Yale EA Deferral - Chance Harvard

Colleges & Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>This is what my stats were for my Yale app (same thing for my Harvard app as well)</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 690 CR, 800 M, 780 W (9 essay) --> 1490 // 2270
ACT: 35 C -- 36 E, 36 M, 34 R, 34 S (8 Essay)
SAT II: 800 Chem, 800 Math II, 740 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5%
AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geography (3); World History (4), Chem (5), Physics B (5), Calculus AB (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Band, AP Cal BC, AP Lit, AP Bio, AP Gov't, AP Language, Honors Senior Thesis
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): All-State Band (1st band 3rd chair); Superior Rating, Solo and Ensemble; </p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Jazz band (lead trombonist), Marching Band (section leader), Concert Band (section leader), Quiz Bowl (assistant captain), President - Band Council, Vice Pres. - Science and Engineering Club
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: 141 Hours of volunteering
Summer Activities: Band Camps (1st band 1st chair at all of them), Honor Band trip to Hawaii, volunteering, swim team
Essays: common app - a band experience (all-state audition) and how my passion in music has led me to take honors senior thesis (we write a 60 page paper in this class); supplemental - essay about my dad and his impact on me
Teacher Recommendation: Both excellent
Counselor Rec: excellent
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: N/A </p>

<p>Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Chem
State (if domestic applicant): Arkansas (Little Rock)
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 75K - 100K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none, really, i guess </p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: GPA, ACT scores (Maybe SAT - CR is iffy, i guess), SAT IIs, band stuff
Weaknesses: maybe i could have had a couple more ECs and leadership stuff </p>

<p>This is what I posted in the decision thread. I got deferred at Yale, and would appreciate any input for Harvard. What do you guys recommend that I can do to maybe have a better chance? I was thinking about sending in a CD of me playing my trombone (etudes, solo work), but I never did it for Yale. I think doing that would have helped there. Do you think that if I do it for Harvard that it would help at all? It may be able to really show my passion for music.</p>

<p>Also, would retaking the SAT help any? I know I can break 2300 if I take it again (CR would go up), but I don't know if it's worth it. I don't think my standardized test scores kept me from not getting accepted (considering people with higher scores than me got rejected). </p>

<p>Any input you guys have would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>bump; any input?</p>

<p>by the way, i already submitted my harvard app; i submitted it on Nov. 30, and they downloaded it on Dec. 1</p>

3

<p>I think not sending in a music supplement was a mistake. You are very passionate about music, obviously (like me!) and it probably would have shed a little more light on your love.</p>

<p>Also, hey. I’m from Little Rock, too!</p>

4

<p>Ok, I’ll do a supplement then. I’ve already submitted my stuff, and my counselor mailed off all the school forms and whatnot yesterday, so do you think it’d be all right if I mailed the supplement in with the CD and put all my application ID stuff on there so they can put it all together?</p>

5

<p>Sounds good to me!</p>

6

<p>All right. Thanks for the input!</p>

7

<p>No problem. We’ve got to get some more Little Rock representation into the Ivies, haha.</p>

8

<p>One of my friends at my school got accepted to Yale. 4 of us applied, me and 2 others were deferred, and that one guy was accepted. Hopefully RD will turn out to be better. We had a TON of people at my school get deferred from colleges (UPenn ED, Columbia ED, Yale EA, Stanford EA), with only one person getting into Stanford and one person getting into Yale. Maybe they want something else from all of us before they make their decision. I’m sending in that CD, so hopefully that’s the something they want. I may also send them a revised version of my Common App essay. Luckily nothing was wrong with my Common App (I looked at it this morning), but I did change some stuff (not completely; just reworded a few things) before I sent it off to everywhere else (Harvard, Princeton, etc…). I don’t think that was too important though. I’ll send them that CD and an updated essay, and then inform them of any more band accomplishments around February (All-State tryouts are in February, so if I jump to 1st chair, I’ll definitely let them know that).</p>

<p>And I’ll most likely do the same thing with Harvard and Princeton: send them the CD and let them know of any award updates in February.</p>

9

<p>When are All-State band auditions exactly in February? My choir auditions for State are on the 6th, which is a big BOO because I’ve got auditions for schools that entire first week.</p>

10

<p>6th for Jazz Band and the 7th for Concert Band</p>

<p>and then the actual clinic is the 18th through the 21st</p>

11

<p>I don’t see any need to retake the SAT since your ACT scores are stellar. Send in the music, it can’t hurt. You should check whether you can send it to Yale as well. I know that when my son was deferred a couple of years back (at different schools) he was encourage to send in information about any awards etc. that he received after the original application went in. Getting deferred is a good sign that there was nothing major wrong with your application, but that it was also missing the spark to get in on the first go around. Tweaking essays, adding an outside recommendation, or sending in that music are all ways you might improve the next round of applications.</p>

12

<p>I assume any of this extra stuff I plan to send needs to be postmarked by January 1, correct?</p>

13

<p>Well, let’s put it this way: I sure hope you get in, because we’re basically the same person! haha just replace band stuff with debate stuff.</p>

14

<p>My recollection is that the deferral schools (MIT and Caltech) gave him longer than Jan 1st because he ended up sending them information about the Science Olympiad contest - they qualified for States in January.</p>