That is the reality of Ivy League applications. Everyone did all they could, applications are all sent, and there is nothing left to do but wait until March. It sucks, but it gives a lot of time for self-reflection and truly falling in love with your matches and safeties. Best of luck to all! 
How are the Likely letters sent? Mail or email?
@SCMHAALUM According to the student in the reddit thread, he received his letter by email. He also received a phone call from an admissions officer.
What is the purpose of a ‘likely’ letter, from the standpoint of the school and also the applicant? Do you respond to it?
Is it related to aid, to see if you are likely to accept??? I know some schools send out letters that say ‘Hey, if you are accepted and received no aid will you be likely to accept?’. The whole process at this high level is really calculated and screwed up frankly.
For athletes, it serves the purpose of a letter of intent, which Ivy League schools cannot issue. For non-athletes, it’s a bit of marketing. They want the recipient to start to get excited about the school in advance of actual decision date.
No
No, although you can send an email that you’re excited, but it’s not compulsory.
As I have stated many times, the vast majority of accepted non-athletes will not receive a Likely Letter, so don’t obsess.
I can guarantee that Harvard has sent these to non-athlete, non-legacy students in the past, I know of students who received them. Generally, there are very few such students however. The ones who I know did receive them all had extremely unique and major prizes or major ECAs (think IMO/IPhO medalists, major activism, Siemens winners, one had published and cited research, other extremely unique achievements etc.). However, these are very few and far between, usually only for students who stand head and shoulders above what any high school teenager should be able to accomplish and really leap off the page. As you may be familiar with the quality of accepted students at Harvard from the SCEA admitted thread, you can probably imagine how rare it is to stand out even among such a crowd.
The vast majority of Likely Letters go to athletes to encourage them to commit to Harvard over other schools.
Last year, there were a total of 2037 admits out of 39506 applicants. As Fitzsimmons seems to be implying there will be significantly fewer students taken in this year, and students have been accepted from last year’s waitlist, and there are now 42k+ applicants, I would estimate a little higher, somewhere in the region of 1950/42000 = 4.6%
Are Harvard interview offers finished? As in, if I haven’t gotten one yet, am I not going to get one? Thanks!
Do likely letters come in waves? Or is today the only day that they are sent out?
@applicant1313 my D has also not received an interview. She interviewed with Stanford, Yale and Princeton weeks or months ago. I am definitely wondering as well whether she will get one or not. We are in Florida in a city big enough to have plenty of alumni ( I would think). It seems late, but there still seems to be a window of time.
@applicant1313 I had my interview in the beginning of January and he said his report needed to be submitted by February 15th. You could call the admissions office and ask so you can stop waiting and checking spam. I’m sure they will be able to tell you for sure if the time period has passed.
We’re in FL too and no interview. He had 7 other interviews- one was the Saturday after the hurricane and all the two cared about was sitting in the ac!
hello everyone! I’ve applied to Harvard and done my interview. I have just been offered an internship position at a very prestigious organization for a month in the Summer and I am also currently applying for a couple sustainability short programs that will take place over the summer. Should I submit an update to my application to Harvard with this information? Do you think it would help improve my chances of getting in (I have good grades and lots of extra-curriculars already listed and discussed in my application)?
my interviewer told me feb 19 was the last day and just had my interviewer two days ago @apdns19
ty everyone, I have a feeling no interview is forthcoming, but I doubt its that bad of a sign in my admission chances. We’ll see.
Yes. Nothing to lose.
@lemonade22 must have been “middle of February.” Glad you got one!
Hi,
I am an international applicant from North Africa and I was the only one in my region to be contacted for an interview. I know that about 20 people applied and some were from my high school. Should I read something into it? Surely, it was not a matter of area availability since there were 19 other kids in the same area as me.
I don’t want to get my hopes up too much
(BTW, my interview went absolutely fantastic, we ended up talking for three hours about philosophy and Mexican food; my interviewer said I was the only name she got from Admissions).
@morusa from what I’ve heard, that is probably a good sign, but for sure is not a bad sign. It can only help, especially since your interview went well.
@morusa Harvard has been known to do selective interviews internationally, so I would think it to be a positive sign. However it’s no indication of acceptance.
Is anyone still waiting for their interview? I haven’t been contacted and I live in MA so I find this a little bit odd.