<p>California Cutie .....Thanks for the HOPE!</p>
<p>*Decision: ACCEPTED *</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT: 1230 (600V/630M)
[</em>] SAT IIs: 690/630/660
[<em>] GPA: 81%
[</em>] Rank:no rank
[<em>] Other stats: AP Macro 4, Bio 3
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Essays: average, finished them in an hour
[<em>] Teacher Recs: dont know, I suppose they were fine
[</em>] Counselor Rec: I think hes talked to me like once
[<em>] Hook (if any):
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[</em>] State or Country: Canada, Ontario
[<em>] School Type: Public
[</em>] Ethnicity: White
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] major strength/weakness: I'm lazy and spoiled
[li] why you think you were accepted/rejected/defered: see below[/li][/ul]Other Factors:
Dad graduated in 67, has donated about 2 million $ since then</p>
<p>cough* hoax cough* ... otherwise.. the type of crud that makes harvard hated by hardworking kids.</p>
<p>wait who's your father, Bill Gates?! :P
good for u!</p>
<p>Why would you want to go to Harvard if you're lazy?</p>
<p>cause they inflate your grades like no other... wow i love harvard its such a perfect school for me... i love the spoils system too</p>
<p>i hate u spydertennis LOL</p>
<p>Yea you lie Mr Met</p>
<p>congratulations mr met! good luck next year</p>
<p>Decision: Rejected</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT: 1510 ; 800 M/710 V
[</em>] SAT IIs: 800 Math II/800 Writing/790 Chemistry
[<em>] GPA: 4.0/4.0 Unweighted
[</em>] Rank: 6/574
[li] Other stats: [/li]-RSI Scholar
-top 3 in Univeristy Interscholastic League (UIL) in Mathematics since 6th grade at both District/State levels
-Intel Semifinalist
-Various state level awards in piano
-National Merit Finalist
-300 Hours in community service at our local soup kitchen
-Spent majority of summer doing research work at the University of Texas at Austin Chemical Engineering Department (I guess this goes hand in hand with Intel, as aforementioned).<br>
-President of NHS; President of Mu Alpha Theta; Vice President of chess club. For NHS I took it upon my own responsibility to seek out and work collaboratively with other local organizations to help solve the homeless problem in our area. I thought this was semi-unique because it showed leadership. </p>
<p>-I took 11 AP classes throughout my high school career, and I received 5s on all the AP tests I have taken so far. </p>
<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Essays: I gave it my all in these. I really thought it reflected my natural intellectual curiosity and motivation in academics, a quality that I thought Harvard was looking for.<br>
[</em>] Teacher Recs: Very good. Calculus teacher regarded me as "the best student in [her] career."
[<em>] Counselor Rec: Astounding.
[</em>] Hook (if any): None. My cousin went to Harvard, but I do not think that counts as a legacy.<br>
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[<em>] State or Country: Texas
[</em>] School Type: Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: Asian (Indian, to be specific)
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] major strength/weakness: Science is my strength.<br>
[</em>] why you think you were accepted/rejected/defered: Weak SAT score; poor rank; not Intel finalist. I was not the type of student Harvard was looking for.
[/ul]Other Factors:
Congradulations to everyone who made it. You all truly deserved it. Best wishes to you all.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you are ranked 1st or 2nd in your graduating HS class, get above a 700 on all 5 of you SAT tests (Math, Verbal, and 3 tests from SAT IIs), have at least a score of 4 or 5 on 3 AP tests, you are an academic 1. Since only 10% of applicants make up this category, academic ones are a definite LOCK for admission.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't know who told you this, but they are completely out of touch with reality. This is totally misguided.</p>
<p>Joey</p>
<p>dmVP29, you do not have a weak SAT score or a poor rank. You are clearly a qualified student and the reason Harvard rejected you is obviously not because you didn't make it to the intel finals. You and I are just testimonies of the arbitrariness of college admissions in highly competitive schools.</p>
<p>jprencipe, I agree with you. I highly doubt that only 10% of applicants are ranked 1st or 2nd in their graduating HS class, get above a 700 on all SATs, and have scores of at least 4 on 3 AP exams. I personally know twenty-six students who got 1500+ on their SAT I, 800s on three SAT IIs, and 5s on all of their AP exams who were rejected from Harvard. Mere academics are definitely NOT a lock for admissions from highly selective colleges.</p>
<p>
[quote]
RSI Scholar
[/quote]
That itself should have definitely made you an admission lock for Harvard, along with your impeccable scores, grades, etc. dmVP29. Did you commit a felony or something dude??? There are not enough qualified students, either academically or otherwise, in this country to reject a person like you. Your obvious passion for research, academic merit, benevolence for the homeless, and dedication for your EC's are amazing!!! It ***<em>ses me off that applicants like you, who have obviously worked hard their lives, are turned away in favor of other students who will increase the "DIVERSITY</em> of the Harvard class. For us Asians, being hardworkers and overachievers are our only true crimes and now prove to be our downfall. Our race is being cheated and turned away from to-p academic institutions because of our own academic superiority and talents. I wish you the best of luck in the coming years for wherever you ended up at.</p>
<p>On the bright side, India nad China are gaining steam on the international stage and it won't be long before they overtake the United States in terms of economic prosperity and the job market. The decline of higher education in this nation will become apparent once all the Asians emigrate back to their respective nations. Then there will be no Asians to develop software, conduct groundbreaking research, manage companies, etc. and the U.S. will spiral downwards into depression, and then HYP and others will realize how important Asians really are.</p>
<p>PS: I hope I don't offend anybody with my elitist attitude right now but I am really outraged by the tragic turn that higher education in this country is taking.</p>
<p>umm, dmVP29, no one from Austin or Westlake HS was a semifinalist at Intel...</p>
<p>Decision: REJECTED</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT:1460
[</em>] SAT IIs: 760, 690, 630
[<em>] GPA:4.4 w
[</em>] Rank: Top 5%
[<em>] Other stats:
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Essays: OK
[<em>] Teacher Recs:excellent
[</em>] Counselor Rec: great i guess
[<em>] Hook (if any):none
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[</em>] State or Country:MA
[<em>] School Type:public
[</em>] Ethnicity:white
[<em>] Gender:male
[</em>] major strength/weakness:music (band)
[li] why you think you were accepted/rejected/defered:too smart[/li][/ul]Other Factors:</p>
<p>Hey Social_Pariah you are correct, and I sent you my explanation via private message.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It ***<em>ses me off that applicants like you, who have obviously worked hard their lives, are turned away in favor of other students who will increase the "DIVERSITY</em> of the Harvard class.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Meh, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I did all my activities because I enjoyed doing them, not because I wanted to impress college admissions, though that certainly is a nice bonus. </p>
<p>I do, however, feel for the students who worked as hard as they did because their dream was to go to Harvard. </p>
<p>
[quote]
That itself should have definitely made you an admission lock for Harvard
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Another user on this board not only had RSI, but he came from a relatively poor socioeconomic group, and he was deferred EA and rejected RD I believe. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Did you commit a felony or something dude??? There are not enough qualified students, either academically or otherwise, in this country to reject a person like you.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>heh nah I did not. My cousin who went to Harvard sat on the admissions committee for a few years. He told me the decision was most likely due to the fact that I had little non-academic ECs. Something like a sport of some sort (I've never played any sport for middle school/high school, though I do play in my spare time) or other fine arts type deal. I mean, I have piano, but I was only involved with it on a fairly local/state level.</p>
<p>
[quote]
but I am really outraged by the tragic turn that higher education in this country is taking.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I definitely agree with you on this to some extent. There's a person who my friend knows. This person's mom holds a fairly high political status, and thus has numerous connections. She had Condoleeza Rice right a recommendation for her son to stanford, and her son got in with noticeably lower scores/EC involvment than others.</p>
<p>I see absolutely no justice in a decision like that. My friend knows this person first hand (he has some classes with him in his school). He told me that this person has failed the last two Calculus exams at their school. I don't know about you, but I don't know if a person of that academic calibur is deserving of a spot in Stanford, simply because the Secretary of State wrote a recommendation.</p>
<p>I've been borderline failing calculus all year. And I still managed to get into very decent schools.</p>
<p>dmVP29 is lying, as Staticsoliloquy pointed out.</p>
<p>There are two types of Affirmative Action---Rich Man's and Overcoming---Lots of rich man's affirmative action at all the Ivie (I would guess about 7-10% of all admissions) and quite a bit of Overcoming AA at the Ivies. Maybe they balance things out. Daddy gives 2 million, then your SAT's, EC's and Grades get a nice bounce---</p>
<p>man, that sucks, if only my last name was Gates...........
Is that true, does anybody get any advantage for donations and stuff like that.</p>