<p>Red, you're right, that was harsh...sorry...
I'm just a bit frustrated...though I think I'll feel better if/when I find out that the people who get in are also qualified. I'm sure Haverford is just having trouble picking out of a huge number of awesome candidates...</p>
<p>Good luck to people who haven't heard yet.</p>
<p>My only other complaint is that they didn't even sign our waitlist letters, just typed the name in a script-like font. Could they be a little more impersonal...please?! come on...</p>
<p>Ok, so my suitemates and I have been following this board quite a bit - procrastination at its finest - and we couldn't help but get a little defensive at some of the comments posted here about Haverford and its admissions policies, so i just thought i'd get a few things off of my chest in the spirit of quaker-ism and speaking your mind when you feel compelled to. :) </p>
<p>First off, I can't imagine they'd be waitlisting qualified candidates and letting in candidates who are less so on purpose...Do you honestly think that's what the admissions policy here? If they see a kid with a 1600 and a kid with a 1400, they're going to take the latter just because the former is supposedly "overqualified"? (And what exactly is "overqualified" supposed to mean? Is a candidate "overqualified if their scores are higher than the school's reported middle 50% range?) It just doesn't make seem to me that schools at this level (and i'm trying my best not to sound like a pretentious jerk when i say that, but you know what i mean...) would do the rejecting-of-overqualified-candidates thing.</p>
<p>I think a lot of people underestimate how heavily Haverford weighs personal characteristics. That's not to say that those who were accepted are better people than those who weren't, or that being a good person and a bad student will get you in; i just mean that scores and gpas aren't the be-all end-all in the process, so you can't necessarily look at someone's boards and say that the admissions process isn't fair, and that they're not letting in the best candidates for admission. I don't mean to say that those of you who didn't get the acceptance letter didn't deserve to, because i'm sure a lot of you did, and i've got no way of knowing that. I just don't think that you know for sure that someone else should've gotten in based on their stats alone, and that Haverford must be up to something if that person didn't get in. Sometimes it's just probably just a crapshoot, and i heard the applicant pool for your class is supposedly huge and crazy competitive. </p>
<p>Anyway, I know that you all have heard this 100 million times before, but I'll say it again for kicks: you'll get in where you're meant to go, and you'll have an awesome time. If not, you'll transfer...maybe even to Haverford, if that's where you really want to be. College is amazing, so be excited. Good luck to all of you with the whole process, and i'm sorry if any of this post rubbed anyone the wrong way, 'cause i really didn't mean to offend anyone and i just wanted to throw that out there. Anyway, good luck wherever you end up going, and hopefully i'll see some of you guys next year. </p>
<p>p.s. feel free to private message me if you disagree with anything i've said and think i'm a complete idiot, but don't feel like humiliating me in front of the rest of collegeconfidential. lol. :)</p>
<p>I got accepted today... huzzah! Yale is my first choice, but aside from Yale, my top choices (Haverford, Vassar, Brown, and Wesleyan) are all pretty much equal (with Bowdoin, Amherst, and Oberlin being a bit below the others). </p>
<p>I know that Haverford values personal characteristics, and one cannot judge applicants based on their scores/gpas/etc (which is what people share on this board). However, the quality/etc of the waitlisted people on this board makes you think twice, especially considering that there isn't really a way to judge personality except by reading essays (which can be done convincingly even if the writers aren't sincere) and by doing interviews (which not everyone did). I agree that it doesn't seem like Haverford to be strategically waitlisting, but some schools (albeit not of Haverford's caliber) have even openly admitted to doing so (like Franklin and Marshall). Also, a few students I spoke to at Haverford were somewhat critical of the admissions staff, saying that they are focusing less on personality and more on athletics (although I don't know if there is any truth to this).</p>
<p>ahh congratulations bjrwrh !!! although i dont know how yale fits into your list of choices lol .. it's so different from the rest.. but good job anyway! =)</p>
<p>Sports can help kids get into Haverford, just like at any other school, but i don't know that it's fair to say that admissions is more focused on athletics than personality...but like redbull said, we don't know exactly what the admissions staff is doing - i just hear stuff through the grapevine (through coaches, etc.)...and it sounds like the students you talked to were (somewhat bitter) non-athletes who, i would think, had access to even less information about how athletics and the admissions office work together.</p>
<p>I have to say, as a Haverford Student, I totally agree with Mai-Khoi. Haverford is definitely the last institution I know of that would play games with the admissions process. We're a Quaker Institution, every admissions decision here is made on the basis of consensus (meaning every admissions officer has to agree to accept a student)- factors being grades, interviews, extracurriculars, athletics, diversity, etc. With a class of only 313 students, and I'd imagine about 1/3 already selected through ED, there just aren't many spots available.</p>
<p>To redbull: thanks. Yale may seem somewhat out of place; Yale and Brown are the only non-LACs on my list. However, I like Yale for a lot of very specific reasons, including the residential college system, social/arts scene, and, most significant of all, how much I enjoyed my overnight stay there.</p>
<p>I was waitlisted and really surprised, so I talked to my college counselor. He called Haverford, and in my case, they said that they had over-enrolled females in the early rounds, so a lot of qualified female applicants from the east coast were waitlisted. My guess for Haverford is that they rejected the unqualified, accepted some of the qualified, and waited those that they just couldn't fit into their class. I doubt they waitlisted people that were "overqualified" but I guess it may be a possibilty... but my boyfriend got in with a 1520, 4.0+, a bunch of ECs, and a #2 ranking in our class, so if he isn't overqualified, I'm not sure what is. I honestly think they just got a lot of apps this year and were forced to waitlist people that they may have wanted but just didn't have room for.</p>
<p>I just got my acceptance package and it was postmarked March 22. (It comes in a large white envelope which has a red folder in it) I'm from upstate NY. I just visited Haverford for an overnight in February, but I'm trying to talk my parents into taking me to the accepted students weekend. Anyone else planning to go?</p>
<p>I got accepted, and I do not know if I am going to the students weekend. The folder in the envelope is so thick, that the envelope came half open!I really need to visit the campus and get to know more the community.
What I like about Haverford is that students have the option to take courses in at Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore and UPenn. Does anyone else think there are more things that are attractive to Haverford?</p>
<p>There are so many good schools where everyone in here, CC, is going to get in! And remember it is not the school, it is you who shapes your own professional future.</p>
<p>My son is out of town right now, so I'm his designated mail-opener. He received an acceptance today. Frankly, I'm not sure whether or not it is helpful to hear this, but I think that his acceptance belies the notion that the Admissions Office is somehow seeking to boost yield by waitlisting those they deem "over-qualified." While I find this sort of statistical summary ridiculously reductive, there's no denying the fact that it puts my son in a good light: 1570 on the SAT, 800s on all three SAT IIs, 35 on the ACT, first in his class, lots of glittery ECs and awards, etc., etc., etc. But probably as important as all that is the fact that he was, and remains, genuinely interested in Haverford, and I'm sure this came through. Best of luck to all of you. . . .</p>
<p>I noted your comments on 3/22 with interest, as my son may have had a similar experience. Applied to 8 schools, all was fine, until about mid-February when Haverford emailed to say they hadn't received his Common App Supplement. He faxed it to them right away (but was puzzled because the Common App Website indicated that he had sent it to them).</p>
<p>He had visited Haverford last summer and attended a session at his high school in the fall, but had not had an interview because we live in the Midwest and understood it was not required (I probably should have pushed him on that, but hey, it's his application process, not mine!)</p>
<p>I'm wondering now if they were trying to gauge his level of interest, esp. since he didn't interview...</p>
<p>My son has not yet received a letter; has yours?</p>
<p>I can only imagine why Haverford asked your son to resend his supplement; however, it seems like a wierd way to gauge interest. I know that even if I wasn't interested in the school I would resend the supplement that I spent all that time working on it, especially since the Haverford one was rather time consuming with the essay.</p>
<p>I live in DC metro area, I just got my acceptance letter today</p>
<p>SAT: 1530
SATII: 800 MathIIc, 740 Physics, 720 Writing
GPA: 3.9(UW), 4.3 W
Class rank: 1
AP scores: 5's on 5 tests, 4 on one other one
Extras:Varsity Lacrosse, Biology internship, high level Latin</p>
<p>My recomendations were really good, and I think my essays were pretty good
White male from large public school in suburbs of DC</p>
<p>Hi everyone. I'm on spring break, and didn't notice that letters were out until today (only the Ivies have very active CC boards). So, I have to wait until sunday to hear.</p>
<p>What has suprised me is the level or rejections/waitlisted for people that have Haverford in their bottom or lower ranges. Personally, it is at the bottom of non-merit-aid schools. Now, I was deferred EA at Yale, and have been likely lettered (new-verb) at Dartmouth and early admission lettered at Amherst, as well as some easier schools.</p>
<p>By this point, I would feel a little odd not getting in to Haverford with the earlies elsewhere, but it seems to be happening. After getting into Dartmouth, which is much higher on my list and won't offer less money, I don't expect much of anything will bring me to Haverford.</p>
<p>So, I guess I am hoping for a rejection/waitlist so that one of you guys can get in.</p>
<p>I already posted, but I forgot to list my stats. Here they are:</p>
<p>SAT: 1500
SAT IIs: 800, 750, 740
GPA: 3.9 uw in all honors/AP.
APs: a 5 and a 4.
ECs/hooks: chorus, piano, lots of student government, some other stuff... and I am a Quaker and go to a Quaker school.</p>