<p>Can anyone tell me what this means, if anything? My daughter does very well in public school, low income area, We are a low income single parent family, She has taken SAT one time thus far, will retake in October. Her score was a little over 2100. Yesterday, she received an application to apply to Harvard. She has been receiving many info packages from colleges, but no applications. Based on that SAT score, I can’t imagine that is Harvard material. Is this a ploy to get her to apply, to make their numbers look better? On what are they basing this solicitation ?</p>
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<p>Plus the free money coming from her application.</p>
<p>Means nothing. D has received both Harvard and Princeton, we pitched them. who can pay for those even with their FA packages? She is in state school now on Merit $$.</p>
<p>In an effort to attract the best possible student body, Harvard sends tens of thousands of applications and letters to students whose score and/or other accomplishments indicate that they could be the kind of students whom Harvard wants to admit.</p>
<p>Most students at Harvard got such invitations. However, probably most Harvard rejects also got such invitations, so don’t assume that getting such a letter means that your D will be accepted. Fewer than one in 10 students who applies to Harvard are accepted, and about 9 out of 10 applicants qualify for admissions in that they have the grades and scores that indicate that if accepted, they would be able to academically succeed at Harvard.</p>
<p>Harvard isn’t sending out such applications to fatten its coffers through application fees. I doubt that the application fees cover the expense of reviewing each application. In addition, if one is low income, one certainly can get a fee waiver so as not to have to pay to apply.</p>
<p>Harvard has had a hard time attracting low income qualified applicants, students it wants in order to create a student body that is diverse in all meanings of the word “diverse”. It has probably the very best financial aid program in the country for low income students. In addition, being very low income is a plus when it comes to one’s chances of being admitted, so I suggest having your D take a serious look at Harvard as well as other schools like Yale that are highly competitive and have generous financial aid for low income students.</p>
<p>Your D’s 2100 SAT is within the range of students who are accepted to Harvard. I’m an alum who has been active in interviewing applicants, and the bottom SAT score for Harvard students tends to be about an 1800. In evaluating scores, Harvard takes into account students backgrounds – including their parents’ education as well as the quality of their high schools. More is expected of students with highly educated parents, students from affluent families, and those who go to excellent public and private schools.</p>
<p>Info from Harvard’s web site about its financial aid policies:</p>
<p>"In 2009—2010 we anticipate awarding close to $147 million in need-based scholarship assistance to our students. …</p>
<p>Our most recent program enhancement, announced in December of 2007, has dramatically reduced the amount we expect families to contribute to the cost of their student’s Harvard education.</p>
<p>We no longer require students to take out loans, and parents of financial aid recipients are asked to contribute on average from zero to ten percent of their annual income, with no contribution expected for families with incomes of under $60,000. </p>
<p>Those parents with annual incomes of between $120,000 and $180,000 are asked to contribute an average ten percent of their income, with a declining percentage — from ten to zero — for parents with annual incomes between $120,000 and $60,000."
[Harvard</a> College Admissions § Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/index.html]Harvard”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/index.html)</p>
<p>My son said that Harvard send out thousands of packages to students who fall within the 2100 SAT range. He got two of them last summer. If your daughter is a National Merit semifinalist (you will know in September), take a close look at those offers. Some are incredible.</p>
<p>Even if your D isn’t a National Merit semifinalist, her scores will qualify her for admission to many excellent colleges, and she also can get some excellent need based and merit-based aid. Being low income will be a big plus, too. Still, make sure that she applies to at least one safety that she loves and that you know she’ll be able to afford. It’s always best to build one’s college application list from the bottom up.</p>
<p>10% + R&B is still a lot compared to paying about $4000 for tuition + room + board.</p>
<p>My daughter received first a letter from Harvard and then an application followed. Yale sent multiple letters over a span of a few months. My guess: her SAT scores triggered the mailings. Means no more/no less than that.</p>
<p>Harvard actively recruits in the low income arena. They have fabulous financial aid packages if you can get in. GPA and test scores are taken in context with an applicant’s socio-economic status, etc.</p>
<p>Our high achieving (top 10%, 2000+ SAT scores), low income minority kids get into Harvard, Stanford, etc. with regularity where our top non-minority, high income kids do not. So don’t think that you have to have tippy-top GPA or test scores to get in if you are a low income minority. </p>
<p>Having said that, it is as rare as hen’s teeth to have a low income, high performing minority kid at our school. If you fit the profile, I would apply to Harvard.</p>
<p>But it’s not 10% plus room and board. It’s 10% of one’s salary – if one makes $120-180 k a year – plus one has to pay for books, and personal expenses. The board, however, is included in the what the scholarship and 10% cover.</p>
<p>My family makes less than $120 k, and we’re paying far more for S to attend a second tier LAC.</p>
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<p>Yes, yes, that’s right – no one should opt for Harvard, regardless of how much financial aid they get and how much they’d have to pay… or not!</p>
<p>Sheeeeesh.</p>
<p>Thanks to all that have responded. I am very new to this process and trying to gather as much information as possible in order to make the right choices. I was not sure if her SAT scores triggered the mailing or if it is a mass mailing to all who take the SAT. Included in the application was an explanation of financial aid offered by Harvard, and it did seem very generous. She would love to go to a top rated school in that she is a very hard worker, however, finances will dictate where she ultimately attends. It is so complicated!!</p>
<p>Harvard is looking for low income students of all races – including white students. It is very hard to find low income students with the academic background to be successful at Harvard, and who also are willing to go to Harvard. Unfortunately, many of the low income students who would qualify for admission don’t apply because they are intimidated by Harvard’s name or they fear they wouldn’t fit in.</p>
<p>We are not minorities, and if I made $120,000 a year, I would consider myself extremely wealthy!!!</p>
<p>Since you have a top kid who will need financial aid to make college a reality, just be aware that you should apply far and wide so that you can compare $$ offers when it comes time to pick a college. People may differ about this–but I would not apply early decision to any college in the fall.</p>
<p>You can do more than compare offers, you can often get schools to offer you more money if you got into one of their peer institutions. I was able to get two schools to play off against each other and it wound up getting me an extra $5k or so a year in grant money.</p>
<p>It is not a ploy, nor does it mean anything except that your student probably scored well enough on some exam to get on their mailing list. My older son was a National Merit Scholar and didn’t get a mailing until late senior year (December I think). My younger son also scored well (though probably at commended level for NY) and he hasn’t gotten anything from this round. His grades really aren’t good enough for Harvard, so I hope they save money and trees and don’t send him anything!</p>
<p>Codesun, you obviously don’t live in NY! I don’t think too many people around here feel “extremely wealthy” making $120,000, though they certainly wouldn’t say they were poor either. :)</p>
<p>“She would love to go to a top rated school in that she is a very hard worker, however, finances will dictate where she ultimately attends.”</p>
<p>Although you may not be able to tell this from CC, for most students – including ones with excellent scores and grades – finances play a large consideration in where they go to college. That’s also why most students go to college within 250 miles of home.</p>
<p>Read this article for context: </p>
<p>[Online</a> Extra: How Harvard Gets its Best and Brightest](<a href=“Businessweek - Bloomberg”>Businessweek - Bloomberg) </p>
<p>And this article (a .PDF file) may be helpful too: </p>
<p><a href=“http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1080&context=workingpapers[/url]”>http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1080&context=workingpapers</a></p>