<p>Toughyear, Asians are not at a disadvantage. It is not right for you to discourage other Asian students from applying to Harvard and other elite colleges, when more than 20% of the admitted Class of 2016 at Harvard is Asian. Asians fare quite well in college admissions across the board. But Asian students do not hold a monopoly on outstanding academic, extracurricular, and creative ability in this country. </p>
<p>Students with special and extraordinary abilities come from all ethnic and racial categories, and schools like Harvard are very good at finding them. So stop thinking that Asians are rejected because of their ethnic status. When you apply to Harvard you are competing against top students from around the world and from every state. So, at a college with limited space for freshman (1900 to 2100 at Harvard), the overwhelming majority of white, black, Latina, and Asian students are rejected. Indeed, under such competitive circumstances, one should expect rejection but hope for acceptance. Harvard is a hope thing, not a sure thing. So no one should play the blame game if he or she is not admitted.</p>
<p>For students interested in Harvard, what you must communicate on your application is that you are either special or extraordinary in some way, and understand that you cannot depend on your grades, courses and test scores to make your total case. Every aspect of the application process must validate how special or extraordinary you are, meaning your essays, teacher and school evaluations, honors and awards, and the uniqueness of your life story. However, even when you have made the best case possible for yourself, there is no guarantee that you will outshine 93% or 94.1% of the applicants to Harvard in a given year. To even think that you are a lock for admissions to Harvard is the height of arrogance. Likewise, to think that you are truly the most gifted person on earth just because you have been admitted to Harvard is pure hubris.</p>
<p>Your job is to make your case in a way that convinces Harvard it has made a great find (and not the other way around). If you communicate how special or extraordinary you are, you may win them over. But if not, so be it. You will know that there is another great college out there that needs your special or extraordinary abilities.</p>