@florida26 OFCOURSE !!! I’m going to apply to safeties!! And @gibby, if you have an AI of 220+ does that mean that harvard won’t reject you due to academic shortcomings? And can you please explain the athlete dilemma ?
@verizonwireless: Let’s get a reality check here: Maybe 10,000 to 15,000 students who apply to Harvard have an AI over 220. Of course, Harvard rejects students all the time with AI’s of over 220, as they only have room to admit 1600 of them. My son got rejected from Harvard with an AI of 230+, but was accepted to Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth and Brown – so, yes it’s possible and it happens all the time.
@florida26: Yes, they do, as it’s a short-hand notation that encompasses a student’s GPA, SAT scores and SAT Subject Test Scores in one number. In fact, a student’s AI is written at the top of every student’s reader sheet. But, once a student crosses a certain threshold – and in terms of an AI for Harvard it’s probably 215+ for academic applicants – other more subjective factors come in to play, such as teacher recommendations, guidance counselor report, essays, interview report etc.
An interesting article from the Crimson on AI http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/5/30/harvard-academic-index-explanation/?page=1
In regards to your comment to me, maybe your son got rejected not because of academic shortcomings, but because of lack portrayed in Extra curricular activities, essays, recs, or awards. Thats why I ask "if someone has an AI of 220, does Harvard still look at their academics
An AI of 220 puts you into the lower part of the range, academically, but isn’t particularly impressive. Other parts of the application may compensate for the relative weakness of the AI score, but by itself, the test scores and grades that go into a 220 aren’t going to distinguish the applicant.
I wouldn’t rely too much on that calculator. If I put in my rank (6/330ish–we lost some people throughout the year) it gives me about a 220, but if I put in my GPA instead, I get about a 230. Apparently, I am both “relatively weak” and quite competitive. Strange. 
@bodangles what schools did you apply to ? Get in ?
I just meant that it doesn’t seem to take everything (even all of the hard number stats) into account, and that I don’t believe that a 220 is “relatively weak,” as notjoe said. Didn’t mean to make this about me…
Short version:
Accepted – Pitt, Penn State*
Waitlisted – Case Western, Penn
*Attending, plus honors college
That’s a good point. Even modest differences in class rank in a larger class can make a significant, and possibly relatively-unimportant difference in AI score. However, I’m pretty sure Harvard no longer uses class rank directly. Thus, an AI of 220 is more likely to include an SAT of 2100 rather than of, say, 2250. And a 2100 is in the lower range of scores obtained by Harvard admits.
Ok, I’m sorry, just Interested, and regarding AI @bodangles , is there a point where colleges just start looking at other things in your application besides academics, I know that they always take academics into consideration but when do other aspects come into play
“I just meant that it doesn’t seem to take everything (even all of the hard number stats) into account, and that I don’t believe that a 220 is ‘relatively weak,…’”
That’s why admissions at Harvard are called “holistic,” because no one thinks any one measure or finite set of measures takes everything into account. That’s why folks get in with SATs below 2000, or even lower, sometimes. But the AI is a place to start evaluating someone’s academics, and an AI index of 6 for application to Harvard is relatively weaker than the average. Yet, other aspects of the application may outweigh that relative weakness, and lead to admission.
It just means that that part of the application is weaker than most.
@notjoe is right. It is the overall picture. It seems like most of the Harvard kids are all different. The AI may be the starting point but it is not the ending point. There is reason why each kid is at Harvard. Maybe they were really good at Physics or maybe they are a Kennedy or maybe their dad is the head of China or maybe they grew up really poor but excelled in school . Harvard is looking for future leaders and it is a holistic approach
@verizonwireless: At some point in a previous post, you mentioned that your cousin went to Stuyvesant High School and Harvard accepts about 8 to 10 kids every year from Stuy. But, do you also know that every year about 200 Stuyvesant students – most with GPA’s above 94 and SAT scores above 2200 – apply to Harvard. But most Stuyvesant student who apply to Harvard are rejected, even though they would be shoo-ins at other colleges.
As @notjoe said, that’s why Admissions is called “holistic” because acceptance is NOT just based on test scores, GPA’s, or an AI number. It’s based upon something much more subjective: “character.” That’s an old fashioned word, which means the way you develop your inner qualities: intellectual passion, maturity, social conscience, concern for community, tolerance, inclusiveness and love of learning. That’s why students with perfect everything get rejected and students with lesser stats are accepted.
I heard that every year from stuy, only the leaders and those involved academically are accepted to these top institutions. Let’s say someone is graduating in the top 10% of their class, but he’s also a gymnast, that would be a kid that harvard would generally be interested in… And I believe that kid has a better shot than the valedictorian with perfect scores … So, @gibby is there really a point where the admissions officers stop comsidering test scores and focus on other attributes of the person?
^^ Absolutely NOT true. Colleges pick and choose who they want. Some years, Harvard has passed over the valedictorian and salutatorian at Stuyvesant in favor of other kids ranked #5, #27, #41, #73, #89, #121 etc.
Yes, look at what Harvard says they look for in an applicant. None of it has to do with test scores or grades: https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/what-we-look
I have heard that Khan Academy has some good test-prep material for the SAT.
Good luck with your practice ACT. Come back and let us know how that went.
@gibby, alright, but why aren’t there any applicant on harvards thread that got im with a 2200
unhooked that don’t get affirmative action …
@verizonwirless: Unless a student states they are a URM, you don’t know if they are or not. For example. post #20 (white male), post #23 (white female), post #28 (white male), post #29 (white female) all have 2200+
@verizonwireless I’m an international student that got in with a 2200.