<p>If I was deferred in the early round, but am still interested in Harvard, what should I include in my letter to the college? And also, what should I update them on?</p>
<p>bumppp...please help the deferreds!</p>
<p>well what are your stats?</p>
<p>do you keep in contact with your region harvard adcom rep?</p>
<p>my sat is 2300ish, my gpa is 4.5ish. and i have plenty of meaningful extracurricular activities. my essays are great. but my leadership/ teacher recs may not be superior. can anyone pitch in and help me? what should I write in my letter to Harvard?</p>
<p>btw, i don't really understand why i got deferred in the first place.</p>
<p>not to demean your achievements, but take a look at the people who got deferred from Harvard EA. people like zogoto and guitar with national achievements got deferred. in addition, with some 2800 defers this year, odds are that some of the people that are deferred will get in RD</p>
<p>do you have anything that distinguishes you from every other applicant?</p>
<p>The attitude of "I don't really understand why I got deferred in the first place" (also known as the "How can Harvard not Accept Me" Entitlement Attitude) isn't something to go into the next few months with...</p>
<p>That's what I thought when I read this, Guitar. I thought I'd let someone else actually say it though. ;)</p>
<p>well harvard is one of the best colleges. best. unless you got deferred from princeton, well, i dunno about your chances. but neways, how did you get deferred in the 1st place? look at your stats!</p>
<p>perhaps its your attitude.</p>
<p>instead of "how did i get deferred?". change your attitude to something like "how can i make myself be harvard material?" or "how can i make myself look better in the eyes of the adcoms"</p>
<p>I don't know how I got deferred, either. I mean, my scores are bad. Why would they want to take another look at me?</p>
<p>I am not really complaining. I just didn't understand the randomness of some of the decisions. But if you guys can help me out here, please tell me how I can improve my application for the spring round. What should I update Harvard on and what should I include in my letter to the college? Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but with Harvard, I'm not sure that a "letter" without a meaningful update, is going to help you. In other words, just telling them how interested you are in the school won't really help your cause. However, any additional accomplishments, awards, or recognitions you receive in the next couple of months (through academics or your ec's) would be meaningful. Or, if there's some new activity or a new aspect of a previous activity that you're very involved in, that you didn't mention on your application, you might mention that (and if you see yourself continuing that activity at Harvard, let them know that as well). Best of luck!</p>
<p>Tropicalisland,
You were deferred because the great majority of applicants to Harvard could thrive at Harvard if they were accepted. Unfortunately, Harvard does not have space for all who qualify.</p>
<p>Your 2200+, and 4.5 out of 5 and being a low income Asian who volunteers at his local library and has parents who are divorced did not make you stand out in the pool enough to get accepted EA. Those acceptances are only for students whom adcoms are sure would still be accepted once the entire applicant pool is in.</p>
<p>Probably to have the low income hook in EA (and maybe even in RD), one needs to have excellent stats plus have overcome a major challenge such as homelessness and/or have accomplished something major with one's ECs such as running a major, documented tutoring program for low income students. Another possibility would be making stellar grades while having to work 20 hours a week to help support one's family.</p>
<p>Having divorced parents is so common that it's not even worth mentioning.</p>
<p>"but my leadership/ teacher recs may not be superior."</p>
<p>Probably most people who get in have outstanding recs, too.</p>
<p>Yeah I am just a typical Harvard applicant. But I hope to write an outstanding letter to them. Will this help? It is pretty hard to win more awards or do more activities at this time of the year. But there is something strange about my deferral. I never got a PIN number until a week before decisions. I called the Harvard office several times and they were pretty ticked off by me and insisted that they sent it out several times. But I received the PIN just days before decisions. Did this indicate that Harvard wasn't interested in me in the first place?</p>