, living in America </p>

<p>School: Large public school, pretty ghetto</p>

<p>Rec letters: Hopefully good</p>

2

<p>Having had 2Ks getting into the schools you are applying to…I can honestly say you possess one of the “wow” factors that my kids also had…but, having said that, you now have to ask yourself…am I a genuinely “nice” person (don’t want to come off as cocky or showing off) who can present himself/herself through essays and interviews that one did not just achieve these things just for show…or…were genuinely passionate about these topics/causes…</p>

<p>…even having one of the “wow” factors does not guarantee admittance to one/any of these schools…</p>

<p>…unfortunately, you will be compared with “other” applicants with similar socioeconomic status/South Asian background (ORM) and their “special” accomplishments…</p>

<p>…and, you will have to choose your poison…do I apply to Harvard or Princeton SCEA…and take my chances with all the other schools of interest for the regular round…</p>

<p>…hope this helps…</p>

3

<p>And if I were you…I would get off college confidential for now and start working on your essays…because the essays can make or break your application…</p>

<p>…and I will give you the same advice I gave my children before they started writing their essays…</p>

<p>…as you begin to write your essays think deeply and honestly about how YOUR values have been shaped over the years…how you, along with your FAMILY unit, continue to grow and INTERACT with the environment on a daily basis…how you react to adversity, how you develop integrity by choosing to do the right thing when no one is looking, how you become the peacemaker when no one dares to step in to stop a fight, how you stand up for people being bullied, how you choose to lead when others cower, how you challenge the status quo if the status quo is WRONG, how you admit to making mistakes and learning from them, how you grow each day to become a better person…</p>

<p>…essays can be of any style…but the most successful essays bring out the true authentic VOICE and CHARACTER of the INDIVIDUAL in an INSPIRING manner that cannot be explained anywhere else in your application…</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Thank you gravitas2, for your insight! It’s quite an achievement to have 2 kids go to such top tier schools, so congratulations! I did start writing my essays, and I do realize the importance of them. I hope to finish writing them soon, and thereafter continually edit and refine them until application submission time comes!</p>

<p>Nonetheless, I still wanted to get some opinions from other CCers about my profile, as while testscores, GPA, EC’s don’t necessarily guarantee success, having a certain trend/strength will always helps, as it also gives a general impression of the qualifications of the applicant as well :)</p>

5

<p>bump? anyone else?</p>

6

<p>Your awards are the best I have ever seen. You are overall an excellent candidate for any Ivy League. You will definitely be accepted by at least one of your reach schools.</p>

<p>Good luck! Just focus on perfecting your essays for now.</p>

7

<p>Thank you for your insight Whartonite13! Yes, indeed, essays seem like the next seemingly small, but yet daunting task in the horizon. I did start on them. It’s amazing that there’s about 2 months till Early apps are due.</p>

8

<ol>
<li><p>You should realize that you have probably given out enough information about yourself that it would take no time at all to figure out your name and where you live, etc. I would see about deleting this thread.</p></li>
<li><p>You seem like a great kid, a good candidate for anything, except for . . . </p></li>
<li><p>

This. If a hint of that attitude comes through in your application or interviews, you are toast. You really want to work on that, and you want to get rid of your post.</p></li>
</ol>

9

<p>Thank you JHS for your insight! Hmm…you are right, but I don’t think as a user I have the privileges to delete this thread. Also, I think it’s fine if my name is found out, I don’t seem to feel immediate problems to that yet.</p>

<p>You are right, that could be taken pretty offensively, I should’ve thought twice before I wrote that. What I really mean is that it’s a lower-ranked school, with less resources than most other schools do. Thanks for your input JHS! I will take that into heart, I really didn’t mean it in the way my writing suggested… :(</p>