chronicidal

Then explain how Harvard has the more National Merit Scholars, Intel STS Finalists, and Presidential Scholars than any other school. I'm sure the case is similar for some of the science-subject olympiads at the national level.

chicagoboy12

innervision: somewhat drastic lies. i dont want to give detaisl incase you notice that one is a classmate you know, but i can generalize. one was as minor as adding about 200 volunteer hours at a non-existant group. another wrote her whole essay about difficulties she had faced through her life, a brother suffering from severe depression almost killing himself, while it was fictional. others bumped themselves up a little, such as being the founder of a club, while they simply werent.

chronicidal: harvard accepts the smart students, obviously. they could, however, form a much smarter class. rather than accepting someone who did big brother or a major volunteer project, harvard could accept the valedictorian with 2350 SAT and that student would enroll at harvard. by rejecting students with better scores and grades, harvard is not trying to get the smartest students, they are rather accepting students to become well rounded, but also being tricked evidently.

DocT

Harvard can get whoever they want. However it would be a pretty dull school if they only accept students based on academics. Besides who says that the valedictorian with a 2350 score is the smartest anyways? Because somebody scores well on a test that doesn't go beyond 9th grade math, they are so smart?

chronicidal

Okay, they try to make the class well-rounded, but to do that they accept tons angular people, including the very top people in a range of areas. A 2350 is not sufficient to get the label of 'angular.'

doctordestiny

chicagoboy12: Harvard realizes that good test scores and a top class rank aren't the best indicators of a good student who would also benefit the campus community. The few academic admits they do take, I'm guessing, have transcended the limited ability these measuring devices have anyways. The bulk of the students need to prove that they can do more than grind the tests and apply what skills they have to something more meaningful.

And besides, intelligence, as Dilbert's Scott Adams points of frequently in his comic, doesn't necessarily equate success. Intelligence can obviously help, but I suspect Harvard wants to pursue applicants with the best potential in general. And wasn't it a Harvard professor who proposed a theory on multiple intelligences anyways? The test scores simply don't capture everything.

The Visionary

@chicagoboy12: There is something fishy about your claim.

chicagoboy12

no DocT, harvard CANT get whoever they want. about 1 in 4 turn down harvard, and one of the reasons that harvard has a high yield is their $$.

and the visionary, to save time for the obviously oncoming comment- no im not a harvard reject trolling through.

and everyone, dont bother to try and make the argument that a college should enroll a wide range of students. i already stated that i admire that about harvard, but i think that the admissions people are getting blind-sided by some of the applicants. ive seen essays that basically get re-written by a teacher then sent in.

guitars101

chicagoboy,

I seriously doubt a teacher would re-write an essay for a random student and send it in for them. What high school teacher would put their job and reputation on the line for a random student?

Harvard can basically get whoever they want, face it.

munchkin3590

1 in 4 turn down Harvard? Nooooo.
Harvard's yeild has typically been the highest of any school in the country.
Higher than 75%, to be certain.

tokenadult

This year's number of admission offers was based on a prediction of about 85 percent yield. I haven't heard thus far that Harvard is resorting to its waiting list this year.

evil_asian_dictator

Harvard will have to resort to their waitlist this year according to what I have seen on these boards/Facebook and heard through personal acquanitances. A LOT of kids are choosing Yale over Harvard this year. Yale will have a higher yield than Harvard this year.

wjb

Tokenadult: Harvard's yield was 79.2% last year. Why do they predict such a large increase in yield for this year? Certainly Y and P, at least, are matching Harvard's financial aid initiative.

tokenadult

That's a prediction about an event that will eventually be known. That would surprise me, although it is possible.

Harvard resorting to the waiting list this year is good news for the people on it, if many offers are made to the waiting list.

mom2319

I have not seen many H and Y cross admit especially this year compared to H and S, or Y and P. I do think these two schools attract different kinds of people. In addition, from prefrosh weekend to local alumni associations, Yale does work a lot harder trying to convince the admitted students to matriculate. I've seen and heard a lot of stories in the past too. On the other hand, during an information session, one of H's admission officer said: "H is not for everyone. there are a lot of schools out there who provides excellent undergraduate education experience". I guess this attitude might have steered some people away.

In the end, I really think when evaluating a school, one should look beyond what's going on during the admission and recruiting process.

1of42

Completely off topic, but Michael Viscardi (the guy who solved the Dirichlet problem) is incredibly impressive and obviously a genius... but apparently nobody told him that the mustache looks utterly atrocious.