@leahgriffith123 Maybe Fitzsimmons meant that those Asian students would be happier in MIT/Caltech so it’s justifiable that Harvard didn’t take them. Got to see the context. If that’s the case, it wouldn’t apply to you 
@jzducol to clarify, are those the acceptance rates for each department? Because if so, you cannot interpret this data as CS (for example) being a harder concentration to be accepted with than one in humanities. Think about it, that doesn’t account for the strength of the applicant pool- maybe humanities people tend to have stronger overall applications than CS people (as one possible explanation). Also note that CS, a popular area of study, and Biological Sciences, another department with popular concentrations, have lower acceptance rates. This suggests a possible bias in the data where people who are less certain of the area they want to study choose common/popular concentrations, and these people may tend to be less qualified overall. This is all just speculation, of course, but I just mean to illustrate that those numbers in no way prove that the department or concentration you choose will affect your admissions chances
@crazyforhorses I agree. Those easier (higher %) concentrations were probably skewed by the athletes and legacies.
Is anyone here from Pune, India?
@dataminer yikes I hope that race has nothing to do with it.
@harper3125 I think that the difference at Harvard is that lectures are constantly brought to the global picture. At a technology school, yes, math is math. At a liberal arts school like Harvard, it’s also the global impact of the math and the way that entrepreneurship factors into mechanical engineering. This is, in my opinion, the edge that Harvard has on the schools where tech is the main focus.
@jzducol Georgetown was just an example of a school that is about at the same tier, but Harvard applicants would prefer Harvard.
I agree with everything that was said about engineering at Harvard, that’s why in my interview I specifically stated why I wanted engineering at Harvard instead of a technical school like MIT. Hopefully they got the point ?
Isn’t it odd that no big school chooses today to release results? Well, no one is going to cry today.
@Dataminer Perhaps they decided to change the date when we discovered it was going to be today, haha. Jk. I do wish it would have been today though.
Lmao watch them blindside us today, that ish would b mad funny?? I’m still checking tonight at 7
Hey guys! I just wanted to clarify something about the acceptance rate of early vs regular for all of you wondering!:)<3 so yes, about half the class is accepted early vs regular HOWEVER that is not the same as acceptance rate. Last year a total of 6630 students applied early, and 964 got accepted. The crimson reported that 42,742 total applicants applied for the class of 2022. So EVEN if that number includes those from early action, it is still a MUCH larger pool of applicants for regular decision. This means two things.
- The acceptance rate for early action is in fact higher. Think about it, it's all about the denominator. The number 2 is the same as 2, right? But 2/3 is much bigger number than 2/67 for example. This is just like the Harvard numbers. Around half get in early but out of a smaller denominator meaning that the acceptance rate is for sure GREATER than regular decision. In summary: the smaller the denominator, the larger the percentage --> less people apply early, making the denominator smaller, meaning the overall percentage is definitely higher!!!:)))) So all of you who applied early are in the best position for applying as you could be!!!
- This is the more sad of the two reasons. Since we all know that Harvard is the most elite of the elite in terms of college, they have a realllllllllly high enrollment rate meaning that most people who get in end up going. This means that when you are differed the odds are unfortunately against you:( since they admit the number of students they can accept, differed students only get off the waitlist only get admitted if a prospective student chooses to enroll somewhere else. But since veryyyy few people do that, the reality is harsh when it comes to admittance after a deferral. I'm really sorry, guys. I'm in the same boat as you and I hope for each and every one of us that we get in!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope I could help with any burning statistics questions. You guys are all STARS and you deserve the world<3
@x2019x MIT can and has opened the same exact doors as Harvard when it comes to engineering. Harvard in and of itself is far off from being a perfect university, and in fact, there is no such thing as a perfect university. An engineer from Purdue can bring more creativity to the table than an engineering major at Harvard any day. The term “ivy-league” doesn’t mean anything in the engineering world. Even when it comes to business, the university of Chicago has had the most successful and rewarded economists out there. It is not an ivy league. You really can’t say that one school is better than another unless you have attended both. MIT offers way more than whats seen at first glance.
@bearylove I remember reading on the Harvard site that one of the reasons why the acceptance rate is higher for early is because more qualified applicants tend to apply thinking that they have a good shot at getting in. I’m sure that the smaller applicant pool plays a role but when Harvard has a more qualified applicant pool to choose from, well that just yields to a higher acceptance rate. @skieurope Thoughts?
Update, found it:
“Harvard does not offer an advantage to students who apply early. Higher Early Action acceptance rates reflect the remarkable strength of Early Action pools. For any individual student, the final decision will be the same whether the student applies Early Action or Regular Decision.”
https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/apply/application-timeline/restrictive-early-action
@bearylove I don’t think Harvard accepts only the number it can take. I believe they accept 1,800 if not 1,900, but only around 1,650 end up attending.
@rêveuse That’s a really interesting point for sure! And it may by all means be true, but you just have to remember Harvard is a college and it’s intentions lie with wanting to garner the most applicants as possible. This means that if someone reads that Harvard finds trends of qualified students wanting to apply early it could sway someone to choose to apply there under the impression that Harvard will view them as qualified. Regardless of that, it could very well be true that they do in fact get a better pool of people early (just like I’m sure all of you are AMAZING<3). However you also have to remember that a lot of amazing schools have single choice early action meaning that if an amazing applicant was rejected from one of those and Harvard had the opportunity to potentially accept them later, they would want to of course. This means that even if it seemed like every single qualified applicant applied early, Harvard would never fill up more than half their class, even if 2,000 students truly deserved to be admitted. This means that regardless of the motive behind it, the idea of denominator that I outlined in my previous comment is the ultimate reason the acceptance rate is higher for early as opposed to regular, as there has ALWAYS been a smaller pool of students applying for regular decision as opposed to early.
I hope this helps you!! Just remember, at the end of the day, we all did our absolute best up until now, and applying early has for sure MAXIMIZED our chances:)!
a smaller pool for early* not regular, sorry that was a typo
a smaller pool for early* not regular, sorry that was a typo
@NascarFedex oh sorry I didn’t explain that clearly. I meant they can only accept the number that they end up choosing to accept (as in they will not take people off the waitlist in a way that will increase that number) not as in the actual number they can technically house. Sorry about that confusion. Essentially my point was the people who get taken off the waitlist has to do with how many people choose to enroll somewhere else, meaning that insofar as a large portion of people end up attending, it is unlikely for a large number of people to be taken off the waitlist.
@pleaseacceptmeGT I understand your point and you are right that I am not a student at MIT or Harvard but I do have extensive knowledge on both the environments and undergraduate experience from being in such close proximity to both universities and doing many extracurriculars at both. I wasn’t saying that one is better than another and I absolutely know what MIT has to offer, what I was saying was for me and specifically what I want to do in my career and where I see myself and many many other factors I thought Harvard would be a better fit and I would have a better experience there. Going to any of these top colleges will prepare you to be an engineer but some may prepare you better for specifically what you want to do with engineering, the career paths are not the same.
let's all relax lol and honestly, your undergrad experience will be how you make it to be and the environment you surround yourself in. If you have bad experiences at a certain university, then that university wouldn't leave the best memories for you.
In terms of facts (what programs are offered, courses, etc.) yes, MIT may be better than Harvard for engineering, but I fully believe that you can still reach your success as an engineer (or whatever you want to be) in either college or any college as a matter of fact.
@nijusohc Thank you for that comment! I agree that probably 99% of us need to take a chill, me included haha