If you go through the SAT/ACT scores from the thread T26E4 posted, you will see that students are accepted and REJECTED with basically the same test scores. Why is that? Because test scores are only one part of the process, and when comparing groups of high achieving students, test scores become the least important part of an applicant’s file. Here’s William Fitzsimmons in his own words
As T26E4 said, you need to stop focusing on test scores, as they are just one element of your file.
@T26E4,
I think the poster focuses on SAT score because he perceives his own weakness to be in that measure. And, in fact, an SAT score of 1900 for an unhooked applicant does represent a significant obstacle to acceptance at Harvard or other highly-selective school. The poster looks at the rest of his possible application - he gets very good grades, he’s involved in many extracurriculars, he is perhaps even something of a trailblazer at his school. These are all objective or at least measurable parameters where he seems to be excelling. He believes he could garner excellent recommendations. He’s a fairly coherent writer, and thus could possibly produce very good essays.
In truth, at a glance, his chances don’t look any worse than most of the rest of the 35K+ who will likely apply along with him. Except for that SAT score. Thus, the preoccupation with the score. This leads to his primary objective here, which is to obtain information on how to improve the one area of his academic record where he believes he is weakest. It seems reasonable, given the premises. In my own view, if the goal is admission to Harvard, the poster has correctly identified a significant weakness in his overall profile.
I guess, in my own view, I’d question the premise.
Oh please. Blame it on other people inflating their stats if you want. Then you can find something else to blame when you get rejected.
FWIW: Last year, Forbes Magazine published THE TOP 100 COLLEGES RANKED BY SAT SCORES: http://www.forbes.com/sites/schifrin/2014/08/04/top-100-sat-scores-ranking-which-colleges-have-the-brightest-kids/
The OP’s SAT score of 1900 is far below any college in the top 50, so to gain admission to a selective colleges, the OP needs to raise his test scores by 200 to 400 points. As @notjoe said
My son was 2100 and we felt he was therefore a poor Ivy candidate.
That’s with attending a highly ranked public school with a lot of APs.
Attending a small religious school is not a plus, as it brings a question about what a 95 at a small demographic school means compared to the average decent public high school.
NFN, we have some pretty good Yeshivas here near NYC, as in academically robust not just religiously so, and generally the kids do not get into the schools they target because any very religious high school is seen as not being well-rounded. That is, if a student attends a religious high school, they had better do their best to have a lot of non-religious ECs to make up for it. And “bookish” ECs don’t help that much.
Jewish is not a URM. Orthodox Jewish is not even a URM. I went to a different Ivy, and we had more than a few Orthodox Jews, to the point that several fraternities that were not Jewish-affiliated accommodated separate dishes for Orthodox Jewish members.
As for “every competition is on a Saturday”, my son was in a math competition on a Sunday a few months ago. Seems like the school is not trying and wants to funnel kids to a particular path.
So you need to make up for this.
One way to do it is to keep studying for the SAT using cheap and free online resources. It’s about $70 for a year, but takes much of what is in the booklet and automates it so you can see where you are going wrong. If you have a College Board fee waiver, you can ask if they’ll let you do it for free.
Another way is to consider attending a post-graduate year at a private school. Since you would likely be on scholarship based on your reported family income, the time to start applying for a post-grad year is now.
I have to ask you though - what does your family think of this? If they are poor and very religious, I do not think Harvard would ostensibly be a close match.
Check out this list:
http://www.hillel.org/about/news-views/news-views—blog/news-and-views/2014/09/04/2014-top-schools-jews-choose
I’m not saying “hey, he’s Jewish, he has to go to a Jewish college or a college with many Jews” BUT if you have a family that is very religious, they might need some comforting that where you go to college has a good support system in place. Just like the school I went to had language classes and cultural groups for my background, and that was a big plus for me.
I think I have a few differences with your post. My sons (and I) attended a fairly conservative, religious all-boys Catholic high school. Although it isn’t a mission of the school to get students into top colleges and universities (most of our grads start in community college, most of the rest at state schools), we manage to get more than our fair share of top school admits. I’ve spoken with reps from highly-selective schools, and they speak warmly about welcoming our graduates to their campuses.
And our kids who wind up at top schools seem to do well, adjust fine, and manage to integrate the experience with their previous “sheltered” background.
The OP indicated he had 8 kids in his graduating class. Most Catholic schools are not nearly that small, so therefore I’d assume they would be less “sheltered”. I know several boys my son’s age in rather conservative Catholic schools, as well as Yeshivas, and the Yeshivas tended to have smaller classes.
My friend’s children’s Catholic school is on the verge of closing, and they have between 16 and 24 per grade.
Yes, that’s true. My sons’ high school is much larger than that. I’m not sure, though, that small size translates automatically to the difficulties you suggest. In my region, there are a number of academically-excellent schools with average class size of 30, 20, or even 15 or fewer students. One of the most prestigious Catholic high schools in the region has about 30 students per class.
These schools often don’t have much by way of sports programs or certain other amenities and extracurriculars that usually require a certain critical mass of students to support. They’re not Div I football factories. 
But many of them send everyone off to college every year, and to some great schools. Even coming from fairly sheltered environments, many seem to thrive out there in the larger world.
I don’t see “small” as meaning, necessarily, “unusually sheltered” or “lower quality.” I guess, because we homeschooled for grade school and know a lot of kids who did so through high school, we’re familiar with “schools” of dramatically smaller size - “The School of Our Lady of the Kitchen Table,” graduating class size: 1. Lots of these kids managed to get into name brand schools, and although from the outside looking in, they probably looked very sheltered, they’ve generally gotten along quite well in the wider world…
I think the primary hurdle the poster will have coming from the school he currently attends will just be unfamiliarity on the part of the admissions folks of highly-selective schools. My high school has students applying to top schools every year. There are enough students that even with the small percent that apply to top schools, it’s still a steady trickle. The admissions committees are used to seeing our kids and our transcripts. I imagine that the size of the poster’s school combined with the fact that these students don’t generally aim for these schools will make it more difficult to assess the meaning of his grades. I think, for the poster, the standardized tests will likely take on relatively more importance, because they will be the primary way to validate what he does in class.
@notjoe, Thank you, your observance is keen. However, I’m still a junior and I hope to raise by SAT to the 2200+ level, because that would put me in the scope of an ivy league. Regarding @rhandco, In NY they have MANY elite modern orthodox yeshivas. There is a school in Manhattan called “Ramaz”, and every single year, 2 kids get into Harvard. I just want to clarify one thing, doesn’t applying as a jew from an ultra religious school with less than 8 kids a class give the school a different perspective about me? I truly hope that it wouldn’t interfere with the “dream” I have of attending Harvard.
@verizonwireless,
“I just want to clarify one thing, doesn’t applying as a jew from an ultra religious school with less than 8 kids a class give the school a different perspective about me?”
Does it give Harvard a “different perspective” about you? Maybe some. But does it outweigh the difficulty it creates for Harvard because they’re unfamiliar with your school, and don’t have adequate context to figure out what that means about you academically? Maybe not.
Do your best on the SATs and other standardized tests. These will be a little more important for you than for many other applicants. And focus on writing outstanding essays. Your writing is clear, lucid, easy to read and understandable. You start, then, with a huge advantage over most students. Use that well.
If you really want to study for the SAT you need the blue book with actual previously administered tests in it. Make a practice schedule. I think you’re way too concerned with going to a prestigious college. You say you want to go to a prestigious college because of the “amazing people.” You can find amazing people anywhere. If by amazing you mean very academically talented, then I don’t think you realize at every state school there are lots of academically talented kids. Most state schools have honors programs that have high level students in them. Don’t get me wrong. Harvard and all the ivies are great schools. In fact, they might even be cheaper for you to attend then a state school. However, you cannot focus so much on getting into Harvard. Also, quit feeling so sorry for yourself. If you have access to an internet connection you’re not at a huge disadvantage. I understand it can sometimes be hard without getting advice from someone like a guidance counselor, but you can look up whatever you want online. If you’re meant to go to Harvard, you’ll go to Harvard.
Maybe. But, see: http://hillel.harvard.edu/orthodox-student-faq.
Harvard Admissions is already familiar with ultra religious jews from high schools they know, as they’ve admitted many students from other Yeshiva’s in the past. Does your high school publish a high school profile for colleges? Something like this: http://www.bls.org/ourpages/auto/2013/5/24/55204166/2014-15%20BLS%20Profile.pdf. In post #18, you said that 7 of 8 students in your school’s graduating class went to Israel and 1 has gone to community college, so I’m guessing your school doesn’t have one. So, how is Harvard going to know about the programs and academics at your school?
I think the best approach for you is to apply to college using the strategy that many home-schooled student’s use. Princeton has some very helpful tips on their website, that would apply to Harvard, as well: http://admission.princeton.edu/applyingforadmission/tips-home-schooled-students. And keep this in mind from Yale: http://admissions.yale.edu/home-schooled-applicants
Hey @gibby, I noticed on college confidential a tool called the “academic index calculator” and I wanted to ask if it is accurate and what measure it holds for harvard.
Every ivy league school, including Harvard, calculates an AI on each applicant. The Academic Index calculator on College Confidential is a bit dated, but it will give you a fairly accurate ballpark figure. See: http://www.collegeconfidential.com/academic_index/
I’m not sure how Harvard is calculating the Academic Index these days, as Admissions no longer requires students to submit SAT II scores, but yes Admissions still calculates an AI on each student. What measure it holds is debatable, but it’s a quick shorthand that AO’s use to type-in or type-out applicants. Here’s more in depth information about the Academic Index: https://www.mka.org/uploaded/college_counseling/Publications/AI_Guidelines_Worksheet.pdf
So an AI of 220+ means that harvard won’t reject you due to academic shortcomings? @gibby
You need a backup plan, and by that, I don’t just mean a school where you’ll say, ‘dang, I have to go to xyz because Harvard didn’t work out’. I think that’s what a lot of people are trying to say. Maybe you have one, but you come across as desperate for Harvard and if you put all of your eggs in that basket you will likely be disappointed next year.
Go look on some of the top posts at the moment of kids who are astonished that they were wait-listed at (not quite Harvard) schools like Purdue, Case Western, Northeastern, WUSTL, and UC Davis.
I would strongly recommend that you get ahold of the book called “Colleges that change lives” and read it. And then go start making a list of 10-20 other schools that your parents can afford, that your current stats can get you into, and that you would enjoy attending.
Other people have said this already, but Orthodox Jewish is not an underrepresented minority at top schools. Listen to the people talking about homeschool-like applications because a school of 8 is pretty similar as far as packaging yourself. And thinking you will get bonus points for never having heard of the SAT is just not going to fly. It’s not Harvard’s job to tell you what their entrance requirements are 5 years in advance.
There are schools out there that will love to have you and be a great fit. Harvard might not be totally out of reach but I would treat it as the ‘pie in the sky’ possibility and work to have some realistic options as well. Good luck!
@gibby what makes you think that Harvard or any of the Ivies still use AI?
The AI of recruited athletes need to be within one standard deviation of the student body as a whole. Although that only covers why the AI is calculated on the 2000+ accepted students.
@florida26 wrote
I guess you missed this article from several years ago in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/sports/before-athletic-recruiting-in-the-ivy-league-some-math.html
I knew they used it as a floor for athletic recruits. The question I meant to ask was do you believe they use it for non athletic admissions?