SkiEurope, looking forward–Yes it would surprise me if there were many Harvard admits with scores such as those listed above (very good but not stellar) who are not legacy/development admits and who have not been involved in any national activities (ranked player in a sport, academic competitions, music performances, publishing, etc) or have won national awards of some sort. (I’m not talking about winning a Pulitzer Prize, by the way). Since there are so many students who have that level of involvement along with stronger grades/scores, I wonder what the basis for the acceptance was. SkiEurope, did you attend Harvard recently? I’d think most students would have either stellar scores or other things that distinguish them above local and regional activities-except legacy and development admits. I know more students who’ve attended that other school down Mass Ave and most of them certainly have such credentials; and the same has been true for students I’ve known at Harvard. I’m surprise that it’s not true for most students at Harvard. Not all. And maybe not a while ago. But now.
She does list Math UIL-but I don’t believe involvement necessitates any particular strength in math-although the score might. And she does list involvement in some other math competitions but she appears not to have had sustained involvement in any. She is a very strong candidate for most schools in the US-but she should certainly not count on Harvard.