Harvard Transfer special circumstance

<p>I know someone on this site said she was able to apply as a freshman after finishing some college because of special circumstance. Anyways I just got diagnosed with ADHD-inattentive and I emailed the harvard admissions email asking if I can reapply as freshman and they said they do not allow special circumstance and would not let me appeal.</p>

<p>So I’m just wondering if anyone else was able to re-apply for freshman admissions because of a special circumstance and who he talked to.</p>

<p>Anyways the reason why ADHD inattentive is a special circumstance, in case you can’t see, is because it’s a processing disorder that handicaps performance in traditional testing methods as well as performance in school. In other words test scores and school performance don’t correlate with actual knowledge or intelligence. So my initial evaluation would not have been fair because my handicap was unknown.</p>

<p>I’m not using it as an excuse for bad performance in school, because i didn’t perform badly in school. It’s just that it makes me look average, and I don’t think I’m average.</p>

<p>I think special circumstance means being in a car accident or recovering from cancer or something, not an extremely common disorder like ADHD. Your excuse doesn’t even make sense, to be honest.</p>

<p>It means I was not fairly evaluated, and it was beyond my control. The other person that got the ability to reapply as a freshman had gotten pregnant, so she had to apply to community college for some reason.</p>

<p>ADHD is probably too common to be considered special. About half of the people I know claim they’ve been diagnosed with it. (I was shocked too, but the sample size is pretty big.)</p>

<p>None of them sought special testing circumstances.</p>

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<p>Harvard is a pretty traditional school that uses pretty traditional testing methods. So if you are saying to Harvard that you didn’t perform up to your potential due to that, then you are signaling that you won’t do all that great at Harvard either. </p>

<p>Besides, you already have your answer from Harvard, so it’s time to move on and consider other opportunities.</p>

<p>Coureur, you’re missing the point. I’m not saying ADHD is why I haven’t been able to learn as much or that ADHD is why I haven’t perform to my potential. I think there is too much of a negative stigma surrounding ADHD here.</p>

<p>But to clarify, there is a BIG difference between ADHD combined type, ADHD hyperactive, and ADHD inattentive. Please look up ADHD inattentive.</p>

<p>I am saying that ADHD inattentive has handicapped me on standardized tests. It has prevented me from SHOWING my ability, not from REACHING my abilities. THis has nothing to do with me realizing my potential. My psychologist performed a knowledge test and then made me take a timed test and he concluded that there is the correlation is weak/nonexistent between my performance in standardized test and my education/abilities.</p>

<p>As a processing disorder, it means I am slow, or that information is slow to intake. And in school this handicaps me because many tests are timed. To be honest though my high school performance is actually pretty good and is not really of concern. It’s the standardized testing that really hurt me: 23 and 26 on the ACT submitted to Harvard for my application. I’m not saying this is why I didn’t turn in my homework or this is why I didn’t learn calculus, because I always turned in my homework and I did take calc (ADHD hyperactive are those kids commonly found annoying, lazy, unmotivated, and disruptive)</p>

<p>Also the person told me Harvard doesn’t take ANY exceptions, so I would just like to know who I can talk to to make my appeal. Please do not tell me whether or not I have a case because you do not know enough about me.</p>

<p>silverturtle, the point is that I found out after applying. But most importantly, I know I was underperforming on tests. I didn’t expect my ACT to be so low. But it wasn’t until a little into my first year that I had a psychologist to back me up.</p>

<p>Just curious, what were the rest of your stats? - SAT II, rank, GPA, ECs, etc</p>

<p>1/10 </p>

<p>/thread</p>

<p>Listen dude, we’ve all given you reasons why this doesn’t make sense, but Harvard is the ultimate judge–and they already said no. Be happy where you are or transfer somewhere else; there are plenty of schools that would take you.</p>

<p>Edit: What does “xxxx (mwl)” mean? I def. did not type that…</p>

<p>Edit again: WTƒ?</p>

<p>“Also the person told me Harvard doesn’t take ANY exceptions”</p>

<p>As far as I know, that’s correct.</p>

<p>" “Also the person told me Harvard doesn’t take ANY exceptions”</p>

<p>As far as I know, that’s correct."</p>

<p>That’s not correct, if you read my whole first post you’ll know that someone DID get an exception.</p>

<p>southeasttitan, your comments are not helping at all. I’m just asking how that person got the exception. I want to know I’ve done all I can because i’ve been screwed for much of the college process, and it’s not up to you how I spend my time doing what.</p>

<p>“Just curious, what were the rest of your stats? - SAT II, rank, GPA, ECs, etc”</p>

<p>I don’t know the rank, but SAT II were similar to ACTs except better. My GPA in HS was 3.84 and I had erratic AP scores like 4 on E&M and 2 on Mechanics (for AP physics). I had almost no school extra curriculars in high school, but that’s cause I spent most of my time doing independent ECs. For example I won an auto show poster contest despite never taking an art or graphics course in high school (and I got in 3 newspapers for it) and I also taught myself how to program, specifically PHP, when I was 13. Doing that since. Anyways I’m not saying I’m qualified for Harvard, I just want to be given a fairer evaluation. It’s up to them to ultimately determine if I’m worthy and I know they made a decision, but HAD I KNOWN I HAD ADHD I would have taken alternative steps. But I didn’t, which is why i think i might qualify for a re-evaluation. Of course if I don’t that’s fine. Again, I’m not saying had they known I had ADHD I would have gotten in.</p>

<p>I guess my advice would be to contact admissions directly and speak with them. Those of us on CC can only speculate what flexibility they have. We do not represent Harvard. I think that that would end up being much more helpful for you than hoping that we have your answer. Good luck.</p>

<p>Instead of “Can I apply to Harvard as a transfer student?”, I think your question should have been “Can I appeal my decision”. The answer to this is probably very clearly stated in your rejection letter. If it isn’t then just know that its a plain and simple “NO!”.</p>

<p>Assuming that you wanted your decision appealed as a special circumstance, the following ways are the only ways to do it.</p>

<p>1) Sue Harvard. This is indeed a very special circumstance. In fact, this should be fun and I am very curious about this. Harvard will have to review its application, only this time not to find a reason to accept you, but to find more reasons to reject you. Considering the selectivity and unpredictability of its evaluation process and the size and diversity of its applicant pool, Harvard has a very strong case.</p>

<p>2) Find a very compelling reason why Harvard should accept you and why they are making the world’s biggest mistake in rejecting you. If you do find such a reason, I strongly suggest that you go ahead with Option 1 instead and sue Harvard. Not only will you get in, but you’ll also make money. This should come in handy when the financial aid office, for some strange reason, decides not to give you any money. [If you asked for money that is]</p>

<p>You need to know that Harvard is unlikely to accept you even if you really deserve to get in. The reason for this is three-fold. Building on the implied assumption in Option 2, Harvard has 29,000 applicants and there’s bound to be someone who is just like you, so Harvard can easily pretend that they wouldn’t accept you anyway, thereby rejecting your application before they even evaluate it again. That way, not only do they show you the courtesy of an appeals process, but also they stick with their original decision - a win-win situation, depending on your point of view. The second reason is that, even though Harvard does try to give every application his/her rights, life sucks and the world is not perfectly round. I am sure that there are potential successful Harvard students somewhere in Africa or Papa New Guinea who will never get the chance to get in because of lack of opportunity, but you know, they still wont get in. Although your situation is not as extreme, life still sucks for you. Thirdly, you seem to put emphasis on your SAT scores as a reason why you didn’t get in. SAT scores are only one factor so there’s not much you can do. Also, the fact that you weren’t diagnosed with ADD until after your decisions came out and until you got so far in your high school studies, suggests that ADD doesn’t have much to do with your grades. The first person to notice ADD ironically is you, then your parents and teachers. If that happened only just now, its unlikely that you didn’t do well because of ADD. I had the same case for ADD and I never needed any non-standard administrations of the SAT or high-school exams, by the way. Also keep in mind that a student who is mentally ■■■■■■■■, could say that he didn’t do well in school because he is ■■■■■■■■. Still, Harvard won’t accept him just because he is, infact, ■■■■■■■■, even if its an excuse for another negative mark on his application. Similarly, Harvard may not accept you considering that your condition will impede your academic work, and, since you are not the best applicant in the world, they will just accept someone else like you and improve their student pool and at same time, save you the frustration of not being able to do well in college - again, a win-win situation, depending on how you look at it.</p>

<p>The only other way you can have your application reviewed is by applying again for the next class as a freshman. You need to talk to the admissions office on how to do this. You need to be careful when assessing your application and your chances of getting into Harvard. I know someone who was in the same position. He applied for the class of 2010 and was rejected by Harvard and wait-listed by Yale. He applied again and was accepted into Harvard and rejected by Yale. Just because you are qualified for admission doesn’t mean you have to get in. Although logic suggests that Yale should have accepted him, Yale didn’t. </p>

<p>You can keep trying and hope for the best.</p>

<p>“I’m not using it as an excuse for bad performance in school, because i didn’t perform badly in school. It’s just that it makes me look average, and I don’t think I’m average.”</p>

<p>Neither do any of the other couple thousand people Harvard rejected. They don’t think they’re average either.</p>

<p>If your condition is as bad as you say, I doubt you will be successful at Harvard.</p>

<p>An ability to succeed at Harvard is the first admissions hurdle.</p>

<p>@ pizzagirl: A couple thousand? Try 24,000.</p>

<p>My guess is that the pregnant girl wasn’t able to do her freshman year because of her pregnancy and therefore didn’t qualify as a transfer, or something like that, so she was allowed to apply as a freshman.</p>

<p>Ok guys seriously. I didn’t ask whether I can get in to Harvard and I didn’t mean to imply that I WOULD GET IN IF THEY KNEW ABOUT MY ADHD.</p>

<p>I simply asked IF ANYONE ELES WAS ABLE TO GET AN EXCEPTION AND WHO I SHOULD TALK TO because the admissions email said “no exceptions” but that girl got an exception (and I believe she finished one year at community college because she is applying as transfer to other schools, freshman to Harvard because Harvard doesn’t take transfers).</p>

<p>SO if you scroll up and read my initial post you will see that it is pretty clear what I asked. SO I don’t need your opinion on whether you think I’m not average, because it’s subjective and your opinion, even harvards, would not be any more right than anyone else’s.</p>

<p>I don’t want your opinions on whether or not I have a case, because you guys obviously don’t know enough about me or my situation to give that advice. SO I just want my question answered.</p>

<p>PLEASE NO MORE REPLIES ABOUT HOW I AM JUST LIKE THE THOUSANDS OF OTHER STUDENTS THAT ARE IN THE SAME SITUATION. That’s a question to be determined by the admissions officers when they see my app. Stop assuming what I’m asking and just answer my qusetion.</p>

<p>@silverturtle - Hey I know they accept ADHD students at Harvard. They can succeed. What makes you think I can’t?</p>

<p>@pizzagirl - That’s good for those other 24,000, but I did NOT make that comment to imply that that is why I should be in Harvard. I said that to merely make the point that my ADHD makes me look MORE average than I truly am. Sorry if I was unclear.</p>

<p>Just to clarify: It seems some people think that I am asking for a re-evaluation just to see if it would be different this time, but this is not really true. The ADHD diagnosis is brand new information, and previously unknown. Even if ADHD is common, it doesn’t mean that it would not dramatically affect their evaluation of me.</p>

<p>Consider this analogy.</p>

<p>Say there is a competition where a bunch of people are put in a maze with a map to see who can get out the fastest. Let’s say there is one guy who for some reason got a map with all the instructions and what not printed upside down and backwards. So at the end of the day he get’s out in average time and the judges conclude that this guy is no better than Average Joe. Well later they found out his map was defective, does this guy not deserve to have the conclusion of him redrawn?</p>

<p>MY QUESTION (PLEASE DO NOT DEVIATE): Who should I talk to (besides emailing <a href=“mailto:admissions@harvard.edu”>admissions@harvard.edu</a>) and who else has or knows of someone who got an exception? If I can get more cases where exceptions were made I can continue my email argument with that person at least.</p>

<p>THANKS and sorry about the rant (some of your comments are not nice). Oh and thanks for the responses so far that understood my original question.</p>

<p>Your test was misprinted?</p>

<p>Seriously, though. I wasn’t saying that all with ADHD were unqualified for Harvard. But you indicated that your situation was severe, and that you were a slow learner.</p>

<p>I would pick up the phone. Phone is a different interaction than e-mail. I know the current generation likes to use the less interactive e-mail but it is not the same as a person-to-person conversation.</p>