Harvard is not making admitted students decide on a gap year until end of June. Consequently, they won’t have a real estimate of the number of incoming freshman until then. I would expect if there is serious movement on the wait list to happen then.
I don’t think gap years make a difference on when the wait list will move for two reasons:
- As someone planning on taking a gap year, I called the admissions office to ask if I can take one even if I get in from the waitlist. Since they said YES, I don’t think gap years are a good indication.
- If gap years were an indicator, then this year wouldn’t be any different since students usually have until June anyway. Since the list has moved in May previously, I see no reason why they would wait until June.
Would be interesting to see what percent of waitlist admits were in may vs june
@Waswas321123 Interesting that they’re not restricting gap years for anyone. It seems like a lot of people are looking into taking one. How do they expect to fill CO2024?
@Cjhastings322 I did call literally the day after decisions came out, and stupid me didn’t get a name for the person who actually told me. So of course, things could change. But I hope(for myself, who would die if I had to turn down Harvard because of that) they will honor their word. Plus, Harvard is usually supportive in general of gap years, so at this point idk.
My son is taking a gap year - this is a big discussion among admitted students right now. In the past they had them decide earlier but his understanding from talking to folks there is that they are extending the deadline to make that decision. It does matter because there are about 1650 spots for incoming students. It affects how much space they have. Typically, they have 80 -120 people take a gap year each year. This is how they can admit 1900 for a class of 1650-1660. Sometimes they are going to have to pull from the waitlist to get that class other times they nail the numbers and they do not. This year more people might get in because they have extra space. Perhaps by the time they let you in off the waitlist - if it’s post end of June, you no longer have the option.
Harvard can easily fill any class. It’s this year’s Juniors that will be applying with no more space available for them.
Have u guys been calling admissions office to advocate on behalf of urself ?
I read somewhere that they don’t like that but other people have told me they do like it
?
Any ideas
Submit anything that would serve to advocate for you in writing. Or ask your guidance counselor to advocate.
So many of my friends have been getting off waitlists at their top schools. I’m really eager to hear something from Harvard, even if it’s for closure
I called admissions office this afternoon, and unfortunately they told me that even with everything going on, most likely, they’ll release decisions “end of May through end of June”. And that even though other schools are releasing WL decisions, they will BEGIN to look at waitlist “soon”, and they’re not sure if they’ll release decisions early. 
Later than they typically do? Why would that be the case? If nothing else, I would expect it to be on par with normal timelines of past years which would put it at this week or next week
I hope so, too. Maybe the admissions officer was giving a late date just in case. Good luck guys!! You’ll do great no matter where you go!
I find it very unlikely that Harvard, who is notoriously secretive about their admissions process and yields, would just answer a question like “When will we find out” to any person who calls on the phone. Again, I would love info as much as anyone else, but otherwise I think it’s just all speculation.
Will u be sent a rejection notice?
There is no rejection notice because there is no “rejection”. If you’re on the list they can choose to accept you at any time
Usually in past years, Harvard will send out a round of rejections with their first round off the waitlist. They’ll also choose to keep some students on in case of lower yield due to gap years/students off the waitlist not attending. They’ve also z-listed people (offering them a spot in the next year’s class) but it looks like this year it won’t happen due to the fact that they’ll be getting a lot of deferrals probably.
It may be later actually due to the fact that there may be additional requests for deferral once they publish updates on the Fall Plans. No one knows yet what things will really be like.
But that’s talking about later in terms of people deferring for a year. I still see no reason why they wouldn’t admit off the waitlist to fill the gap from the people who turned down their offer by May 1?
I agree. I would think they would start at the same time for the typical (perhaps increased) wave of waitlist. And if anything, increased gap year requests would mean a second additional wave of waitlist later on. So maybe rejections won’t come early but I would think acceptances would at least begin