Student coordinators in Harvard’s minority recruitment program help raise awareness among applicants about accessibility, financial aid

Tuesday, August 21, 2018 - 16:20 in Psychology & Sociology

The only child of immigrants from India, Meena Venkataramanan was unsure how to respond to her acceptance email from Harvard College. Then came a phone call from a coordinator at the admissions office’s Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program (UMRP). The coordinator explained how, “as a person of color, they had really found a home there,” said Venkataramanan, and the chat helped convince her Harvard “was the place for me.” Venkataramanan said few students from her home area around Tucson, Ariz., attend Ivy League schools, with most favoring in-state options. Some students don’t “have high expectations” when considering colleges. A rising sophomore who plans to concentrate in English or government, Venkataramanan wants to help change that narrative. After arriving in Cambridge, she became a hometown recruiter for the UMRP, heading back to Arizona over winter break to meet with students from schools in and around Tucson, including in Nogales, a town on the...

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