My best friend was rejected by Harvard this year (but she was accepted by all the other Ivy Leagues except Brown).
I was just wondering if anyone saw anything wrong with her app (not to sound rude, but so I wouldn't make the same mistake or anything). Was it because she wasn't a perfect 4.0?
Her SAT's were pretty impressive:
SAT I: 2400
SAT II:
Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, French: 800
Her GPA: 3.9
Class rank: 8
She also attended math and physics classes at a local university because she finished the courses they offered at her highschool.
Her teacher recommendations were "glowing" (said her counselor). They were written by her European history, Calculus, and physics teacher.
She won piano performance competitions at the national and state levels (and a not-so-well-known international one in Italy). She also plays the violin and is first-violin in her school orchestra.
She qualified for the AIME her freshman, sophomore, and junior years. She had also won a poetry contest and had her works published.
She's on varsity tennis and is the team captain. She's also a NHS president. She has over 700 hours of volunteer work for environmental organizations. She led several fundraisers at her school and raised a couple thousand dollars for local organizations. She also founded the "green" club (environmental/water club) with 20 members.
She is in French club, Green club, Math team, Rocket club, knowledge bowl, NHS, and does tutoring after school.
I don't really know how the interview went. She said it was fine (same goes for the essay).
She lives in the US, but she is an international student because she's not a citizen and doesn't have any of the complicated American-citizenship-somethings.
I personally don't understand what she did wrong, so it would really help me if someone could point out what she could have improved on. I'm planning on applying to Harvard next year.
Thank you!!! I really appreciate your time and thoughts.
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