Anonymous wrote:No kid should be having their heart set on Harvard.

Unless have a hook, the odds just simply are not good.

-- Mom of 2023 grad who did all the things a rejected / waitlist at all Ivy applied too (on IQ tests he is a genius too)

+1 and I actually got in decades ago. (top everything). My kid wanted Princeton and had all the stats, ECs, and faculty support (deferred SEA; waitlisted)). Deferred at Harvard where I am a legacy but no buildings in name. Waitlisted at Yale notwithstanding two more legacies and immediate relative on faculty. He had everything but not URM or first generation. OP, please tell your kid that admission is now at 4% at all of these schools, if not hooked. Ivy day was very sad in our household. But Cambridge took him based on merit!. Look to Canada or overseas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Win a state title in tennis, may become a recruited athlete. Play an instrument at level where she can join an orchestra of a major metropolitan city while in high, that may help, otherwise it is a lottery just like every other straight A student who max out on SAT/ACT scores.

My kid’s team won states. My kid is as good as he can be without being a recruited tennis player. He has a long list of extracurriculars and rigor. He is gunning for Penn and expects not to get in.

OP, it is possible but it is probably like a 1% chance. A girl from our public was not crazy impressive and got in last year. I’m assuming she had an amazing story and essay. She didn’t have any stand out extracurricular activities. Kids at her school were very surprised.

This sounds very on point.

Anonymous wrote:"Her father and I are geniuses"?? Good god. I thought the OP was a troll, but apparently not.

I think OP meant "not geniuses" but dropped the word.

"Her father and I are geniuses"?? Good god. I thought the OP was a troll, but apparently not.

Why does she have her heart set on Harvard? Is it anything beyond the name brand?

Op, sounds like your kid would like U of Toronto: you get that feeling of being somewhere special without having to play all the ridiculous games necessary to get in the top American universities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is she tall? If so have her try crew!

This is solid advice, OP!

Probably too late to get the skill
level needed. I got in to Harvard perhaps due in part to being a professional ballet dancer but that was after 14 years of study. The female rower I knew at H was a bronze Olympian

Anonymous wrote:Is she tall? If so have her try crew!

This is solid advice, OP!

Anonymous wrote:Win a state title in tennis, may become a recruited athlete. Play an instrument at level where she can join an orchestra of a major metropolitan city while in high, that may help, otherwise it is a lottery just like every other straight A student who max out on SAT/ACT scores.

My kid’s team won states. My kid is as good as he can be without being a recruited tennis player. He has a long list of extracurriculars and rigor. He is gunning for Penn and expects not to get in.

OP, it is possible but it is probably like a 1% chance. A girl from our public was not crazy impressive and got in last year. I’m assuming she had an amazing story and essay. She didn’t have any stand out extracurricular activities. Kids at her school were very surprised.

Win a state title in tennis, may become a recruited athlete. Play an instrument at level where she can join an orchestra of a major metropolitan city while in high, that may help, otherwise it is a lottery just like every other straight A student who max out on SAT/ACT scores.

She could apply for fun, but make sure she knows it is just for fun.
It’s a better investment to work hard and get generous merit to attend an excellent but lesser known college.

Adjust expectations, now.
Find other schools that have the vibe she is responding to.
Unless the vibe is prestige, which is a less than wise road to wander.
You must create a brutally realistic balanced list of reaches, targets and safeties. Not in that order!

Possible? Sure. Likely? Not for anyone. Tons of valedictorians get rejected by Harvard. I knew someone who was a finalist at ISEF, a legacy, and my school valedictorian and didn't get in (she went to another Ivy).

She can't realistically get her heart set on that as there are no guarantees. It's okay to shoot for something hard, you just have to understand there are lots of other options that will be fantastic.