How did I get into Harvard?

Following up on Yoseph’s two part interview with Harvard’s Admissions Officer Erin Fehn, the young columnist describes today, his personal path to the gates of Harvard - a journey the success of which, according to Yoseph, is mainly attributable to his Ethiopian-ness. To listen to Yoseph’s pride in his roots is as if a soothing breeze of Ethiopian identity ruffles that flag in our hearts….

Erin Fehn, an Admissions Officer at Harvard, one of the few people who decides who gets admitted to Harvard and who doesn't, gave us an insight of the application process during the last two editions of this column, and hopefully everyone is convinced that no matter how much money you have, a Harvard education is not determined by an applicant's financial status. After seeing an admissions officer's view of the application process, I will share with you my experience in applying to Harvard. Again, there isn't a blueprint to a good application as each application is very unique, so don't expect me to show you the right way to get into Harvard. There is no right way or wrong way of applying, and trying to write what you think they will like to read could result in being denied admission.
Applying to a US college is very different from the kinds of applications we are used to filling. There aren't tricky questions in the application form, or any hard question at all! It is very basic and simple, but a process that takes months to complete. So if it is that simple, then why is it that hard to get into Harvard? I would like to remind you that applications are not like lottery, and the idea of 'luck' barely exists in this application process. What makes a Harvard application so tasking is when you are trying to portray who you are and how you think. Doing that on a short application form without writing a book about my life history is a part that I found really engaging and it is exactly what took me months to do.
When I started applying to Harvard, and 15 other universities, my goal was to show them who I really am and that my being Ethiopian and having an African background is something that I would take to Harvard with me. In my application, I didn't try to list all the activities I have done but rather talk intimately about my few experiences and what I learned from them and how they have shaped my perspective. I did not write, I did A and B and I leaned C and D from them, but expressed my passion for those activities in words, the ups and downs I faced, and how they have made me who I am. When writing my essays to Harvard, the objective I had at the back of my mind was to give the admissions officers a peak into my life and try to make them curious enough that they would want to meet me and have me in their university. I am not sure how far I succeeded with my objective, but for some unknown reason they gave me an admission, and that is still a huge mystery to me and everyone here asks how they were able to get admitted. The competition is really tough and there aren't laid out rules for this competition, and when applying we do not know who exactly we are competing against. Therefore I decided not to consider it as a competition. I tried to demonstrate to them my strengths and used some of my achievements and past success to show them that I have potential to succeed. If you are thinking of talking about your success, don't think that success is only saving the world or creating a cure for AIDS. It could be anything, something that circumstances make it difficult for you to achieve but you were able to accomplish it with determination and persistence. Success could be helping a depressed friend to be happy, it could be pushing your limits in sport, or making your creative ideas happen, and millions of other things. It depends with your experience.
Erin Fehn mentioned that good academic credentials are important when applying to Harvard, but grades are not the determinants of a successful application. I am a living proof for that statement. When I applied, there were over 23,000 other students who applied with me for just over 2,000 positions. Out of the 23,000 applicants, over 3,000 of them had perfect scores in the SAT test (2400 out of 2400), which is a required test when applying to most US colleges. My SATs weren't even close to a perfect score, and none of my roommates had perfect scores in the SATs, but we got admission to Harvard. If they wanted people with just the highest scores then the application process would be very short and easy, they would have just picked 2,000 students out that pool of 3,000. A good academic ground is essential, because they don't want to admit students who cannot cope with all the work in Harvard, but that is not what everything depends on.
One big advantage I had when applying to Harvard is that I am Ethiopian. Yes, believe it or not, me being Ethiopian was an advantage, because I wasn't just bringing an Ethiopian passport but an Ethiopian and an African perspective. This is something I tried to highlight in my application, and after getting here, I was able to figure out why they really value that. In some of my class discussions, professors turned to me to give them the Ethiopian/African perspective of the topic in discussion. A lot of students and members of the faculty are very curious about our country and our continent, and that makes people like me not only a student but also almost an ambassador to my country and my continent.