Hello everyone! I was deferred from Harvard REA this past year and am hoping to increase my chances in the RD round. It has been suggested to me that I send a “Deferral Letter” to H admissions in effort to appeal myself to them a bit more and reassure them of my interest. I have also received a new recommendation from my BSU mentor who has known me throughout high school, which I plan on sending.
About a week or so after my deferral, my guidance counselor called the AO on my behalf to see where the weaknesses in my application may have been. She was told that there was some concern about the number of B’s (two freshman year, three junior year, and a shaky start to this year), but said they didn’t mention anything else. I’m not going to assume this implies that the rest of the application was perfect by any means, but just that the most pressing concern was with grades. Do you think that a noticeable improvement in grades from first to second quarter would help (two B’s from last quarter are now A’s)? How much help will the recommendation be? And lastly, what types of things should I discuss in my Deferral Letter? I understand that the AO doesn’t want to be peppered with “less significant” achievements, but that’s about it.
The problem is that many, many applicants have never had any B’s and there isn’t even room for the perfect grade studen in the Harvard class So you are really going to have to be exceptional in other ways to overcome those grades. (Which aren’t bad but they aren’t excellent)
In your case, other than saying Harvard is your first choice school, a deferral letter is not really going to help. You need focus on the content of what was told to your guidance counselor. Harvard liked what the saw from the rest of your application – otherwise they would have rejected you. So, they want to see your mid-year report and they don’t want to see a single B in your 2nd quarter grades AND will probably ask your GC for your 3rd quarter grades to make sure that you are continuing the upward trend. How that will ultimately shake out for you depends upon your RD competition. As @desie1 said, student’s who have straight A’s are your competition. And if you can’t beat them out on grades due to your past B’s, you have to beat them out in other areas, such as your essays, teacher recommendations and EC’s (which hopefully show your love of learning and strength of character) and your upward trend. Unfortunately, as the whole applications process is subjective, no one except an AO who see’s your competition can even make an educated guess as to your RD chances. Best of luck to you!
@gibby Do you think in some cases a “deferral letter” might help? I have a good mid semester report. In general my grades are good (only one B in sophomore year). Also in the senior year, (from September) I have two pretty good awards and two As in college courses I took.
Before writing a deferred letter, you need to understand why you were deferred. Were your grades lacking? Were your test scores too low? Were your essays bland? Did your recommendation writers not sufficiently praise your abilities? I would talk to your GC about making an inquiry on your behalf. If you do not understand why you were deferred, your deferral letter will just be grasping at straws: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kat-cohen/the-truth-about-getting-d_b_2395749.html
While admissions officers are often reluctant to tell an applicant why they were deferred, they are more willing to open up to guidance counselor’s about specifics. I’ve never known an applicant to get a forthright answer if they call Admissions directly, but have known GC’s who are able to nail down an answer. Much, I imagine, depends upon your GC’s relationship with the AO and your high school’s history with the college.
Can you describe your high school? Large? Small? Urban/suburban/rural? Demographics? Socioeconomic status? I ask because Harvard ostensibly looks to expand the pool from which it draws applicants.
@nomatterwhat,
My school does not have any matriculative or historical relationship with Harvard but my counselor was still able to get an answer. I’d suggest still trying to get your counselor to find out what concerns H had with your app. No use in giving up!
@ahawkins or anybody in the know - is Harvard phone number their “admissions visitor center” number? (617) 495-1551? Is it the correct number for my GC to call for info?
If you look at Gibby’s reply above, you will see that it has to do with finding out what the deficiencies might be and addressing them. It appears that’s different from simply “demonstrated interest”.
^^ That’s correct. For example: If your guidance counselor calls up Admissions, and your regional AO says one of the reasons you were deferred was that they didn’t get a “warm and fuzzy” feeling from your recommendation writers, as the letters seemed to be written in haste or were formulaic, you could have two new teachers submit additional letters of recommendation that would specifically detail how you lead classroom discussions with thoughtful opinions, how you are respected by teachers and fellow classmates, how your writing far surpasses the strictures of the assignment, how you are of the the top students they have ever taught, how your involvement in extracurricular activities sets the bar higher for all students at your school, how you will be remembered for years to come because of your compassion and humor, etc. Then, in your deferral letter, you comment on how Harvard is your first choice and, because of your interest in the school, you are having two new teachers submit additional LoR’s that will hopefully address the concerns of the Admissions Office. The goal of a deferral letter is to address the reasons why you were deferred and not to just express interest in the school.
@gibby, and others, do you know how an additional teacher’s rec letter should be sent to Harvard on my behalf? (I’m deferred.) I have one teacher rec that I sent as a “Miscellaneous” from the portal. That means I have seen the letter. I don’t feel it’s the right way to do it. But I also don’t feel safe to ask the teacher mail the letter to Harvard, because it may get lost or something, since we never got to see what was sent as supplementary stuff.
When an applicant uploads an additional Letter of Recommendation to the portal, Admissions has no way of knowing if the student wrote the letter by themselves, or whether the teacher actually wrote the letter and said only “good and appropriate” things about the student because they know the student (and parent) will view the letter.
I think Admissions always feels more comfortable when a student waives their right to see the recommendation letter (through the FERPA waiver), as they feel the teacher is then speaking in confidence without the student (or parent) looking over their shoulder.
As you’ve already submitted your two teacher recommendations through the Common App, I think the better way to go – if you submit an additional LoR – is to have the teacher send the letter on school stationary directly to Harvard Admissions with their contact information.
My school does NOT have any relationship with Harvard. I’m the only one ever who applied. I guess it is a lost cause.