**Improved Harvard 2011 RD Results Thread**

Colleges & Universities Harvard University
141

<p>Decision: Accepted!</p>

<p>Objective:</p>

<pre><code>* Deferred EA? N/A

  • SAT I (breakdown):770CR, 790M, 740W
  • SAT II: 740 Math2, 800 Chemistry, 790 Bio M, and some others…
  • Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 103.8 Weighted, 4.0 unweighted
  • Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):4/498
  • AP/IB (place score in parenthesis): IB Chemistry (5), AP Econ (4), AP Chem (4)
  • Senior Year Course Load: IB Math HL/BC Calc, IB Biology HL, IB English HL, IB History HL, IB French SL, Advanced Orchestra
  • Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): 3rd Speaker at State Debate, Nat’l Merit Finalist, Nat’l Qual in Debate lotsa times, State Qual in Debate/Acadec, Science Fair State… crap like that.
    </code></pre>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<pre><code>* Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Academic Decathlon (captain), Speech/Debate (Captain), Orchestra (President/Pianist), Dance, Tennis, NHS (A/V Coordinator), Student Council, Pan American Round Table Youth Group (Co-President), HiQ/College bowl

  • Job/Work Experience: Worked at a B&B every summer for the past bunches of years, Taught a kids art camp at the EP Art Museum
  • Volunteer/Community service: Habitat for Humanity, Pan American Round Table, Volunteered at a Nursing Facility
  • Summer Activities: Concordia College’s summer language immersion camp (after freshman year), Tufts Summit in Annecy, France, volunteer stuff
  • Essays: One about how acadec is great because i study things that aren’t in the typical curriculum, one on how my chem teacher taught me how to have passion for learning, and i don’t remember the rest, haha…
  • Teacher Recommendation: should be fine…
  • Counselor Rec: Should be fine…
  • Additional Rec: didn’t do it
  • Interview: GREAT! Had a federal court judge who used to live next to my grandparents… That was good…
    </code></pre>

<p>Other</p>

<pre><code>* State (if domestic applicant): Texas

  • Country (if international applicant):
  • School Type: Large, Public
  • Ethnicity: white
  • Gender: female
  • Income Bracket: middle class
  • Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): nada
    </code></pre>

<p>Reflection</p>

<pre><code>* Strengths: lots of extracurriculars, nat’l merit, geographic location

  • Weaknesses: ethinicity, rank (not number 1)
  • Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: good basic stats, awesome interview, decent recs
    </code></pre>
142

<p>Copied this format over from another thread.</p>

<p>Decision: Waitlisted</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT Verbal: 760
[</em>] SAT Math: 790
[<em>] SAT Writing: 720
[</em>] SAT Total: 2270
[<em>] SAT II: 770 Math I, 800 Math II, 800 Latin
[</em>] ACT: n/a
[<em>] AP/IB taken/scores: Lang&Comp - 5; US History - 5; Latin Lit - 5; taking BC Calc, Physics, Gov, Lit & Stats this year
[</em>] GPA weighted: 4.81
[<em>] GPA unweighted: 4.0
[</em>] Rank or % estimate: School doesn’t rank, but I’m somewhere from 1-3 / 145</p>

<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Essays: One on being kicked out of AP Chem to fulfill art requirements (I thought it was pretty good); the other was a bit more abstract & had to do with my being an analytical thinker.
[</em>] Teacher Recs: Very good
[<em>] Counselor Rec: Extremely good
[</em>] Interview: Very good, I thought. The guy was very enthusiastic about my qualifications, and said he’d be very happy to see me at Harvard.
[li] Hook (if any): Thought Girl Scouts may help, but it didn’t. I had a connection that I didn’t pull originally, but I’m trying to pull it now–don’t see who gets off the waitlist without that, unfortunately. >.<</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[<em>] State or Country: MA
[</em>] School Type: Extremely small, elite public school–feeder school for Harvard (4/145 got in this year); sends dozens to top schools each year
[<em>] Ethnicity: White
[</em>] Gender: Female
[<em>] Income: 100,000++… not sure, but it’s very high
[</em>] Legacy Yes/No: No
[li] Important ECs: Mock Trial (2 yr Captain), Math Team (Captain), Model UN (founder/secretary general), AAU Co-Pres, Literary Magazine secretary, Student Council, School Council, Varsity Field Hockey (1st team All-Star), Varsity Tennis, Physics Olympics, Peer Ministry, Girl Scouts</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Other Factors: Kinda knew I was screwed from the start–four people from my school got into Harvard this year–every single one of which was a legacy. Three got in EA, one got in RD (and the one who got in RD got waitlisted at Georgetown, where I got in). It’s kinda frustrating, but I’m at least proud that I made it onto the waitlist without a single connection whatsoever to the school.</p>

<p>General Comments/Congratulations/etc: Congrats on those who got in! Feel free to turn Harvard down for Yale/Princeton or whatever though, haha.</p>

143

<p>A little late, but here goes…</p>

<p>Decision: ACCEPTED!</p>

<p>Stats:
Fee Waiver Used?: No
SAT I (by section): 2400 (800 CR, 800 M, 800 V)
SAT IIs: 800 Math L2, 800 World Hist, 750 US Hist, 740 Lit
APs: 5s on AP US Hist, World Hist, Human Geo
IBs: nada
GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 4.0 UW
Rank: 1/425
Senior Yr Courseload: AP Calc BC, AP Psych, AP US Gov, AP Macro, AP Euro, AP Lit, Chamber Ensemble
Major Awards: National Merit Finalist, Harvard Book Award, AIME, etc.</p>

<p>Subjective:
ECs listed on app: NHS, Beta, Varsity Tennis, County Leadership Team, Model Atlanta Regional Commission, State Student Advisory Council, Piano, Orchestra (Violin), Youth Group, Foster Children’s Foundation, etc.
Job/Work Experience: Swim Instructor, Tennis Instructor, Assistant Tutor
Essays (subject and responses): One related first experience at karaoke bar to mishap at piano recital and how I learned from the latter. Supplemental one was poem about growing up. Yeah, I took a risk there.
Teacher Recs: Good
Counselor Rec: Good
Interview (feel and general location): Pretty good for my first interview. 1.5 hours long at a restaurant.
Hook (if any): I think I’m fairly well-rounded. And very involved.</p>

<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: GA
School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Public, sends few kids to top colleges
Ethnicity: Asian
Income Bracket: It’s complicated.
Gender: Male
Hooks: Didn’t I just answer this?
Strengths/Weaknesses: Stats, essays, ECs… I don’t know.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: Stats are my friend.</p>

<p>General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: I thought for sure I was getting rejected, so it was definitely a nice surprise. Makes my choice 10x harder though.</p>

144

<p>rejected
Deferred EA? yeah
SAT I pretty low…phew.
IBT:105
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):3.96
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):8/400
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):many national/ provincial awards in maths, english, and literature.<br>
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):international representative,USAMUN, holding concert, president of volunteer organizations.
UN conferences…
Job/Work Experience: internship at a real estate. tutor.
Volunteer/Community service: teaching english
Summer Activities:GYLC
Essays: Good, at least i think
Teacher Recommendation:good
I nterview: On-campus…i think it went well…dunno
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender:Female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):no.
Strengths:ECs…maybe
Weaknesses:SAT and TOEFL score
Why you think you were rejected:SAT and IBT???
General Comments:[ /b] Congrats to those who were accepted, im still trying to get over this!!!</p>

145

<p>hello all!!</p>

<p>Life took a sharp turn a few days ago when I found out that I was accepted. xjayz, do u remeber me?? I dont even know if you are reading this thread, but you were very cynical about my chances back in november. When i get to cambridge, i’ll be sure to meet you!</p>

<p>Everyone else, i’m pretty sure you dont know what the above was about. But anyways, I’ve received all my decisions, and am very happy, to say the least:</p>

<p>harvard–accepted (speechless, not sure what to think of this…)
duke–accepted (i love this school!!)
colby–accepted (awesome campus)
dickinson–accepted
clark–accepted
dartmouth–accepted</p>

<p>columbia–waitlist
upenn–waitlist
princeton–rejected
amherst–rejected
macalaster-waitlist(i was really excited about MAC, but no hard feelings now! Come to think of it, i probably messed up something-oh well…)</p>

146

<p>As for my stats, here goes:</p>

<p>SAT 1(2010–so very low!!)–CR 700/math 660/WR 650, essay-10
SAT2 physics-800 math2c-780 literature-730
Rank- 1 out of approx 70/no gpa at our school
British IGCSE 9 A*,2 A
GCE A levels physics-A, maths-A, Economics-A,English-A,chemistry-A
GCE AS levels(half of A levels): furhter maths-B, History-A
Schl courses: 4 yrs of arabic and bengali-both always As</p>

<p>ECs–lots of stuff at school, and a few outside of school. I’ll give details later (very lazy now!)</p>

<p>Sorry for this format. I’ll do the right format in a few days, and i’ll also be giving my views on the whole admissions process. So many people told me my sat 1 was really low, but i hope my situation shows people that sat 1 scores wont really make, or BREAK, the deal for you–many many things come up in the selection process.</p>

<p>okkkk–i’ll be back with cc in about a week–right now gotta pack (going to dubai!!)</p>

147

<p>wow, my stats are so low compared to everyone else’s. Maybe they thought my essays were great (i poured my heart into them!) </p>

<p>Anyways, admissions are weird. I remeber reading shrivats posts (this was back in december). I believe he’s an Indian living in the UAE. Very articulate guy. His SAT1 was 2380 and sat2s were 800x5(? i forgot–maybe 800x4). Going along his profile, he seemed to have it all: great scores,grades, ECs, essays,etc. Back then I thought he’s definitely in. He wasnt accepted by harvard, but did get into other ivies.</p>

148

<p>^^ dude can you elaborate on your stats. I mean I’m happy for you that you got in, but I had higher stats then that (except my rank was like 25/550) and I got rejected from Cornell </p>

<p>have fun in Dubai</p>

149

<p>well you have to keep in mind that AboutTime was an int’l applicant… probably had some really amazing EC’s or something hehe.</p>

150

<p>Decision: ACCEPTED!!</p>

<p>Stats:
Fee Waiver Used?: No
SAT I (by section): 2360, 2 sittings (800 CR, 760 M, 800 V)
SAT IIs: 800 Math II, 790 Bio-M, 750 Lit
APs: 5’s on AP Psych, AP Bio, AP U.S., AP Euro
IBs: -
GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 3.9 UW
Rank: -
Senior Yr Courseload: AP Calc BC, AP Lit, AP Stats, AP French, AP Econ, Honors Physics
Major Awards: National Merit Finalist, Mt. Holyoke Book Award, AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) member, AP Scholar w/ Distinction</p>

<p>Subjective:
ECs listed on app: Medical research, newspaper (EIC), Model UN (president), dance, piano, NHS, Habitat for Humanity
Job/Work Experience: babysitting, fellowship at local newspaper, hired by biotech company for ovarian cancer research
Essays (subject and responses): 1. My love of reading, 2. My love of skiing despite being terrible at it
Teacher Recs: Good
Counselor Rec: Good
Interview (feel and general location): It was okay; certainly very interesting (we talked about everything from abortion to homeland security to the interviewer’s experiences in WWII), but I felt that I had a much better interview with Princeton, from which I was ultimately rejected. I think it goes to show that interviews don’t matter that much.
Hook (if any): </p>

<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: NY
School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Competitive public, sending students from this class to every Ivy League school except Princeton.
Ethnicity: Asian
Income Bracket: 200,000+
Gender: Female
Strengths/Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: </p>

<p>General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: Congrats to everyone else who got in!! I’m pretty sure I’ll be attending Harvard and I hope I get to meet some of you there.</p>

151

<p>Is it just me, or do an overwhelming number of applicants seem pretty wealthy? (As in, over $80,0000 a year)</p>

152

<p>$800000 a year? That IS wealthy.</p>

153

<p>If you meant $80,000: I think you’ll find that, while everyone has their own standards, $80,000 is NOT wealthy at all by most people’s standards. This can vary widely based on the cost of living where you live, but $80,000 is a very low standard of “wealthy”.</p>

154

<p>Whoa, drummerdude, do a little demographic research. </p>

<p>According to the most recent U.S. census, $80,000 is almost <em>twice</em> the median U.S. income ($43,318). $80,000 nearly puts you in the top quintile of all income earners in the U.S. </p>

<p>I think $80,000 is a pretty well-informed, statistically accurate idea of “wealthy” even if we’re only thinking about the U.S. (one of the richest countries in the world).</p>

155

<p>lol over 800,000… millionaires unite!</p>

156

<p>that’s what HARVARDIANs truly are!</p>

157

<p>I know I’m late on this, but it can be of use.</p>

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Stats:
Fee Waiver Used?: NO
SAT I (by section): 750V, 760M, 740W, 11E
SAT IIs: 760 Bio M, 760 World, 760 Math 1
GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 96.6
Rank: Top 2 percent, 940 in graduating class.
APs (including this year’s): Bio 5 World 5 American TBA Calc AB TBA English Lit TBA
Senior Yr Courseload: Organic Chem, Genetics, Anatomy, AP Eng, Calc AB, APUSH
Number of Apps from Your School: Many
Other stats (Awards, etc.): National Merit Commended, President’s Volunteer Service Award, Prudential Spirit of the Community Certificate of Excellence.
Extracurriculars: NHS, BETA, Political Discussion group, College office aid,
stuff in general. Volunteer work.
Job/Work Experience: Dental Assisting, Paid internship at Museum, Nurse’s Assisting.
Essays (subject and responses): Common App - dealing with my friend’s cancer, starting a non profit organization to help her family and raise awareness, Harvard supplement - really weird, living life within the boundaries of my frame. as in a painting. as in a painfully overextended metaphor.
Teacher Recs: good
Counselor Rec: good for large public school
Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): went well, talked a lot about my family and extracurriculars.
Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): General awesomeness i think.
Location/Person:
State or Country: NY
School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Large inner city magnet school
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Income Bracket: over 100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): i’ll repeat, i am white.
Strengths: positive outlook on life. proactiveness.
Weaknesses: Lower GPA, NYC, Lots of good applicants.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: I tried.
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc:
this is amazing.</p>

158

<p>guess ill do this now that i know im going for sure</p>

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] Deferred EA? yes
[</em>] SAT I (breakdown): 800CR, 800M, 690WR
[<em>] ACT:34
[</em>] SAT II: 800USH, 780 MIIC, 790Bio
[<em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): na/4.612
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):1/360ish
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): 5s on USH, bio, calc ab, eng lang, psych
[</em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): NA
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load:AP gov, honors journ, ap calc bc, ap spanish, ap chem, ap lit
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):siemens semi, publish abstract, policy debate state champ, AIME qual, 3rd in swimming sect, etc
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): water polo (captain), swimming, track, newspaper (editor in chief), policy debate, science research
[</em>] Job/Work Experience:lack there of
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: local hospital and library 300+ hrs
[</em>] Summer Activities: camps, water polo
[<em>] Essays: eh
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: 1 amazing, 1 pretty trite
[<em>] Counselor Rec: don’t expect much
[</em>] Additional Rec: decent
[<em>] Interview: very well
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): OH
[<em>] Country (if international applicant):
[</em>] School Type: public
[<em>] Ethnicity: not URM
[</em>] Gender:M
[<em>] Income Bracket: 100,000+
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): TASP
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: number of ECs, involvement
[</em>] Weaknesses: lack of focus (esp. with a weak writing SAT)
[li] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: they had my app for over half a year…[/li][/ul]General Comments: Good Luck!!</p>

159

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:</p>

<pre><code>* Deferred EA? No

  • SAT I (breakdown): CR 750/M 670/W 770
  • ACT: n/a
  • SAT II: Bio 730/Lit 720/US History 740
  • Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0000
  • Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1 out of 375
  • AP (place score in parenthesis): Took 10 tests and 11 classes (more than the 9 offered at my school) ; got 6 "5"s
  • IB (place score in parenthesis):
  • Senior Year Courseload: AP Calc, AP Eng., AP Euro, AP Environ. Science, AP Physics C, Percussion, Jazz Band
  • Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Valedictorian, Natl Merit, Jr. NYLC Keynote Speaker, Principal’s Leadership, WA Scholar, Spokane Social Studies Scholar, music awards galore, science awards, bajillion other awards
    </code></pre>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<pre><code>* Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Teenage Republicans (Pres.) , Moral Awareness (Pres/Founder), Science Bowl/Olympiad (President), Percussion/jazz/marching/pipe/piano/ good at music (lots of leadership positions), NHS (VP), Knowledge Bowl, 4 yrs Cross Country, 4 yrs Varsity Track (not the best runner in the world/ not good enough to run for Harvard), reenacting battles, church drama group (pres/founder)

  • Job/Work Experience: tutor, pianist
  • Volunteer/Community service: counselor, tutor, Big Brothers Big Sisters, church things, campaigning, neighborhood council, avid volunteering -too much junk to list
  • Summer Activities: counseling few weeks as a JC at a local camp, teaching VBS, NYLC, traveling
  • Essays: I really liked them (my writing is strong)- one on campaigning on Halloween and different republican/learning activities with my best friend; the other on being a pastor’s daughter, having 5 sisters, and how that impacts my morality; both were humorous and were the antithesis of fake or what I thought they might want
  • Teacher Recommendation: one from 11th grade AP English, one from AP Calc, I thought they could have been better but both were, I guess, fantastic
  • Counselor Rec: my counselor adores me
  • Additional Rec:
  • Interview: had a major cough, but she really thought I’d fit in at Harvard and we related because she was a Christian like me and she thought I was super interesting despite me coughing on her; when I left (kinda early because I was sick), I told her I had to go back to English to reenact Hamlet and read Hamlet’s lines because no one else would. She smiled, stared, and said that she loved Hamlet.
    </code></pre>

<p>Other</p>

<pre><code>* State (if domestic applicant): Washington state

  • Country (if international applicant):
  • School Type: Public
  • Ethnicity: white
  • Gender: female
  • Income Bracket: 40,000 ish…low enough to qualify for a free-ride
  • Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
    </code></pre>

<p>Reflection</p>

<pre><code>* Strengths: I’m unique because I’m a conservative republican and Christian and my writing reflected it (I didn’t realize that I was flaunting my uniqueness with those essays until I started to wonder how in the world I got in); I sent in a CD with my marimba solo recording

  • Weaknesses: other applicants had higher scores
  • Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I had something others didn’t (right-wing all the way) and wasn’t afraid to tell about my conservatism; no one ever got in from my school and no one from my city (Spokane) for a few years
    </code></pre>

<p>General Comments: Don’t stress on the scores; give them who you are, not who you think they might want you to be; I never thought I would get in, so it majorly changed my vision of my future</p>

160

<p>^shows that you don’t need perfect test scores!</p>