@Robbyb " The point is that short time to interview correlates with IVP which probably correlates with Dean’s List. Is that fair?"
So @hgrad2010 How does what you are saying square with this as far as IVP and interview time then?
@moscott, @hgrad2010, @Robbyb:
Here’s what I suspect is going on – and I think this is particularly true in the RD round.
Once a student submits their application to Harvard, Admissions forwards the student’s contact information on to their nearest alumni office. This is done electronically and happens quickly, most likely within the first week. That is way too short a time for an Admissions Director to have completely read a student’s file, with EC’s, essays, teacher recommendations and guidance counselor’s SSR.
So Admissions must send the alumni office a student’s contact information having pre-screened/prioritized their file by something quantifiable, such as GPA and test scores. In other words, students with top test scores and GPA’s are being given an IVP number of 1. Ditto with legacies and recruited athletes. Students with good test scores and good GPA’s are being given an IVP number of 2, students with decent test scores and good, but not stellar, GPA’s are being given an IVP number of 3, and students with low test scores and low GPA’s are being given an IVP number of 4.
That, however, doesn’t mean that all student’s given an IVP1 are going to be admitted, it just means there is interest in that student based upon something quantifiable – and I’m assuming that is done by test scores and grades.
That is quite different than being put on the Dean’s Interest List, which is a very short list of children of prominent people who are mostly white and wealthy. http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2018/10/17/Competing-views-of-Harvard-emerge-in-the-trial-over-alleged-bias-against-Asian-Americans/stories/201810170178
@hgrad2010 @gibby So how would they categorize a top scorer for test grades and gpa as well as being a recruited athlete? @gibby I understand the distinction you are making regarding the Dean’s list.
@moscott: I have no idea how they are doing it, but I suspect it’s being done within bands or ranges. For example, students with 1520-1600 SAT scores and 3.9+ GPA’s are being prioritized first, etc. But that’s just my guess. FWIW: I suspect a recruited athlete automatically get’s prioritized first, regardless of grades or test scores.
From what I saw in my kid’s REA admission file — that is the Harvard’s internal admissions folder that contains one page of summary sheet, one page of transcript, two pages of interview report, four pages of comments by various AOs and email chains on the applicant, the interview can be an essential piece of information the admissions committee is waiting for at this point. From the folder I learned that the first reader finished reading and entered the half page prose comment during the first week of Nov and the second reader did so in the second week of Nov. Both readers made the point of wanting to see further info from the alum interviewer. The interview took place on Nov 15th and the report submitted on Nov 17th, and the whole committee met on Dec. 1 for the docket (there are twenty dockets for all applicants). Presumably, the final decision was made during the first week of Dec.
Though REA was on a very compressed scheduled, Harvard admissions produced eight pages of its evaluation on one applicant, a truly impressive effort given the amount of applications. If the local committee must prioritize to meet such high demand it has to get some kind of signal from AOs as to which candidates they have to furnish the info on to AOs ASAP.
But I imagine some applicants could be such sure admits that an interview report would not be necessary for the deliberation. As an example—and I assume Harvard’s process is similar to Yale’s—my kid got a message from a Yale AO about admission to Yale two days before the scheduled alum interview. Of course, there was still an alum interview report but apparently it was not needed for decisions.
Recruited athletes have the sweetest deal. They receive “likely” letters way in advance. Even better than Dean’s list
Wow. your kid seems really special. How were you able to see the file? And what made him such a stellar applicant. Congrats!!
All admitted students can request to see his/her admission file. I think it is a federal privacy mandate. You cannot take the file out of admissions office but you can record it. I would say that the data revealed in the SFFA lawsuit relate mostly to the summary and transcript pages but the rest of the file is far more interesting.
anyone applying from Malaysia and had had the interview?
“Recruited athletes have the sweetest deal. They receive “likely” letters way in advance. Even better than Dean’s list”
Not really, sometimes it can even be tougher statistically to be a RA. I know last year 250 girls tried to get on Harvard’s women’s golf team only three were offered a spot. I don’t how many of the three received the LL by Oct, but it sure wasn’t easier statistically than regular applicants.
Then the other 247 are not recruited athletes, or at least not recruited by Harvard.
@hgrad2010 Do alumni interviewers get a copy of the applicant’s Common App (or any other information about test scores/activities/essays)?
Also @gibby , I don’t believe the IVP system applies. I got a 36 on each section of the ACT, a 3.9+ unweighted GPA, international academic contest awards and strong ECs, but my interview notification still came over 2 weeks after Nov 1st. Based on the theory about IVPs determining interview notification dates, I should’ve gotten a notification much quicker due to an IVP of 1.
No. They get your contact info.
if you get a likely letter it is highly probable you are accepted. sure 250 women hoped to be recruited but i bet 3-5 got letters. I know many recruited athletes who got letters and all were admitted. Harvard recruits for 43 teams, about 15% of the class
what locale are you from? rural? city? none of this is 100%. Perhaps admissions office is confident about you already. Your credentials are stellar. Congrats.
I recalled seeing somewhere that the percentage of RA was limited to 13% of freshman class by the ivy rules. But I would agree 13% is a high number; many of us would be happy to see it a lot lower.
But either way, the RA process, which happens half year prior to EA and is not focused on academics, can be just as competitive in statistical terms. Since athletics is the main criterion I imagine there is more certainty in the process.
The number is 230. While Yale chooses NOT to recruit the maximum number of allowed athletes, Harvard and Princeton probably recruit to the Ivy League limit, hence their athletic success: https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/09/21/athletes-hope-next-president-will-raise-recruitment/
And to be clear, the number is 230 for each Ivy League college, but few use the maximum. As @gibby said, HP come the closest, but even they have not publicly acknowledged the exact number AFAIK.
That’s the hard number but there are other means of getting a RA admitted without using a slot. Many athletes get their application flagged to boost chances of admission. It’s a way of getting past the hard number as long as the academics are there.
@azcc333 Right as @skieurope mentioned interviewers don’t receive the application, but often ask the interviewee some details that are contained in the application (SAT, GPA, school rank). I personally don’t, since I want to supply as novel of a take on the candidate as possible.
I suspect that you may live in an area whose S&S doesn’t use the IVP system.