harvard chances? or state-school bounD?

Colleges & Universities Harvard University
1

<p>I am ethnically Puerto Rican attending a +2000 high school in Indiana. I am number one in my class with a 4.773 and 35 ACT. I am an IB diploma candidate, and am taking the most challenging courses available at my school. I have been in model united nations for four years, and last year got a job at an attorney’s office that deals with immigration law, where I use my spanish to help with clients and translate documents and such. I have other minor ecs and I think my common app essay will be pretty inflammatory. If its interesting, I’m taking French as well as Spanish in school, I’ve taken a semester of APLAC online (A+), took IB English last year (A) and am taking APLit and IB English year 2 this year. </p>

<p>I want to major in econ, already took micro and got a 5 and taking macro next semester.</p>

<p>Harvard? if not, most prestigious university you think will be at least +60% likely to accept me.</p>

2

<p>May I redirect you? Given the sparse description of yourself, you seem (on the surface) to be viable for any college in the country.</p>

<p>Now. Given that, applicants like you are routinely rejected at the tip top schools where holistic admissions seeks to sift out the “perfect class”. If you apply to a Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Amherst, etc, there will be kids accepted with lesser stats and rejected with higher ones.</p>

<p>Thus with your record, you should not be targeting schools based on likelihood of being accepted. Surely your in-state schools (IU, Purdue, UIPUI, Ball State, Ind State, etc.) will readily accept you. </p>

<p>You should thoughtfully investigate schools on what they have to offer you (and what you have to offer them). Then consider (quickly) which you’ll apply to.</p>

<p>also, what finances are you able to muster? Is a full ride merit scholarship at IU or Purdue better than say, a UMich acceptance with a $30K pricetag?</p>

<p>If you’re a senior, your timeframe is approaching quickly. Hopefully you took the ACT with Writing.</p>

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<p>I did take the act with writing. I’m middle class, but will take out loans to go to any of my top choices if accepted (Harvard Stanford Princeton uchicago and notre dame). Do you have any suggestions for a back up school? I really don’t want to go to iu. Its not a bad school, but everyone in my high school goes there.</p>

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<p>You should run the Net Price Caclulators at HYP. For middle class families, they are very affordable.</p>

<p>Back up school? What are you looking for? Locale, size, possible major?</p>

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<p>I want the best school that I’m sure to get in to, econ major. I’m going to go to grad school, mba/jd, so I want it to be fairly prestigious. I dont want to go anywhere in the south, that’s the only thing, no Florida or anything like that. Also, just got sat II results, 800 in lit and 770 in us history (5 on AP test though) so you never said, what are my chances at Harvard?</p>

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<p>No one is going to tell you exact chances at H because the admit rate is so low even for exceptional students. But you have a better chance than most people. I’d getvto work on the app, and also firm up your list of other schools.</p>

7

<p>For any school with admit rates below 10%, you might as well regard your chances of getting in as infinitesimally distant from zero. </p>

<p>You are absolutely a highly competitive candidate for every Ivy and every top LAC, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be denied by all of them just because you didn’t win the admissions lottery.</p>

<p>Frankly, your chances depend most on none of the things you told us here. They depend on you.</p>

<p>Do research on all the top schools for your major. Learn what they say about themselves and their values as an institution. Read college guidebooks by students and see what <em>they</em> say about those schools. Do your best to find what uniquely draws you in at each school, what connects you to it and makes you want to be a part of the community.</p>

<p>Then communicate that personal connection effectively. Demonstrate in words and deeds that you belong there. </p>

<p>Right now, you seem to be evaluating schools on a single-axis system: Prestige. I encourage you to incorporate more variables into your value system. Have a reason, for example, why Harvard is #1 other than “Because a ranking list said so.”</p>

<p>As an example, someone applying to Oxford in the UK might value it highly not only because of prestige, but because of the residential college system, the intimate tutorial method of instruction, the specific reputation of its faculty in PP&E (Politics, Philosophy & Economics), and the community of the city of Oxford. </p>

<p>On the other hand, someone else might value the London School of Economics not only because of prestige but because they prefer to live in a big city with ample internship opportunities, prefer larger classes than the tutorial system provides, revere the reputation of its faculty, and think a residential college system is for ninnies who want to pretend they’re at Hogwarts.</p>

<p>The devil is in the details. Prestige matters, but fit matters more. Find what fits for you, and I like your chances very much. Your stats on paper look very fine, but it’s the man - not the paper - who gets admitted to any school.</p>

<p>As T26E4 said with more brevity, “You should thoughtfully investigate schools on what they have to offer you (and what you have to offer them).” This. This, times 1000.</p>

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<p>I’m an HYP alum and recruiter. Based on your last note, you’re in trouble.</p>

<p>Right now, your name-chasing is going to get you nowhere with schools like Harvard who can smell 'em a mile away.</p>

<p>From your last note, I can tell you’ve NOT investigated the whats and whys of the greatness of schools like H and its peers. It seems all you know are their names and USNWR rankings. You perceive a degree from them is a masterkey to future honors and degrees. I find that very sad that you’ve not had people around you to lead you to love learning and greatness and contribution in ways besides your transcript and test scores and some ECs.</p>

<p>I’ll say your chances at Harvard are less than average i.e. below 6%.</p>

9

<p>I apologize, you misunderstand. Frankly I am extremely apprehensive about the kind of students you perceive me to be, arrogant and thoughtless try-hards who seem only to want to know what shape the box is in so that they may fit more comfortably inside of it. I simply have big dreams, not about money but about changing the world. I have already contacted Harvard and they have notified me I may defer my place for a year so that I may spend a year volunteering in south America, where I plan on living and hopefully improving as an adult. The thing about the prestige is that it is rarely undeserved. I want to be with people who share my big dreams instead of wanting to settle into a high paying profession. The resources that Harvard has to offer are tempting as well. I simply assume that people will be much more willing to consider a risky business proposition from a Harvard grad than anywhere else. Plus at Harvard I will meet the people who will have the money with which to invest.</p>

10

<p>T26E4 – I’ve read many of your posts and am aware that you know a lot about this process and you’ve given a lot of great advice, but a hispanic kid with these stats has a less than 6% chance? It’s way better than that. Yeah, the kid sounded a little shallow in that one post, but you know darn good and well that there are scores of similarly shallow, pedigree worshipping kids at Yale and Harvard. Kontiki – no offense, but that one post was kind of lame. T -you, appropriately, don’t want those types there, yet that’s never going to stop them from applying or the adcoms from accepting.</p>

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<p>Starsky: If you note, I was very supportive of kontiki initially, telling him that’s he’s viable at practically every college in the country including H. I think, esp given post #10, that my last reply was needlessly harsh (> 6%). But I was reacting to the typical “prestige whore” language oft seen on this site.</p>

<p>You’re mistaken about my desires to see kids with the backgrounds and achievements of someone like Kontiki to get into schools like HYP. I’m a huge proponent. If you look at my posting history, you may see that I’m a recruiter in one of the largest (and worst) urban school districts that perennially has maybe a 1-2 kids go to HYP each year.</p>

<p>Frankly, my desire for kontiki would be to expand his/her horizons about what schools he/she considers great. Might it be Harvard? Maybe. Maybe it’s Kalamazoo college or Middlebury. Or Ball State’s honor program or NU or UMich or New College or Pomona. I get that from his/her district, Ivy type applicants may not be the norm. But if he/she is going to look to those types of schools, his/her motivations need to be loftier, IMHO.</p>

<p>In all honesty, based solely on metrics, kontiki has a better than avg shot at H. But can ruin it in a New York minute with a poor presentation (such as related in post #5)</p>

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<p>^^ I was alluding to ivy league prestige whores of any stripe, not to kids with OP’s background. Didn’t mean to imply otherwise. Sorry for any confusion or negative implications.</p>

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<p>Kontiki, your latest post clarifies a lot Thank you for adding some depth to your remarks.</p>

<p>Even so, I’m going to diagnose you with tunnel vision. But don’t worry, it’s not a terminal case. :)</p>

<p>In your own words, “I simply have big dreams, not about money but about changing the world.” “I want to be with people who share my big dreams instead of wanting to settle into a high paying profession.” </p>

<p>You seem to be operating on the assumption that going to an Ivy-caliber school is the only/best way to achieve those dreams. You’re not wrong about the network value of an Ivy school, but you’re wrong in thinking they are the only schools with high network value.</p>

<p>For example, Hampshire College is very attractive to students interested in big-idea social change. And 20% of their alums found their own companies. Twenty. Percent. More than half have graduate degrees, and 1 in 7 has a Ph.D. or terminal degree. This is a school where people don’t just dream of changing the world, they go out and take the actions that make it happen. Acceptance rate: 64% They’ll never make the top of USNWR rankings with a rate like that, but that doesn’t mean they can’t take you and mold you into a world-changing titan.</p>

<p>That’s just one example. Babson (acceptance rate 30%) is all about business and has its own in-house venture accelerator program. They’re starting companies there before they even graduate. And they have a social entrepreneurship track for those who want to learn how to turn their business acumen toward making a better world.</p>

<p>Some other schools to consider:
[Colleges</a> Offering Social Entrepreneur Degree Programs | Social Entrepreneur Guide](<a href=“http://www.socialentrepreneurguide.com/social-entrepreneur-degree-programs]Colleges”>http://www.socialentrepreneurguide.com/social-entrepreneur-degree-programs)
[Top</a> 25 Undergraduate Entrepreneurial Colleges for 2013 | Entrepreneur.com](<a href=“2015 top 25 colleges in entrepreneurship for undergraduates. | Entrepreneur”>2015 top 25 colleges in entrepreneurship for undergraduates. | Entrepreneur)</p>

<p>As T_ has been suggesting, broaden your horizons. I’m not dissuading you from reaching from top Ivy schools, but I encourage you to sample some of the other items on the menu and think deeply about what makes each one appealing to you.</p>

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<p>Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply, I have been looking for some schools outside of the über prestigious ones. I will do some research with those links, and keep your advice in mind. I think it’s really cool that colleges like that exist, I hadn’t really thought about my college experience in quite the way that I probably should have.</p>

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<p>One of my siblings went to Hampshire. There was a small graduation party, like 4-6 families of graduating seniors who were all dorm-mates, banquet room of a hotel in Northampton. Naturally, the kids put together a multimedia presentation. Because, apparently, that’s just what you do at Hampshire for any kind of special occasion. Left me really impressed at how the school encourages students to be self-starters, come up with creative projects on their own and execute on them.</p>