Harvard Class of 2023 Waitlisted Discussion

I noticed that the only three people who got waitlisted to Harvard from my school didn’t get into any other Ivy or Ivy+ schools. While those who did get into Ivy and Ivy+ schools got straight up rejected from Harvard. I know that admissions aren’t black and white, but does Harvard typically waitlist less-qualified/non-ivy-bound applicants?

@LincolnsGF What does Ivy+ mean?

I’m not really understanding the question. Harvard typically only waitlists qualified applicants. They **may/b WL less-than-qualified legacies as a soft reject.

I interpreted it as peer schools - MIT, Stanford, etc.

Hi where (email address) we send the LOCI to? thanks

Yeah I would just echo what @jzducol and @skieurope have said. I’m an interviewer and the head of our local interviewing committee explained to us that Harvard doesn’t have a ranking of waitlisted candidates–they just have different profiles of students they would like to swap in should one defect. As a result, Harvard has a rather large waitlist to cover their bases.

Is it best to email the LOCI to admissions or upload it to the additional materials link provided for waitlisted applicants?

It’s best to follow directions, meaning you should upload the additional materials to the link provided for waitlisted applicants.

Does harvard read every waitlist LOCI?

Admissions has spent the last five months creating a class, meaning they have balanced the number of men and women, admitted students from each state, taken EC’s into account to makes sure the orchestra has enough tuba players etc.

To maintain the balance created, when a student turns Harvard down, Admissions goes to their waitlist to find a “like kind” replacement. For example, if a student who plays the violin turns them down, Admissions is going to search their waitlist for violin players. If you’re not a violin player then chances are you won’t be pulled off the waitlist for that slot and your LOCI will not be read. But it might be read if you are a “like-kind” replacement for another student’s slot.

does your potential major factor into the balancing @gibby

^^ No. Yes. Possibly. Who knows. Admissions is anything but transparent.

I’m a lurking parent for my daughter who’s been Wait-Listed.

Does anyone have experience with NROTC scholarships and Ivy Leagues?

This is my 3rd (!) child who’s been given a NROTC scholarship match to Harvard: her two older brothers were then Not Admitted (oldest brother) and Wait-Listed (second brother). Both were then medically disqualified for red/green color deficiency. The son who was WL’ed didn’t pursue the Wait List.

Now my daughter really wants to go to Harvard, with or without the NROTC scholarship. She has to accept NROTC scholarship by May 5; Harvard admission counselor said there is no chance she’ll know her status either way by May 5; he did say the first acceptances off the Wait List will most likely happen ‘mid-May’ ‘when the committee convenes’. This matches what Dean Fitzsimmons said in a recent article about what happens with Wait-Listed students.

She’s accepted to Boston College, which is where she may end up accepting on May 1. (Boston College though, unlike Harvard, offers no tuition benefit for NROTC students).

Thank you for any insights.

@ccitrini You may get a better response by asking on the serviceacademyforums site.

@ccitrini: When an admitted student brings outside scholarships to Harvard, those outside scholarships are used to replace:

(1) Term-time job expectation: https://college.harvard.edu/what-term-time-work-expectation

(2) Summer earnings expectation: https://handbook.fas.harvard.edu/book/expectations-regarding-other-contributions

If a student has outside awards that exceed their term-time & summer work expectation, the remaining outside scholarship money is deducted dollar-for-dollar against the amount awarded to the student in a Harvard scholarship. So outside scholarship money does NOT offer a direct tuition benefit at Harvard, nor does it reduce the parental contribution. See: https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/types-aid/outside-awards.

IMHO, your daughter should accept the NROTC scholarship and wait and see what happens at Harvard. FWIW: If the past is any indiction, there are several “waves” of waitlist notices that begin around mid-May and go until about mid-June, so your daughter many not find out about an acceptance for a while.

Gonna be very vague here, but apparently my HoS somehow talked to an AO about me, and it went over really well? Like the AO remembered me and was actually impressed about my stuff and I think liked me. I’m not getting my hopes up, but I hope this is a good sign

Also, I was crunching numbers, and if Harvard waitlisted around 1200 kids, and the yield stays the same, the acceptance rate should be around 10%. Fitzsimmons said that a third of kids on the waitlist don’t accept their spot. I also think 90 or so kids were admitted last year including z-list, so I think it should be around 10%.

Anybody getting a letter from Harvard today? I see one in my informed delivery

@thebly Informed delivery?

@thebly what was the letter about?

I was waitlisted in Harvard, Columbia, NYU, Dartmouth, and UPenn. Anxious for the final decisions!!!