ivychan

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.

Hamman

wow, that's a very impressive resume. First of all, I'm just going to say it: admissions to ivy league schools is not a crap shoot. No matter how much people would like to believe that, it's just not.

I spent the most time on my harvard application and I think it really showed. I actually submitted my harvard, stanford, and rice applications in at the same time (i.e. with same quality essays, etc.) However, I submitted my Yale and Princeton application in early because of a program I was affiliated with early in the year. Those applications were nowhere close to the caliber of my later applications.

Case in point, college applications depend on how well you sell yourself to each university. Maybe Harvard wasn't her top choice and she didn't feel like dedicating the a lot of time to that application. Different schools require different essays or supplements so maybe, she just decided that harvard was not as important as princeton or some other ivy league schools.

Remember, you need to learn how to sell yourself. EC's and stats are only the bricks of your application. It's up to you to lay the foundation and build your way up. Sorry if that was too corny lol...

latenightworker

I'm not quite sure, after seeing her amazing stats, but it may have something to do with her essays. Harvard usually puts a lot of weight on the quality of the essay submitted.

ivychan

Thank you so much!
I really appreciate it.

She applied to the business major, which I think is pretty popular at Harvard (?)

luzbrillante

Yes, that is a top major at Harvard. It's not likely that she was rejected b/c she wants to enter an already crowded field, but that may not have really helped either.

ivychan

So applying for a crowded major doesn't hurt an application? I'm not very clear on it.

piccolojunior

It doesn't affect it all. You can switch you concentration when you get to Harvard, so looking at it from that perspective is pointless...

ivychan

Okay. Thanks!

So how much weight does Harvard put into a 4.0? More or less than SAT scores?

bigman

What are you talking about--there is no "business major" at Harvard. Maybe that's why she got rejected. No business major at any Ivy--unless you want to throw the Wharton School at Penn into the mix

ivychan

But she wanted something to do with business--sorry I wasn't clear enough. I think she wanted to study economics or something. It was in the social science category, so I just assumed that it was business. Sorry!

bigman

No need to apologize. Just sounded as though your ultra-impressive friend didn't do her homework. I get you now.

CAC

I really am no expert, but could it be that this girl´s resumé is TOO much? I mean if she is really involved in all those clubs, plus tutoring, plus sports, plus an incredible level of music study...it seems she would have not a minute to be just a kid. I think Harvard looks for well-rounded kids who excel, but also authenticity. It seems this girl might have taken on so much just to look good on paper, but it doesn´t show a genuine deep interest in one or two things.

franglish

Just out of curiosity, why did she apply to all the Ivys? They are all so different, that it seems as though she just wanted the prestige of attending an Ivy League school. Seems like she didn't do all the necessary research after all!

Narcissa

WOW. thats perttyy awsome :O

and franglish, people apply to all the ivies all the time. who cares

JohnC613

so she's foreign? is she asian?