Contacting People about Harvard

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions about possible people to contact about expressing my interest in attending Harvard College? I live in Buffalo, NY and will be a freshman in the fall if that helps. Thanks!

As far as I know, Harvard doesn’t track/care about expressed interest. So if you’re asking this solely for the purpose of showing Harvard that you’re interested, there’s really no point because they don’t care.

If, however, you’re asking for your own sake (i.e. you have questions that you can’t find answers to on their website) I’m pretty sure on their website they have a way to get on their email list, and I think you can call the admissions office and ask to be connected with a student for college life questions.

Once again- there’s no point in ‘expressing your interest,’ the only reason for you to contact admissions/students is for YOUR benefit.

@CDOESenior2k16 is correct. A student’s level of interest has absolutely no bearing on whether a student is accepted or denied. Harvard assumes it’s everyone’s first choice school – and one student’s reason for wanting to attend isn’t any better than another student’s reason. This is one of the reasons why Harvard, unlike other colleges, does not publish a list of their Admissions Directors or their email address. They don’t want prospective student’s contacting them.

OP: you’ve been on this site seeking Harvard advice since you were a 7th grader and now you’re entering 9th grade, story unchanged. I know people have directed you to search out some posts with advice for eighth graders. What did that do for you?

In @T26E4’s defense:

(1) You have been – and still are – IMHO on the youngish side to be thinking about college applications. My kids, and their peers, were never thinking about college apps until mid-way through 11th grade, as their goal wasn’t getting accepted into the best college, but having the most fun during high school by being involved in the things they loved the most.

(2) the information you are seeking is readily available on Harvard’'s Common Data Set: http://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2013-14.pdf

In other words: Don’t call us, don’t email us, as we don’t care how interested you are in attending the college. Your interest has bearing on our decision.

And FWIW: If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. It’s only going to get worse once you matriculated to a college, wherever that might be.

I’ve already read this information. This post was about contacting someone who’s been there to tell me how the experience was.

Please go back and read your initial post. I didn’t get that at all from this comment

Who is the “someone” you are referring to? Was that an Admissions Officer? Or, an accepted student from the 2019 Admissions cycle? Maybe it was a rejected applicant? Or, maybe it was someone from Buffalo? Who the heck knows what you meant!

Why don’t you just ask on the Harvard forum here for current H students to talk to through PM or via a new thread?

I’m sorry that you didn’t understand what I was saying. @gibby. FYI, I’m clearly different from your children and your peers, so that comparison wasnt necessary. Thank you.

I don’t known how to do that @HRSMom

Just start a new thread here called “Any current Harvard students here willing to answer some questions about the process?”. See if anyone answers.

Thanks

No one understood what you were saying, as you were not clear in your wording of the question.

Why don’t you try asking your questions here: https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/hear-our-students/student-blog/qa-what-would-you-ask-me

The first person understood @gibby

The first person said the same thing as Gibby did in the second post…

OP, slews of people want to attend Harvard. Rather than focusing on Harvard per se, focus on doing your very best in school and extracurriculars and on standardized tests. Then your college applications will just all into place when the time comes.