Harvard SCEA Class of 2020 Applicant Thread

@verizonwireless I’m sure at least a few of us have had decisions already made, particularly the really exceptional ones among us! I’m curious when they go to committee—if that’s something they maybe are going into soon or have just entered?

The deadline for application was just two and half weeks ago. It would then take how many days for the files to be put together and then distributed to the AOs to be read. How could they possibly be going into committee now?

I think they’ve already gone into committee, they only have another two and a half weeks until decisions come out. They have to look at a good 8000 apps (right 8000?).

Just under 6000 and they don’t sit and debate all 6000 apps in Committee. Most of the heavy lifting is done before the files reach the Committee and they are rubber stamping. It’s the tougher cases they review in more detail. They have about 3-3 1/2 weeks left. They are still still conducting interviews now.

No, they haven’t made the decisions yet… Because November SATs haven’t arrived yet and when I called the admissions office, I asked if I need to expedite my chem sat 2… And the lady told me not to worry, that it would come in time for evaluation.

Sorry, double post

I called the office , and they said that the decisions are released on December 15th. But maybe that is the worst case scenario? I feel like a buzzkill
Also, I am an int’l, and I got an interview despite applying on November 1th. The website recommends applying on the 15th, it is not related to getting an interview.

I submitted mine a day before nov 1 and got an interview a week later

Will they deliver notifications through email by the thursday or friday before dec 15th? Or can you only access thru the portal?

@verizonwireless Do we need to notify admissions committee like “Hey, my November SAT just came in. Take a look at it!”

Because technically the sent score could just sit there and they might not notice it.

@Kyuutoryuu They will receive it and will almost assuredly consider your new scores.

hi guys its my first time here (although I’ve been looking through these threads for a long time:) )
i’m just really worried cuz im an intl applicant and i’ve heard that unlike princeton (interviews almost all applicants), harvard’s intl interviews are fairly selective
im from an interview limited country but our school has sent student(s) to harvard almost every year, and at the moment it’s a weird thing that whereas no one from our school (less than 5 ppl including me, with great scores and ECs) has received an interview request yet, we heard a rumor that someone from a different school in our country did.
I know it’s an amazing opportunity just to compete with everyone around the world applying to Harvard, but honestly i’m starting to not be able to do anything if it’s true that interviews are a necessary step to be accepted as an intl applicant.
i have an SAT1 score of 2340, 5 SAT2s (MathII, Chem, Phys, Literature- 800, Bio M- 790), 11 APs (6 5s and 5 4s) and a GPA of 4.93 (out of 5.0- yeah I do have some Bs, unfortunately)
For my honors section, among the 5 honors 3 of them were international scale (Harvard MIT Math Tournament individual ranking, etc) and the other 2 were nationals (science olympiads, etc). I really worked my greatest efforts throughout high school and among the 10 activities I also have an official certified patent, along with community service, leading several clubs, member of our school orchestra, etc. But I believe my greatest strength is a hobby of mine (it’s something unusual) that I’ve done for 10 years- it’s really unique, related to my family tradition(?) as a whole and reflects my character and growth as a person over the past years.
I wrote my supplement essay about this hobby too because although i was so sure of writing this topic for my commonapp essay (which my school counselor also strongly recommended), i figured that for Harvard the supplement is longer so I’d have more space to freely express myself. So my commonapp essay turned out to be about my 7 years of doing archery (which i started to overcome my backpain as a child), and i believe i wrote it in a quite unconventional style full of literary descriptions, perhaps making it sound like a novel if not read carefully.

I know there are probably hundreds and thousands of applicants all around the world who have achieved a lot more than I have, and maybe it’s a bit early to give up my hopes but this selective interview thing for intl applicants is really killing me and i’m literally checking my email every 2 hours…

I’m usually a really optimistic person but now I’m beginning to wonder if i’ve made a mistake applying to Harvard for early and though it’s stupid to say this even before RDs are just beginning, i feel like this is the end of the world

@leobabytiger not getting an interview really doesnt affect your chances. Especially as an international student, there are so many applicants but so few alumni and admissions staff and such little time for everyone to be interviewed. There is a great deal of randomness and luck as to who gets selected for interviews, so don’t fret yet. Good luck.

^^i wanted to ask this too

@trainguy1 @nsliyromanov I guess an early sign that would say that you’ve gotten in is when the financial aid office contacts you. (given that you’ve applied for FA and your forms are confusing/incomplete)

Since it’s RESTRICTIVE early action, I see no point in sending likely letters and would assume that none are sent

Do they normally send likely letters in the SCEA round? I mean, I doubt I’d get one but I’m curious if some of the biggest fish in the application pool will hear from Harvard and then not apply to other colleges

Wait, when is the FA due

The only likely letters that I am aware of being sent to SCEA applicants are to recruited athletes.

Quick question:

How could they make a decision when certain parts of application haven’t been sent in yet

Which parts haven’t been sent in yet? AFAIK only the November SAT scores could possibly be on hold, but they too are coming very soon, so that takes care of those who actually took a November SAT.