Chance Me: Do I have a shot at Harvard REA as a student who has been on national television

Chance Me / Match Me
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    • Gender: Male
  • Location: Vermont (rural)
  • Grade: Rising Junior
  • Income Bracket: Middle
  • competitiveType of School: Rural Public School (non-competitive)
  • Hooks: (National news coverage on media, published Op-ed on CNN, TV hits with BBC World News (x2 Primetime as a journalist) and CNN (x2 Primetime) for political analysis, profiles on other news sites, political impact from a young age).

Intended Major(s): Political Science

Academics

  • GPA (UW/W): 3.88UW / 4.4 W
  • Rank (or percentile): school doesn’t do rank

  • Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc

    • Freshman-Junior Year:11 Honors/3 APs/1 Dual Enrollment (school only has 4 APs available)
    • Senior Year Course Load: ~6
    • Personal Study: Algebra 2 honors, AP World, AP Macro,

Standardized Testing

  • SAT: not taken (in a couple of months,)
  • AP: all 5s

Extracurriculars/Activities

  1. Podcast Host (9th-12th)– Created and host a political podcast with 1,000+ listeners per episode and interviews with members of Congress and national political leaders.
  2. Opinion Writer (9th-12th) – online newspaper (not a major news site but still reputable). Published national opinion pieces on civic engagement and elections, professionally edited and widely read.
  3. Paid Political Intern (10th for 2024 election)– Created opposition research on rival candidates in swing districts, created campaign videos, and analyzed statehouse voting records during a paid internship.
  4. Cofounder & Editor (11th-12) – High School Newspaper – Launched my school’s first student newspaper, managing editorial decisions and publishing 15+ issues.
  5. Paid Recording Secretary (10th)– Local town – Appointed town government clerk, responsible for official meeting minutes — the only student in the county with this role.
  6. Fellow – Civic Innovation Academy (9th) – Selected for an all-expense-paid competitive civic leadership program (7-10% acceptance rate), collaborating with national peers and elected officials.
  7. Freelance Political Analyst / TV Commentator (9th-12th) – Featured on CNN, BBC World News, and other media networks for political analysis.
  8. Senior fellow at high school think tank (9th-12th)-- Head of the Center on Politics, producing election analysis and public opinion research. (Lowk hasn’t done much for this, so considering taking it out)
  9. (will be community service, gonna work in local elections my junior year)
  10. (will be a student representative on my school board in my junior year )

Awards and Honors

  1. Invited Speaker – prestigious journalism conference at a T20 university – spoke to 500 people on my experiences in an all-expense-paid trip – youngest speaker in event’s history
  2. Op-Ed Publication – Published nationally featured Op-ed after months of research and editorial review.
  3. School award for social studies
  4. (tbd, will figure out something this year)
  5. (tbd, will figure out something this year)

Letters of Recommendation

  • My school counsellor whom I have a really good relationship
  • (tbd what teachers)

Essays: I am unsure yet, will figure it out soon. But I have a couple of personal ideas (don’t want to be doxed), and people think they are good topics.

Dream: Harvard

Reach: Dartmouth (love), Yale (love), Stanford, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Princeton (legacy), Duke (legacy), Berkeley, Georgetown (love), Vanderbilt, Northwestern, UChicago, UCLA, Oxford, Cambridge, Amherst

Safety: UNH, Saint Anselm College

I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this. Firstly, currently I am focusing on locking in a good SAT score. I feel that my ECs are strong, but I know I need to boost my GPA and get better stats to match other applicants. Secondly, I’m genuinely curious whether people think my application is strong enough to take a shot at Harvard REA. For context, I prefer not to apply to schools where I’m a legacy - I’d like to get in on my own merit. That’s just a personal decision, and to be honest, Princeton and Duke haven’t really appealed to me anyway. Harvard, on the other hand, has stood out as my top choice for political science, and I really liked it when I visited. I know getting in is obviously next to impossible, but I’m just wondering if I have even a small chance..

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FYI, the info you posted above is enough to dox you in one google search (I just cut and pasted a bit of your post into google), so you might want to remove some of the specifics about news media, published material, etc.

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Apply and see. You have a chance like others with strong applications. But the acceptance rate is very low.

Many universities want one humanities teacher and one STEM teacher…who have had you as a student. You have neither.

And some colleges do not allow additional recommendations.

@skieurope @Mwfan1921 do you happen to know what Harvard recommends (which really means requires)?

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My kid had two extra letters for Harvard related to music. I think a letter from someone familiar with performance at a major EC would be fine but I would check with admissions.

You are very accomplished- and busy. Don’t burn out! For safeties I always like Colleges that Change Lives ctcl.org. The idea of a dream school can be harmful, but you know that.

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My view might not be popular but I would use any advantage that you perceive to have. Getting into college the last few year’s has been very tough for even the best students.

You seem to have made a name for yourself. That just didn’t magically happen. Use that to your advantage. The key with the application and essay is to separate yourself. I would be asking everyone at CNN etc that you know if they have any alumni connections. But that’s me… Lol.

Any school would be fortunate to get you.

Good luck.

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Do you have a chance - yes. SAT dependent.

Will it be because of your media reach.

In part, as that is part of you - a passion you have.

Will you get in because you were on tv specifically - no.

A lot of your list will be SAT dependent.

Nohing wrong with UNH and Saint Anselm but given your list, I’m sure you can come up with other safeties that fit you better. The safeties are “THE” most important item on your list - because they are the stop gap; where one with a list like this is likely to end up. So, as an example, would you rather UNH than and just throwing out strong Pol Sci names - Pitt, Syracuse, or Indiana? You have time - but it’s what you should focus on.

Also, given your list, I assume you don’t need aid and can afford over $80K a year, what UCLA costs now for tuition, room & board - so will be higher in two years.

As for LORs, Harvard says:

Teacher Evaluations

Ask two teachers in different academic subjects who know you well to complete the Teacher Recommendation forms (which includes an evaluation form and a letter of recommendation). If you wish to submit additional letters of recommendation, you can do so after you submit your application. In your application confirmation email, there will be a personalized link to send to your recommenders.

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You’ll have to choose one of these - UCAS doesn’t allow you to apply for both in the same year. Make sure you read their admission requirements for US students carefully.

Do you have 5s on all your APs so far?

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I know, leaning towards Oxford but we will see. And yes, I do have 5s on all my AP’s currently!

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@cp10 most of your reach schools meet full need for all accepted students. BUT UCLA and Berkeley won’t offer you need based or significant merit aid. Can your family afford the $76,000 a year cost to attend these colleges?

There are net price calculators on each college website. Please run them with your parents so that you can all determine if these colleges will be affordable.

If your parents will pay the costs for you to attend any college…please give them a HUGE hug and thank you.

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A few comments:
— Certainly you have a shot but the majority of the schools on your list have under 10% acceptance rates and are reaches for any unhooked applicant.
–Do you have four years of the five core subjects (English, Math, Science (including bio, chem, and physics), SS,and Foreign Language)?
–Have you had the money conversation with your parents? Be sure the schools are affordable.
–It is important to take the time to write thoughtful and schol-specific supplemental essays for your reaches. Cut down your list if necessary.
–Study for standardized tests. They will be a meaningful factor.
–Find some match schools. I don’t like application lists with only reach and safety schools.

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If you’re interested in Oxford and Cambridge, give St. Andrew’s (Scotland) and Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) a shot. They’re both very good as well.

Harvard does like applicants who have gone out and established themselves on their own with their accomplishments. I think you have a shot although even for the most competitive applicants, it’s still a long shot.

It seems like you could use some more schools between your reaches and your safeties. Here are some which occur to me that could be a good fit for your interests:

Claremont McKenna
Colgate
Grinnell
Pitzer
Rice
Union
Washington U, St. Louis
Wesleyan

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Cannot offer a reasonable guess without a standardized test score (ACT or SAT).

Conjuring up awards or honors in order to bolster one’s college application is the opposite of what elite schools seek in an applicant; elite schools value awards & honors given on the basis of an applicant’s passionate dedication, sacrifice, & hard work for a cause.

Your resume as posted demonstrates that you are prolific, but not necessarily mature, brilliant, influential, or a leader. Hopefully, your work indicates otherwise.

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Thank you for the advice! I wouldn’t consider myself any of those positive adjectives just because I am still very young. But I do know that I am very, very passionate about what I do, and it’s definitely not a facade to get into college. I think I can reflect that on my application. The awards/honors I was looking at were USSYP, which has always been on my radar as a source of interest for me personally. I’m happy to say that the previous ones I received were not for a motive of college, but genuine passion for journalism/politics.

I think you bring up excellent points, certainly countering the stigma around applications currently where you have to fake yourself to get in - I really appreciate it!

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If you are doing this…you likely won’t be accepted.

I like the things you have done. Harvard is a reach for everyone. If you don’t get accepted, you will never know why. But it’s not likely because you lack awards. Agree…don’t conjure up awards to hopefully impress adcoms. If you get awards, fine…list them.

You have only two years of HS grades so far, right? At the end of your junior year, and after taking the SAT or ACT, you will have a better idea of which colleges might be good ones to apply to, and be accepted to.

If no one else has said this, please look for a couple of sure things for admission that you like, that are affordable. Find those first. It’s easy to find reach schools. UNH sounds like a good choice to me, but why St. Anselms? Look at some other places. There are a lot of schools between those reaches, and St. Anselms.

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Don’t worry, thankfully I am not doing that. I know a lot of people who do however and it really restricts them from finding what they are really interested in. Like I know people who found fake non profits for the sake of standing out for example, which sounds really dumb to me since AO can likely can spot the facade from a mile away.

Thanks, I appreciate that, I will start looking for more schools like UNH (applying for a political based scholarship there). Thanks for the advice!

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An optional admissions tool–Dialogue Portfolio–is being utilized by six ultra-elite universities (U Chicago, Northwestern, WashUStL, Columbia, MIT, & Vanderbilt) and by one highly selective, thoughtful LAC (Colby College in Maine) which could benefit your candidacy for admission to these schools.

Another thread on this website (NYT Piece on “Dialogues” Portfolios) offers useful links to help applicants to understand this new application component.

In your thread, you have expressed interest in four of these schools (U Chicago, Northwestern, Columbia, & Vanderbilt).