How To Get Into Harvard (by a Harvard student) - Page 4

ohio_mom · 07-02-2006, 12:44 PM

"I'm just saying its driving me crazy trying to figure what they want to be in that dish"

You and a lot of other people. Unless you are a developmental admit with a good profile, you're not looking at certainty, here. What is important is to be true to yourself and not try to remake youself into 'what the colleges want'. Remember that its your/your folk's dime that this is on. You want a college that is a great fit for you.

ohio_mom · 07-02-2006, 01:00 PM

WindCloudUltra -

"I'd like a good mix of poets, musicians, athletes, passionate future politicians (who might become corrupt one day....who knows?) around me. Frankly, if this is the recipe you're referring to, I like the dish."

Exactly: this is one of the great advantages of attending an institution such as Harvard: you do get a fascinating mix of kids. What it does *not* mean is that the next poet laureate would necessarilly be admitted if there were a crop of promising poets that year. It's wonderful if you are admitted - but you shouldn't take it to heart if you are not.

oracle1 · 07-02-2006, 02:27 PM

"but you shouldn't take it to heart if you are not"

that will be impossible

Divanny · 07-02-2006, 03:31 PM

Oh c'mon. It's just college admissions. There's no reason to rest so much on the sometimes arbitrary decisions of one ad com.

oracle1 · 07-02-2006, 03:39 PM

easier to say than do.

Divanny · 07-02-2006, 03:42 PM

You're already setting yourself up for a way too stressful senior year. Yeah, you can try as hard as you can - you can even be a little upset if all your hard work isn't as fruitful as you would like. But there's no point to resting the success of your senior year on one dumb decision. Anyways, lighten up.

WindCloudUltra · 07-02-2006, 05:01 PM

i still don't know why some people attempt to apply to every single IVY. They are all different in many respects: location, size, culture, academics and curriculum; I don't buy the reasoning that "if I apply to all 8, my chances will go up in that I at least get into one." With that mindset, you are making the mistake of thinking that just because the 8 schools are part of a specific "athletics" league, that they are all "great schools." I can almost with complete certainty say that someone happy at one place may not be at another.

As for those who just want to see if they can shoot to get into all 8, my gosh what ego?

xjayz · 07-02-2006, 05:50 PM

WindCloudUltra: Although I myself did not apply for all eight Ivies and as a rising sophomore at Harvard, I can understand the reasoning behind this craze to apply for all eight Ivy League colleges. I think the book, "The Early Admissions Game," explains it the best.

As they put it in this book, college admissions offices are the ones who set the rules for the game and were in this game for decades. Applicants are just amateurs in the game, who have only one shot - kind of like rolling a dice once and hoping it lands on one lucky number (that you don't even know, only the admissions office does) - to receive a coveted acceptance letter to an Ivy.

In this scenario, if I had the option and the money to do so, I would have certainly thrown in applications to all eight Ivy Leagues and hired a private college counselor. I would have basically used all the resources I had at my disposal to realistically maximize my chances at an Ivy League college. This is why I cannot blame those who do.

WindCloudUltra · 07-02-2006, 06:08 PM

xjayz....
When I was a senior in high school...I only applied to a few schools...My total number of applications was 6. I only picked schools that I thought were the right fit for me and offered the academic, extracurricular opportunities, type of school and location that suited what I wanted to pursue. I yanked quite a few IVYs off that list; they just didn't interest me. I ended up at a highly ranked non-IVY school last year and due to certain circumstances, I am transferring this fall. Even with careful research (and with the thought that I am going to a school that would offer me what I want- it still didn't work out.)

My question for the people who did apply to all 8 IVYS...If you were rejected from all 7 save one (and it's of little consequence which one they were accepted into), would you be happy at that one school? Would you attend? In the end, it just seems like disingenuous "prestige whoring" to me. (I hate that term by the way; it makes me cringe.) Why does it have to be IVY or nothing.

P.S. I should note that i am transferring to an IVY this fall before others accuse me of anything...I will say however, it is for legitimate reasons and I will happily explain to anyone who cares to know.

oracle1 · 07-02-2006, 07:32 PM

windcloud and others....

prestige horing is an excellent choice of words (hope you don't mind me taking that from you)

But as the earlier poster said, admissions is like rolling a dice. If you apply to one ivy, you should have a 1/6th chance. But if you apply to 2 ivys, you should have a 1/3rd chance of getting into one (in theory). True, as the poster said the ivy is just an athletic league, but it is obviously much much more. The ivys (just going by the numbers) are were the job recruiters come, where the starting salaries are higher, where the endowments are greater, where (generally) the schools are better. True, I may be better suited for one ivy over another. But I don't have the luxury about being picky over an ivy. I've done everything right to get to this point, but it is only logical for me to maximize my chances in this unfortunately ultra-competitive cycle. I don't think there is a college out there where if I got accepted, people would say "how in the world did he get in". But as the process is somewhat random, MIT and Dartmouth could accept while Brown and Cornell reject, or they could all reject, or they could all accept, or they could all defer, or 8 of them could defer and one could accept, or any of a million combinations.

divanny-- i would love to relax...maybe once im into college i can, but sadly, my college is far too important to be "dont worry be happy" chill

ohio_mom · 07-02-2006, 07:48 PM

"but it is only logical for me to maximize my chances in this unfortunately ultra-competitive cycle"

At this point, you do the best you can on each and every application, and play the ED card if are able to. If you apply to a couple of RD schools first (preferably ones that are a very good fit, even if not ivy-covered) you will have gone through the process and will have had that moment of remorse after hitting submit - that you could have done something better.

Divanny · 07-02-2006, 09:14 PM

Oracle, though I realize Harvard is important to you and is the only place at which you can imagine yourself, keep in mind the little-known fact that Harvard as an institution was founded not for humans but for cockroaches.

Indeed, back in the early seventeenth century--1636, to be exact--King Charles I, little realizing that his doom would soon come in about a decade, realized that the best way to alleviate the worsening pest situation in London was to open up an 'outlet' in the colonies. Though Virginia was originally considered, King Charles I’s trusted advisor recommended a field on the outskirts of Boston--a field which we today know as Harvard yard. Harvard yard exhaled a distinct and terrible odor, owing to the typical New England swamp water which seeped under the grass. This odor acted as a sort of magnetic force for bugs: once in, they could not leave. The solution on King Charles' eyes was simple: draw the pests to Harvard yard and leave them there. Of course, he saw fit to house them in ornate Georgian residences.

So you see, oracle, everything which is today exalted was once demeaned. Once you embrace this historical relativism, your life will be much easier. Enjoy it while you still can. You set your own course--don't let anyone else do it for you.

Especially not cockroaches.

m_c · 07-02-2006, 11:02 PM

You never know what will happen to your "first choice" down the road. I didn't even want to apply to Harvard -- I was dead set against it. My first choice was Yale, my 2nd was Brown, my 3rd was Dartmouth and that was it. My ma asked me to apply and because she was paying for my application fees and because H used the common app, I finally gave in and applied. Until March 30, my first choice remained YaleYaleYale. I had my heart set on it (after being deferred EA). It was the first rejection I received that day and it sucked a lot. I started thinking I wouldn't get into any of my schools.. I actually remember looking at the email with the subject line: "Harvard Admissions Decision" thinking, 'i really don't want to open this..' ..I was that down about Yale. But after being admitted to several schools, including Harvard, I realized how lucky I was to have a choice of several incredible schools. And after visiting my top choices, I fell completely in love with Harvard+the Cambridge area, and I couldn't be happier to be going in the fall. You never know what will happen to your "top choice" in the next 10 months... keep an open mind.

k-theory · 07-03-2006, 12:02 AM

too much effort for me T_T

oracle1 · 07-03-2006, 01:29 AM

Divanny--- very interesting post.

I really like this thread.

You all are right, I have little idea or control about where I will end up. All I can hope is that everything will work out in the end. Stanford is actually my #1, but I would love Harvard/Yale or all the others almost as much or maybe even more