Harvard 2020 Waitlist Discussion

So if one receives an email before getting a call that means they are rejected flat-out? And do they call during the day or afternoon?

^^ @KingD777: Sometimes an Admissions Officer will email a waitlisted student for more information about their application or their life – trying to access if the student is still interested in Harvard if they were to be taken off the waitlist. A student PM’d me today about such a call that happened this week. Generally though if a waitlisted student receives an email from mid-May to early June, it’s a rejection.

Admissions Officers know that students are in school from 8am to 3pm, so they usually call after school though early evening: 4pm to 9pm (your time zone, not Cambridge’s).

@gibby Hi, did you mean that they already started calling people when you said “A student PM’d me today about such a call that happened this week”?

Also, thank you for always giving such insightful responses to questions!

@gibby Hi, jw but is the email inquiry a very rare case or usually the case for all people who get of the waitlist? Thank you very much!

@Wreckdecembersat and @satmaster28: Based upon the PM I received, Admissions has made at least one email inquiry to a waitlist applicant this week. I’m not sure if this is a rare instance or something that is done with regularity.

Do they call everyone that they’re letting off? I’m just a little paranoid because I never received an email with my initial decision, and if by some miracle I get off the waitlist I’m worried I won’t even notice.

They will try another method of contact if they get no response.

@gibby should I assume the Yale waitlisted timeline is essentially the same as the Harvard one?

@ReadyForTheWind: Yes, you should assume Yale and all other colleges operate on the same timeline for waitlisted students.

@gibby Thank you for your reply!

So I know someone earlier said that their friend called harvard admissions and they said they’re working on waitlist stuff, but it seems like that doesn’t actually necessarily mean they’re taking anyone off. Apparently for the class of 2018 Yale didn’t take anyone off, yet people who called Yale were still told the admissions officers were making waitlist decisions and so forth.

Kind of wish they would just tell us whether or not they’re going to take kids off. They have to know by now since they have their yield numbers.

Seems like Yale doesn’t usually take many students off. 0 for c/o 2018, 14 for c/o 2019. I wonder why? Harvard took off 90 some kids last year


@gibby By any chance, would you know how many students typically opt to stay on the Harvard waitlist?

@waddups I don’t think Harvard releases those numbers, but I’ve heard that it’s usually about 2/3 at similarly ranked schools

@Smthe is correct. Harvard has never released the number of students they have waitlisted or the number of students who have decided to remain on the waitlist.

FWIW: In years past, Yale and Princeton have released the numbers of waitlisted students and it’s been between 1200 and 1400 waitlisted students per year at each school. If you assume Harvard waitlists about the same number as Yale and Princeton, and if 2/3’s of those students decide to remain on the waitlist, then anywhere from 800 to 930 students have opted to stay on Harvard’s waitlist.

@smythe @waddups Your numbers about Yale aren’t correct. Yale admitted 14 students from the waitlist in 2018 and has also admitted students off the waislist in all years I can find data on.

Harvard may use their waitlist far more than other Ivies, it is impossible to know they only have 1200-1400 on it. The simple fact that they will not reveal the number suggests to me that their number of waitlisted students could be 2000, 3000, or many more.

They likely use the list for the “gentle rejection” of alumni and alumni-interviewer’s kids; vals and sals at schools where the slightly lower-ranked legacy or recruited athlete was accepted; the URM who just rated a bit too low academically; the development case who was far below the academic cut-off, the faculty kid who was sub-standard, as well as the perfectly qualified ORM.

Much better to have happy waitlisters than furious rejects, just in case said reject develops into the next hedge-fund billionaire.

As do YP, I’m sure. Whether the WL # is 1200, 1400, or 2000, there are obviously many many applicants that got a “soft rejection” considering the class size is 1660.

@fauve @skieurope
Thank you guys for the insights. But will these “soft rejectees” will at least be reconsidered as they go through their list? They claim in the letter that they don’t rank the people on the wait list


http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/3/31/students-waitlist-admissions-college/?page=single

My reading of the above: A waitlist applicant has a better chance of being taken off the waitlist if they resemble a student who was accepted but turned down Harvard for another college. In other words, if an SCEA or RD accepted student who is a debate champion and 1st chair of the violin turns down Harvard, a waitlisted applicant who has those same attributes is probably going to come off the waitlist first so Admissions can maintain the same overall balance of the class.