2013-2014 Harvard Application Thread

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The prompts:

polyatomic said:
Also HST essay:

ESSAY FOR APPLICATIONS TO THE HARVARD-MIT DIVISION OF HEALTH SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY (HST)
We strongly recommend that you prepare your essay (4000 characters max) using a word processing software program, and paste it into the space below. Be sure to save and print your essay using your word processor - you will not be able to print your essay from this web page.
Instructions: The HST MD program draws on the combined resources of Harvard and MIT to provide a distinct preclinical education tailored to preparing students for careers as physician-scientists. HST classes are small, commonly include graduate students and have an emphasis on quantitative and analytic approaches, centered on understanding disease mechanisms and exploring therapies. Please explain how your prior experiences, including research, have prepared you for this challenging opportunity. In lieu of identifying specific HST faculty or research opportunities, please focus on your interests, experiences and aspirations. Please limit your comments to the equivalent of one page of single spaced text with a font size of 10 or 12.
Click to expand...

Evidence Based said:
If you have already graduated, briefly (4000 characters max) summarize your activities since graduation.

If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Many applicants will not need to answer this question. Examples might include significant challenges in access to education, unusual socioeconomic factors, identification with a minority culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine.(4000 character maximum)

Our interview season runs from mid-September through January. Please indicate any significant (three or more weeks) restriction on your availability for interviews during this period. If none, leave blank


Guess Harvard doesn't want us all sucking up to them. No real secondary essays to speak of. Am considering answering the second question, but don't really think I have anything substantial to add...
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I am! I like my odds looking at this thread's activity 😉
 
I am applying to Harvard as well *fingers crossed
 
I'll be applying here as well. I don't know how competitive I'll be, but what the heck, it's worth the application fee to have even a shot.
 
My thoughts exactly. Who knows, but why not? If by a miracle it's a good outcome, then the secondary fee would have been worth it
 
Don't forget interview fees too though! Still kind of bitter about how expensive this whole process is.
 
Narmerguy said:
Don't forget interview fees too though! Still kind of bitter about how expensive this whole process is.
Click to expand...

Yeah...I've put in my application literally all over the country, so if I get multiple interviews, I'm hoping that I'll be able to group my interviews together in some semblance of sensibility. Given the chances of receiving an interview invite, it's not exactly helpful that HMS is close by 🙄 :laugh:
 
Bauman1535 said:
I'll be applying here as well. I don't know how competitive I'll be, but what the heck, it's worth the application fee to have even a shot.
Click to expand...

benjaminjado said:
To the people applying "because... well, why not?" -- absolutely do it. Last cycle, I decided to apply just because... and now I'm matriculating there.
Click to expand...

Agreed with both of the above! 👍



BTW, I have 2 questions which I've received different answers to from different sources:

1. Does Harvard REALLY require 1 full year of calculus? Can this be replaced with stats? (I have a full year of stats, but no calc....)

2. Do they accept CC credits?

Any help would be great!
 
benjaminjado said:
To the people applying "because... well, why not?" -- absolutely do it. Last cycle, I decided to apply just because... and now I'm matriculating there.
Click to expand...
Congratulations benjaminjado!

Applying here as well - gotta dream big 🙂
 
Hey, does a psychology professor count towards the non-science LOR req.?
 
To those concerned about the math requirement and research supervisor/PI LORs:
I am also applying this cycle and emailed the admissions department with questions. I took 2 quarters of calculus (for applied and life sciences) and I'm planning on taking a semester of introductory statistics this fall. They said..."While biostatistics or statistics relating to medicine is recommended, it is certainly not required. Any college-level statistics course will be count towards the mathematics requirement."

I also emailed about the mandatory research supervisor LORs...this was their response: "The criteria listed for our letters of evaluation are not strict requirements. While the Committee on Admissions prefers to see letters from all research supervisors or PI's, ultimately what letters you choose to include are up to your own discretion. Please choose the letters of evaluation you believe best support your application.
You do not need to include letters from experiences you do not believe were significant, or experiences that are no longer relevant. Your application will still be considered even if you do not meet the letter criteria precisely."

I had a research experience that was years ago that I wouldn't even call research, more like exposure and shadowing of someone doing research, so that's what I was concerned about.

Hope this helps!
 
benjaminjado said:
To the people applying "because... well, why not?" -- absolutely do it. Last cycle, I decided to apply just because... and now I'm matriculating there.
Click to expand...
I actually disagree with this. Regardless of where you apply, you should show a genuine interest in that particular school and program, not just its rank or because it's prestigious. During an interview, if you can't provide a good justification of why you want to go to that school specifically, they'll see right through you. If you apply with a "why not" attitude and get in, more power to you, but more often that not, I've heard from current students and alumni that they tend to not favor people that seem to be applying just for the big name of Harvard.
 
sierranevada3 said:
To those concerned about the math requirement and research supervisor/PI LORs:
I am also applying this cycle and emailed the admissions department with questions. I took 2 quarters of calculus (for applied and life sciences) and I'm planning on taking a semester of introductory statistics this fall. They said..."While biostatistics or statistics relating to medicine is recommended, it is certainly not required. Any college-level statistics course will be count towards the mathematics requirement."

I also emailed about the mandatory research supervisor LORs...this was their response: "The criteria listed for our letters of evaluation are not strict requirements. While the Committee on Admissions prefers to see letters from all research supervisors or PI's, ultimately what letters you choose to include are up to your own discretion. Please choose the letters of evaluation you believe best support your application.
You do not need to include letters from experiences you do not believe were significant, or experiences that are no longer relevant. Your application will still be considered even if you do not meet the letter criteria precisely."

I had a research experience that was years ago that I wouldn't even call research, more like exposure and shadowing of someone doing research, so that's what I was concerned about.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Very useful info! Thanks so much for looking into that!

I have two research lab experiences that were fairly minor. I'm not interested in providing LOR's for those. But I do plan to provide a LOR from my undergraduate thesis advisor, since that was a project in which I really invested myself.
 
Just to clarify, has anyone received the secondary from HMS yet? I haven't gotten any emails about it.
 
joeschmo1991 said:
Just to clarify, has anyone received the secondary from HMS yet? I haven't gotten any emails about it.
Click to expand...

No correspondence from HMS for me yet. Last year the first secondary was available on 7/21 so I'm guessing we'll see a similar timeline this year.
 
PSULeia said:
I actually disagree with this. Regardless of where you apply, you should show a genuine interest in that particular school and program, not just its rank or because it's prestigious. During an interview, if you can't provide a good justification of why you want to go to that school specifically, they'll see right through you. If you apply with a "why not" attitude and get in, more power to you, but more often that not, I've heard from current students and alumni that they tend to not favor people that seem to be applying just for the big name of Harvard.
Click to expand...

Hmm, that's not quite what I meant. When I was applying, I was really digging Harvard's problem-based learning and tutorial-heavy curriculum (having been a teacher myself, I was intensely interested in pedagogy). Coming from a rural background and then a small college, I never had access to many opportunities to do, well, pretty much anything (especially research), so the wealth of opportunities that Harvard offered were staggering in my mind. And, hey: Boston.

I had plenty of reasons, then, to be interested in Harvard. What I meant in my previous post is that people shouldn't be intimidated by "the big name of Harvard." I thought I wouldn't have a chance because I didn't have extensive research experience, my primary form of leadership in college was "just" mentoring, and I didn't go to a top-tier school by any means. In the end, though, I knew that I possessed a compelling narrative, had reflected extensively on my experiences and could communicate what I'd learned and how I'd changed through them, and did have scores that fell in Harvard's range -- so despite the fact that I didn't feel I had a "Harvard-worthy résumé" I said "YOLO" and applied.

I'm convinced that once you check a few boxes (e.g. decent MCAT score, fine grades, demonstrated continuing interest in medicine, whatever), admissions becomes a lot more about "story" than about your résumé, primarily your story but also the story/mission of the school you're applying to, and how the two fit (or don't fit) together.
 
Got the secondary and sent it in about 15 minutes. Does anyone else think high-tier secondaries are much, much easier than low-tier?
 
anyone not fill out the essay? seems like it's a lot of things that don't really pertain to a middle class white male
 
underscore said:
Got the secondary and sent it in about 15 minutes. Does anyone else think high-tier secondaries are much, much easier than low-tier?
Click to expand...

Did you have trouble with the fee payment? It doesn't seem like it goes through.
 
yoyohomieg5432 said:
received it too. does harvard screen at all?
Click to expand...
To answer your question, all you have to do is read the information that they sent you in the secondary invitation e-mail.

"All applicants who check Harvard Medical School on the AMCAS application are invited to complete a Supplemental Application. We do no screening of any kind between the primary and Supplemental applications."
 
Haven't received a secondary either. Must be doing so in batches
 
johnamo said:
To answer your question, all you have to do is read the information that they sent you in the secondary invitation e-mail.

"All applicants who check Harvard Medical School on the AMCAS application are invited to complete a Supplemental Application. We do no screening of any kind between the primary and Supplemental applications."
Click to expand...

:laugh:
 
If you have already graduated, briefly (4000 characters max) summarize your activities since graduation.

If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Many applicants will not need to answer this question. Examples might include significant challenges in access to education, unusual socioeconomic factors, identification with a minority culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine.(4000 character maximum)

Our interview season runs from mid-September through January. Please indicate any significant (three or more weeks) restriction on your availability for interviews during this period. If none, leave blank


Guess Harvard doesn't want us all sucking up to them. No real secondary essays to speak of. Am considering answering the second question, but don't really think I have anything substantial to add...
 
Meh... I stil haven't received anything... This and UCSF... show me some love please!
 
maybe they heard my whining so I received a secondary invitation right after the above post...
....and SUBMITTED!!! seriously, Harvard's application is the nicest one thus far 🙂
 
Evidence Based said:
If you have already graduated, briefly (4000 characters max) summarize your activities since graduation.

If there is an important aspect of your personal background or identity, not addressed elsewhere in the application, that you would like to share with the Committee, we invite you to do so here. Many applicants will not need to answer this question. Examples might include significant challenges in access to education, unusual socioeconomic factors, identification with a minority culture, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Briefly explain how such factors have influenced your motivation for a career in medicine.(4000 character maximum)

Our interview season runs from mid-September through January. Please indicate any significant (three or more weeks) restriction on your availability for interviews during this period. If none, leave blank
Click to expand...

Also HST essay:

ESSAY FOR APPLICATIONS TO THE HARVARD-MIT DIVISION OF HEALTH SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY (HST)
We strongly recommend that you prepare your essay (4000 characters max) using a word processing software program, and paste it into the space below. Be sure to save and print your essay using your word processor - you will not be able to print your essay from this web page.
Instructions: The HST MD program draws on the combined resources of Harvard and MIT to provide a distinct preclinical education tailored to preparing students for careers as physician-scientists. HST classes are small, commonly include graduate students and have an emphasis on quantitative and analytic approaches, centered on understanding disease mechanisms and exploring therapies. Please explain how your prior experiences, including research, have prepared you for this challenging opportunity. In lieu of identifying specific HST faculty or research opportunities, please focus on your interests, experiences and aspirations. Please limit your comments to the equivalent of one page of single spaced text with a font size of 10 or 12.
 
yoyohomieg5432 said:
anyone not fill out the essay? seems like it's a lot of things that don't really pertain to a middle class white male
Click to expand...

Going along with what I said before about "story" or narrative seeming important, I would say that if you discover anything meaningful that you could put in there, you should; if you can't, you shouldn't. I know some of my classmates mentioned that they didn't write anything in that box, so it's definitely not make-or-break; don't worry! But if you do have something to say, it can be really useful for them to understand who you are as a person.

I initially didn't plan on filling in this essay because I thought the same "I'm just a middle-class white male" thing. But as I reflected, I realized there were a lot of atypical things in my middle-class white male background: (without giving too many personal details) I grew up very rural, in a low-income community, attended failing schools, and was the first in my family to go to college. I didn't think anything of this, since it's just my life and what I was used to, but I realized it was a big deal during a medical school interview when an ancient vascular surgeon told me "Your story is really different from the typical story I hear... Your story sounds more like 'Against astronomical odds, here I am.' " I think it also helped that I didn't frame my essay at all in a "Hey adcoms, hold up. I'm not the stereotypical privileged white boy," but rather from a completely different perspective. Any questions, feel free to PM me.
 
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