How much do softs matter to HYS? Forum

[GodWatchOverMe]

I did some volunteering here and there.
Some organizations etc.

But nothing like internships or an actual stable job.
I had a job playing piano for a church for about 2 years but the rest is all volunteer work.

How much does HYS care?
I heard that YS care much more than H, so what is the deal?

[iamgeorgebush]

Why are you asking this question? Would the answers you receive change anything for you?

[MistakenGenius]

Post removed.

[hiltopp01]

Assuming at least median numbers, good chance at Harvard and improbable but not impossible chance at S and Y

[iamgeorgebush]

I like Georgie's answer. It sounds too late to do anything else, so what does it matter. If you're really curious, there are several thousand numerically qualified applicants at each school but only 200 slots at YS, and like 700 at Harvard. How else are they going to decide?

This is misleading.

For one, there are not several thousand numerical qualified applicants for each school. YLS only has 3k applicants per year, which by definition is not several thousand.

Second, even with SLS's 4k applications and HLS's 5.5k applications, I'm willing to bet the AdComs ding most applicants on numbers alone. At that point we're looking at maybe a couple thousand applications, probably even less.

[banjo]

HLS maintained a 170-173-175 split in a cycle where even CLS--after seven straight years of 172--dropped to 171. HLS' GPA floor certainly dropped, and there was a good deal of waitlist movement, but even with falling applicants I don't think a little volunteering here and there is enough to overcome marginal numbers.

[esse est percipi]

Matters a lot to Stanford and Yale. Significantly less to Harvard (so it seems) but your softs are still iffy regardless of how high above their medians you are. How good will your letters and personal statement be?

It's not too late to significantly improve your softs though. Assuming you have an excellent GPA (which if you don't your question here would be pointless), you could probably land a cool job upon graduation. Excel in that job for a year. Try and land a leadership position in one of the organization you volunteer in. Try and get one of your papers published. Etc.