<p>I submitted my app on 31-Dec and haven't yet received an email from Harvard with a link to app status. Has anyone received one yet ? Any interview requests? Please fill me in.</p>
<p>I submitted my app like three weeks ago(without writing supplement though) and received a confirmation email and access to the application status portal the next day. I have not been contacted for an interview by Harvard, but already had some other interviews.</p>
<p>Have patience! Someone in Harvard’s file room must download each part of your application, look for your official test scores, create an electronic file AND a paper file, manually update the tracker, and forward your contact information to the alumni chapter to schedule interviews. With 30,000 applications to process, depending upon the number of alumni in your area, it can take 2 to 8 weeks before you hear about your interview. Although Harvard tries to interview every student, in some areas with limited alumni, not all students will be interviewed. See: <a href=“https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/what-we-look/interviews[/url]”>https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/what-we-look/interviews</a></p>
<p>I have recieved the email from harvard concerning the online status account and this was a day or two after I submitted as well.
But be patient. If I were you I would go on your common app Harvard and check your “add recommenders” columns to see if they downloaded all your info yet because it seems that that is one way of knowing whether they have started with your application (atleast the processing)</p>
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<p>Most or all of that is not done automatically?</p>
<p>^^ Unfortunately NOT. Bill Fitzsimmons, who has been working in the Harvard Admissions Office since the mid-1960’s, is somewhat of a luddite; Harvard still relies on people to do the majority of filing and entry work. See: [Don’t</a> Touch That File | News | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/4/30/dont-touch-that-file-by-the/]Don’t”>Don't Touch That File | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>Also, the university has been closed for winter break. It’s not fully open yet, and today all non-essential employees were asked not to come in. Sorry, admissions officers aren’t “essential” in the face of a nor’easter.</p>
<p>Interesting article cited in post #6. The article says:</p>
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<p>So the full committee votes on every applicant over 3 weeks? That is about 15 seconds per applicant if the committee meets 50 hours per week. I am skeptical that such a pace is humanly possible, and certainly there can’t be much discussion! This may help explain why so many admissions decisions are hard to understand.</p>
<p>I highly doubt that most applicants make it to the committee. They create reader sheets during the initial evaluation, which I assume are meant to highlight the basics of an application succinctly + provide a rating, to make the committees run faster, and I also surmise that the weakest applicants are screened out during that initial reading process. They probably do spend less time on each application than would make us comfortable, but it has to be greater than 15 seconds. It would make more sense if each application had between 1-2 minutes of review, and that the regional reader in that time would give the highlights of the application. This is all guesswork, however.</p>
<p>It is interesting that they seem to group applicants by school, though.</p>
<p>On topic: I got my email recently. I submitted on 12/31. I do seem to be having trouble getting my access code, however.</p>
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<p>Correct! Most students do NOT make it to the full committee; only those students who the regional Admissions Directors feels confidant in make it to the full committee.</p>
<p>DD submitted on 12/30 and received her email this morning, 1/3</p>
<p>It is never a good idea to wait for 31st to file an app. Harvard accepts your app without supplement and starts the interview process and so I am surprised why anyone would wait for the last day.</p>
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<p>Probably true, but inconsistent with what the article says. </p>
<p>So it sounds like you will be denied at Harvard if one person – your regional Admissions Director – does not like your application? It would be interesting to know the standard for refusal at that point – bad SAT scores or grades with nothing else in the application standing out? If you have a 4.0 and 2250, will you at least make it to the committee? If so, they are only spending a minute on each application even if they are able to eliminate 75% of the applicants this way.</p>
<p>I submitted mine on Jan 1st and received the email this morning at 10.</p>
<p>“So it sounds like you will be denied at Harvard if one person – your regional Admissions Director – does not like your application?”</p>
<p>I could be wrong but I was under the impression at least two people read it.</p>
<p>However, the regional adcom has to make the applicant’s case in most top schools. If they are turned off, the applicant will never make it anyway.</p>
<p>The article does say that the committee reviews EVERY applicant that they are about to admit over a three-week period. Using SoCal’s 50 hour workweek (not inclusive of any breaks), that would actually work out to 9 seconds per applicant (assuming 1000 students to be admitted). That would give just enough time to read the applicant’s name and maybe where they’re from. There would be absolutely no time to dig into any of the relevant data about about the student. </p>
<p>This is why I have always said you have to take anything that is publicly said about the admissions process with a grain of salt.</p>
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<p>Actually, from everything I’ve read, it must be TWO people. Two people (the Regional Admissions Director and one other person) must agree on which students to take to committee. Conversely, those same two people have the power to reject, defer, or waitlist a student.</p>
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<p>MOST STUDENTS DO NOT MAKE IT TO COMMITTEE. Only those selected by the regional Admissions Director (and one other person) get to go to the committee for a full vote. My best guess is that about 2,000 to 2,500 kids may make it to full committee; while 33,000 kids don’t have the votes to move forward. Many are called; few are chosen. </p>
<p>The Regional Admissions director – and last I looked there are about 15 to 20 of them – must go in front of the entire committee of 40 people (half of which are faculty) and argue a student’s case like an attorney.</p>
<p>While this video is not from Harvard, it’s very illuminating to the process, which is far from perfect:<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-OLlJUXwKU[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-OLlJUXwKU</a></p>
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<p>Assuming 3 minutes per applicant (20 per hour) X a 50-hour week X 3 weeks = 3000 students reviewed by committee. **Watch the video **above!</p>
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<p>I think it would be 3 minutes per applicant (20 applicants per hour) with a 50 hour week and 3 weeks if 3000 students were reviewed. Not time to have much of a discussion. I don’t think any student should feel bad if this process does not choose them.</p>
<p>In any event, the consensus seems to be that the article is wrong when it says that the Harvard committee reviews every applicant.</p>
<p>^^ Sorry, I corrected my math and we cross-posted.</p>
<p>Did you watch the Amherst video in post #17. Once an applicant makes it to committee, the process seems to take about a minute to three minutes per applicant. I think Harvard works the same way.</p>
<p>And FWIW: The article DID NOT say the committee reviews every applicant; it said it reviewed every applicant about to be admitted – that’s a huge difference.</p>