@waitlistedsenior and @LimboKid - My two cents: Keep optimistic about waitlist movement. I do not think that there has been a major waitlist wave yet. I agree with @waitlistedsenior - in the past, there are usually people on this thread or reddit that report that they have gotten off the waitlist. We haven’t seen that yet. My guess is that there will be a wave this week! Chin up and persevere …good stuff is a’comin’! @visreedhar - I think you’re in a good position. H needs to show that they have international students that are affected in order to have standing in their lawsuit!
@Mommabear1 Thanks for the positivity!
Guys, if you are willing, let’s do a show of hands of how many of us extended wl kids are still on this forum holding out hope.
Me: Mid-Atlantic. American. No FA. CS. If not H, another Ivy.
My child: CA. American. No FA. Stem. If not H, another Ivy.
And, yes, holding out hope!
My child: CA, American, NO Financial Aid.
Me: American, no fin aid, going to Berkeley if not H
@Mommabear1 Thanks for all the positivity!
Me: Eastern Canada. Canadian Citizen. Needing a lot of fin aid. Econ Major. If not H, another Ivy.
Good luck everyone, we’re in the last stretch! Hopefully there’s a wave this week!
Me: NY, American, in need of FA, astrophysics. Going to Carnegie Mellon if not H.
Also guys this past week: Dartmouth, Northwestern and Georgia Tech have all pulled students off their waitlist. Stanford took quite a few students a couple weeks ago as well (I’d guess at least one student left Harvard for Stanford) and they rarely use their waitlist. There’s still movement going on so hopefully Harvard is next!
[Facts] Stanford runs a very small wl, like 2%, so about 800 kids. About 60-70% accepted wl offer, so down to 500ish. [Insider guesstimate] After first (late April) and second (late June) waves, some got accepted, some got dropped. So now they only have around 200ish left moving into final wave. [Insider gossip] Lots of gap “inquiries” since ICE announcement, presumably from internationals. [Fact] More than expected spaces left after housing lottery which should not happen in July. Less fall kids but also de-densifying.
[Facts] Columbia is the only Ivy+ not allowing people to apply for gap year beyond May 15. Others either already extended it to June or July or are accepting rolling gap apps (like Yale, Stanford).
[Facts] July 24 is the deadline for both Harvard gap app and housing app. ICE lawsuit is next Tue 3pm (7/14). Presiding Judge is H-friendly. [Prediction (not wish)] Defendants will seek dismissal or stay due to lack of time-span evidence of violation of APA. They will drag it out into Sep because in Aug Congress and most courts are adjourned for summer vaca.
My child: mid-Atlantic, American, no financial aid
My daughter: MA, American, some FA needed, Math, B1G.
Anyone concerned that H will accept less from the WL if more sophomores take gap years? They may not want too many students in the class of 2024. If that is considered, they might not pull from the WL until after 7/24 gap year deadline.
@Scallywag10 Logical, just look at HBS.
To lighten our mood, here is my fav SNL from a year ago:
@LimboKid --hilarious!!! Hoping it’s not a true reflection of what is going on now!
@mommabear1 Embellishment for sure but not that far from the truth… otherwise we won’t be here on wl… in limbo.
Interesting survey about how many H students are likely to come back in the Fall. Assuming “somewhat unlikely” and “extremely unlikely” are those not enrolling in the Fall, that amounts to 9% or 144 students (of a class of 1600). This figure seems to include both US and international students. It is possible that only the “extremely unlikely” end up being the real number of those not returning. That would imply only 48 students. Maybe the final number will be somewhere in between.
[Link deleted as ToS violation - mod]
Although the numbers above included international students, the survey also provided separate figures on that subset: 35% of international students indicate they are less likely or extremely unlikely to return (post ICE bad news). If I remember correctly, 11.5% of students in the class of 2024 are international (= 184) and 35% of those amounts to 64 students being less likely to come back. If we focus on the extremely unlikely group alone, we’re talking about 21% or ~39 students.
Feel free to question my assumptions! Idid this in a hurry…
@myrfog Thanks for the info. Can’t access link. When were the data collected? Before or after 7/6? Sample size?
I hope you get accepted off the wl.
However, and this is not an overstatement. I would choose CMU for astrophysics and the cs resources supporting that work over Harvard for your course of study.
Every department at Harvard is exceptional of course.
A bit of perspective may be useful for parents and students on this thread.
Below you will find a sample of the undergrad school for the astrophysics and astronomy professors doing incredible research now with Harvard’s money today.
For a PhD sure. It’s Harvard. Undergrad don’t worry with the choices you all have.
Here’s a quick glimpse of the ug degrees of the brilliant profs in that department.
Department chair. U Auckland
UCLA
U Toronto
Utrecht U
Cal
UMich
Missouri Tech
Princeton
U Arizona
Notice anything ?
Apologies for the multiple postings - CC wasn’t letting me post the link and I kept trying and then they posted all my attempts
The survey was conducted by the Harvard College Open Data Project. Results appeared in Medium and the article is entitled “What will Harvard students do this Fall ?” . The data were collected from July 7 to 11th (after H announced Fall plans and ICE issued their bad news for international students). There were 1766 respondents of which 38% were freshmen. Of course, we don’t know if it is a representative sample, but it is still interesting.
I am trying to post the link again, so I am sorry if this message ends up appearing twice.