The thread is almost 2000 posts long, but I did say earlier that the total undergradudate size would not change and that they would have to figure out housing since the class of 25 will not fit into first-years housing.
I did not address gen ed, which likely won’t change much since the total population does not change, except they will need to add expos sections and perhaps in some other areas as well. Doubt the incoming class will initially care. 
It will all come down to yield in this crazy year. Also we don’t know how many cross admits there are. Will TO concentrate or dilute cross admits or make no difference? I suspect dilute because an objective factor has been removed from some applicants. The less cross admits, the less musical chairs. IMO, with an already expanded entering class, I think the use of the WL will be very selective unless yield is way down.
My son chose to take a gap year - even before we knew the campus wouldn’t really be open. Then he got the email in June or July saying that there was no guarantee there would be housing for him or other gap year students this fall. I will be very frustrated if they pull from the WL and don’t have full housing for incoming freshman.
Lol, your kid should have gone to Yale. They are putting some frosh in their colleges and some sophomores on Old Campus to handle the extra bodies next year. Yale can be more flexible here vs Harvard as frosh already assigned colleges when they start.
Not to worry, Jennibc. Why in the world would they take anyone from the wait list when they are likely to be so over-enrolled? The only reason that they would ever go to the wait list is if they were expecting someone with a very specific, needed talent, who decides to go elsewhere. In that case, they might peruse the wait list to see if they have, say, the tuba player that the symphony absolutely needs.
With Stanford probably below 3%…
He didn’t apply. We are VERY middle class and the only Ivy he applied to was Harvard because the financial aid was so generous. Initially he was also interested in Princeton (again because generous financial aid for middle class, but we went to visit and he decided it probably wasn’t a good fit. It felt a little too ‘elite’" The plan is to leave college debt free.
Yes. My first-year son was at Branford in the fall and this coming fall he is going to be on Old Campus.
I wonder when the world will (finally) push back against the incredibly unjust system of preference for legacy and donor families. The inherent racial implications in that largely unchallenged norm just shocks me every year.
Hopefully after my kids get into college. 
Wow.
This year , according to the Boston Globe today:
“At Harvard University, just over 60 percent of offers for admission went to students of color, compared to 54 percent last year.”
While certainly many students of color may be legacies, or have parents who made large donations, the percentage increase at many top schools of students of color and first generation students is an encouraging trend (and may be an argument for continued test optional admissions, if eliminating privilege with admissions is a goal).
Does anyone know of a Harvard Class of 2025 FB group for parents? Thanks!
Replying to my post. Correction: FB group is legit “Parents of the Harvard Class of 2025”
I requested to join the group a few days ago and still have not heard back so just double checking. Thanks!!
Legacy admissions have been moving downward over the years but to think that an influential donor, politician, or celebrity’s kids don’t get special consideration is naïve, regardless of race. My DS1 applied to my T20 alma mater and was rejected. DS3 was accepted. To be fair, DS1 did not have good enough stats while DS3 would have been accepted without legacy because his stats were well above the 75th percentile. My friend who was an alumnus of Duke and was an alumni interviewer said in his experience being a legacy only meant that an additional person from the school would tell you that you’re rejected.
I’m not necessarily a fan of legacy admits but I am a realist and would suspect that the perfect system of admissions to a private school does not exist. Leveling out quality of schools, test scores, gpa’s, EC’s, socio economic backgrounds, financial aid need, race, etc. is an algorithm that could never be failsafe, and somebody would always have a complaint picking it apart. I mean, just look at the Cornell thread of people looking for clues in the communications from the school commonly called Portal Astrology to determine if they were accepted. Now multiply that by 1000 for Algorithm Astrology. Finally, the full pay students and substantial legacy donors of private schools are the very reason that these schools can give out significant aid as well as outreach programs to URM’s , First Gens and those with financial hardships. If that were to dry up, the issue you have will be much worse.
I think that the moderators don’t check it that often. Message them a photo of kid’s “suitable for framing” manila acceptance letter. Boy, did I find that funny. Silly me. I thought that the suitable for framing accomplishment was the diploma.
Thanks @parentologist! Well I only got into Harvard out of the other two (yes I know poor decision but all the other ones are wayyy too expensive so I just went with it) elite schools I applied to so prolly there.
IF anyone of you will be reappyling to Harvard fro Fall 2022 or 2023 admissions, send me a message ASAP.
For admits, has anybody been able to download (pdf) an acceptance letter? I searched portal and cannot seem to find one.