Sweet, thanks for making me feel better. 🙂 Reading the whole thing without paragraph breaks would be pretty bad....
2009-2010 Harvard Application Thread
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Sweet, thanks for making me feel better. 🙂 Reading the whole thing without paragraph breaks would be pretty bad....
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Received the "complete" email, ten days after submitting secondary.
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I can't remember exactly; but I THINK they mention somewhere to avoid "hard returns" in the essays (i.e. no paragraph breaks)
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Sounds right.
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So is there no point in trying to make paragraphs? Just write it as one big paragraph?
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Yeah, I never really understood that, imagine the 4000 character HST essay as one big paragraph! Oh well, if that's what they want, I'm not going to argue.
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It's stupid.. but yes. I think someone proposed using something else to indicate the start of a new paragraph. Like lots of spaces or something.
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If it were me, I wouldn't do it. After all you already know they don't mind it being in a huge paragraph since most applicants are going to have it that way, so there's really no necessity to take a risk in ruining the formatting which is dependent on the width of the text, the size of the paper they print on, etc. If you add a ton of spaces, you might get text floating in middle of lines and other funny issues.
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A question; does anyone know how long it takes Harvard to send a secondary after it has been added to AMCAS (a complete and certified one with all the letters sent in) and recerftified?😕😕
It took three days for me.
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So apparently their essay field doesn't accept APOSTROPHES either. I can't imagine writing ANYTHING without using contractions.
Guess they'll be reading "Ill" and "itll" instead of I'll and it'll. Oh well 🙂
You can be more formal and write "I will" and "it will."
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The real problem comes when you want to write something like "Harvard's HST program". At this point you actually need to start rephrasing.
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When you copy and paste from word, the apostrophes disappear. But if you type it in directly, the apostrophes stay.
Frankly, the whole website doesn't speak well about their school. Jesus Christ, a world-renowned institution like Harvard can't make a website that accepts paragraph breaks? WTF?!
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Hmmmm.....I don't remember noticing this. I copy and pasted from Google Docs. Is there a way to check?
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Don't worry about it. One of two things is going to happen:
1. Apostrophes don't show up and they realize it. You are in the shoes of many other qualified applicants and they won't hold it against you because they understand it is primarily their fault for the way their online application functions.
2. The apostrophe's may LOOK like they don't show up, but when they go to download your app, they really do show up. This has happened with many other schools with similar problems. It may not look like they're there, but the version they look at will have your punctuation.
I think #2 is more likely given that many other schools seem to not make a big deal about it and have said that the version they view does include the absent punctuation.
Don't stress! Be happy! 🙂
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I'm sure this is much more relevant for undergrad, but does having a family member such as a parent or grandparent that is an HMS grad give an applicant an edge, or is it a non-issue?
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I don't remember the secondary that well, but did HMS ask about having a relative graduate from their school? If they did then I'd guess its at least slightly beneficial and at best fairly significant.
I can give you an idea of how much weight that having the 'legacy' of being a Harvard undergrad carries in HMS's decision, though. HMS accepted 26 Harvard seniors/alumni in 2008 (18 of them matriculated). That's out of 390 Harvard undergrads/alumni total applying to med school in 2008 (not sure how many of them applied to HMS, though...but I'd guess at least half of those 390).
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Not sure about the secondary, I'm actually not applying to schools until next Summer. I can't decide whether or not to apply to HMS. Lots of schools out there, not enough time/money to apply to all, so I want to figure out if legacy is enough of a reason to add HMS to the list. Has anyone else seen a legacy question on the secondary? Thanks for the help, the best of luck to all of you in this stressful time.
I didnt end up saving all the pages from the Harvard application, because it was getting tedious. But, from one of the pages, there is one question:
"Are your parents/guardians Harvard Medical School alumni or faculty members?"
I am not sure if there were more questions regarding legacy, but hope this helps. Maybe someone who hasn't submitted the application yet will be able to tell you better.
"Are your parents/guardians Harvard Medical School alumni or faculty members?"
I am not sure if there were more questions regarding legacy, but hope this helps. Maybe someone who hasn't submitted the application yet will be able to tell you better.
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Was your PS specifically geared towards HST? I can't imagine it was! Since the essay asks you to discuss your interest in HST, don't bother with an intro/experiences and then get around to why harvard. you need to weave the theme of 'why harvard' throughout your essay and give experiences that back up why you'd be a good candidate for their specific program. HST is truly unique and if you can't figure out a way to distinguish your why HST essay from why medicine essay, I'd suggest researching HST a bit more 🙂
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How many characters did other out of school folks use for the what have you been doing since graduation essay? The 4000 character limit seems a bit excessive; I have somewhere around 1500.
that's about all i used too.
It took me about 3100 characters to explain everything I have been doing since graduation.
Really? I wrote an essay with 5500 and then I had to cut it down.
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I had to post this:
"If you wish to supplement a premedical advisory committee evaluation packet with additional letters of recommendation, count the packet as one (1) letter towards the six letter maximum. "
Does that mean your evaluation packet is enough? Mine doesn't have a non-science professor letter in it. I do have 2 letters from Doctors. Does that count?
Also, do I really need letters from all of my research supervisors.
One from summer 2000, Summer 2001, Fall 2001, Fall 2002, Summer 2002. That is a lot of people that I haven't been in touch with in years. Research was in Astronomy, Astrophysics, and physical chemistry.
Undegrad gpa is 3.51 MCAT 32R. Harvard would be a dream to go to. Realistically, I don't know how much of a chance I have.
I am a non trad. My application pretty much tells my story. Do you think since my research isn't Bio/med related and so long ago that it matters if I don't get the letters. My recent letters are quite strong. 5 total (3 in packet)
"If you wish to supplement a premedical advisory committee evaluation packet with additional letters of recommendation, count the packet as one (1) letter towards the six letter maximum. "
Does that mean your evaluation packet is enough? Mine doesn't have a non-science professor letter in it. I do have 2 letters from Doctors. Does that count?
Also, do I really need letters from all of my research supervisors.
One from summer 2000, Summer 2001, Fall 2001, Fall 2002, Summer 2002. That is a lot of people that I haven't been in touch with in years. Research was in Astronomy, Astrophysics, and physical chemistry.
Undegrad gpa is 3.51 MCAT 32R. Harvard would be a dream to go to. Realistically, I don't know how much of a chance I have.
I am a non trad. My application pretty much tells my story. Do you think since my research isn't Bio/med related and so long ago that it matters if I don't get the letters. My recent letters are quite strong. 5 total (3 in packet)
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This is from the Harvard website:
At least (2) letters should be from professors in the sciences with whom you have taken classes.
At least one (1) letter should be written by a professor who is not in the sciences.
You can read this in two ways...one, since they specifically include 'with whom you have taken classes" for science professors but do not for non-science professors, you could say your non-science do not need to have taught you in a classroom setting.
Conversely, it may be that Harvard considers the specific inclusion of 'with whom you have taken classes' to apply to their notion of a good professor letter and that to repeat it for their non-science bullet point to be redundant. I would personally be inclined to believe this one.
Either way, they say non-science *professor* - so unless your doctor letters are from faculty, they don't meet the Harvard letter requirements.
As for research letters, if you included those four research experiences on your AMCAS, I would ask for letters. Since your gpa and mcat are below Harvard's mean scores, you probably need to be more mindful of strictly giving them what they ask for to give you the best shot.
Good luck!!
mazal tov.
So I looked at the thread for 2008-2009 and Harvard started sending out interviews Sept 10 last year. I would guess that we should start hearing from the admissions committee this week or next, although ad coms tend to be unpredictable
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yes, the deadline is November 1st. btw, welcome to SDN, I knew you were new here simply by the fact that you said nov 1 was crazy early. some people here freak out if they get an interview in October thinking its really really late in the game.
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I think the lack of a secondary essay for NP that must have led to a tonne of submissions during the first week the secondary was released has delayed the invites for the regular MD program. I have a feeling that once the review begins in full swing, everyone including HST folks will start hearing back soon.
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I emailed to ask about the Letters of Evaluation. Here was the response.
Re: Question about Letters of Evaluation for HMS
mailed-by
hms.harvard.edu Thank you for your e-mail. In cases where students have been out of school, having letters other than those we request is understandable.
Hope that helps someone!
Re: Question about Letters of Evaluation for HMS
mailed-by
hms.harvard.edu Thank you for your e-mail. In cases where students have been out of school, having letters other than those we request is understandable.
Hope that helps someone!
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I think they sent them out around this time last year. So I would guess any day now the first SDNers will see some invites. I am anxiously awaiting invites from them too
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Our secondary did come out 2 weeks later than it did last year though. Harvard seems to be taking their time this year.
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IMO past trends probably won't indicate what they'll do this cycle, especially since harvard just implemented a calendar change this year to 'better align the 10 schools of harvard university' and allow for cross-registration and stuff. i'm not really sure if this impacted the med school at all, but it resulted in the undergrads returning to classes 2-3 weeks earlier in september than was usual in the past. perhaps it's thrown the adcom off its groove 🙂
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Good point. It's really all a guessing game now...
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