'CAN ETHIOPIANS
GET INTO HARVARD?
Exclusive interview with Erin Fehn, Admissions Officer at Harvard
College.
Part I
I have been getting a lot of readers congratulating me for getting
into Harvard. I highly value their support and find it very encouraging.
But the sad reality is that every Ethiopians who are capable of
joining Harvard do not even get to apply. Some people convince themselves
it is impossible to be admitted to a school such as Harvard even
before they try. To tackle this problem, Erin Fehn, an admissions
officer at Harvard agreed to give me an interview concerning the
application process and inform Ethiopians on what the Harvard Admissions
Office is looking for. This week we focus on the application process,
and next week we will have Erin Fehn discuss obtaining financial
support.
Q: What does a good application to Harvard look like?
A: Every application is different. In the Admissions Office we say
that it's an art, not a science, because there is no one right way
to write an application. The best applications are those that are
consistent from the beginning to the end of the file, that tell
a consistent story, that reference what the students will get out
of the Harvard experience but also what they would bring to the
Harvard experience. Students are welcome to send in extra materials
to help us get to know them better, like extra recommendation letters,
articles they have written, music they have composed, and anything
that can highlight what their talents are. So in the applications
we want to see evidence that the students are going to end up being
leaders in whatever they do years after they graduate from Harvard.
Q: Is there a minimum grade that you expect of each applicant?
A: For the most part we use grades as a reflection of a student's
academic ability. We look at both standardized tests like the SAT
but also school grades. But we don't filter out people by just looking
at their grades. Each application is sort of a life story of the
applicant, and most applications are truly unique. When the committee
reads these applications, we are learning about people.
Q: How do you choose who to admit and who to reject?
A: An admissions officer reads every application; every application
gets a hearing at a committee table, and we filter the competitive
students from the ones who are not competitive in each pool. In
committees we talk about everything: a student's academic preparations,
their personal qualities, we ask questions like, are they going
to be a good roommate, a good classmate, someone who has the energy
to take advantage of the different resources here, do they extend
themselves beyond the classroom, and do they take on leadership
activities. We spend from 10 to 45 minutes discussing each application.
After that we meet as a whole committee and we make all of our decisions
by vote and every admissions officer having one vote. And you need
a majority of votes to be admitted to Harvard. In 2007 23,000 students
applied and 2,076 admitted, where we had around a 9.2% admission
rate.
Q: What kind of students appeal to you?
A: Students can be appealing to us for a variety of reasons but
there are some factors that are common to everyone that we admit.
The first one is academic credentials and that means scores on the
SATs and good solid grades in a challenging curriculum. Every school
calculates ranking differently, so we are not concerned about the
GPA of the rank but more what course has the student taken and have
they gotten good grades in those challenging courses. Then we look
for students who haven't put together a laundry list of extracurricular
activities they are involved in but rather have demonstrated to
us that they have real energy and passion for at least one or two
things they are involved in outside the classroom, and that they
are going to make an impact with those interests in Harvard. And
then we look for personal qualities, and that is why we try to interview
every applicant. That is used in conjunction with teacher recommendations
and guidance counselor recommendations.
Q: Who can apply to Harvard?
A: Everyone can apply! We want students to complete or be on the
path to completing their secondary school curriculum before they
consider applying. We expect students that apply here to have completed
four years of Math and four years of Science, and four years of
English, and all the credentials we need are available on Admissions
website. We want people to apply who are ready for the experience
and to go through the application process knowing that it is incredibly
competitive admissions process but one that you need to be a part
of if you want to be considered. I think a lot of students keep
themselves out of the running because they see the 9.2% admission
rate and they think, that could never be me. But there is no formula
to our admissions process; there is no one way to approach your
secondary school career and we celebrate that. So students shouldn't
try to give us what they think we are looking for rather they should
go after the things that energize them and make them happy and do
well in school, and show us that Harvard is the best place for them
to be. Just give it their best shot at the application, and make
sure they apply to other schools as well.
Q: How many Ethiopian students can you take in a year?
A: As many as we would like to. We are doing recruitment in Africa
where we are trying to recruit bright talented students from countries
like Ethiopia to apply, and we will take as many as are appealing
to us. So we always keep our eyes and minds open to students from
Ethiopia.
Q: So does it mean that the more Ethiopians apply then
the more you admit?
A: Possibly yes. We can take as many students who are qualified
and we like. We don't let cultural background or different curriculums
offered in other countries act as barriers to admitting students
from outside the US. We consider it our job to learn as much as
we can about students' education system and the opportunities available
to them and evaluate the things they have done in school based on
the opportunities that exist for them in their secondary school
and in their country. The difference in education system or the
opportunities available for Ethiopians isn't going to disadvantage
them.
Q: How many applications do you get from Ethiopia?
A: Not many. We have about twenty applicants from Ethiopia this
year. It's possible that we have Ethiopians applying from outside
Ethiopia, but we get few applications from Ethiopia.
Q: Do you consider the fact that English isn't the first
language to Ethiopian applicants?
A: We do consider that. Our job is deciding who is most ready and
most prepared to take advantage of the education at Harvard and
we don't want to bring someone here who doesn't have the skills
to be comfortable in Harvard classrooms, because so much more of
your Harvard experience is outside the classroom. If you are stressed
out all the time and you are behind with your schoolwork, you can't
enjoy the other resources and we feel like we are doing a disservice
to you. That is why we look for certain levels of English proficiency
so that you are comfortable here. We don't require the TOEFL, but
we are going to evaluate your English skills in a variety of ways:
using the SATs, personal statements, and the Harvard supplement
application essay.
Q: How much do you value teacher references?
A: We value those quite a bit. Teachers can give us an outsider's
observation how one would thrive in a college setting. We read those
letters knowing that some teachers are better prepared or less prepared
than others to write a quality letter, but we still value the shorter
letters as well. We encourage students to sit down with their teachers
before they write a letter to remind them to include certain bits
of information about the students in the letter. We want to know
about the student's personality, what their intellectual curiosity
is like, so those are important questions that the letters should
address.
To apply to Harvard or request for brochures, visit www.admissions.college.harvard.edu
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