<p>At the Harvard Alumni Association of Indiana meeting last Thursday (which also serves as an informational session for students), I bumped into my EA interviewer. I asked him about how Indiana kids were faring so well and, though he didn't have exact numbers, he said it was similar to last year. He noted, however, that Harvard this year waitlisted several Indiana candidates from EA. He didn't really know what a "waitlist" in EA meant, though. Evidently this is the first (and last) time that Harvard has done it. He assumed that they would be top picks in RA, though (sadly, he wouldn't tell me if I was one).</p>
<p>My question is 1) what is a waitlisted EA student? and 2) how do I know if I was/was not one? Do these kids get different deferral letters (do they get waitlist letters?) or are they not informed at all? Lastly, does anyone know why Harvard would be doing this is their last year of EA? Just something to ponder on.</p>
<p>If Harvard does anything along those lines, it means that they informally tagged people who they are likely to take a second look at in the RD round (since, historically, it's incredibly difficult to be accepted after you've been deferred, considering that Harvard hardly ever rejects anyone). If that's the case, though, I'm surprised Harvard would've filled your interviewer in on that detail, unless he pressed admissions for the chances of Indiana candidates or something. Either way, however, I sincerely doubt that there is a formal "waitlist"--he may have been confused with the terminology and either meant something informal, as I said before, or even just meant "deferred."</p>
<p>I have chaired my local schools (interviewing) committee, and have never heard of an EA waitlist. I think that probably the alum interviewer misspoke himself or was confused. Some people only do one inteview a year, so don't thoroughly understand how the whole process works. While I've seen EA deferred students get in RD, Harvard hasn't ever told me that they were under special consideration.</p>
<p>While I have no way to vouch for my interviewer, he is vice-president of the alumni association and was also present at the information session held in Indianapolis (in which Harvard travels around with the three other schools). At the Indy session, the Harvard officer and him seemed like chums, and my interviewer did answer questions for 45 minutes after the presentation (instead of the Harvard officer). He seems to be pretty well known quantity in Indiana (given my limited observations).</p>
<p>So, assuming that his statement about waitlisting were true, what would it mean? Now certainly he might have used the term "waitlist" instead of saying "borderline" or "probable admits." I have no idea what the exact term used by Harvard is, or whether such a distinction even exists (as Northstarmom above notes). Perhaps the number of students "waitlisted" EA is so small that this is the first year that any from Indiana have been (don't laugh, so few people apply from here anyway that I wouldn't be surprised)? I'm leaning towards that Harvard just wanted mid-year grades from these kids before admitting them.</p>
<p>I think that your interviewer might have used the word "waitlist" as exchange for "deferred." My friend was deferred and his interviewer sent him an email that said something to the effect of "I regret to hear (who knows how he 'heard') that you were waitlisted." My friend freaked out and thought it meant something different than being deferred, but it turns out that the interviewer (and many older people) simply think that defer and waitlist are synonymous.</p>