<p>Got my rejection letter today (tuesday as everyone here predicted), now I’m really a bulldog!! Yale here I come!!!</p>
<p>@ Nailbiting Mom - I’d say race and school profile are huge. I go to a school in the South that has 36 National Merit scholars in a class of ~250 but zero were admitted to Harvard. On the other hand, you have schools in the Northeast that have 9 admitted out of 70 and only 1 or 2 are Nation Merit. Figure that? Harvard will go to UK and Italy, but won’t give our own appropriate consideration. How do they justify taking 1 or 2 from an entire state in US but then admit 9 from a single school in the NE?</p>
<p>Gtr, Oh I forgot to mention that not only was my son a national merit finalist, but also got the scholarship from College Board. I hope the process is fairer than that…</p>
<p>im on the east coast…normally get mail within 2 days…no letter from harvard…</p>
<p>Ivy Admissions… </p>
<p>if anyone ever thought that Ivy admissions (especially HYP + (and the non-ivy Stanford) are fair – </p>
<p>Read the book THE CHOSEN – The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton By Jerome Karabel</p>
<p>You may change your mind about even wanting to go to these schools…</p>
<p>NBMom–The process is explained in detail by HYPS as holistic. Test scores are only one factor, if you prefer a more numbers-oriented admissions process, UCs, techs, state flagships, and oversea schools are your best bet.</p>
<p>Like it or not, the Ivys seek and maintain lively student bodies, and nurture future leaders by identifying candidates with integrity, empathy, maturity, ambition, drive, and creativity, etc. </p>
<p>Many admittees have been busy publishing, performing, campaigning, volunteering, working, and researching, as well as maintaining excellent statistics. The fact that those stats may be a few points short of 800 does not diminish their value to adcoms. Indeed they may show a more vital engagement with the real world. </p>
<p>College is about developing great adults, not racking up more awards for the brag box.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I have no idea, but this seems to be consistent with what I have heard:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/704312-two-wickeds-other-according-admissions-dean-william-r-fitzsimmons.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/704312-two-wickeds-other-according-admissions-dean-william-r-fitzsimmons.html</a></p>
<p>I would disagree about it NOT being a merit based process. Acadmic Merit is only 1/3 of the application decision, and only one type of “merit”. The Admissions Director said 80% of the applicants would succeed at Harvard, but they can’t accept them all. After that, in one way or another, each student “earns” their admissions offer. However, I do admit that there must be more than a few kids that “earn” it from being a “high profile” kid (legacy, donor, politician, well connected, etc.).</p>
<p>One big way that kids “earn” a spot is “being nice”. The Admissions Director made a point to say that 1/3 of admissions is based on that. Does the student help out others? Not just working a soup kitchen. But, teaching others - Leading study groups, sectionals, etc. In the recomendation, does the Teacher say that the kid helps others.</p>
<p>“Excellence in EC?” Related to being “wicked”
“Race?” Yes
“School profile?” It is taken into account when evaluating whether the kid took advantage of what was available.
“Excellence in academics?” - Wicked smart or good
“Excellence in Sports? … Music? Arts? Combo?” - Wicked “good”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>First of all, grades and test scores only prove competency. At some point, they are no longer predictive in being able to separate out the ability of one kid to succeed vs. another.</p>
<p>Maybe they were not “nice”. Maybe they didn’t take all the challenging classes they could have (Calc AB instead of BC). Seems like a great all-around kid, but does the kid “excell”? Being on the team, and being enthusiastic only gets you so far. Excelling means doing something better than EVERYONE else, being nationally recognized. Did the kid place at the national level in a debate competition? Did the kid win a Junior Olympics Tennis championship?</p>
<p>There are lots of great all-around kids. There are over 18,000 high schools in the USA. Over 18,000 Valedictorians. 107 out of 300,000 kids that sat for the SAT in March, 2005 scored perfect. Nearly 1.5 million students took the SAT, so that would imply over 500 kids with perfect SAT scores.</p>
<p>What makes the kid stand out in a pool of highly qualified applicants? That’s the question, not “the kid is perfect, why didn’t the kid get in”. You need to be able to conclude: “That’s why Harvard should accept the kid” over other kids who are just as qualified.</p>
<p>Thank you Gtr, Fauve, wait-mom and Operadad for the feedback.</p>
<p>NBM - I’ll add a comments straight from my notes from the admitted student welcome address. The purported universal trait of the admitted students is/was “character, personal qualities”. That is not to say that students other than those admitted don’t have them. I would speculate that Harvard would state that the admitted students applications were able to show those qualities. After the “character, personal qualities”, then I believe that the three wickeds apply to the application process. I note that in your post #1039, your list of your child’s qualities was made up of all achievements. Was this also the case for your child’s application?</p>
<p>smoda61, he also volunteered in Church a lot, volunteered for VBS soccer coaching 2 summers, help tutor kids in his school all the time - so this just wasn’t presented well enough (maybe)</p>
<p>Did those who wrote his recommendations speak of his contributions? I feel like this was what caused my daughter to be accepted.</p>
<p>Just got the mail – no letter from Harvard. I’m on the East Coast (NYC). I’m not too surprised, since while I suppose Boston to New York could take two days, I imagine most of the time it takes at least three. I guess I’ll see what happens tomorrow.</p>
<p>Also, if you’re put on the extended waitlist, do you get a letter telling you that? Or do you just assume that you’re on it when you’ve waited for days and no letter (or other communication from Harvard) has arrived?</p>
<p>Got the rejection today. I’m just so glad there’s closure now, and I’m happy to be going to UPenn next year. This is the last update I’m doing before I leave this thread forever, so good luck to the rest of you! </p>
<p>Accepted: 16
Total CC-ers Waitlisted: 145 (possible 149)</p>
<p>Key: (State/INT’L) [Date Admitted] “ADMITTED Z-LIST”?</p>
<p>Admitted:
b’smom (NH) {note: second interview} [posted 8:41pm EST, afternoon call, May 19]
cranberrykiss (NJ) [May 20] ADMITTED Z-LIST
foreverodette (TX) [2:00 CST, May 19]
gallus (INT’L- Italy) [May 20, 9am EST]
jockoandcluny (CA) [~10am PST, May 16] ADMITTED Z-LIST
kclubs ¶ [posted 5:41pm EST, May 19]
keren34 (NY) [4:30pm EST, May 19]
musicgal3 (CA) [10am PST, May 16]
OperaDad (WI) [4:15 CST, May 8]
redsoxfan1211 (MA) [4pm EST, May 19]
richardrjm [posted 5:20pm EST, May 19]
Roneald
Sadovaya (INT’L- England) [May 11]
Squirrl (CA) ADMITTED {note: second interview} [posted 3:19 pm EST, May 19]
stopher723 ¶ ADMITTED [posted 11:58pm EST, May 19]
teachcounsel (CA) [may 19]</p>
<p>.serendipity (INT’L- Canada)
174IQPartier
1991(INT’L- Greece)
Acceptd (NY)
adyboo104 (MI)
AJH-2009 (NY)
alicimoo (MA)
amc131
anissa
AP930 (TN)
Arch3r25 (NH)
asong
attenuation (NJ)
Azarion
Azrael
Balaylay (CT)
bbut514 (WA)
Benny B (IL)
Bittersweet91 (NY)
blackjack12
blueducky
brankocerny (INT’L- Czech Rep)
cali12345 (NY)
Cardinaldreams (INT’L- Ireland)
cassielam09 (CA)
ccint (INT’L)
CCPWNZ - Rejected
central268
christian1206
cinnamon9724
colbert
ColonelMandrake
CoolCalculator(VT)
Countryangel926
coureur
cranberrykiss (NJ)
ctsenior09 (CT)
dfortunato (MA)
dogdoc
dreamh
fakh90 (INT’L- Indonesia)
figment42 (FL)
funinthesun91 (IL)
gallus (INT’L- Italy)
Gtr (LA)
HarvardDaddy
Helloitsme (INT’L- South Korea)
HES19
holland1945 (FL)
holmespoint (WA)
hooray<em>47
HopingForHarvard (CA)
hotjava64
Ian121
invisiblecity
irocket
jackjohnson91 (MN)
Jakeesha
jen89ob
Jessephen
jonesa
jpd8891 - Rejected
JuanMarco (WA)
kasiiaaa
Kdutch90 (INT’L- Bahrain)
kingofthelouis
Km78
LadyChance
llpitch
lolcats4
lunar</em>years
LuthienTinuviel
macv (NY)
medkid06
Mesquite<em>girl24 (TX)
metb29 (FL)
methionine
monkeystar (NJ)
monroylobo (AL)
music, work, etc (MA) - Rejected
MyCatIsBuzzy (NY)
NailBitingMom
Napoligirl (CA)
naveen (IL)
nikki</em>10234
Nishiio
Nocturne
nyc2cents
olli (VA)
omgitsover9000
oplusblood (CA)
patronus (AZ)
peanutbutter (NH)
pianista
Placidia (CT) - Rejected
Poisonous (FL)
pokerface09 (GA)
pose716
Procrastination
ProudDadOfTwo (CA)
purplecat (INT’L - China)
quickset8
rakelle234 (ME)
reptil (INT’L)
rubberducky628
sartorialiste (GA)
skyraptor
Spontaneity (Ca)
sonjanicky29
Stetly
stringkeymom (son)
svirus (MA)
swimguy112
thericwu (CA)
thestever (NJ)
TheWerg
ticktock
trominos
tweetmeup
uKeepPrevaricatn
UndefinedUnknown
vandit_daboss
Vergil’sAeneid (NYC)
willjest (CA)
wolfer91 (CA)
woowski777
xxxxjeffreyxx
YeL’sDad (IL)
YEli (TX)
yingbrooke(INT’L- China)
yoyo687</p>
<p>Suspect of being on the waitlist:
amberdaze
fireguy (MD)
pea
vectoraj</p>
<p>officially…rejected. doesn’t bother me the least. too busy thinking about the coldplay concert i’m going to in 4 hours.</p>
<p>see anyone else going to cornell in august. good luck to all.</p>
<p>rejected as well</p>
<p>where you from quickset8, i know a few ppl driving down to that concert tonight</p>
<p>Yes. You will wait for days and no letter will arrive, so, technically, you are still on the waitlist. Then, you will get the rejection letter in early July. By the time my D got it, she had forgotten all about Harvard! Simply tossed it aside.</p>
<p>Fortunately for her, she never even knew about CC and all this waitlist activity during May and June. I was the only one who was following along and did not want her to know about any of it. Made for a joyous and stress-free end to her senior year and she deserved it after all her hard work! </p>
<p>And yes. It’s the truth. Fall in-love with your accepted/deposited school and never look back!!</p>
<p>rejected.</p>
<p>got my first choice though, so it’s all good.</p>
<p>congratz to those accepted!</p>
<p>rejected…princeton is cooler tho</p>
<p>Rejected as well. Boo. Vandy it is.</p>
<p>Official rejection today too. </p>
<p>Princeton, here I come! :)</p>