Harvard Class of 2023 Waitlisted Discussion

@Kredant I was also waitlisted to Columbia! Good luck!

You too! Maybe we see each other there!

Do underrepresented groups in certain majors (ie males in the humanities or females in STEM) have a good chance of getting of the waitlist or does the school have their preferred ratios already that it would make little difference in admission?

Has anyone on the WL had multiple interviews?

My daughter had an alumni interview in the fall and then admissions officer emailed her late Feb, asking for a Skype interview, which she had March 1

Lol I didn’t get interviewed once…

@gibby Hi! I was looking through your posts on LOCI on other threads and I just wanted clarification on a couple things.
So, if we do not have any significant accomplishments to report, should we still send a letter of continued interest?

If so should it simply state that, perhaps, Harvard is our first choice, it was an honor to even be waitlisted, that if we were accepted from the waitlist, we would go to Harvard - something like that?

Should the letter be sent under the “Waitlist materials upload” section in the applicant status portal?

I am a female majoring in mathematics, and I know that Harvard has few female in math, although they’ve made efforts for more gender inclusivity recently. Should I mention this point in my letter?

Final question- if I believe I did not represent an aspect of myself well on my application, would it be a good idea to expand on that aspect in the LOCI, or would that look desperate?

Thanks so much!

Harvard has the top brand name in higher education. As such, Admissions assumes they are the first choice college of EVERYONE who applies and EVERYONE who is waitlisted. **If you don’t have significant accomplishments to update Admissions about, DO NOT write a LOCI. Period. **

And for sure don’t write “Harvard is my first choice school and it’s an honor even be waitlisted” as that’s a lie and Admissions knows it’s not true. Admissions understands that every waitlisted student is disappointed they weren’t accepted and would jump at a chance to be taken off the waitlist.

From you application, Harvard knows you are a woman interested in math – and they understand that very few women are likewise interested. Reiterating that fact is not necessary. They. Know. It.

Harvard LIKED enough about your application they put you on the waitlist. If you write a LOCI saying “I did not represent an aspect of myself well on my application” that will call into question Harvard’s decision to waitlist you. So, please no, don’t ruin your chances by saying that.

If you don’t have any significant accomplishments to report, just let it go. Really!

@gibby Are you aware of underrepresented groups in certain majors (like blacklisting’s case above) having a noticeable boost in getting off the waitlist or is it hard to say?

@bobsaget2000: See post #28 from this thread.

So, IMHO your ‘boost’ from the waiitlist is entirely dependent on being a like-kind replacement of a student that had turned Harvard down.

about the LOCI, i wanted to use it to update Harvard Admissions on my national merit status (because I became a finalist) and i also wasn’t able to address a big factor that had changed my life. should i not do that? i don’t have a lot to really update them about besides my status and a few other things, but since i wasn’t able to really talk about that big factor in my essays, i really wanted to through the LOCI, but am feeling more hesitant because of what @gibby said.

@ohohoherewego and others:

A LOCI should ADD to the impression you created, not take anything away. FWIW: Harvard really LIKED what they read from your original application – otherwise you would have been rejected. So please don’t write about anything that would alter or change that original impression – that’s true even if you think you didn’t represent an aspect of yourself well enough or you were unable to address a big factor that changed your life. While you may think that might put you in a more positive light, it could actually negatively impact your chances as you are changing the impression you originally created in the AO’s mind.

Please understand: The National Merit Award is a MERIT AWARD and, by ivy league rules, Harvard can only award aid by demonstrated need. So, if you actually WIN the National Merit Award Scholarship, here’s what Harvard does: https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/types-aid/outside-awards

As indicated above, outside scholarships are FIRST applied to a student’s term-time job expectation and summer earnings expectation, (and a one-time freshman year computer purchase). THEN, if there is any excess outside scholarship money, your Harvard Scholarship is reduced DOLLAR for DOLLAR.

Real world example: If a student brings $20K of outside scholarships to the table, approximately the first $6K is applied against a term-time job expectation, summer earnings expectation and a one-time computer purchase freshman year. The remaining $14K is then deducted dollar-for-dollar against your Harvard Scholarship, thereby REDUCING your Harvard Scholarship (free $$$). That may seem unfair, but that’s because Harvard only allows for need-based aid, even if a student brings merit aid with them to the school.

Bottom Line: Mentioning you have become a finalist for the National Merit Award does not impress Admissions Officers or Incentivize them to admit you. So it’s not really worth writing about in a LOCI.

@gibby thank you for your reply. The only reason why I had wondered whether I should talk about the big factor that had changed my life was because it connected to my essays in a way that I had initially thought made my application sound more complete, but from the way it sounds, I should not write the LOCI, because it might harm my chances of getting accepted of the waitlist (which are already extremely slim) instead.

Another thing is that I had also gone up in my ranking at my school to one of the highest spots. Would that be of any significance, because this had been one thing that has changed since last semester.

Congratulations! Unfortunately, Harvard doesn’t consider a student’s ranking, so it’s not a factor in Harvard decision and not something of significance from Harvard’s POV – so not worth mentioning. See C7 data points: https://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2017-18.pdf

If it will give you closure, write your LOCI to Harvard mentioning everything you think might help you get off the waitlist. And then do something very difficult to do. Let it go. Move on. It’s time for you to fall in love with the school you will be matriculating to. I very much subscribe to Jeffrey Brenzel’s way of thinking over at Yale.

Hi all! I am a current Harvard student who got off the waitlist for the class of 2022, so a current freshman. I’m not sure how many people are on the waitlist but I do know last year around 60 students did manage to get off of the waitlist (not Z-list, just waitlist). there is no ranking system, so it isn’t like if someone leaves the next in line takes their spot… I can only assume it’s more like if an engineering student from the southwest decides to go elsewhere they’ll look for a similar-esque student to take the spot… whether that be another engineering student, student of the same ethnicity, student from the southwest, I’m not sure. But that’s how it works to the best of my knowledge. I believe most waitlisters will hear of their acceptance mid-late May or very early June. I didn’t hear until June but I think that was the exception. I sent a letter of continued interest as well as an update about what had happened in my life (ie. awards, state qualifications, midterm grades if you want, etc.) I also sent an additional letter of recommendation from someone who would be able to describe me from a different viewpoint than all of my other letters at that point.

Anyway, it’s important to just put all of you eggs in another school’s basket because I don’t think you should count on getting in off of the Harvard waitlist. Get excited about the school you decide to commit to and then if you do get in, you can rethink things later… Best of luck to everyone! And please let me know if you have anymore questions, concerns, remarks, etc.

@collegecrazy2017 Wow!! What school were you committed to before you got off the Harvard waitlist?

@collegecrazy2017 Did you send your final 2nd semester senior grades to Harvard after the school year ended?

Also, do you know if getting Z-listed is more common than getting off the waitlist to start that coming fall? (I know that both events are highly unlikely, I’m just wondering).

How did you send in the letter of recommendation? I can’t seem to figure out where I should ask my recommender to send the letter. Should I just add it along with my LOCI, or maybe have them send it to the office of admissions email?

Any fellow international applicants waitlisted?