<p>gibby, thanks for this post..</p>
<p>Lol I just post chance threads for fun. I guess I will know my REAL chances in December. Hehe</p>
<p>Although this article is not about Harvard, it gives the reader somewhat of an understanding of the holistic applications process: <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/education/edlife/lifting-the-veil-on-the-holistic-process-at-the-university-of-california-berkeley.html?hp[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/education/edlife/lifting-the-veil-on-the-holistic-process-at-the-university-of-california-berkeley.html?hp</a></p>
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<p>Thank you for this.</p>
<p>What makes an applicant competitive?</p>
<p>Generally speaking, a student is a competitive applicant for a college if their ACT/SAT and GPA fall within a university’s mid-range as defined by a school’s “Common Data Set.” </p>
<p>In Harvard’s case that means having a GPA in the top 10% of your high school’s graduating class (unweighted 3.75+), and an ACT/SAT score of about 32-33+ or 2100-2200+. See the C9, C10 and C11 data in Harvard’s Common Data Set: <a href=“http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/CDS_2011-2012_Final.pdf[/url]”>http://www.provost.harvard.edu/institutional_research/CDS_2011-2012_Final.pdf</a></p>
<p>Gibby You are awesome, Thank you</p>
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<li>I realized that Ivies needs students who will bring something to the institution, Thats why Many of Harvard students say “Do What you love”</li>
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<p>I have just read this thread after posting a chance thread and I have to say Gibby, you opened my eyes to what really matters. Thank you for that. I will go ahead and delete that previous thread now.</p>
<p>Although this video is about Amherst Admissions, it provides a glimpse into the process of what happens behind closed doors: [College</a> Admissions: Inside the Decision Room - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-OLlJUXwKU]College”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-OLlJUXwKU)</p>
<p>The interview chair of my state (small population) called us soon after my daughter was admitted to the class of 2018. He reiterated Dean Fitzsimmons’s point about strong character and singled out my D’s long commitment to the Girl Scouts and the way she’s helped younger girls at summer camp. He made another point that I found very interesting. Harvard looks for students who will be good roommates! I suspect experienced interviewers are pretty good at telling the difference between a suck-up and an applicant who is genuinely easy to get along with.</p>
<p>Hey I’m an Int. student. I have incredible extracurricular s a great SAT >2300, but I have a low GPA (3.0). Now with this stats I don’t think I could get into Harvard but I have an exceptional Talent in writing and am planning on publishing my own thriller Fiction this summer or at the beginning of next year. As I’ve heard from most people my book excels every thriller book on paper right now in our country let alone books written by authors of my generation. </p>
<p>But there’s one problem, I’m graduating from high school this year and I can’t transfer from a local college to Harvard next year (b/c of curriculum rules). I am planning to deffer a year from whichever college(local) takes me in to finish my book and do all the publication. Besides It will give me the chance to apply to Harvard and other top schools for freshmen year. So what I want to hear from you guys is what are my chances as an international student and also is it possible to do what i explained earlier in order to apply for freshmen year?</p>
<p>First off, you need to understand how things work in Admissions for International students. Although Harvard doesn’t have quotas, they only accept about 160 to 200 International students per year (about 10% to 12% of the overall number of accepted students). So, your chances as an International student are much less than those for US students, as you are competing with thousands of brilliant students from Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and South America for those 160 to 200 beds..</p>
<p>Secondly, Harvard (and all selective colleges really) are academic institutions and look to accept students that are exceptional scholars in the classroom. Your high school transcript and the rigor of your course load comes first, and then everything else. Unless you are a recruited athlete with a national or international ranking in your sport, a 3 0 GPA is just going to be too low for Harvard, no mater how unique your extracurriculars or how high your SAT (sorry).</p>
<p>You’re welcome to send in an application and see what happens – many International and domestic students do with your GPA and test scores – but go through the SCEA and RD Accepted Student threads and try to find one kid that has similar stats to you. I doubt you will find anyone.</p>
<p>FWIW, See: <a href=“http://www.hio.harvard.edu/abouthio/statistics/pdf/StudentsSchoolCountryRank13-14.pdf”>http://www.hio.harvard.edu/abouthio/statistics/pdf/StudentsSchoolCountryRank13-14.pdf</a> and pay attention to COLUMN 2 (College - which is the undergraduate school). How many students from your country are at Harvard? Those are totals, so divide by 4 to get an idea of how many freshman from each country have been admitted in the past.</p>
<p>There aren’t many admitted students from my country and that doesn’t bother me at all. I really believe I am different. Besides See: <a href=“Harvard University: Acceptance Rate, SAT/ACT Scores, GPA”>http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/harvard-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm</a></p>
<p>You can clearly see the green and blue dots even under the 3.0 GPA margin line. As I have read these kind of students aren’t even compared with the whole applicants they are simply compared with the students of remarkable talents, therefore have a great chance of getting accepted.I am talking about the whole holistic admission thing and how it benefits me more than any body.</p>
<p>It even says —don’t give up hope of getting into Harvard if you don’t have a 4.0 and a 2400 on the SAT. Harvard has holistic admissions, and they are looking for students who bring to campus more than good grades and test scores. Students who have some kind of remarkable talent or have a compelling story to tell will get a close look even if grades and test scores aren’t quite up to the ideal.</p>
<p>And as of the competition between my fellow international students I don’t think they have published a thriller novel with great reviews so far. So don’t you think I am more competitive than them?</p>
<p>Who do you think will get admitted to Harvard the Asian with amazing ECs, perfect SATs a 4.0 GPA or the student whose country is extremely underrepresented at Harvard plus with incredible ECs, great SATs,a 3.0 GPA, but above all a critically admired published author from an unexpected developing country.</p>
<p>You missed my other point; STOP HIJACKING other people’s threads with your questions and start your own thread. </p>
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<p>When Harvard went back to SCEA, their early admit rate was pretty comparable to YPS – and it was easy to accept their explanation that your chances in the SCEA round were no different than the RD round.</p>
<p>However, last year Harvard took more than half their class (895 students) early – that’s 246 more students than Yale took SCEA, 198 more students than Princeton took SCEA and 170 more students than Stanford took SCEA.</p>
<p>By taking so many more applicants in the SCEA round than their peers – both in sheer numbers and percentage wise – Harvard is letting student’s know that if you really want Harvard, your chances are better by applying in the early round.</p>
<p>Class of 2018 SCEA Acceptance Rates:
Stanford = 10.77%
Yale = 15.47%
Princeton = 18.53%
Harvard = 21.24%.</p>
<p>Holistic means that your acceptance is based upon other factors besides just test scores. </p>
<p>Colleges uses test scores to gauge if you can do the work on their campus. The higher your scores, the less an Admissions Director will question how you would do if admitted. At the ivies, once your test scores are used to calculate the Academic Index (<a href=“College Search & Lists - College Confidential Forums”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/academic_index.htm</a>), other more subjective factors come into play, such as your transcript rigor, GPA, teacher recommendations, EC’s and essays.</p>
<p>Look at this recent survey of Harvard Freshman: <a href=“The Harvard Crimson | Class of 2017”>http://features.thecrimson.com/2013/frosh-survey/admissions.html</a>
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<p>I like the scattergram as it nicely highlights how more than half the class had an unweighted 4.0 GPA at their high school regardless of test scores. To me that implies that Harvard (and thereby YP et al) put more weight – or slightly more weight, however you want to read the data – on a student’s unweighted GPA at their high school rather than test scores.</p>
<p>So, rather than worry about your test scores, be more concerned about your GPA, teacher recommendations and essays!!!</p>
<p>What is the lowest SAT/ACT score Harvard would probably take?</p>
<p>^^ If you look at the scattergram, there are quite a few test scores below 2000, even as low as 1680. I would imagine those students with low test scores must have had something that Harvard really admired and wanted, such as an extraordinary talent, or perhaps they were a legacy or developmental cases (big $$$ donors.)</p>