Are there any normal students at Harvard?
Harvard grads & Cohort Mentors Aren (‘19, Economics) and Kian (‘19, Neurobiology) weigh in.
Cohort Guidance (CG): Aren and Kian, can you guys introduce yourselves?
Kian (K): I grew up in the Bay Area, went to a private high school. I am mixed Jamaican and Chinese!
Aren (A): I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. I went to a random public school near my house. It was fairly average-to-good. I’m the youngest of 5 siblings.
CG: So, Harvard grads, let’s get straight to it: are there any normal students at Harvard?
A: There was at least one normal person at Harvard: Kian.
K: Hah.
A: Honestly, everyone was pretty normal. Everyone had their own interests/flaws.
K: I would say everyone is very driven, students cared a lot about what they did. I had a lot of imposter syndrome.
A: You think of like world chess players. They definitely go to Harvard, but my friends were all pretty normal. I did know someone who was an aspiring Olympic figure skater.
CG: What was your journey to Harvard like?
A: I don’t think I had a “Plan to Go to Harvard” plotted out at all. I just happened to apply Restricted Early Action and got accepted. I did have an activity I cared about a comical amount: I legit spent 10 - 20 hours a week doing journalism. My signature thing was covering my high school sports teams as if I was the Omaha World Herald: a pregame report, live commentary at the Friday night games, and post-game reports.
K: I honestly did the things I wanted to do, and didn’t do anything FOR college. In retrospect, this really helped me fill out my application, because I did what I liked. I did well in school, took a lot of hard classes. I really loved basketball and I really loved community service. Basketball I played year round and planned events for; same for community service. I didn’t see myself applying to Harvard, but my school counselor said I might have a shot, so I applied Regular.
CG: But like, what was your real GPA? The number of APs/IBs you took?
[Aren and Kian give some nervous, self-aware laughter.]
A: I had a 4.0 (the highest possible GPA). I took 10 - 15 APs (the maximum number of APs possible) starting as early as sophomore year.
K: I had a 3.8 GPA (4.0 being the highest) and I took 5 APs. The school I went to was really competitive, so most of my regular classes could be considered an AP. I also maxed out the classes I took. (CG estimates this is about 7-10 APs at other schools.)
CG: Can you tell us what your personal statement essay topic was?
A: I wrote two essays on journalism, specifically what I did in journalism different from the normal approach at my high school.
K: My Common App essay was about being biracial (Jamaican and Chinese) and my other essay was about a personal health scare and what I took away from that.
CG: Do you have any tips for those of us writing Common App essays?
K: The way I came up with my essay topic was thinking about how I was different from my peers. I would hear students talk behind other students’ backs, and I realized I didn’t like that because of my life experiences - having a health scare, being different. Being othered.
A: Right. I felt that way too. I also thought a lot about what I did and I thought of the way I approached journalism as my high school “innovation.” It kind of made me distinct from others.
CG: Harvard is known for taking in polished, accomplished candidates. Why do you think Harvard admitted you over other students?
K: One of my biggest regrets were not going to see my application file. But I’m sure what made me stand out was not my academics, as it’s more about reaching the minimum grade threshold for elite schools. I think it was 1) my really strong letters of recs and 2) my essay. I worked on that essay A LOT. My school counselor read both and told me they were both really compelling.
A: I don’t really know, and I don’t think anyone ever knows exactly why. I actually went to read my admissions file and they just seemed to think positively about me, and thought I would do something interesting in my life. The specific thing they wrote was that they thought I would be a journalist.
[BTW, Aren is definitely NOT a journalist now. He does, however, still talk to a lot of people.]
CG: Did you meet any people at Harvard who were characters?
A: No characters, but I do have friends doing cool stuff: one’s a comedy writer in LA, one’s a math professor, one’s in business school, one’s doing policy work.
K: Two come to mind: I met this really macho rugby player who turned out to be an incredible singer and thespian. The other one was someone who fit the tortured genius trope to a T: he thought he was going to be a doctor and solve cancer, then got disillusioned and became a philosopher.
CG: Any final words of advice as students put together their apps?
A: Why is this interesting? How does it matter to admissions officers? Differentiation is part of the art of essay writing, and it should stem from what you like or are passionate about.
K: Ditto. It’s always really compelling to read the applications of people who know what they like to do, or have a hunch what they might like, or have a different perspective on the world.
