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Ask HN: High school senior, deferred from Harvard. Advice?

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Re: Ask HN: High school senior, deferred from Harvard. Advice?

#21

Post by Mz »

jpwright wrote: post #19
Mz wrote: post #8

Long ago, in a galaxy far away: I was accepted to UGA (which is a big deal in hicksville) with a National Merit Scholarship. I also was offered the chance to apply for a fellowship, but I missed the deadline. (My dream college was St. John's in New Mexico but I didn't have the foreign language classes to get accepted.) I went up to UGA by bus for orientation and wandered around on foot on a Sunday trying to find some…

What's the name of the disorder, if you don't mind me asking?

Atypical cystic fibrosis.

Re: Ask HN: High school senior, deferred from Harvard. Advice?

#22

Post by deservingend »

jellyksong wrote: post #16
deservingend wrote: post #12

Deferral is not rejection. Yeah, I know very few people get rejected outright from EA, but I also know people at Harvard right now who were first deferred. Care to share stats? Have you had your essays looked over by successful admits or other strong applicants? Most teachers are useless for evaluating college essays at top schools.

Kinda bursting my own bubble here but it's also extremely unlikely to be accepted after being deferred -- even less than applying regular. I'd have to do something extraordinary between now and April. Also, at this point I think it's too late to edit my essays. Are you applying as well?

"it's also extremely unlikely to be accepted after being deferred" - What are your sources on this?

I meant your essays for other applications.

I'm a recent college grad. I didn't apply to Harvard but did get into Stanford, MIT, Princeton, etc. One thing you learn attending a top school and actually meeting a large volume of admits is that the people who talked about college admissions back in high school (on CollegeConfidential and elsewhere) didn't know jack shit.

Re: Ask HN: High school senior, deferred from Harvard. Advice?

#23

Post by akavi »

deservingend wrote: post #10
dangrossman wrote: post #4

What's your financial situation? Harvard costs about $58,000 a year. If you're not absolutely sure you'll get a significant scholarship, you should finish those other applications just to ensure you also get in somewhere you can afford. Right now, the unemployment plus underemployment rate for recent college graduates is 53%. Quite a bit higher than the national unemployment rate. $100-200k in student loans (which wi…

Harvard has excellent financial aid.

To elaborate, from Harvard's financial aid website: "Beginning in the fall of 2012, this "zero contribution threshold" will be increased to $65,000. Financial aid is available to all students based on assessed need. Beginning with the class of 2016, families with incomes up to $150,000 will have an average expected parent contribution of 10 percent or less of their income"

For most people, going to Harvard would be cheaper than attending a state university.

Re: Ask HN: High school senior, deferred from Harvard. Advice?

#24

Post by andrewhillman »

I was deferred as well when I was a HS senior but then after looking at the total pool of applicants, MIT excepted me before the school year started. But I pursued other options... went snowboarding in the NH mountains for the winter months, it was a blast... then I reassessed my situation and selected another school and spent 4.5 years having the time of my life. It's all good mate! Have no fear, it will work out. Stay sane and push on.

Re: Ask HN: High school senior, deferred from Harvard. Advice?

#25

Post by debacle »

I got accepted into my dream school (MIT) and couldn't afford to go. Two sides of the same coin, I suppose.

The reality is that you are who you are, and you are a person who was not accepted in to Harvard. There are many other good and great schools that would be happy to have you. While you will be missing out on a Harvard education, at the right school you could do just as well, or better.

Don't let this discourage you. While it seems like a huge deal right now, in ten years where you went to school is going to matter less than how passionate you are about your work, who you decide to spend your life with, and where you decide you want to be.

Re: Ask HN: High school senior, deferred from Harvard. Advice?

#26

Post by anayini »

Was at one point in a similar situation. Went to a math and science high school with the hopes of eventually going to Stanford or MIT. Instead, I ended at my state school. As a senior looking back on college, I'm extremely satisfied with my choice. I've had the opportunity to learn from some great professors and have gotten a few internships at Google and a fulltime job at Palantir from it.

Regardless of where you go you can always find great people and learn from them.

Re: Ask HN: High school senior, deferred from Harvard. Advice?

#27

Post by jellyksong »

deservingend wrote: post #22
jellyksong wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kinda bursting my own bubble here but it's also extremely unlikely to be accepted after being deferred -- even less than applying regular. I'd have to do something extraordinary between now and April. Also, at this point I think it's too late to edit my essays. Are you applying as well?

"it's also extremely unlikely to be accepted after being deferred" - What are your sources on this? I meant your essays for other applications. I'm a recent college grad. I didn't apply to Harvard but did get into Stanford, MIT, Princeton, etc. One thing you learn attending a top school and actually meeting a large volume of admits is that the people who talked about college admissions back in high school (on College…

I believe that ~100 deferred applicants were accepted last year, out of the deferred pool of 3,000 and the regular pool of 30,000.

Hm, what are some misconceptions then? What do you think they are looking for?

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