It May Help You Get Into Harvard
It’s now college letter season, so if you have a kid in high school, you know that students across the country are eagerly waiting to see if they got into Dream U or if they’ll have to settle for anything less. If you were in high school (or you’re still in high school), you might be thinking about the upcoming fall application season – and the whole game theory that comes with where to apply.
Here’s a tiny strategy to help you do this: of course, where you apply matters, but also when . The Wall Street Journal reports that candidates who make an “early decision” are two or three times more likely to be accepted than candidates who apply in a later wave of students. Melissa Korn writes: “Last year, Harvard accepted 14.5% of applicants who filed for early review and about 3.3% of applicants who filed for an ordinary decision. At Yale, these rates were 17.1% and 5%, respectively. Many educational institutions fill 40% or more of the incoming students with early entrants. “
It is now clear that there are other factors as well: for example, hired athletes were candidates for an early decision. And among the applicants who make decisions early on, there are usually really outstanding candidates – obviously, these are the children who think they have a good chance in this school. But the numbers remain astounding nonetheless, with Korn reporting that first-year candidates will account for nearly half of Dartmouth’s freshmen and more than half for Northwest and Vanderbilt.
That leaves a high school student with a choice: strive for the stars and apply early to their dream school? Apply early for the second option, where you can have the best shot and have it all settled, if not perfect, by December? As financial advisers say, only you can know your risk tolerance.
And speaking of finance, for those job seekers who need financial help – and, for example, who doesn’t? – it might make sense to defer and apply all over the place at the same time so you can compare packages. After all, if you make a decision early, but a financial aid package isn’t what you want, you will face a different dilemma: give it up and hope others are better, or take it and try to make it work. … …
Regardless, some kids will be thrilled and some will be disappointed: Even David Hogg, a Parkland shooting survivor and activist, did not go to UCLA schools and has a 4.2 GPA and serious community service. continue. So the best strategy might be a piece of advice I read from some random person on the Internet: Don’t get hung up on your dream school. Consider how you can turn the college you are attending into the school of your dreams.