Hi all! I hope you enjoy this highly requested video. Feel free to continue the conversation below, as I’m only one person with a singular perspective. Hopefully, we can stir some intellectual discussion into all the college application info on this channel. Sending best wishes and have a beautiful day 💕
Vianka Chetty hey vianka!! Definitely planning that for this upcoming school year when I actually start studying again ahaha but for now these are the videos I’ve made on studying!! Enjoy xx ua-cam.com/play/PLnPec3n73CxKMa4CHUoP-JlfvPLsjgNT6.html
Aasritha Butti hi! I think it’s pretty similar to Harvard’s. Unfortunately, Yale doesn’t release their full reading procedure, but I’d recommend you check out the podcast, inside the Yale admissions office (hosted by two Yale AOs!) for more insight!!
It's unfortunate that colleges like Harvard give such weight to recommendations, when larger public high school teachers and counselors have so many students they're handling and so the rec will be less personal, etc. My high school has over 600 seniors and only 5 or 6 counselors, leaving them each with 100 seniors to write recs for. Meanwhile, private school counselors have personal relationships with admissions officers/ directors at the top schools. You hear stories of how a simple phone call from a counselor got kids in.
Public high school teachers have many students but they still know who their #1 student is that year. Generally you have to be THE best student in the class that year to get into Harvard unless you are coming from a super competitive feeder school. I don't think a phone call from a counselor can get a student in because Harvard knows that counselors at public high schools don't know their students well. It might be a different story if it's someone who's been the head counselor at a top school like the Philips Andover Academy for 25 years and has sent dozens of students.
@Young Young Not at all. The #1 student is not the one who has the highest GPA and test scores. Especially in math and science, it is very obvious who the #1 student is. They often have very high GPAs and scores but are not necessarily the valedictorians or have perfect SATs. The valedictorian and salutatorian went to Penn at my high school but the smartest student went to Harvard.
@Young Young You seem to be saying that the main difference between your kid and the others with higher GPAs and scores who got rejected from Stanford is that your kid schmoozed with his teachers better. I much doubt that was the decisive factor. There must have been some other factors that made your kid stand out such as an unusual talent or exceptional circumstances that he had to overcome. Teachers can certainly highlight such circumstances and talents in their recommendations but they can not make them up out of the blue just because a kid makes extra effort to be close to them.
@Young Young You are completely mistaken when you say you have to go by the grades and scores to determine the true number 1 student. The SAT is a ridiculously easy test that doesn't differentiate the merely intelligent from the brilliant. High school GPAs average all kinds of subjects, some of which are very stupid and almost all of which are not demanding. So someone has a 1500 SAT and 3.8 GPA could very well be 100 times smarter than someone who has a 1580 SAT and 4.0 GPA. At the higher end of the scale, there are other, more valid measures of intellectual ability such as creative work, success in national or international competitions, verbal skills, fund of knowledge, research activity, etc.
BINGO. People expect college admissions to be a completely meritocratic process with absolute precision where in reality, it's really much more like looking for a job. It absolutely needs to be said that you can get a good education at many many places. Applying to a top selective private institution is much more like trying to get into top selective employer post college, subjectivity is always going to be there and it's going to need to be a two way fit between demand and supply.
I just wanted to let you know that what you do is really valued. You are helping hundreds of students out there, including me. Super interesting video by the way, I watched the whole thing and did not skip ads :)
I read on quora that a girl didn't have much good grades and still made it into harvard just by spending 4-5 months in writing essays...so ig essays are really very important especially the one where u describe ur personality- it's gonna play a huge role into getting enrolled into harvard- some other youtubers also have said this-
Timestamps 1:26 - Overview 3:13 - What happens to your file when it reaches the admissions office 4:43 - Academics 6:17 - Extracurriculars 7:49 - Athletic 8:45 - Personal 12:00 - Recommendations 12:50 - Alumni Interview 13:50 - Is Harvard's admission system fair? Is it effective? 17:15 - Should this rating system be kept?
you best believe I’m not skipping the ads!!💓 such an interesting perspective! I hope you are feeling more motivated now :,,) I’m excited to learn more about your passion projects and personality!🥺
Wow, you continue to post such helpful, useful information. You just made my day with this meaningful content! And from your video before this one, thank you so much for being so honest and sincere with us. We love seeing you! Continue doing what you love to do and know that we appreciate everything you do!!
this is very helpful and insightful, thank you so much! I'm an international rising junior from Asia and honestly? I'm confused and a lot worried abt US uni applications. but this video helped clear out my worries and questions!
This was so helpful! Even though I want to go to UPenn (I'm in sixth grade haha) , your video gave me a sense of what to expect! I am often not really interested in watching a whole video like this but yours was so engaging and interested I didn't even decide to skip the ads! Great job and you just got yourself a new subscriber.
I’m a 7th grader soon to be 8th grader and I’ve been watching a lot of these videos so when I get to high school I’ll know what path to be on. I don’t go to the best schools and the teachers here aren’t that good so I’m scared I’m not gonna get the education I need. I got 243 on my map reading test last fall. I’m not good at math at all. So I fear this will not get me into any ivy league colleges when I get older.
Just keep doing your best, going above and beyond, outperforming expectations, and you will be just fine 👏👏 I didn’t come from a great high school either, but just try your very best in everything you do!!
Hello, so for full disclosure, I am a URM at an "HYP" institution (serving solely for context as to what follows), and I sincerely wish, to give resourceful breathe to this particular issue. I suspect that what may be effectively needed is a shift in the thinking of admission processes' at T-10 institutions. The shift encapsulating a mode of thinking describing admissions as a form of moralistic discrimination, rather than what it just is - discrimination (no negative connotation). Iris is absolutely correct, though, I'll be a tad-bit more brazen. Admission committees are in the business of discrimination. Selectivity begets those who are conferred access and those who are not and if the declared purpose of these committees is (to in fact) curate a diverse student class than it stands to reason that quantitative metrics explicitly are insufficient in crafting such a holistic class. A little demography demonstrates that Asian applicants are disproportionately represented in the applicant pool relative to their census in the US population (that is not a bad thing!). Compounded by the reality that many (not all) of these applicants are equipped with quantitative metrics that exceed the institution's benchmarks coupled with cultural demands and/or conventional perceptions of success (from their parents) Asian applicants often have a difficult time differentiating themselves in the applicant pool. As an adcom officer vested with the raison d'etre of instantiated a wholly diverse (all kinds of diversity) class this abundance of resoundingly qualified Asian applicants is overwhelming - you simply cannot accept them all. As a side, around the 90th percentile on the SAT/ACT acts as a barometer for future cum laude status at HYP which means it is well within your capacity to excel at HYP's curriculum if you possess such benchmarks*** If I were applying again to college as an Asian applicant; I would be steadfastly realistic and take into consideration how my "spike" potentially differentiates myself from the pool (all racial groups should do this regardless btw). If my interest is traditionally associated with "asian-ness", let's say, Math, I would deliberately but authentically serve to establish intersectionality with something as disparate and unconventional as possible, let's say ethnic European dance.
Hi Christian, Thank you for this detailed response. I think what you mentioned - that discrimination isn’t inherently bad - is super interesting, true, yet not recognized widely by society. Inherently by picking and choosing, we are performing the act of discrimination. Too often, we pick and choose for the purpose to disadvantage one in the process and give unfair advantage to the other (slavery, etc). I don’t think this is always the case, however, and in the example of college admissions, I believe the turned down applicants are still going to make meaningful contributions with their lives, as the school is more a TOOL for success than a METRIC for success. So many other tools are out there ready to be deployed. Anyway, I just hope more people can read your message and my follow up thoughts on yours - if you want to stay connected/chat more, feel free to IG DM me at iriss.fu. Stay safe xx
If you think that the college admission process in the US is unfair, wait until you see how it is in Brazil. We take a kind of SAT, but it is more difficult because it includes geography, science, history, physics, math and Portuguese. And that's it. If you have studied enough, welcome to our university! If you don't, try again next year. We only have standardized tests to see if we deserve to go to university or not. SO UNFAIR. that's why i won't go here.
This was such a helpful and informative video! Thank you Iris. I definitely think that this system serves these institutions effectively, and I'm glad that the lawsuit let us know about how they review applications.
Yeah, after all, the system is serving Harvard, not the people (contrary to what a lot of people might want to hear). It is cool that we now have a more transparent view of how the process works! Thanks for stopping by this video :)
Oh my gawd- T_T u helped me soo much relief my stress by saying that i don't need to be good at 10+ extra curricular activities and that being good at only one is enough- u dunno how anxious i was thinking that i had to be good at everything-
Absolutely in awe with your channel, love it, keep doing you! Quick question, do you think being multilingual (I speak 4 languages) is going to help a lot in my application and make me stand out or is it not that big of a factor?
A large percentage of applicants (especially Asians) are multilingual. That doesn't really set you apart from others. If you are going for a linguistics major, then it gives you an advantage over other linguistics major applicants, but if you're applying for something unrelated, it won't help. However, if you're using your proficiency in different languages to do something unique (eg. do a job as a translator or help teach languages or even do something related to intercommunity communication) then that can be a plus point if you can bring out your talent in your essay. Just knowing a bunch of languages won't help. I speak five languages and am proficient in a number of Scandinavian scripts/dialects/dead languages but I'm not a linguistics major, and yet I'm gonna mention this in my application because I'm interested in Norse culture and mythology and my interest in Icelandic languages does help- but mostly I'm going to talk about how the languages I speak have impacted my life and my idea of the contemporary world. At the end of the day it's all about how you tie in your interests and skills with the major you choose.
I think the personal category is to look through the applicant like what he/she is as an human - it seems more like a psychological game to me and ig the person reviewing the applications has to be really sharp to understand who is lying and who is being true about him/herself
Athletics can be everything. If you are rated 1 (best) in every category but a 6 in athletics, that changes your average score from 1 to 1.8 (an 80% difference!)
A rubric isn’t truly that objective, as long as there is a person determining admissions, a student will be subjectively rated and assessed. A rubric just turns a subjective description into a numerical value. I’d say the students that are the most left behind by this process are the ones who are already aware of reality and most affected by it, these students already know that they are not sought after or desired in these institutions so to ascribe admissions to these student’s reality check just comes off as ill-informed. Additionally, agreeing with this system simply because it embodies a similarly flawed society doesn’t mean we should keep it. You don’t need to agree with the system just because you can’t think of anything better.
She didn't say it makes it objective. She say it makes it more objective in terms of aligning the potential students with Harvard's values. It's impossible to create an objective system. At the very least Harvard attempts to use a holistic system with its applicants as opposed to a method such as a single test.
Hey, I love your channel. Quick question, do ivy leagues dislike pity. For example, if you include someone in your family having cancer in your recommendation or something like that, do they dislike you for trying to get pity? Thanks.
Yeah they probably will if you overtly include that for no reason. The “so what” is the reason you should be including information like that - what did you get out the experience, what values did you develop, how did you impact your community as a result of what happened to you?
Admission being Unfair doesn't mean they can to be unfair because "life is unfair" Just look at countries like Germany where they have a far more fair system
Thank you so much for this video! I was wondering if it was still possible to get in if my achievements aren’t on a national level but more about helping those in my community? Thank you again for this helpful video, stay safe!
ultimately, you can't change your race, so I'd focus on becoming and presenting the best version of yourself! cheesy lmao but hope this helps in some way!! good luck and i'm rooting for you
@@ericlee650 I believe there's an option on the CommonApp to put down your race as "mixed" or "other." Also, I think it's a bit too harsh to say that they "hate" Asians, but I definitely do think that they mostly have higher expectations for Asian achievements, as well as lower expectations for the amount of "diversity" that Asians can add to their incoming class.
@@ericlee650 they don’t hate Asians a lot are just competitive. There are a lot of white people in Harvard if they wanted to divide diversity equally they could give some seats to other minorities
Hey Iris! Very great video indeed! The best out there, I would say. Can you explain which method Harvard uses to convert grades from various international systems to GPA? And what GPA student gets a score of 1 in academics? (I am from India). An answer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I’m sorry but I agree with everything you said but the end where you said the system should be kept, for one minority groups like mine are simply at a disadvantage where we grow up and what we experience can change so much, there is no way they should be spending 15 minutes on our application when getting into a university like this can change your whole life. It’s unacceptable things must change
hi iris! thank you for another amazing video. super informative. i have a question relating to your own application process... i am interested in applying to yale and duke (which i know, based on your videos, you were denied admission and placed on the waitlist respectively) and i was wondering if you could shed some light on why YOU thought the results turned out the way they did... do you think it was what these respective institutions were looking for this year or perhaps your application, etc.? your stanford application was inspiring by the way!! quite obviously you are a STELLAR student and person so i guess i just wanted to see what your take on the results were. if you believe it was your application for whatever reason (like you spent less time on it, etc), maybe it would be helpful to provide a comparison between your stanford and yale apps? i totally understand if you do not have an answer and realize this is personal! thank you again for your content :)
Sooo many factors are out of the applicant’s control. For Yale, someone else with legacy at my school got in. Schools try to diversify their geographic representation, so they’ll take at most one person from a small high school like mine. As for duke, I started the application the day it was due lol so it was probably just a bad application.
I have a question for you all. She made a great point about the selection systems unfairness but according to harvards website students who not able to take tests (sat, act)are not disadvange if they can explein their reasons(such as money problems, health issues). As an international student(if i can come US) and a person with economical problems should I or people like me who have been reading this comment risk our application by submitting it without SAT(of course with english test)?
First, it highly depends on what passion project you end up doing, because there're so many options under the passion project category. Otherwise, on average, I'd say passion projects are the best type of extracurriculars you can do because it 1) shows leadership 2) shows creativity 3) shows initiative (the sense of changemaking) 4) shows that you care about your community and 5) shows that you impacted your community
ok so I HAVE A BIG PROBLEM with the letters of recommendation part. the thing is that my high school organize classes differently because first they are divided in semesters and not like in actuals years. and my school is humongous last semester I was in group 507 sooo yeah, big school. So equivalently there are a lot of professors, and the interesting part is that you most likely won't get the same professor ever again so you would only have that professor for one semester and that is it; because mostly the ones that do 1st semester are not assigned to teach 6th semester. And is the same story with councilors. So idk how I'm going to do the part of letters of recommendations and I'm not freaking out because I still have time but yeah how am I going to do it? I don't have the slightest idea.
Do you think music awards and recognition (national & international) count in the extracurricular category or academic category? For example, do you think your solo in Carnegie Hall would be something that could distinguish you in the academic category? I'm trying to figure out what would count towards each category because some things aren't clearly on one side such as music, business, public speaking, etc.
I don’t think music and stuff is really academic, unless you do academic work on music (eg research on a musical era or something). I think the creative factor to academics means original scholarship
Okay that makes a lot of sense, thank you! Also about the extracurricular rating, the description involving the evident display of "unusual strength in one or more areas" seems quite focused on using competitions and other award-based activities to showcase the strengths. Do you think what you call "passion projects" such as starting an internationally-impacting nonprofit or creating a successful app have an upper hand at getting the 1 rating? They're a much larger time and effort commitment but are they larger contributors to the application?
Well, looks like I'm not getting into any of those schools. My GPA (unweighted) is a 3.98, which isn't bad, but the only extracurriculars I have are sports teams, none of which are winning. I can't start clubs because it's a very small private school. So looks like I'm going nowhere lol
SO this means if I'm Asian, don't just depend on having perfect SAT and GPA scores, playing a musical instrument, and wanting to be a doctor, to get in. I get what you're saying...break apart from the mold and do something that you are truly passionate about and that would set you apart as a potential leader in a specific field or interest, IN ADDITION to having good stats. Otherwise, you can always go to any other top 20 school, but Harvard isn't for you. Harvard want potential future leaders who will continue to elevate the prestige of their institution and make it stand apart from every other university in the world. That's why Harvard has the largest number of Nobel Laureates in the world.
I can get a research opportunity in Renewable Energy +for that I would have some knowledge which I can gain by MOOC) but I want to major in CS? If I do that, will it help me getting in Universities?
It could definitely! But only do it if you're truly interested in the internship opportunity. After all, I think how you write about your experiences matter more than what your experiences are
Hey, I love your videos and your channel. I wanted to ask a quick questions about passion projects, I am creating a pen pal program between high school students and senior citizens, would that be counted as a passion project? Thanks so much.
Anastasiya Denysenko yes it would, since you’re leading the project and creating something new. Also uploading a video on my video pal program this Wednesday so keep an eye out for that 👀 hopefully it could bring some relevant insight to what you’re doing. Good luck!! 👍
Hello, I was wondering if someone applied without sat scores but has a 4.0 gpa great course rigor, what academic rating do you think the applicant would receive? Or would they not receive one? Thanks.
Thanks a lot for the video, one question though, for college applications do the letter of recommendations have to come from high school teachers, or can they be other teachers, for example, my 8th grade teacher? Thanks for answering if you do!
Hi iris! I was wondering if coding an app would qualify as an academic achievement or an extracurricular. Also, can achievements from athletics be double dipped in the extracurriculares category?
For the academic unusual factor, do you need to be doing things that are strictly academic that are unusual? Or can a research project or working with a professor on a project count?
@@irisfu6929 can the teacher recommendation letters come from professors that you’ve worked with on advanced research? They have a much better idea of my abilities and accomplishments than any of my high school teachers, and my counsellor doesn’t even respond to emails. (I am an international applicant, and the professors work at one of the highest ranked universities in the world)
Hi! I lovee your channel I'm glad UA-cam recommend me your channel. I have a question, I study in small public school hence, they doesn't offer AP classes and lack of extracurriculars (less than 10 extracurriculars). I'm planning to make an English club and take an AP classes. I have an above average grades but not highest in my first year HS (In US system I would be in sophomore year) would I still have a goodshot? Thank you in advance! 🤗
Welcome to the channel! I think you def have a good shot. I came from a similar school background. I’d recommend self studying or basically going beyond what your environment offers to show initiative
I’m an Asian too, but I think the system right now is unfair specifically the diversity part of it, basically the current system is simply students are competing with their co race, such as Asian vs Asian, Hispanic vs Hispanic. It could have been better if they will get rid of diversity system.
No diversity is important. Whites and Asians are more likely to attend great colleges so it’s harder for other groups. Especially those that are immigrants or coming from the hood. Being rich is an advantage
@@yahirbrito7811 Who says all Asians are rich? That's the biggest misconception about Asians. There is such a wealth disparity among Asians. Colleges should seek more to achieve socioeconomic diversity, instead of focusing on the color of one's skin.
Do you actually think your chances of getting into Harvard would increase if they removed the diversity requirement? Like she said, people are likely to accept people from a similar background. Harvard is and has always had a majority white alumni and admissions staff. They will just hire more white people who A) have the wealth to pay for tutors and get good grades B) have a similar background to the admissions committee.
Hey as a student who did everything they could academically and extracurricular wise in being able to get accepted into Stanford and I feel my application went hard in the beginning but I am the worst at storytelling ever since I was younger I sucked at grammar and writing PERIODT so my application flopped after the common app personal essay my theme was incoherant at the time I thought it was fine but now looking back I definitely recognize my errors what would you recommend I do as I plan to apply as a transfer after a year or two of attending NYU
Hey Caroline! Unfortunately I don’t and can only refer you to google :/ I did try googling some stuff (telluride summer program is super prestigious) but didn’t end up doing anything research related in that realm
Hi all! I hope you enjoy this highly
requested video. Feel free to continue the conversation below, as I’m only one person with a singular perspective. Hopefully, we can stir some intellectual discussion into all the college application info on this channel. Sending best wishes and have a beautiful day 💕
Can you please do a video on how you study/how you made your notes etc.? Btw you are amazing and sooo pretty ♥️♥️♥️
Vianka Chetty hey vianka!! Definitely planning that for this upcoming school year when I actually start studying again ahaha but for now these are the videos I’ve made on studying!! Enjoy xx ua-cam.com/play/PLnPec3n73CxKMa4CHUoP-JlfvPLsjgNT6.html
Hey Iris ♥️ thank you sooo much ♥️♥️
Aasritha Butti hi! I think it’s pretty similar to Harvard’s. Unfortunately, Yale doesn’t release their full reading procedure, but I’d recommend you check out the podcast, inside the Yale admissions office (hosted by two Yale AOs!) for more insight!!
does you have to take sat subject test?? is it essential for International student?
Plot twist : she is actually a secret Harvard admission officer
Too young
@@unknownservers3420 no shit sherlock
It's unfortunate that colleges like Harvard give such weight to recommendations, when larger public high school teachers and counselors have so many students they're handling and so the rec will be less personal, etc. My high school has over 600 seniors and only 5 or 6 counselors, leaving them each with 100 seniors to write recs for. Meanwhile, private school counselors have personal relationships with admissions officers/ directors at the top schools. You hear stories of how a simple phone call from a counselor got kids in.
Somebody told you life was fair?
Public high school teachers have many students but they still know who their #1 student is that year. Generally you have to be THE best student in the class that year to get into Harvard unless you are coming from a super competitive feeder school. I don't think a phone call from a counselor can get a student in because Harvard knows that counselors at public high schools don't know their students well. It might be a different story if it's someone who's been the head counselor at a top school like the Philips Andover Academy for 25 years and has sent dozens of students.
@Young Young Not at all. The #1 student is not the one who has the highest GPA and test scores. Especially in math and science, it is very obvious who the #1 student is. They often have very high GPAs and scores but are not necessarily the valedictorians or have perfect SATs. The valedictorian and salutatorian went to Penn at my high school but the smartest student went to Harvard.
@Young Young You seem to be saying that the main difference between your kid and the others with higher GPAs and scores who got rejected from Stanford is that your kid schmoozed with his teachers better. I much doubt that was the decisive factor. There must have been some other factors that made your kid stand out such as an unusual talent or exceptional circumstances that he had to overcome. Teachers can certainly highlight such circumstances and talents in their recommendations but they can not make them up out of the blue just because a kid makes extra effort to be close to them.
@Young Young You are completely mistaken when you say you have to go by the grades and scores to determine the true number 1 student. The SAT is a ridiculously easy test that doesn't differentiate the merely intelligent from the brilliant. High school GPAs average all kinds of subjects, some of which are very stupid and almost all of which are not demanding. So someone has a 1500 SAT and 3.8 GPA could very well be 100 times smarter than someone who has a 1580 SAT and 4.0 GPA. At the higher end of the scale, there are other, more valid measures of intellectual ability such as creative work, success in national or international competitions, verbal skills, fund of knowledge, research activity, etc.
"maybe discover a new planet"
me be like: yea that's easy lemme just grab my dad's spaceship
lol you still use you don’t have your own spaceship? what are you 5? /j
@@imnotfunny2 wait you haven’t invented your own spaceship model yet? bfr, I see a clear 6 here🙄🙄🙄 /j
BINGO. People expect college admissions to be a completely meritocratic process with absolute precision where in reality, it's really much more like looking for a job. It absolutely needs to be said that you can get a good education at many many places. Applying to a top selective private institution is much more like trying to get into top selective employer post college, subjectivity is always going to be there and it's going to need to be a two way fit between demand and supply.
I just wanted to let you know that what you do is really valued. You are helping hundreds of students out there, including me. Super interesting video by the way, I watched the whole thing and did not skip ads :)
Thanks for this message :) really appreciate your support 💕💕💕
6:02 "Discover a new planet..."
Lol 😂 legit someone in my stanford class did that sooo.... 😳
@@irisfu6929 Well, I better buy a telescope soon.
@@KenIzuka so......did you find one?
I read on quora that a girl didn't have much good grades and still made it into harvard just by spending 4-5 months in writing essays...so ig essays are really very important especially the one where u describe ur personality- it's gonna play a huge role into getting enrolled into harvard- some other youtubers also have said this-
Timestamps
1:26 - Overview
3:13 - What happens to your file when it reaches the admissions office
4:43 - Academics
6:17 - Extracurriculars
7:49 - Athletic
8:45 - Personal
12:00 - Recommendations
12:50 - Alumni Interview
13:50 - Is Harvard's admission system fair? Is it effective?
17:15 - Should this rating system be kept?
Thank you
Thank u XD
you best believe I’m not skipping the ads!!💓 such an interesting perspective! I hope you are feeling more motivated now :,,) I’m excited to learn more about your passion projects and personality!🥺
Hahahaha thanks and yes I am feeling more motivated!! Excited to share more about my stories, experiences, and opinions these coming weeks 💕
I can't believe this hasn't gone viral.
LOL share it with anyone who you think would find it helpful!
I was searching for a vid like this for so long. Thanks for makin one✨❤️
My pleasure! ❤️🌟
Wow, you continue to post such helpful, useful information. You just made my day with this meaningful content! And from your video before this one, thank you so much for being so honest and sincere with us. We love seeing you! Continue doing what you love to do and know that we appreciate everything you do!!
William Diep Aw thanks for this comment! Glad you enjoy the content
this is very helpful and insightful, thank you so much! I'm an international rising junior from Asia and honestly? I'm confused and a lot worried abt US uni applications. but this video helped clear out my worries and questions!
You're like one of my most favourite content creator on UA-cam , please don't leave UA-cam so soon ,🥺 Thanks for all the amazing videos 👍🤟
This was so helpful! Even though I want to go to UPenn (I'm in sixth grade haha) , your video gave me a sense of what to expect! I am often not really interested in watching a whole video like this but yours was so engaging and interested I didn't even decide to skip the ads! Great job and you just got yourself a new subscriber.
So glad this video was engaging and helpful to you! Best of luck with the rest of middle school and high school!!
Bro i can NOT thank you enough for this like THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
You really did that. This video is so informative and you explain everything in such a clear way. 💕
Thanks for the feedback!!! 🌟
I’m a 7th grader soon to be 8th grader and I’ve been watching a lot of these videos so when I get to high school I’ll know what path to be on. I don’t go to the best schools and the teachers here aren’t that good so I’m scared I’m not gonna get the education I need. I got 243 on my map reading test last fall. I’m not good at math at all. So I fear this will not get me into any ivy league colleges when I get older.
Just keep doing your best, going above and beyond, outperforming expectations, and you will be just fine 👏👏 I didn’t come from a great high school either, but just try your very best in everything you do!!
Hello, so for full disclosure, I am a URM at an "HYP" institution (serving solely for context as to what follows), and I sincerely wish, to give resourceful breathe to this particular issue. I suspect that what may be effectively needed is a shift in the thinking of admission processes' at T-10 institutions. The shift encapsulating a mode of thinking describing admissions as a form of moralistic discrimination, rather than what it just is - discrimination (no negative connotation).
Iris is absolutely correct, though, I'll be a tad-bit more brazen. Admission committees are in the business of discrimination. Selectivity begets those who are conferred access and those who are not and if the declared purpose of these committees is (to in fact) curate a diverse student class than it stands to reason that quantitative metrics explicitly are insufficient in crafting such a holistic class. A little demography demonstrates that Asian applicants are disproportionately represented in the applicant pool relative to their census in the US population (that is not a bad thing!). Compounded by the reality that many (not all) of these applicants are equipped with quantitative metrics that exceed the institution's benchmarks coupled with cultural demands and/or conventional perceptions of success (from their parents) Asian applicants often have a difficult time differentiating themselves in the applicant pool. As an adcom officer vested with the raison d'etre of instantiated a wholly diverse (all kinds of diversity) class this abundance of resoundingly qualified Asian applicants is overwhelming - you simply cannot accept them all.
As a side, around the 90th percentile on the SAT/ACT acts as a barometer for future cum laude status at HYP which means it is well within your capacity to excel at HYP's curriculum if you possess such benchmarks***
If I were applying again to college as an Asian applicant; I would be steadfastly realistic and take into consideration how my "spike" potentially differentiates myself from the pool (all racial groups should do this regardless btw). If my interest is traditionally associated with "asian-ness", let's say, Math, I would deliberately but authentically serve to establish intersectionality with something as disparate and unconventional as possible, let's say ethnic European dance.
Hi Christian,
Thank you for this detailed response. I think what you mentioned - that discrimination isn’t inherently bad - is super interesting, true, yet not recognized widely by society. Inherently by picking and choosing, we are performing the act of discrimination. Too often, we pick and choose for the purpose to disadvantage one in the process and give unfair advantage to the other (slavery, etc).
I don’t think this is always the case, however, and in the example of college admissions, I believe the turned down applicants are still going to make meaningful contributions with their lives, as the school is more a TOOL for success than a METRIC for success. So many other tools are out there ready to be deployed.
Anyway, I just hope more people can read your message and my follow up thoughts on yours - if you want to stay connected/chat more, feel free to IG DM me at iriss.fu. Stay safe xx
Man I am in the 99th Percentile (1470) will I clear the threshold?
Heross oooof tough call. I’ve heard it’s like 1500 - but that’s all unverified
I almost had a stroke reading your explanation... but I think I get the point, good job. I agree.
Heross - Yes! The 25th percentile for Harvard is a 1460, so you are all good!
What an excellent presentation. Great job!
Omg this vid literally helped so much! Thanks for making this!
Ofc! Glad u found it helpful :)
That was so helpful! Thanks a ton, Iris! ❤️
Underrated Channel
Adrian Adegbesan AHAHHA pls share with friends who you think would enjoy this channel!
If you think that the college admission process in the US is unfair, wait until you see how it is in Brazil.
We take a kind of SAT, but it is more difficult because it includes geography, science, history, physics, math and Portuguese. And that's it.
If you have studied enough, welcome to our university! If you don't, try again next year.
We only have standardized tests to see if we deserve to go to university or not. SO UNFAIR.
that's why i won't go here.
Just loved your speech and information yoy gave
This was such a helpful and informative video! Thank you Iris. I definitely think that this system serves these institutions effectively, and I'm glad that the lawsuit let us know about how they review applications.
Yeah, after all, the system is serving Harvard, not the people (contrary to what a lot of people might want to hear). It is cool that we now have a more transparent view of how the process works! Thanks for stopping by this video :)
this was so helpful thanku so much! good luck for your college
Oh my gawd- T_T u helped me soo much relief my stress by saying that i don't need to be good at 10+ extra curricular activities and that being good at only one is enough- u dunno how anxious i was thinking that i had to be good at everything-
Thank you very much for your thoughtful and valuable video!
You’re welcome!
You have no idea how much you have helped me 👏👏.... Thank you so muuch 🤗🤗🤗🤗
Happy to help!
Absolutely in awe with your channel, love it, keep doing you! Quick question, do you think being multilingual (I speak 4 languages) is going to help a lot in my application and make me stand out or is it not that big of a factor?
A large percentage of applicants (especially Asians) are multilingual. That doesn't really set you apart from others. If you are going for a linguistics major, then it gives you an advantage over other linguistics major applicants, but if you're applying for something unrelated, it won't help. However, if you're using your proficiency in different languages to do something unique (eg. do a job as a translator or help teach languages or even do something related to intercommunity communication) then that can be a plus point if you can bring out your talent in your essay. Just knowing a bunch of languages won't help. I speak five languages and am proficient in a number of Scandinavian scripts/dialects/dead languages but I'm not a linguistics major, and yet I'm gonna mention this in my application because I'm interested in Norse culture and mythology and my interest in Icelandic languages does help- but mostly I'm going to talk about how the languages I speak have impacted my life and my idea of the contemporary world. At the end of the day it's all about how you tie in your interests and skills with the major you choose.
From peru, i trully enjoyed your video. I really thought I was like 100 years behind privilege students in America :)
Thank you so much! Your content is so helpful!
I think the personal category is to look through the applicant like what he/she is as an human - it seems more like a psychological game to me and ig the person reviewing the applications has to be really sharp to understand who is lying and who is being true about him/herself
Thanks for such an amazing video Iris!
Amaizing video jeeeez thank you sooo much!!! 💓💓💓
Athletics can be everything. If you are rated 1 (best) in every category but a 6 in athletics, that changes your average score from 1 to 1.8 (an 80% difference!)
A rubric isn’t truly that objective, as long as there is a person determining admissions, a student will be subjectively rated and assessed. A rubric just turns a subjective description into a numerical value. I’d say the students that are the most left behind by this process are the ones who are already aware of reality and most affected by it, these students already know that they are not sought after or desired in these institutions so to ascribe admissions to these student’s reality check just comes off as ill-informed. Additionally, agreeing with this system simply because it embodies a similarly flawed society doesn’t mean we should keep it. You don’t need to agree with the system just because you can’t think of anything better.
She didn't say it makes it objective. She say it makes it more objective in terms of aligning the potential students with Harvard's values. It's impossible to create an objective system. At the very least Harvard attempts to use a holistic system with its applicants as opposed to a method such as a single test.
Hey, I love your channel. Quick question, do ivy leagues dislike pity. For example, if you include someone in your family having cancer in your recommendation or something like that, do they dislike you for trying to get pity? Thanks.
Yeah they probably will if you overtly include that for no reason. The “so what” is the reason you should be including information like that - what did you get out the experience, what values did you develop, how did you impact your community as a result of what happened to you?
Iris Fu Thanks so much, I didn’t really want to include it to try and get pity but I see the concept thank you.
Admission being Unfair doesn't mean they can to be unfair because "life is unfair"
Just look at countries like Germany where they have a far more fair system
iris thank you for this!!
this was super helpful, thanks !!!!
glad you found it helpful!!
Thank you so much for this video! I was wondering if it was still possible to get in if my achievements aren’t on a national level but more about helping those in my community? Thank you again for this helpful video, stay safe!
I LOVE THIS VIDEO omg
It was so fun to make!!
harvard is my dream school, im half white and half asian so idk if my racial demographic would help me or harm me smh
ultimately, you can't change your race, so I'd focus on becoming and presenting the best version of yourself! cheesy lmao but hope this helps in some way!! good luck and i'm rooting for you
Unfortunately these colleges are all racist, but it may be better to say you are white than asian, because they hate asians more
@@ericlee650 I believe there's an option on the CommonApp to put down your race as "mixed" or "other." Also, I think it's a bit too harsh to say that they "hate" Asians, but I definitely do think that they mostly have higher expectations for Asian achievements, as well as lower expectations for the amount of "diversity" that Asians can add to their incoming class.
@@skinach they hate us. If they didnt they wouldnt be openly racist🤷♂️
@@ericlee650 they don’t hate Asians a lot are just competitive. There are a lot of white people in Harvard if they wanted to divide diversity equally they could give some seats to other minorities
Such a helpful video!
Glad you think so!
Really well said
Hey Iris! Very great video indeed! The best out there, I would say. Can you explain which method Harvard uses to convert grades from various international systems to GPA? And what GPA student gets a score of 1 in academics? (I am from India). An answer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Amazing video! 💯💪
I love u for this.💚
I think she meant >3 instead of .
The way to stop the racial discrimination is to stop using race as a benchmark in any decision makings
I’m sorry but I agree with everything you said but the end where you said the system should be kept, for one minority groups like mine are simply at a disadvantage where we grow up and what we experience can change so much, there is no way they should be spending 15 minutes on our application when getting into a university like this can change your whole life. It’s unacceptable things must change
How do you propose Harvard choose its applicants then?
15:18 as the French would say "creme de la creme"
hi iris! thank you for another amazing video. super informative. i have a question relating to your own application process... i am interested in applying to yale and duke (which i know, based on your videos, you were denied admission and placed on the waitlist respectively) and i was wondering if you could shed some light on why YOU thought the results turned out the way they did... do you think it was what these respective institutions were looking for this year or perhaps your application, etc.? your stanford application was inspiring by the way!! quite obviously you are a STELLAR student and person so i guess i just wanted to see what your take on the results were. if you believe it was your application for whatever reason (like you spent less time on it, etc), maybe it would be helpful to provide a comparison between your stanford and yale apps? i totally understand if you do not have an answer and realize this is personal! thank you again for your content :)
Sooo many factors are out of the applicant’s control. For Yale, someone else with legacy at my school got in. Schools try to diversify their geographic representation, so they’ll take at most one person from a small high school like mine. As for duke, I started the application the day it was due lol so it was probably just a bad application.
comparing applications sounds like an interesting video idea - I’ll definitely consider. Good luck with your applications!! You got this 💪💪
for the academics part, you said for getting a one you have to be super creative but how would you even do that for humanities? like writing a book?
You can do anything with humanities
Make creative projects, do some different courses, drawings, a blog website etc...
Gurlie how only 1.6K views?????
Jameson Sewell idk 🥺😭 would appreciate if you could share on your socials
I have a question for you all. She made a great point about the selection systems unfairness but according to harvards website students who not able to take tests (sat, act)are not disadvange if they can explein their reasons(such as money problems, health issues). As an international student(if i can come US) and a person with economical problems should I or people like me who have been reading this comment risk our application by submitting it without SAT(of course with english test)?
No, it's different for international. Without the SAT chances will be low for international.
@@bpxl53yewz29 Without SATs chances are low for everyone. The admission rates for applicants without SATs is very very very low.
plz make a vedio with common app.it's will be helpful for international.
What about the common app? I did one sharing common app responses from Stanford students, but let me know if there’s other stuff you want me to cover!
I love your channel and I had a quick question. Where do you think passion projects stand on the extracurricular scale?
First, it highly depends on what passion project you end up doing, because there're so many options under the passion project category. Otherwise, on average, I'd say passion projects are the best type of extracurriculars you can do because it 1) shows leadership 2) shows creativity 3) shows initiative (the sense of changemaking) 4) shows that you care about your community and 5) shows that you impacted your community
The alumni interviewer comment does not make sense. It is no easier to "standardize" teacher recommendations than that of aliumni
ok so I HAVE A BIG PROBLEM with the letters of recommendation part. the thing is that my high school organize classes differently because first they are divided in semesters and not like in actuals years. and my school is humongous last semester I was in group 507 sooo yeah, big school. So equivalently there are a lot of professors, and the interesting part is that you most likely won't get the same professor ever again so you would only have that professor for one semester and that is it; because mostly the ones that do 1st semester are not assigned to teach 6th semester. And is the same story with councilors. So idk how I'm going to do the part of letters of recommendations and I'm not freaking out because I still have time but yeah how am I going to do it? I don't have the slightest idea.
I don't think the Harvard system should be completely abolished, but I think there is room for more standardization within the rating system
That was thoroughly and we'll explained Iris. Good luck with school. Btw what do you want to be when you graduate school?
I'm in love
Do you think music awards and recognition (national & international) count in the extracurricular category or academic category? For example, do you think your solo in Carnegie Hall would be something that could distinguish you in the academic category? I'm trying to figure out what would count towards each category because some things aren't clearly on one side such as music, business, public speaking, etc.
I don’t think music and stuff is really academic, unless you do academic work on music (eg research on a musical era or something). I think the creative factor to academics means original scholarship
Basically, think of academic as academia-everything that has to do with advancing human knowledge
Okay that makes a lot of sense, thank you! Also about the extracurricular rating, the description involving the evident display of "unusual strength in one or more areas" seems quite focused on using competitions and other award-based activities to showcase the strengths. Do you think what you call "passion projects" such as starting an internationally-impacting nonprofit or creating a successful app have an upper hand at getting the 1 rating? They're a much larger time and effort commitment but are they larger contributors to the application?
In this case, you can show accomplishment through numbers of people impacted and scope (numbers of countries involved).
Very helpful.
Well, looks like I'm not getting into any of those schools. My GPA (unweighted) is a 3.98, which isn't bad, but the only extracurriculars I have are sports teams, none of which are winning. I can't start clubs because it's a very small private school. So looks like I'm going nowhere lol
that’s a good gpa! you can get into lots of colleges with that gpa and it’s a plus that you are involved in sports :)
Hello, I love your videos! I have a question, for your book that you wrote, did that count as the academic category?
SO this means if I'm Asian, don't just depend on having perfect SAT and GPA scores, playing a musical instrument, and wanting to be a doctor, to get in. I get what you're saying...break apart from the mold and do something that you are truly passionate about and that would set you apart as a potential leader in a specific field or interest, IN ADDITION to having good stats. Otherwise, you can always go to any other top 20 school, but Harvard isn't for you. Harvard want potential future leaders who will continue to elevate the prestige of their institution and make it stand apart from every other university in the world. That's why Harvard has the largest number of Nobel Laureates in the world.
Really helpful thx a lot
Glad to hear that!
Thank you💕
Yep 😊
I can get a research opportunity in Renewable Energy +for that I would have some knowledge which I can gain by MOOC) but I want to major in CS?
If I do that, will it help me getting in Universities?
It could definitely! But only do it if you're truly interested in the internship opportunity. After all, I think how you write about your experiences matter more than what your experiences are
@@irisfu6929 yes I'm..I've started the MOOC on how to write research paper n renewable energy. Thanks for advice 😊
Can you please share where you found the released court documents explaining Harvard admission process？
Thank you so much! Even tho I’m only in 8th grade this is still very helpful because I like planning out everything😔
Hey, I love your videos and your channel. I wanted to ask a quick questions about passion projects, I am creating a pen pal program between high school students and senior citizens, would that be counted as a passion project? Thanks so much.
Anastasiya Denysenko yes it would, since you’re leading the project and creating something new. Also uploading a video on my video pal program this Wednesday so keep an eye out for that 👀 hopefully it could bring some relevant insight to what you’re doing. Good luck!! 👍
@@irisfu6929 Thank you so much!! Can't wait.
Hello, I was wondering if someone applied without sat scores but has a 4.0 gpa great course rigor, what academic rating do you think the applicant would receive? Or would they not receive one? Thanks.
Thanks a lot for the video, one question though, for college applications do the letter of recommendations have to come from high school teachers, or can they be other teachers, for example, my 8th grade teacher? Thanks for answering if you do!
Colleges will usually say right on their website that the recs should be from 11th or 12th gr teachers.
Hi iris! I was wondering if coding an app would qualify as an academic achievement or an extracurricular. Also, can achievements from athletics be double dipped in the extracurriculares category?
.
well DUHH!!!!
"Or discover a new planet." 😆 got you, getting my telescope out.
For the academic unusual factor, do you need to be doing things that are strictly academic that are unusual? Or can a research project or working with a professor on a project count?
Research counts as academic!
@@andrewli4484 No it doesn't have to be! It is more impressive it is published in a well-known journal tho
@@irisfu6929 can the teacher recommendation letters come from professors that you’ve worked with on advanced research? They have a much better idea of my abilities and accomplishments than any of my high school teachers, and my counsellor doesn’t even respond to emails. (I am an international applicant, and the professors work at one of the highest ranked universities in the world)
@@hitshot how’d it go
what was your college essay about?
I posted my college essays on this channel!
Hi!Love your vids! Did you get in on scholarship but if you didn’t was it a lot of money to pay for your tuition?
Hi! I lovee your channel I'm glad UA-cam recommend me your channel. I have a question, I study in small public school hence, they doesn't offer AP classes and lack of extracurriculars (less than 10 extracurriculars). I'm planning to make an English club and take an AP classes. I have an above average grades but not highest in my first year HS (In US system I would be in sophomore year) would I still have a goodshot? Thank you in advance! 🤗
Welcome to the channel! I think you def have a good shot. I came from a similar school background. I’d recommend self studying or basically going beyond what your environment offers to show initiative
@@irisfu6929 thank you so much for the advice! Will do 😄
What is a near perfect score +1530?
I’m an Asian too, but I think the system right now is unfair specifically the diversity part of it, basically the current system is simply students are competing with their co race, such as Asian vs Asian, Hispanic vs Hispanic. It could have been better if they will get rid of diversity system.
No diversity is important. Whites and Asians are more likely to attend great colleges so it’s harder for other groups. Especially those that are immigrants or coming from the hood. Being rich is an advantage
@@yahirbrito7811 Who says all Asians are rich? That's the biggest misconception about Asians. There is such a wealth disparity among Asians. Colleges should seek more to achieve socioeconomic diversity, instead of focusing on the color of one's skin.
@@bpxl53yewz29 dont bother arguing with stupid.
Do you actually think your chances of getting into Harvard would increase if they removed the diversity requirement? Like she said, people are likely to accept people from a similar background. Harvard is and has always had a majority white alumni and admissions staff. They will just hire more white people who A) have the wealth to pay for tutors and get good grades B) have a similar background to the admissions committee.
@@bpxl53yewz29 low income sea benefit from affirmative action. They don't only take race into account!
yes, let me just go ahead and discover a new planet using my hubble space telescope as a 16 year old.😂
HOW do you have enough time to double major in 2 tough subjects at Stanford? Is it doable? That's impressive.
Hey as a student who did everything they could academically and extracurricular wise in being able to get accepted into Stanford and I feel my application went hard in the beginning but I am the worst at storytelling ever since I was younger I sucked at grammar and writing PERIODT so my application flopped after the common app personal essay my theme was incoherant at the time I thought it was fine but now looking back I definitely recognize my errors what would you recommend I do as I plan to apply as a transfer after a year or two of attending NYU
Miss iris in o level I have 7A* 2A and 1B
In A level I have 4A* should I try to apply in top universities like harvard stanford etc
Still try! You always have a shot
How did you manage to get 4A* omg
does athletics cover one of the extracurricular areas?
not sure why you mentioned diversity, as an army, gov, or business i always want the best people for the job
Hi! I was wondering if u had any resources on research competitions for humanities/ social sciences?
Hey Caroline! Unfortunately I don’t and can only refer you to google :/ I did try googling some stuff (telluride summer program is super prestigious) but didn’t end up doing anything research related in that realm
hii thanks for this video! If we have B’ grades but a 1500/1600 on the SAT, could we be accepted?
Hi, how much is a 33 ACT in an SAT score?
Around 1500 ish -- but every website on google seems to give a diff exact number haha
hi Iris, I wonder if Harvard medical school admission use the same 6 category. Any idea if that is true?
Will publishing a book get you a one?
Hmm I’m not sure. Maybe if it’s a really original book on cutting edge academia. I’m pretty sure my book didn’t get me a one 😂
what if I don't submit my test scores for the Fall 2021 admissions ? How will they rate my academia?
Do you know how AP scored factor into the academic rating?