Pieces of a Puzzle?

Colleges & Universities Harvard University
1

<p>Hey guys, I posted this chance me thread in the general “What’s my chance” section a few months ago. Things have changed since then and I have narrowed down my SCEA choice to Harvard specifically. Please chance me taking into account Harvard’s social context and what they specifically look for in applicants as opposed to other similar schools such as Yale. I’ve often heard that what these top schools look for is similar to the process of trying to create a jigsaw puzzle. For example they reject so many 2400’s because they already have so many and one of them has already filled in part of the puzzle. I may be completely wrong and if so please correct me.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance and I appreciate it.</p>

<p>Country: I am a US citizen but live in Mumbai, India and go to an international school. I had lived in America for around 10 years and came here around 2.5 years ago.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 UW
Rank: 1/105</p>

<p>Course Load: IB (Predicted, final board exams are in May 2012 so actual exam scores cannot be given whilst applying)</p>

<p>Math HL: 7
Economics HL: 7
History HL: 7
English SL: 7
Physics SL: 7
French Ab Initio: 7</p>

<p>Total Predicted: 45/45</p>

<p>Testing</p>

<p>SAT: 2300 (Three Sittings), Superscore: 2350
SAT Subject Tests: Math II: 800, U.S. History: 790</p>

<p>IGCSE’s (9th and 10th) :6A* and 1A (Cumulative Average of 94% in boards)</p>

<p>Awards and Achievements: Indian Topper for IGCSE IT (highest score in all of India)- Cambridge Outstanding Achiever
Debating Matters India best debater award
International Award for Young People.
Duke TIP
Felicitation (face to face meeting) from the ex-president of India (Dr. Abdul Kalam) for achievements in the field of microcredit at a young age.
Many School Awards (Outstanding Student for many subjects, etc.)
TIMES OF INDIA student of the year (best student in Mumbai from the largest newspaper in India)
National Society of Highschool Scholars
Was part of the official Indian delegation to the UN conference on sustainable development in may 2011. Got a change to interact with statesmen and diplomats such as the UN secretary general Ban-ki-Moon.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: </p>

<p>Conferences: Got selected to go to the THIMUN Youth Assembly in the Hague, Netherlands, voted most insightful delegate
Got selected based on merit to go to the Wockhardt Thought Leadership Conference where I got to spend personalised time with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Dr. Muhammed Yunus (the founder of Grameen Bank and Industries, pioneer of microcredit)
Invited to the South Asian Leadership Conference in Bangalore in IIM (the Indian Institute of Management, famous in its own right)
PMUN 2010- Secretary General
Chosen to give a speech in the Indian National Stock Exchange (NSE) about the importance of youth entrepreneurship and their impact on finance</p>

<p>Organisations</p>

<p>Started a microcredit organisation called Eutopia 4 years ago which is a microcredit organisation working in rural areas. Has given loans of 27 lakhs (around $50,000). Works on the principle of Social Capital. Partnered with Oxfam India, Grameen Bank India, the Indian Development Foundation, and many other NGO’s.</p>

<p>Have started an organisation called Project Synergy 2 years ago. This aims to bring all schools and NGO’s ACROSS INDIA together for collaborative sustainable development projects. Therefore schools and organisations have the help of other organisations to implement projects which allow the scale of projects to be severely increased. Is affliated with Oxfam, a multinational Bank, THIMUN, the Frankfurt Globe (media source, and the largest student run magazine in Germany). So far, there are 43 schools and organisations across India with around 2,400 students.</p>

<p>Part of the Stanford University Incubator project (called IDEAS) which is an organisation based on Stanford which uses global volunteers to implement projects based on sustainable solutions.</p>

<p>Chosen to go the Georgia Leadership Summit (when I had lived in the United States)</p>

<p>Clubs and Sports</p>

<p>Head Boy
Varsity Tennis Captain (2 years), 3rd in the entire state of Maharashtra, Invited to the Adidas Tennis Summit (when in America)
Model United Nations President
Economics Club President
School Newspaper Co-editor
Writer for the Frankfurt Globe (economics and politics)</p>

<p>Jobs/Internship</p>

<p>Interned at India’s 4th largest private-sector bank in research department for rural development and solutions</p>

<p>Research</p>

<p>Research with University of Mumbai about alternate mechanisms of implementing microcredit in urban areas (as social capital is ineffective). Planning to give a proposal to the Mumbai Municipality government for implementation.</p>

<p>Recommendations: Amazing. Two best in “x” Years and 1 counselor (best in school’s history)</p>

<p>I would appreciate it if I could get candid assessments of my chances for Harvard. For everyone applying to college this year, GOOD LUCK! Its going to be a fun ride.</p>

2

<p>The thing about the “pieces of the puzzle” theory is that the Harvard adcoms are looking at 40,000 applications, and we’re just looking at you. It’s hard for us to know whether you’re going to match the 1,999 other pieces they pick or not, since we have no context. Obviously, you’re qualified to attend, and wouldn’t drop out or transfer if you were accepted, but whether or not you’re going to actually get in is far beyond my knowledge, and the knowledge of almost anyone outside those doors.</p>

3

<p>These qualifications seems quite outstanding, but you never know when compared with the usually even more outstanding Chinese and Koreans. That is why prognosticating international admits is so hard.</p>

4

<p>The OP is an US citizen so he would not be an international student. He simply goes to high school overseas. This puts the OP in a seperate pool and it is harder to predict who he would be competing against. The test scores and EC look very competitive though.</p>

5

<p>In the past, William Fitzsimmons has said that 80% of applicants could do the work at Harvard. Looking over your stats, I think we all in agreement that you are definitely in that 80% group. Beyond that, no one can predict with certainty what your chances actually might be against the other 28,000 kids who statistically are also in that group.</p>

6

<p>Are you recruitable for tennis?</p>

7

<p>@Exul and Gibby- Thank you for your rational statements. You are right and I realise that there is no sure shot way of telling. Can you, however, chance me based upon the quality of applicants that you know got in?</p>

<p>Kelly and Hparent@thank you very much.</p>

<p>@fauve- I don’t think I would be good enough to be honest. My level is only state and you would need to be higher wouldn’t you. </p>

<p>My main strength lies in my endeavors in microcredit and Indian development and the commendations I’ve had related to them</p>

<p>Everyone else, may I please get more chances?</p>

8

<p>@OP Sorry mate, but your resume’s kind of unusual looking. When someone goes to a public high school in southern California and falls somewhere on the spectrum that goes from “varsity swim team, volunteered at a nursing home a bit, worked at a lab over the summer once, fifth place at local science fair junior year” to “fourth place breaststroke at state meet, founded a club that made a real impact in the lives of poor children in the hospital, worked at a lab one summer, Intel finalist,” that’s pretty easy to chance in a rough sort of way. I’m just not going to take a swing at your resume beyond what I said earlier, which is that you’re obviously not going to be rejected out of hand.</p>

9

<p>Hmmm, exul, you again make sense. It would be difficult for you to make judgements with information that’s, for want of a better word, out of context. </p>

<p>Nevertheless, can I have more chances based on my general profile please? I would really like to know where I stand. Thanks in advance. CC has been amazing so far.</p>

10

<p>It’s practically impossible for anyone here to tell you where you stand. You certainly have a very impressive resume, but every student at Harvard and every parent of a student who posts here knows of some amazing people like you who did not get accepted. I think it’s fair to say your chances are better than average, but by how much no one can really say. Apply to a host of schools that suit you and you will very likely get accepted to an outstanding university. As an aside, when you were with his Holiness the Dalai Lama did he offer you total consciousness on your death bed? Gunga, gunga ganunga!</p>

11

<p>Thanks sideline. Actually no The Dalai Lama didn’t do that but he did promise me an automatic path to enlightenment (he said I would have to get onto Harvard first though :P. Apparently it’s a prerequisite in Tibet now :smiley: and a nice little pat on the head.) Oh yeah and he insulted, in the jargon of the average Joe, his yes man by asking him a question that he purposefully framed wrong. What a cool guy. :)</p>

<p>Well in other news, I guess the general consensus is that it’s hard to tell if I get in. Fair enough. I’ll hope for the best and just do the stuff I love and life can craft it’s own path, with a few nudges here and there from yours truly. :P</p>

<p>Thanks a lot everyone. You guys are great.</p>

12

<p>Based on what was presented in OP, you look pretty impressive. I’d say you stand at or around the upper end of the mid-50% candidate pool, that means your application will be carefully read. With “strong” recommendations and “excellent” essays supporting your claims, you should have a much better than average chance. Good luck!</p>

13

<p>Thanks a lot Hparent. Hopefully I get in. But there’s more important things than that and what I can advise to all applicants is to keep on doing what you love without your happiness getting determined exclusively by college decisions.</p>