<p>What many applicants don’t understand is that Harvard Admissions is looking for “character” – and that cannot be gleaned from a laundry list of accomplishments and stats, such as yours.</p>
<p>“Character” is an old fashioned word that means the way you develop your inner qualities: intellectual passion, maturity, social conscience, concern for community, tolerance and inclusiveness. </p>
<p>Harvard accesses character through what your teachers say about you in their recommendation letters, as well as your guidance counselor’s SSR report and your essays. See: [Guidance</a> Office: Answers From Harvard’s Dean, Part 1 - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/harvarddean-part1/]Guidance”>Guidance Office: Answers From Harvard's Dean, Part 1 - The New York Times)</p>
<p>"While we value objective criteria, we apply a more expansive view of excellence. Test scores and grades offer some indication of students’ academic promise and achievement. But we also scrutinize applications for extracurricular distinction and personal qualities.</p>
<p>Students’ intellectual imagination, strength of character, and their ability to exercise good judgment — these are critical factors in the admissions process, and they are revealed not by test scores but by students’ activities outside the classroom, the testimony of teachers and guidance counselors, and by alumni/ae and staff interview reports.</p>
<p>With these aspects — academic excellence, extracurricular distinction, and personal qualities — in mind, we read with care all the components of each application."</p>
<p>Much depends on what your teachers and guidance counselor writes, as well as how your essay comes across – not your AP’s or SAT scores!</p>