Strategy 1: Flaunt Your Talent and Get Recruited

This chapter is all about playing to your strengths. From athletics to the arts, it is crucial that those who excel in one particular field show how that success has carried over to various other aspects of their lives. The key here is balance. In this chapter, we see students who have developed drive and discipline through their various activities and have channeled that energy from the field and the stage into the classroom as well as into the community. These students got Harvard's attention by making headlines and making solid connections with their future coaches and teammates.

There are various approaches for using your skill or athletic ability to your advantage. A lot of these students showed that they could balance various activities and excel at all of them. For instance, Mary Serdakowski and Gareth James Doran both discussed their abilities to balance sports and academics in their application, and how the discipline they developed through their sport transferred into everything else they did. Another strategy is to include supplementary materials in your application. For instance, Julia Scott Carey included recordings in her application, while Bong Ihn Koh attached a résumé that solely featured his musical achievements to his regular résumé and application. Finally, get recruited! Zak Farkes and Aliaa Remtilla got themselves on the Harvard coaches' radar screens early so that they could meet future teammates and prepare their applications appropriately.

This strategy is not for everyone. It is important that you have a realistic notion of how talented you are in a given field before you choose to make that the focus of your application process. As you'll see here, even national champions made sure they were well balanced in all areas. If you are a state or national champion in your chosen activity, you are a very good candidate for this strategy.

Make sure you speak to your college counselor and other mentors to get an accurate assessment, however, of how much you should focus on your talent. If you choose to pursue this route, you should do the following:

• Include supplementary materials (practice or performance videos, CDs, portfolios, newspaper clippings).

• Contact the coach/team/activity advisor early on and in person, if possible.

• Network with others in your field to get contacts at the college and elsewhere who can help you out.

• Find a mentor to help you through the application process.

• BALANCE! Choose one medium (essay, interview, etc.), to showcase another side of yourself.

Harvard loves students who are extremely talented and will achieve further greatness on campus, so flaunt your talent, but make sure that you show that you can contribute to the college in a variety of other ways as well.

When Racquel Bracken won her first national debate championship in 2000, she could not help but think that the title would be a nice addition to her college application. But the then-teenager from Irving, Texas, knew that getting into Harvard required more than fame. Recognizing that other prospective applicants would have distinguished themselves in a variety of pursuits, Racquel was worried that she had had to give up too much for debate. Her challenge, she thought, was to convince the admissions office that her excellence in debate, however limited, was evidence of her ability to commit wholeheartedly to a single pursuit.

High School

From first grade onward, Racquel attended the Greenhill School in Dallas, a private school with 105 students in the senior class. A serious scholar, Racquel finished high school fifth among her classmates with a 3.8 grade-point average. The president of the National Honor Society, she was also a varsity swimmer and runner, and wrote for her school newspaper. These activities, however, were secondary to the one extracurricular that earned her headlines of her own: debate.

Racquel and her partner were two-time national champions in the cross-examination division. A four-year member of the team, Racquel also served as its captain. Among the topics she debated were U.S. foreign policy toward Russia, particularly the use of tactical nuclear weapons on the borders of non-NATO states. In her senior year, she argued in favor of ways to prevent identity theft on the Internet. A more than twenty-hour-a-week commitment, debate required Racquel to do extensive research on a variety of topics and to work closely with her partner to practice speedspeaking and argumentation skills. She says the experience of intense competition and the opportunity to travel widely were invaluable. "Within my main activity, debate," she recalls, "I learned about leadership, communication, and teamwork while having an amazing time."

The Application and Essay

While debate provided her with a wealth of experience to draw upon in writing her essay, Racquel also sought to convey to the admissions office her commitment to her family. She wrote her supplementary essay about the goals she had achieved through debate; however, she chose to write her primary essay about her father. She first wrote the piece in rhetoric class her senior year and edited it with the help of her English teacher and debate coach. In only a few pages, she described how, once embarrassed by her dad, she soon began to imitate and emulate him. A recurring theme throughout the essay was the silly jokes he told the employees of a local drive-through restaurant. "By the end of the piece," Racquel recalls, "I was the one sitting in the driver's seat imitating him."

Contacts and Connections

Racquel did not know any faculty or administrators when applying to...