<p>Since so many ppl were appalled by the deferrals' stats and always wonder what kind of ppl get into harvard...</p>
<p>how about you guys help us out?</p>
<p>What do YOU think got you into harvard? please be honest, even if you had connections.. we'd just like to know what's the chance of people getting in with pure academics.... </p>
<p>thx</p>
<p>i know a large number of people who were accepted early to harvard.</p>
<p>one was an all around genius. she took 9 AP classes by the end of her junior year and had 5s on all the exams. she interned for a top neuroscience program in the nation (its geared to graduate and postgraduate students). in addition, she was president of her hs' key club and was deeply involved with that activity (and future medical leaders of america- just those two organizations, but she spent the maj. of her time at Key Club). and she is going to be the valedictorian of her suburban hs (top 4 in the city/county).</p>
<p>another kid i know is the president of a large, state organization that represents all student councils in a particularly large state.</p>
<p>another girl I know serves on a state board of education panel on nutrition and is deeply involved in the same organization as the above mentioned kid. she is also semi-involved in her school's ASB program. is also incredibly smart and outgoing and motivated.</p>
<p>another girl i know scored 1600 on her SAT and both her parents work at Harvard. is also super smart.</p>
<p>another kid I know is a great creative writer, deeply passionate about politics, knows a lot about international events (ie current events), is the chair/captain of his school's rather large model UN team, and is involved with his high school's mock trial team.</p>
<p>From what I've heard on these boards, no one can get in with pure academics only. You need some really nice EC's and standout qualitites/decent essays or recs.</p>
<p>Just go to the thread titled "Zuma's Stat Roster", Baghdad. It prolly has everything you need. Also...do any of you know if Harvard offers credit for the AP world history test...</p>
<p>I think I got into Harvard by being well rounded. Or, another way of putting it is that I had a lot of "mini-hooks" including perfect SATs + GPA, football, leadership (student council president), good essays, a variety of interests, etc. I wasn't nationally ranked in anything... but locally I stood out in a bunch of areas.</p>
<p>I know of two students who were admitted by Harvard, through EA (one from this year, and one from last year).</p>
<p>Both had SAT scores of 1590, 750's on 4-7 SAT II's, around 8 AP's with all 5's on the exams, 4.0 unweighted GPAs (4.4 weighted), excellent recommendations, and were finalists/1st place winners at both the national- and state-level Speech and Debate tournaments.</p>
<p>Winning awards at the national- and state-level in Speech and Debate was their hook; in fact, the 8 finalists in 3 of the most competitive Speech and Debate categories (different speeches = different categories) are pretty much offered guaranteed admissions to Harvard/Yale/Princeton and this is empirically proven for even students with lower academic statistics.</p>
<p>****. Sorry, I just realized that I have absolutely no chance.</p>
<p>Don't say that, suburbian. And don't let anybody tell you that, either. I'm not encouraging blind confidence, but everybody has at least some chance. I hope you still at least apply. If you don't, you'll just be plagued with regrets later.</p>
<p>I hope it wasn't my post which 'scared' you suburbian. I think anyone has a fair shot at Harvard, as many other students with "lower" academic records got in from my school. I sometimes hate the fact how people say though that one student is better than another student just by a few SAT points or a few B's GPA-wise. A lot of the candidates are competitive and are as talented as those who are accepted, but that's the way the process sometimes works I guess - you'll get accepted by many other fine institution I'm sure, if not Harvard. Good luck and best wishes.</p>
<p>ok. btw, it was seven nights' post.</p>
<p>Just-forget-me...it's also the personality aspect, like ChatterJoy87 said.</p>
<p>and let me also say those people who i've known who got into Harvard are the most outgoing and friendly people. they are very nice and aren't what you consider reclusive hermits. they also enjoy going out and are socially active. and they are such great people.</p>
<p>I think I'm pretty unusual as far as Harvard EA Acceptees go. I didn't have high SATs (<1500), I'm terrible at Math (2 on AP Calc and 610 on IIC), and I'm not valedictorian or have a particularly high GPA.<br>
But I didn't ever think that those things were what particularly mattered.</p>
<p>I think what helped me get in was a variety of factors:
1) I excelled at things that people normally aren't good at who applied. I published poetry and creative writing, and sent in a creative writing sample to the admissions office. There are lots of people who apply who are good at math and academically qualified, but relatively fewer kids who do humanities and are qualified (Just look at these boards...there's tons of kids who did RSI and other elite math/sci programs...but how many kids apply that did extensive humanities program?)<br>
2) I did speech and debate in high school. In my particular event, nearly EVERYONE I know who has excelled has gone onto Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. In debate circles, the question is not who IS going to Harvard, but who isn't? It also helped that I didn't not come from a school that was competitive in debate, and everything I did was wholly self-initiated (I had people sponsor me for several thousands of dollars to enter competition).
3) I had meaningful impact in the programs I was involved in, which were all selective and application based. I think too many people make the mistake of shelling out thousands of dollars for college summer programs when there are better ways to make use of their summer. Don't get me wrong, ALL of my friends went to these programs at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Upenn, etc. and it was a FANSTASIC experience for all of them and they would definitely recommend it, but I don't think it really helps you get in. Programs that helped: Governor's School (if your state has it), Quest Scholars (for low-income kids only, <a href="http://www.questscholars.org%5B/url%5D">www.questscholars.org</a>), Boys' Nation & Girls' Nation. Of course, all of the math/sci programs that have been listed on these boards are VERY impressive as well.<br>
4) I was not in any way a study robot. I skipped a lot of school in high school to do protests, volunteers, and run conferences (pretty involved with enviromental stuff in my state). I was more likely to be voted "best dressed" than I would've been voted "most studious." I was much more of the kid that would go to dinner with teachers and friends than sit back. I was engaged, and I think that made a tremendous difference with the quality of recommendations I received. If you only go to college to be happy, then I think that it makes more sense to be happy and go to college, which is what I worked on.</p>
<p>Other factors:
- My school, while not impoverished, does not send kids to Ivy League Schools.
- My essays were interesting
- I worked pretty hard in high school, just not on things that were academic</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, if you're awesome at math/sci, terrific, I really respect that. But if you're on this board and realize that you know nothing about quarks or sin waves, don't fret.</p>
<p>Read lots of books, get involved on the national level in everything you can, and most of all, be happy, and secure the respect of all those around you. Because even if you don't get into the school you want, you'll still be really satisfied with yourself and the life you've led.</p>
<p>Just my two cents.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention in the last post that I worked a crummy minimum wage job all throughout high school. I think that really helps. I mean, I worked because I had to, but I think that people who don't work are less impressive compared to the kids who work and are pretty qualified. I think this is rather important especially if you aren't a 1600 kid. The kids I know who go in with lower SATs were typically from more disadvantaged backgrounds and had a modicum of struggle to balance academics and family obligations.</p>
<p>Just<em>forget</em>me sums it up. I think I was accepted for the many of the same reasons. </p>
<p>Mediterranean, I have won awards at the state level in Debate, but I don't think that guaranteed my admission. There are probably others that have state and national awards but weren't accepted. It's still based on the "whole" package.</p>
<p>I have an idea: Why don't you form a poll for acceptances to get an idea. Either for SAT range or GPA or something. I don't really know how.</p>
<p>There's the AI people could go by. That about sums up tests and GPA.</p>
<p>these days, chinese media is reporting my schoolmate who is an early admit of Harvard.the only one from china as well.
Well. let us forget what all the publicity says.(what are they and how they deal with news, we all know) and my friend is angry about some publicity coz they are not telling the truth.</p>
<p>I know that girl very well. let us see:
she won over 70 awards from all kinds of competition in almost ten fields.(and 70 is all over city-level, e.g.:best debater of the year, first prize in computer science, writing, maths model ,all nationwide-level,etc.)
she owned the teenager website in china when she was 15.
she was the president of the shanghai student government and her school's as well.
she published two books and was awarded the best student of shanghai years ago....</p>
<p>yeah, and she went to sidwell friends school for one year as an exchange student and had an amazing trip. some story such as she scored in her very first field hockey game went around.(she heard there was a game called field hockey four days before the game)
and as a schoolmate of this girl, i must say her scores and rankings are excellent overall,too .</p>
<p>and these days, she wrote some articles on her own to fight with the wrong voice of media on this issue.</p>
<p>o.k. so ,Harvard is so wise.</p>
<p>and i am so impressed by you guys. i guess you all are those who like my schoolmate i just metioned. she is a great person. so, you guys will be her friend in 8 months. i must say one thing here is that for an applicant from china, it is sooooo hard to get into harvard.</p>
<p>You cannot be serious, October. I can't imagine any mortal has time for all those things you claim your friend accomplished. </p>
<p>Anyway, I wanted to give some more data which will muddle up the waters some more...;) I'm a state, regional, and national winner in both speech and debate, and I was deferred EA. So such awards don't guarantee admission.</p>