I know it’s hard to do anything but speculate over every detail during these last few days before hearing back, but at this point it is honestly unpredictable. After spending the summer interning within the school alongside numerous current students and alum, I can tell you that there are certain qualities that Harvard students have in common. They are personal attributes not related to scores or any specific cocktail of extracurricular involvements. The admissions team is very good at what they do: creating a class of students who will thrive at Harvard. If they something they want, a few points in tests/GPA won’t stop them from accepting you.
It is out of our hands, and if you are accepted, congratulations! You have chosen a good match. If not, rest assured there is a better place out there for you.
@pubkid I agree! Every single time I’ve visited, every student I’ve encountered has a unique quality about them. Whether it’s a “Harvard vibe” or not, these students have been chosen because Harvard saw something in them. We all need to remember that we are more than qualified to get in–hell, with a 2130, I’m within the top 5% of the country–but Harvard is looking for a Harvard student. If we’re rejected (or deferred), maybe Harvard isn’t right for us.
@QueenN22 Okay, I have this really weird dislike of the shape of the shoreline of Norway? When I was really, really little, I was at the doctor’s office and he had a huge poster of all these different skin conditions on the wall. One of them was a wart, and when I saw the shape of Norway later that day, it reminded me of the bumpy shape of that wart I had seen (in great detail) in the doctor’s office and it ended up, like, getting stuck in my head? It still kind of makes my skin crawl today for some reason… Ugh, weird childhood traumas, am I right?
@schroscat Ooooooh yessss please teach me how to do that! And I WOULD GIVE ANYTHING FOR SNOW.
My cousin, though, told me that she had to get a special lamp to prevent her from getting SAD (it’s like a depression you get from not having enough light during the wintertime) when she went to Harvard because she moved there from Texas as well.
@Stephiey They’re really adorable cupcakes, I promise. We’ll have a snowball fight!!!
Yeah…it gets dark at 4:00ish now. And I’m a tad bit more south than Cambridge. I just wanna sleep, a lot.
How much money do you guys think colleges spend on advertising every year? I’ve gotten, as I’m sure all of you have as well, like 50 page booklets that look really expensive, why? Just to more kids apply so they can get a lower acceptance rate? I mean they have to be spending millions just to move up in the US News and World Report rankings.
Keep in mind how much they receive per application @SteveySteve. It sounds crazy (because it is, even without considering the environmental consequences…) but when schools are receiving between $50-$100 per application, getting those applications in is worth it. When printing in mass, the price per unit becomes quite cheap, and if the material is effective it easily pays itself off. That’s looking at it as a money-making thing alone, not even considering the boosts in prestige (look at UChicago) and the benefits of enlarging a university’s applicant pool.
AHHHH this thread is so stressful! Let’s lighten the mood shall we?
No matter what, we are all going to go on to be happy, successful, fulfilled people. A rejection/deferral doesn’t define a person. Conversely, neither does an acceptance.
Do you guys ever think that there may be another Harvard SCEA 2020 thread out there that we don’t know about? Like a whole other universe that has been shielded from our eyes by another website. :-?