<p>What do you think accounts for the vast difference in the number of applicants between last year and this year? 600 vs. 1500 is a huge shift… I mean, I know that last year, the admissions office didn’t announce that it was in fact accepting transfer applications until around February 1, but still, I can’t believe that the number of applicants more than doubled this year.</p>
<p>Where are you getting 1500?</p>
<p>i saw a few questions asking about the number of applicants. i spoke with the head of transfer admissions who said its at 1500 and that they will be accepting less than 20. im assuming she knows best haha. so thats that, unless a lot of people rescinded applications.</p>
<p>@linababe yeah I heard the same thing! 1500 apps, but they only will be offering admission to 20. Pretty frightening. Ugh. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!</p>
<p>Man, does that mean Harvard transfer admissions is harder than Yale transfer now? Crazy.</p>
<p>Yale used to be harder than Harvard?? That seems odd to me. Isn’t Harvard the #1 school in the nation? Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia—I thought that was the order in rank, could be wrong though, and I guess being the top school doesn’t necessarily mean having the toughest admissions process…but that would make sense to me…</p>
<p>Harvard is more selective generally, but because of harsher space restrictions, I think that Yale has traditionally been more selective for transfer applicants (pre-Harvard transfer shutdown).</p>
<p>I may be mistaken though.</p>
<p>Oh dear, I was hoping that they might at least accept a few more applicants.</p>
<p>Last year Harvard was more selective in transfers. I can’t find older statistics, but for some reason I remember seeing that before it shut down its transfer program, Harvard was accepting more transfers than Yale.</p>
<p>But who really cares.</p>
<p>This is a bit of a tangent, but it’s something I’ve had on my mind.</p>
<p>I told Harvard that one of my alternatives (the essay) was to be student body president at my present school (it’s like a last alternative). I ran and I got it. It wasn’t so I could throw it into an update. I legitimately love my current school, it’s just limited in what it offers and Harvard has more. </p>
<p>The thing is, now I’m wondering if it would hurt more than it would help. Thoughts? </p>
<p>I understand that no one on CC is in a position to give the opinion of Harvard’s Adcom, but I was wondering how you guys felt about the whole thing.</p>
<p>^Frankly, I wouldn’t have wrote that.</p>
<p>Writing it in the essay? Or the post itself?</p>
<p>What schools do you guys currently attend? (I’m just curious.)</p>
<p>I’m currently attending UCLA. how bout you??</p>
<p>Goingforanobel’s question got me thinking-- how did you guys answer the “what alternatives to transferring to Harvard are you considering?” question on the application? And why do you think the adcom wants to know what we’re planning to do if(/when) we don’t make it into Harvard? What do you think they’re looking for in our answers to this question?</p>
<p>^I don’t know, honestly I wondered that myself when I filled it out, but I’m coming from a community college, so I’m transferring no matter what, and that’s basically what I put; just that I applied to a handful of other colleges, and I will be moving and attending one of them if I don’t get into Harvard (which is laughable in and of itself- “if” I don’t get into HARVARD-psssh hahaha!). But now that I think about it, and having read some of these posts, it does occur to me that perhaps having great alternative plans could be a drawback to an application; the committee has an ABUNDANCE of super-qualified applicants, so at some point (after “are they good enough,” and “what will they do for US?”) the question quite possibly becomes, “is this their best option?” As in, if they reject this super-qualified applicant to accept this other super-qualified applicant, having satisfied all other criteria, it’s reasonable to assume that applicant A may have been sent away because the adcom knew they’d still be “okay.” I mean, possibly. And again, only after all other criteria have been satisfied anyway…</p>
<p>So, to jump on eyethink’s train, I wouldn’t have written that, either. But what do we know? We’re not in the adcom. Time will tell…</p>
<p>Same, I go to a community college and therefore I have no alternative but to transfer. </p>
<p>I also emphasized that Harvard is the best possibility because of the budget crisis in my home state. If I don’t end up at a private school (I was stupid enough to only apply to unreachable reaches), the rest of my undergraduate career won’t be so comfortable.</p>
<p>^Same here. If I make it into any of the schools on my list, not only will I get a MUCH better, more comprehensive education, with better research opportunities, facilities, connections, ETC ETC ETC, but it will actually be CHEAPER than if I get a quasi-crappy education at the local state school, instead. Pretty funny how that works out, eh? But I also recently realized that I am an utter moron because I only applied to schools with single digit (percentage) transfer admit rates. Oops.</p>
<p>LOL. I was even thinking of applying to NU as a last-ditch effort for a private school. Their Fall 2011 cycle is still open, but I can’t craft a competitive application in the leftover time. </p>
<p>You were already admitted to Columbia GS, correct? If that’s the case, then congrats!</p>
<p>^ I have a feeling you’re gonna be fine. You just seem way too bright, interesting, rational, and…together, I guess, to be turned down. I don’t know you, of course, but I’ve read A LOT of posts on CC and I always enjoy yours. 
Surely you will be sought after…</p>
<p>Thanks! Yes, I did get into GS, which feels WONDERFUL, of course, but their financial aid isn’t nearly as comprehensive as the other schools I applied to. Sad to say, but I already applied to the schools I was most interested in attending (so that’s not really a factor)- now it’s going to come down to the money. I would love to have a degree from the #4 school in the nation (as another poster pointed out to me); that’s pretty freakin’ fabulous, lol. But New York rent and Columbia tuition…not so fabulous. We’ll see. :)</p>