Any ideas if the number of waitlist admits maybe be slightly higher than previous years. At the way I see it is, COVID-19 still has some considerable time in its lifespan before everything goes back to business as usual. With this international admits may have a harder time getting Visas. And even domestic students maybe inclined to defer enrollment util 21-22 if a virtual fall semester is necessary. Although, this is pure speculation.
It will all come down to the yield (the % of admits who accept their spot). Last year it was on the higher side (fewer waitlist spots), but I believe its generally around 80%. Last year’s waitlist thread had some math around the number of potential spots available. Its all speculation at this point however.
I am also waitlisted and nervous about next year. What are you all thinking of submitting as supplementary material?
Also waitlisted (I think I recognize some of you guys from reddit lol)
@JJ1811 My school counselor said it is best to send a letter of continued interest/update that is less than 1 page long, as well as an additional letter of recommendation. That’s what I’m going to be sending.
No. Schools know that their admits may be waitlisted elsewhere and it becomes a domino effect throughout the summer. You need to secure a spot (pay the deposit) in whatever college actually accepted you and that you would attend if you do not move off of a waitlist somewhere else. If you do move off of Harvard’s waitlist at any time after you paid the deposit at the other school you lose that deposit. This is the situation year after year.
I just realized that when you wrote, “accept the waitlist” that might mean two different things. If “accept the waitlist” means to simply add your name to the waitlisted student list for Harvard then my above post is the answer. If your “accept the waitlist” means when Harvard contacts you to ask if you want actual admission to the school moving off the waitlist and into the admitted student pool then, of course, you must notify the school you have committed to and let them know you are declining your spot there.
I guess we will all be in this together for the next few weeks. Best of luck to everyone! Does anyone know how large the waitlist numbers are? I’m not sure if the virus has or will affect the numbers, because all of this is pretty unprecedented.
@apparently22 Thank you. Yes, your first answer was fine. I was asking whether JOINING THE WAITLIST had attendant requirements such as notifying other colleges. I asked because Harvard’s waitlist decision says: “Please be assured that all colleges will understand your situation and that we will proceed as quickly as possible to reach a decision.” This sounds like for other colleges to understand our situation, they would have to be notified of our situation! Or, um, did Harvard use sloppy language? LOL
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People generally say that every year. They don’t release their numbers so I guess we will never know if it is actually bigger this year.
Hello! I was also waitlisted at Harvard College. Do you guys think that there will be more acceptances off of the waitlist due to COVID-19? If I got off the waitlist, I would definitely attend!
I uploaded my LOCI to the portal. Is there an email I can send it to as well?
Harvard to my knowledge does not release the total number they waitlist. It does appear to be quite a few each year. On their admission website, they give 65 as the number taken off the waitlist for admission in the class of 2023. What’s tricky, and those with more knowledge will likely comment on it, is that it’s not clear if it was 65 people who all applied for the class of 2023 or if the 65 number also included those students who applied for the class of 2022 but were Z-listed off the class of 2022 waitlist. The Z list is students who are waitlisted but then are offered guaranteed admission for the following class year ONLY if they take a GAP year. I personally know of 3 such students over the last two years. The waitlist is tough at schools like this. All schools over admit knowing that no school has 100% yield. So before they can get to a waitlist they have to figure out how many of the approx 2000 admitted are actually committing to the approx 1670 places. If that commitment number is in the 82% range it’s not a lot of available spots to fill. But getting off the waitlist does happen! We have a family friend who got off Yale’s waitlist in mid-June.
I feel like that is a valid point. But wouldn’t z-listers be admitted automatically into the regularly admitted class in the following year? Why would they be included in the waitlist numbers?
That’s the tricky part because their Common Data Set does not give waitlist numbers and Harvard doesn’t say which waitlist they used to fill a specific class year. Is it this year or last year’s waitlist? Or most likely a combo? Z-list students come from the waitlist. You can’t be Z-listed unless you were waitlisted to begin with. So you really did get off the waitlist but for the following year’s class. The numbers don’t seem to add up for the same year, same cycle, movement off the waitlist. Obviously some of the admitted students take GAP years but also students that took GAP years the previous year will also be joining the class so where is there room for 65 waitlisted students unless some came from the previous waitlist? Frankly, it can make your head hurt trying to sort it out. The good news is that folks do get off of the waitlist but what can’t be determined is what percentage of students move off the list to being admitted and for what class year.
Is it too late to submit a LOCI this week or early next week?
@hockey731 I definitely wouldn’t think so. I’d get it in a week before May 1 at the latest, in case the Committee doesn’t wait until after May 1 to start reviewing applications again.
I am super anxious to learn about our status on the waitlist, but at the same time, I understand that we are a second priority to them. I wonder how the timeline will be affected due to the virus and how overlooking the applications will be affected since they most probably cannot meet in person. Interesting to see how colleges will handle this.
Also what majors did you guys apply as to Harvard?