@gibby Thanks for the info. I heard only the candidates on the borderline will be presented to the full committee. So that means some will be accepted or rejected directly during subcommittee meetings - before end of Feb. Does that sound the right process based on your understanding?
@CollegeAdmInfo I don’t think so. Most articles I find say that the Full Committee can change their decisions rapidly and nearly up to the date decisions are released. I think students that get Likely ratings probably get this acceptance, but probably just that.
@CollegeAdmInfo: The purpose of the subcommittee meetings is to find the best-and-brightest applicants from each regional area. Those best-and-brightest students are then presented to the full committee, which is comprised of about 20 full time Admissions staff and about 20 full time tenured professors, who must also endorse each applicant for acceptance – and it’s one-person-one-vote.
Each regional director becomes a personal advocate for the students they endorse to go to the full committee and must feel confident that “their students” can garner 51% of the votes in the room. As such, borderline candidates are not brought to the full committee.
FWIW: The vast majority of applicants DO NOT make it out of the subcommittee meetings. When a regional subcommittee does not endorse an applicant to move forward to the full committee, that means the applicant will ultimately be rejected. So yes, regional subcommittee’s reject applicants. However, they do not accept applicants, they just recommend outstanding students to be presented to the full committee. Often times the full committee gives the okay to more students than Harvard has room for, so there often is a final round the last week of March where students who were accepted have their acceptances yanked back and are waitlisted.
@gibby does everyone who goes to the full committee get an additional interview?
No
As @skieurope wrote: No. In fact, my guess would be that 98% of students brought to the full committee do NOT receive an additional interview. As I mentioned upthread, this situation comes up every year on CC and very few students receive an additional interview from an Admissions Director. It’s not rare, but it’s also not very common.
Hey everyone! I got an email for an alumni interview (a first one) yesterday as an international student. Does this mean anything? I don’t want to overthink things.
@gibby Thank you so much for sharing the details of the process. How about the borderline candidates in the progress if they are not brought to the full committee? Or out of the subcommittee meetings, the borderline candidates will either be rejected or moved forward to the full committee??
@CollegeAdmInfo: To be accepted, students must have the full package, meaning if one element in their application is off – be it course rigor, GPA, testing, essays, teacher recommendations, guidance counselor’s Secondary School Report, EC’s or interview report – that student will be rejected.
As such, a borderline student’s application will sit and die in the subcommittee. Their application will NOT move forward as the level of competition at Harvard and YPSM is that fierce! This is an old article, but it will give you some insight: https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2006/05/15/keys-to-the-kingdom/
@gibby Thanks again. A great article to understand the process!
@gibby The admission requested additional documents for my friend’s DS back in Feb. Was it common during the process? Does that possible indicate he might be a borderline candidate?
@CollegeAdmInfo: Sometimes Admissions Officers request additional documents because a student has indicted they won awards or wrote a research paper, etc. Yeas ago, I knew a kid who won several math competitions and an AO emailed him and asked for copies of the papers that earned him these awards. I’m assuming the AO then had the material reviewed by Harvard’s math department. FWIW: the kid was waitlisted and then rejected. So, yes it does happen. Again, it’s not rare, but it’s also not too common.
Having a document requested by an AO doesn’t mean someone is borderline, or their chances are better than others that haven’t had additional documents requested. It just means the AO is digging deeper into the file and trying to learn more about this candidate. Generally, it’s a positive sign, but as with the “math kid” I knew, it does not necessarily lead to an acceptance letter.
rip there goes any hope I had left. My stats are extremely low (4.33 UW/3.65 W &1370 SAT) but I explained why my stats are low (test anxiety and bipolar disorder) so idk if my stats alone will hold me back bc my essays were extremely unique and demonstrated my love of learning but I guess I should get ready for rejection.
@fsnake01 Don’t let go of your hope ! I think that it doesn’t hurt to keep hoping. (At least, that’s what I tell myself). Because the admissions process can be unpredictable at times, and a college may think you’re a good fit for them, even if you think you aren’t. So don’t lose hope 
Oh, also, idk if it helps my app but I’m a legacy (mom) and my ecs are especially strong for my school plus my recommendations are great too bc my recommenders have seen my growth. Also, this past semester was my most rigorous of my high school career and I ended with a 4.67/4.83 so I’m hopeful the AO looking at my app will take that into account. That being said, I hope the committee overlooks the flaws and gives me a chance. Best of luck to everyone!
@gibby Thanks for sharing the story and answering my questions, you are so helpful. It’s really HARD for a kid without hooks to get accepted.
@gibby When would you say the cut-off is for interviews that signal an applicant has made it past the subcommittee? I had an interview with Harvard 2/25 and for another Ivy 3/1. Would this be indicative of anything? The rest of my interviews were in January and early February, though.
@gibby I’m guessing that the selectivity in interviews (if at all) applies to international apps only? So that excludes US Ctiz. of any sort?
@Jleto18: Admissions forwards an applicant’s contact information to the local alumni chapter way before the subcommittee has had the time to read through applications, let alone select those best-of-the-best students to move forward to the full admissions committee. As such, Harvard alumni interview thousands of applicants who will ultimately never get out the subcommittee meetings – which I imagine is very frustrating for alumni volunteers, but that’s the process. Bottom line: You cannot infer anything from the dates you were elected to be interviewed as they don’t coincide with subcommittee meetings.
@TheGuy1: My kids attended Stuyvesant High School in NYC and every year a bunch of students who were ranked near the bottom of the class with a GPA of 70-75 (out of 100 on an unweighted scale) applied to Harvard and all the ivies. My guess is that those students applied because of parental pressure – but that’s beside the point. Given how competitive the applicant pool is at HYPSM, and the limited alumni volunteers, I must imagine the Admissions Office gave those low performing students a “low priority” rating and many did not get interviewed. So, IMHO, selectivity in interviews also pertains to US citizens and not just international students.