<p>Actually, since Harvard appears not to have conditioned acceptances off the waitlist on a prior indication that the student will enroll if accepted, and since the numbers don’t work if all 200 people enroll, and since there is evidence on CC of people offered admission who then decline it (if one believes them), I think Harvard is NOT planning on 100% yield from its waitlist. (And, repeat after me: “Harvard does NOT manage its numbers to look good in U.S. News.”)</p>
<p>By accepting 200 off the waitlist, it will have accepted just about exactly the same number of applicants it did last year. The Harvard people have said repeatedly that they don’t want to be over-enrolled to the same extent, so overall their yield will still be a little below last year’s (same number of acceptances, 30-40 fewer kids enrolled).</p>