<p>Well, all I can say is, I saw greatness in this kid way back in February. So, when she starts doing her thing, I sure hope she remembers her old worn out “Uncle Drosselmeier” and maybe name a kid after him or something. Harvard obviously saw her greatness too. So, I say they got the good end of this deal.</p>
<p>We all make mistakes. The lesson this kid teaches me is that even when it looks hopeless, and when you are really down, you gotta just keep at it.</p>
<p>Yippee! I be so happy!</p>
<p>I’m sensing a lot of “connections” in her story also (I’m probably wrong).</p>
<p>Hereshopping-- you are entitled to your opinion, but it seems mean-spirited to me to compare the OP to the kids who have been grinding away since they were 11 trying to appear “passionate” about some lame EC. Here’s a kid with real passion… Harvard was smart enough to see it too. </p>
<p>We read of kids on here who are being “groomed” for Harvard as if they were some fancy topiary for the backyard. Nice to see that Harvard can make room for the real deal once in a while.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but this is my gut feeling. Are those SAT scores really that great? I don’t think so–nor are the grades. So what exactly really made this lady stand out so much in the eyes of Harvard? And I’m not talking about being “groomed” --just the hardworking kids who have had the work ethic (despite being bored to tears much of the time!) to work hard all the way through–not just the very end. I know kids make mistakes, yes; these are just not the kinds of mistakes I’m personally that forgiving about, (not that it’s really any of my business!), since she’s obviously had every advantage. Seems to me this young lady has had a very easy ride for herself, all things considered.</p>
<p>here’shoping, give it a rest. who turned you down for junior prom?</p>
<p>Ooooh, now THAT was mean :)</p>
<p>I stand by my points.</p>
<p>Ha, I guess maybe I’ve said mean, assuming, uninformed things about strangers before, but I certainly will think twice before I do it now. No, my SAT scores were not Harvard great. My grades weren’t stellar. (although a 3.7 isn’t bad either, especially considering the fact that I clawed my way into junior and senior level classes, and the 3.4 from high school comes from a top 30 high school) I was able to attend that school because my father has taught there for 20 years, so instead of paying the 15 thousand dollars a year tuition required, I paid about five hundred. I had no connections whatsoever, although during the application cycle, I certainly wished I did. I’ve struggled with depression and eating disorders since I was 15, which didn’t make for much of an easy ride.<br>
I got into Harvard because I’m smart and passionate and that came across in my essays, interview and recommendations. Period. I see no other reason that they would have accepted me, since as you said, my stats were on the lower end of Harvard’s acceptance range. You couldn’t have a more wrong impression of me, PM me your email and I would love to send you a copy of that essay of mine which I’m pretty sure is what got me into Harvard, instead of some highfalutan non existant “connection.” </p>
<p>And THANK YOU to everyone else!! It’s IS nice to feel believed in!</p>
<p>Yeah SHaganov! You go girl! ;)</p>
<p>NIce to hear from you, Shaganov. Ignore that kind of negativity; it sure smacks of jealousy. Or someone who can’t keep their politics out of basic human interactions.</p>
<p>Saying “sorry” then going on and on to continue the baseless insults just doesn’t cut it, HH.</p>
<p>I also give my hearty congratulations, Shaganov. Personally, I thought any high schooler who reads Nabokov or Kundera – just for fun, so to speak – is already beyond vast majority of her peers. And you clearly write very, very well because even in your OP you managed to interest and touch a lot of readers. If that, plus the story of your political awakening, and the committed involvement that followed didn’t impress Harvard… it would have impressed Georgetown and where ever else you applied. Have a fantastic year… and check in here from time to time.
PS. You have a fan in Drosselmeier… that’s impressive in itself.</p>
<p>I call them as I see them. No one has to agree with me. Ignore me, if you wish.
I have nothing personal against the OP and of course I wish her a bright future. I just can’t understand a kid with a 3.4 high school gpa (I don’t care how great the school), no high school EC’s to speak of, and an A- freshman year at UVM getting admitted to Harvard. It seems to me that grades should mean a little more than “passion.” Maybe I’m missing something? Based on my reading on CC for the last two years and other reading, I just don’t get it; I’m kind of searching for reasons here. A great essay and recs got her in. I’m sure the recs were great, and it must have been an extraordinary essay.</p>
<p>the way my interviewer at harvard put it, in the transfer process, harvard wants to take people who want to change the world. that isn’t reflected in grades. you mentioned everything unremarkable i’vean average of 700 on each section of the SAT should negate being co president of college democrats, being the only frehsman or sophomore intern patrick leahy has ever had, working on divestment from sudan, writing several amazing essays and having great recommendations and a great interview.
i feel like you misunderstand harvard if you think that they would rather have someone with a 2400 and 4.0 whose personality could have been anyone elses. what makes harvard such a special place to be is the other students there, who all have opinions and passions and desires and chase after them wholeheartedly. i think in the transfer process, harvard just wants to find students who will add to the school and take what it has, who understand the ambitious, limitless spirit of the school and embrace it.<br>
i’ll send you my essay if you’d like to read it. if you hate john kerry, you’ll probably vomit reading it, though…</p>
<p>HH. Let us explain. </p>
<p>Harvard looks beyond grades and SAT. It does because it can: it’s Harvard. Hard to grasp, I know. </p>
<p>Think of it his way: OP was a lesser student but got in because Harvard looked beyond her grades/SAT and saw her political activism. The same way lesser student George W Bush got in - because Harvard looked beyond his grades and saw his money and political connections. All in all it seems fairly balanced.</p>
<p>Shagonov, bravo to you! Sorry that I had never read your OP this past year until just now but before I even read the happy ending, I already was impressed with the first post. You seem like a go getter who has accomplished things in the past year or two that go beyond merely grades and test scores. </p>
<p>I absolutely cannot fathom the one bit of criticism that was mentioned on this thread. There is a fallacy that people think one must start “grooming” a kid for Harvard at a young age AND that it is unfair if someone with lower test scores or GPA got in over someone with higher ones. At the most selective colleges, MOST applicants have the numbers. It is NOT all about the numbers. There are no cut offs. It is not like the kids with the highest numbers “win”. That misunderstanding is seen all the time on CC on the student forums about chances or results of who got in and who didn’t and some kids don’t get how a kid with a lower SAT or GPA got in and some kid with a perfect one did not. Selective schools just want the scores and GPA to be in range. But they look way way beyond that and that is what sets one strong student apart from another. This girl sounds like she has done quite a bit and accomplished a lot in the past year and has clear goals and drive. She is a leader type and someone who would make a contribution to campus life and an eventual career. It came through just in her OP. I find myself even getting questions about what my kids’ stats were because they won this or that honor, scholarship or admission and it is not like they had the highest stats in the land (though they were quite good) but about so many other attributes and accomplishments. It is about MUCH more than numbers. I also think the OP showed passion.</p>
<p>Shaganov, when I read the first post and didn’t realize the rest/end of the story, I was going to recommend you look into the Honors College at UVM. I live in Vermont and my kids have many friends who attend UVM. Some of them are in the Honors College there and were/are top students and I was thinking that your motivation and quest for challenge would fit in better with those types of students. But you have, alas, found a place where you will find that challenging environment of peers which you crave so much. </p>
<p>I was wondering when reading your first post where you described the energy renewal proposal by someone who had once worked in the Clinton administration and it sounds a bunch like a friend of ours in our community and I am just curious if it is…his initials are D.R. </p>
<p>Much luck to you. While I live in Vermont now, I went to graduate school at Harvard and living in Cambridge was so fun. I moved here after I graduated. I predict you will have a blast and go on to do great things in the political spectrum.</p>
<p>Thank you, katliamom. I knew I’d learn something if I hung around here long enough. Looks like today is my lucky day! :)</p>
<p>I also agree with Shaganov that schools like Harvard DO look for students who they think will change the world or make an impact. In this regard, this girl fits the bill.</p>
<p>Exactly how transfers get into their dream schools- passion felt through the application. I can relate to that though Harvard was out of my league when I applied… 
Plus I didn’t know exactly what I’d do to change the world then anyway- enough to convince Harvard to take me! Congrats!</p>
<p>Thanks Soozievt! His initials are actually J.G. and I’m not sure if he lives in Vermont or not, I think he might live in Southern Mass somewhere? In any case, Shelburn Farms will be heated entirely by switchgrass thanks to him, and I’m looking into interning for Al Gore next summer. I was invited to join the Honors College, and if I’d stayed I would have joined… if nothing else, their housing blows everyone elses’ out of the water. UVM has some good things about it, most notably the professors. My poli sci professor who had just left teaching at Wellesley and also hated UVM was one of the smartest people I’d ever met, he was a liberal foreign policy hawk who let me into his senior seminar after having me in intro IR first semester, and I LOVED talking to him, we actually went to dinner a couple of times, haha. He wrote one of my recommendations and I ended up writing a rec for him for an award he was nominated for. Another one of my professors second semester was an amazing writer who’s had several books that got good reviews for NYTimes Book Review, etc. I’ve always loved his books and so I went into him at the beginning of second semester and asked him if I could write short stories and workshop them with him and those ended up being some of my favorite times at UVM, walking and talking about my writing and life while drinking coffee by Lake Champliagn in the snow even though it was about ten degrees. (somehow, the frat parties just weren’t that magical…)<br>
It’s not that UVM doesn’t have smart professors and even some smart students. It just seems like a lot of them ended up there by default or because Vermont is so singularly beautiful. I don’t know. In any case, I’m about to head out with some friends for the night, but I feel so energized after reading everyone’s encouraging words. And hereshoping, I’m reminded of something Teresa Heinz Kerry said during the campaign-- “If you want everyone to like you, don’t go into politics.” A-MEN.</p>
<p>For Shaganov, just remember -Everybody liking you shouldn’t even be a goal. It just means you ain’t doing much good for anybody. A better goal IMO is to have about half the world thinking you’re a sinner and the other half convinced you’re a saint. Makes life interesting, even a little spicy sometimes. 
Good luck at Harvard. Knock’em dead.</p>
<p>Thank you for those words of wisdom, For Shaganov, from Theresa Heinz Kerry (what’s she been up to lately, btw?). I’m a little confused, though, because I thought the purpose of going to Harvard was to get an education, not to go into politics, but, oh, nevermind…guess it’s late. And, yes, I’d be honored to read your essay, thank you.</p>