<p>Hi everyone. I know this is a time of stress and anxiety for all of us, but I just wanted to know if Harvard likes to defer most of its applicants or reject them. I am not prepared for a rejection letter, but I just want to prepare myself for the worst. What kind of applicants get rejected?
Thanks</p>
<p>People who have no business applying to Harvard get rejected. Really, I think they only reject about 4% outright from the EA pool.</p>
<p>Yeah, Harvard in particular doesn't seem to like flat-out rejecting people in the early action round. A deferral is almost the default decision, it seems.</p>
<p>The lady that spoke at a Harvard thing said that they DO NOT reject in their early round...they ONLY DEFER or ACCEPT. I wish Yale would take that policy....</p>
<p>That's not true. Harvard does reject people in the EA round.</p>
<p>Yeah. Who is this lady you speak of?</p>
<p>definitly defer more than reject</p>
<p>From Harvard's Web site: </p>
<p>"Early Action applicants have, on average, stronger admissions credentials than regular applicants. In each of the several recent years, Harvard has admitted between 2,000 and 2,100 applicants total. Of these, 900 to 1,200 were admitted in mid-December and - reflecting early candidates' strength - another 85 to nearly 250 early applicants were admitted in the spring after having been deferred in mid-December. There is no incentive whatsoever for Early Action colleges to admit weaker candidates early and then have to reject stronger Regular Action candidates. Diminishing the quality of the student body would be antithetical to the goals of any institution."</p>
<p>That actually, strangely, gives me hope . . .</p>
<p>if harvard isn't going to accept me, i wish they would just reject me. deferral will just give me a false sense of hope. i wouldn't be able to move on with that in the back of my head.</p>
<p>A Harvard deferral is much different than a Yale or Stanford deferral, in that you have a lot more hope with a Y or S deferral. At least last year, Yale and Stanford outright rejected nearly 40% of their EA applicants. Harvard only rejected somewhere from 5-15%. It is harder to get rejected from Harvard EA than to be accepted. There is still hope for deferees, but the chances of getting in in the regular round are a lot more slim than at Yale or Stanford.</p>
<p>my friend's interviewer told her that sometimes they defer people simply because they are not able to get to their applications...isn't that awful?...because it is so much harder to make it in the RD pool...</p>
<p>. . . . that's heartbreaking. I hope it's not true.</p>
<p>I read in the Harvard Crimson from last December (cant remember exact date) Out of approx 4,000 early applications, 900 accepted, 190 rejected, 2700 deferred (these are not exact figures because I cant remember them but pretty close) Good luck to you all.</p>
<p>Wow... that is about 5%. They really defer that many? I had no idea.</p>
<p>That'll be tough. Any idea out of those 2700 how many were accepted in RD rounds?</p>
<p>By the way, I'm new. Hi to everyone.</p>