Harvard Applicant Profile: Leadership Potential / Underserved Minority

Today's Harvard Applicant Profile is the leadership potential / underserved minority. Harvard has in recent years placed an emphasis on creating a diverse student body. This post is not meant to be a critique of those policies, but rather a statement of the reality they create. Under such policies, students are actively recruited from underserved groups, primarily for their leadership potential. Please note that underserved groups range across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic spectrums. Furthermore, leadership potential extends beyond politics to mean leadership within communities, be they social communities or academic ones. In other words, a poor Caucasian male student from the Deep South who is an Eagle Scout fits this profile as well as a well-to-do Pacific Islander female student who is interested in botany.

Why lump these together? Basically, this profile is for students who are unique due to their backgrounds and experiences, and who can hopefully take away from Harvard a broad, world perspective to advocate for their interest groups. They will serve as a voice for their communities in the future is the hope.

Clearly, either you fit this profile or you don't, and there isn't much one can actively do to change that. However, for those of you who have "non-traditional" backgrounds, i.e. didn't go to prep schools, don't have connections, don't have any particular talent, don't think that Harvard is out of your reach. If you have performed well academically in an environment where the odds were against you, Harvard may very well be interested in having you join its student body.

Next time, I will discuss the applicant profile that probably fits most people visiting this blog: the academic.

Who Should Write Your College Recommendation Letters?

Recommendation letters are an important part of the application process, but not necessarily for the reasons you might think. The letters may not 'make' your application (your standardized test scores, grades, and other accomplishments will), but they can break your application. A poor recommendation letter really stands out since most recommendation letters are written from someone who strongly supports the applicant and writes a strongly positive letter. Therefore, it is important to get letter writers who you are confident will write you a strong letter.

A few pointers on recommendation letters (including the usual advice, in case you have not already read it):

• Get letter writers who know you personally. A personal anecdote detailing how you show leadership or how you are talented goes a lot further than someone simply regurgitating your resume in letter form.
  
  
• Find letter writers who can speak to different strengths of yours, especially if your application is heavily tilted towards one field. For example, if you are strong in the sciences, you should definitely get one letter from a biology or chemistry teacher. However, your other letter should be from an English teacher or history teacher or track coach, showing another dimension of your personality and talents.
  
  
• Ask EARLY. Popular letter writers often get swamped with requests, and may only be able to write a certain number of letters before the deadlines you have to meet.
  
  
• Help them help you. Provide them with a resume detailing all your accomplishments as well as any other material necessary to complete the letter (this includes stamped and addressed envelopes if necessary).
  
  
• In addition to providing background material, ask the letter writer if you could talk to them for a few minutes (or just do this when you hand them the materials). Tell them what you want said in the letter. Discuss what your plans and goals are. Trust me, it will help them write a more coherent narrative about who you are.
  
  
• Seek out advice from the class above you about who good letter writers are. Good letter writers are enthusiastic, punctual, and willing to discuss your letter with you.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

Harvard Applicant Profile: Artistic Talent

Today's Harvard Applicant Profile is the artistic talent. If you are not a legacy or an athlete, perhaps you are a world-renowned artist. While the arts may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Harvard, the University actually has a strong presence in many artistic fields. The Office for the Arts at Harvard documents the many arts-related events occurring at Harvard. Students can participate in many art-related projects inside their courses and out. These projects are often presented at the annual ARTS FIRST festival, held each spring.

Many talented artists are Harvard alumni, including various authors, artists, musicians, directors, and actors. Famous alumni include:

Mira Nair

John Lithgow



Jack Lemmon


Yo-Yo Ma



Matt Damon

and


Natalie Portman

What does all this mean to you as an applicant? Well, if you are a world-class talent, congratulations! You're in! But, even if you are not, that's okay. If you are a superlative talent in a particular well-known field (ex. playing the violin) or if you have a unique artistic talent (ex. playing the tabla), you will certainly stand out from the crowd. However, you will still require good academic credentials. Furthermore, if your main 'argument' for why Harvard should accept you is your artistic talent, it had better be something very noteworthy. This is not meant as discouragement, but rather merely a statement of fact. Many students at Harvard are artistically talent; it is the rare few who are there primarily because of that talent.

Next time, I will discuss the Leadership Potential / Underserved Minority profile.

Harvard Applicant Profile: Athlete

A recent post discussed the legacy applicant. Today, I will discuss the next type of Harvard applicant: the athlete. The purpose of describing these profiles is not to stereotype any member of the Harvard community. Rather, the purpose is to enlighten prospective students about what types of candidates Harvard is seeking. In fact, many undergraduates fall into several of the categories that I will describe.

When most people think of Harvard, athletics is far from their first thought. However, as the nation's oldest college, Harvard has a long tradition of athletics. As the GoCrimson site notes, Harvard has a strong presence in athletics:

Harvard's legacy of consistent success in intercollegiate athletics mirrors its reputation as the world's finest institution of higher learning.

Harvard fields 41 varsity teams, the most among the nation's NCAA Division I colleges and universities. Nearly 1,500 Harvard undergraduates - or 20 percent of the student body - participate in intercollegiate athletics.

Since its participation in the nation's first college athletic event - a two-mile crew race against Yale in 1852 - Harvard has been a consistent leader in the world of college sports.

Given this history, Harvard is keen on recruiting the best and brightest scholar athletes. While Harvard is no longer necessarily competitive with some athletic powerhouses in marquee college sports, Harvard still looks for students who excel in their own sport as well as in academics.

What this means for the potential applicant is that you must be quite talented in your sport and have reasonable academic credentials. I have often witnessed applicants (or, more commonly, their parents) talking to admissions officers with a misconception of the role athletics plays in admissions. The parents will note that their child has done well academically (top 15%, let's say) and has also participated in say, tennis, for all 4 years of high school, winning at the district level. Not to belittle their accomplishments, but this will likely not be enough to secure them admission.

Harvard wants students who compete at the state and national level in their sports AND have good academic credentials. Many Olympians and future professional athletes have attended Harvard, so being "athletic" is not enough. If you consider the quote above, the fact that 20% of students participate in athletics (a much higher percentage than most other schools) should emphasize how seriously Harvard takes its sports.

Another factor to consider is the diversity of sports played at Harvard. It is better for the applicant to be a premier squash player or fencer than to be an All-State wide receiver from a small state. Many high school students will have good grades and play traditional sports like basketball, football, tennis, or soccer. Relatively few will participate in Greco-Roman wrestling or crew.

If you want to go to Harvard based on your athletic ability, keep these factors in mind. Future posts will tackle the next applicant profile, the artistic talent.

Harvard Applicant Profile: Legacy

As I mentioned previously, there are many kinds of Harvard applicants. The purpose of describing these profiles is not to stereotype any member of the Harvard community. Rather, the purpose is to enlighten prospective students about what types of candidates Harvard is seeking. In fact, many undergraduates fall into several of the categories that I will describe.

The legacy admission is the student who has strong family ties to Harvard. Usually, a direct relative is a Harvard graduate, such as a parent or sibling. Often, multiple generations have attended Harvard. For example, many generations of the Kennedy family have attended Harvard.

Legacy candidates are typically well-qualified on their own, but as one can imagine, having the connections does not hurt. As they say, it's not what you know, it's who you know, right? An applicant who knows someone who went to Harvard, especially recently, can ask them for advice regarding who to contact at the Admissions Office and how to structure their application.

There are various views on the issues of 'legacies' and what role that should play in admissions. As this article in the Harvard Crimson notes, there are several arguments for considering legacy status in admission:

Various proponents of legacy preference have offered several reasons for continuing to give legacies a boost. For example, a critical mass of legacies on campus might help to generate a larger sense of Harvard spirit and tradition on campus, through their own emotional connections to the University and their familial connections to alumni.

More importantly, proponents of legacy preference claim that the practice also helps to engage alumni with the University beyond their Harvard years; knowing that their sons and daughters stand a better chance of admission to their alma mater, alumni are more generous with their money, and possibly more significantly, their time.

The article goes on to argue against using legacy status as a criteria for admission. Still, if you are applying to Harvard and have a close relative who went there, it cannot hurt you and can only stand to help you. Even if you only know someone who went, I would suggest contacting them and asking them about their experiences. They can serve as a valuable advisor during the application process and beyond.

Future posts will discuss the other applicant profiles, such as the Harvard Athlete.

Scholarships

Scholarships are awards given for a variety reasons that usually reward the recipients with cash to go to college. Here are some reasons why you should apply for scholarships, and some things to be aware of:

Advantages

• Scholarships help you practice your applying skills
• Financial assistance
• Prestige
• Something more to list on your application as an award

Disadvantages

• Applying takes time, time which could be used on other activities/pursuits
• There is no guarantee of success, no matter how good your application is
• Harvard, and many other schools, will deduct any money you win from scholarships from your financial aid award. Thus, the only direct benefit you can receive from scholarships is if you win enough to money to cover your tuition entirely (which is quite hard to do)
• While particular groups will have scholarships targeted for them (Native Americans, for example), there are few general scholarships based solely on academic achievement
• As a rule of thumb, you should expect to win one scholarship for every 10 you apply to, but this could vary widely for each particular individual

The list of disadvantages may look long. However, on the whole, I think it is worthwhile to try for scholarships, but do not do this in lieu of studying for your classes or the SATs. The skills you learn in applying for scholarships will serve you well in applying for college and beyond.

Getting Into Harvard Month-By-Month: October

Each month, I will discuss the steps you should take that month to be successful in applying to colleges. For a discussion about last month, check out the September post.

Freshmen

Hopefully you have gotten settled into your classes by now and found an activity or two to join.

• Start looking into scholarship opportunities. You have relatively more time to do this now, and winning a few of these will not only look good on your application, you will also get some money to help pay for college.
  
• Be active in the extracurricular groups you joined. Try to spend one or two weekends a month either participating in tournaments or whatever activity it is that the group is involved with.
  
• Study hard! Your grades this semester count as much as any other towards your GPA. Colleges will not discount your grade just because it was your first semester in school.
  

Sophomores

The pace has probably picked up a bit by this point. Here are a few pointers:

• Continue looking into what you need to do to take the PSAT exam this year. Start preparing for it by learning vocabulary, taking practice exams, or even signing up for a test prep course.
• It is never too early to look into summer programs. Summers are nice way to have significant experiences outside of school that also look good on an application. Many colleges, including Harvard Summer School, also run summer school programs that you may be eligible for.
• Good luck on the PSAT!
  
• Study hard!
  

Juniors

Ah, juniors. This is the money year. This is the year in which a majority of your college application will be finalized. Good luck!

• If you are taking the SAT this month, good luck! If you signed up for January or May, keep studying when you have free time.
  
• Good luck on the NMSQT! Being a National Merit Scholar is definitely a big plus on your application.
• Try to keep up with your extracurricular activities.
  
• If you have teachers you liked and whose classes you did well in in previous years, go back and touch base with them. Tell them about interests and goals, with an eye towards perhaps asking them for a letter of recommendation down the road.
  

Seniors

Senior year can simultaneously be both very rewarding and very stressful. Just have a plan in mind, and things will be fine.

• Start preparing the Common Application for Harvard if you have not already.
• Start contacting teachers about recommendation letters. It is probably best to have teachers from diverse subjects, like an English teacher and a Biology teacher. Even better are teachers who can speak to your academic abilities as well as your extracurricular activities.
• Keep working on your personal statement (or get started!). This will take much longer than you expect to write! If you need help, there are many services that offer professional help with writing personal statements.
  
• Contact your local admissions representative with any questions you have about Harvard College or the admissions process. They can be your best friends throughout this process!

The November post is coming soon. If you are concerned about what you should have done last month, here is the September post.