<p>Hey, wow, congrats!! :)</p>
<p>GuitarManARS: You are the BIGGEST LOSER on this whole board.....</p>
<p>jk.....had to mix things up</p>
<p>Oh...ok then...I'll just go amble off then, be on my way...:'(</p>
<p>lol jk as well</p>
<p>but seriously. that hurt. :p</p>
<p>sr6622, what??</p>
<p>To all those who got huge science/math awards and were deferred: your accomplishments are outstanding. There's no doubt about that. You're completely and perfectly qualified to study at Harvard.</p>
<p>However, Harvard can't accept everyone. They strive for the most diverse class possible, which means international applicants, minorities, and lower-income applicants. They pick kids they like and have good feelings about. </p>
<p>I was admitted to Harvard. I don't have any national awards. I don't have any "hook" whatsoever. I believe I was admitted based on my personality and character, which could be seen from my interview, essays, and teacher recs. </p>
<p>I guess what I'm saying is there's never one sure way to get into Harvard. It's random. </p>
<p>I'm sure you'll all be either admitted RD or admitted to some other amazing academic institution. </p>
<p>Good luck to all of you.</p>
<p>"Self-assured and haughty is two different things.</p>
<p>What Ive observed so far</p>
<p>EA-admits: Self Assured, Confident, but Humble
EA-deffers: Smart, but Pompous and Haughty</p>
<p>I stand wonder at Harvard adcom's almost magical ability to discern the two."</p>
<p>I've noticed the same thing. I think there are only a few posters on this thread that really "get it". (you are one of them) Harvard can take as many truly great science/math applicants as they want.. but those who excel in the humanities are harder to find, at least judging by the applicants on CC.</p>
<p>Also, I wouldn't bet on "politics" having influenced the decision to defer many RSI attendees. There's no reason to believe that the reason for this year's decisions was anything but a glut of math/science researchers and a void of great humanities students.</p>
<p>"EA-admits: Self Assured, Confident, but Humble
EA-deffers: Smart, but Pompous and Haughty"</p>
<p>gee thanks...</p>
<p>hey everyone!! i got accepted! i don't want to post my stats here, but IM me (my sn is the same) because i want to meet you guys!</p>
<p>While I am an EA-defer, I still feel inclined to agree with you rifles4watie (and the poster you quoted). This is by no means implying that I believe myself to be arrogant or pompous, but I have noticed that a lot of the EA-defers have been a little full of themselves (the precending was a deliberate understatement by the way). Rather than asking complete strangers (ok, "online friends") about why they were deferred, they ought to take action and find out for themselves (by contacting Harvard admissions for example). It is a bit presumptuous when RSI applicants (and the like) wonder, "Why oh WHY they were deferred" and feel that they "will CERTAINLY get accepted during the Regular round."
There are many reasons that applicants are rejected and deferred people. Some people on this thread seem to be very one-dimensional and arrogant. It'd be one thing if they had passion and were humble, but just from reading many of the posts on this thread, I have an idea as to why certain people were deferred.
I'm starting to get annoyed by everyone asking "Why did I get deferred??" Sure, it's natural to wonder... I do as well. But to be presumptuous as to ask with incredulity, and expect a sure acceptance in April is just as pompous and haghty as youn can be! Sorry, I had to vent a little. ....my two cents.
Good luck to all my fellow EAers who were deferred!</p>
<p>-Jon :)</p>
<p>I'm a science guy, looking to major in biology and continuing to med school. I definitely wouldn't consider myself a geek or anything. Compared to zogoto, spyder, or guitarman, I really haven't done anything extremely impressive in science. I just wrote an essay I think really allowed me to express myself in different ways and my teachers wrote amazing recommendations. I don't think that Harvard is against admitting math/science people, but they just look for something unique in a person other than how well he/she ranked in Siemens or how many recs they got from RSI.</p>
<p>No offense at all to national-level scientists and the like.</p>
<p>btw, I'm Asian too.</p>
<p>Still, you can't just assume everyone who got deferred and was in RSI or Siemens, etc are one sided people who have no personality and only have those awards going for them. That's just not fair.</p>
<p>The botton line is that Harvard can and will do whatever it feels like doing. The school doesn't have to let anyone in. Even if you win major awards, have perfect grades and scores, you are not a lock for admission.</p>
<p>One can only have a probability of getting in, which ranges from appx. 1%-60%.</p>
<p>to whoever said they were surprised that the canadian IMO team didn't get accepted to harvard: have you ever thought that Harvard wants (I knowed this phrase has been pounded to death in this thread but..) multifaceted and exciting people not people who look great on paper? I do believe that some of the deferees on here should have been accepted , but I believe that Harvard made the right decisions on others. I did get to talk to one of the deferees here in person and well he was... well, probably not the kind of student that harvard desires at this moment.</p>
<p>Decision: DEFERRED</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] Fee Waiver: yeah
[</em>] SAT I: 800V/790M
[<em>] SAT IIs: 800Wr,800Ch,800MIIC,780Bio
[</em>] ACT
[<em>] GPA: 94%
[</em>] Rank: 2nd, out of 125
[<em>] Other stats: President/Leader of Math Club, Yearbook, Science Bowl, Local Hospital Youth Auxiliary, and school String Orchestra. Varsity swimming, 4 years.
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Essays: Wrote about quirky, offbeat topics that should have garned some points with any admissions officer under the age of 40
[<em>] Teacher Recs: Both really good. One more so than the other.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: Pretty good
[<em>] Hook (if any):
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[</em>] State or Country: NJ
[<em>] School Type: Northeast Private (but I'm poor)
[</em>] Ethnicity: Viet
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Perceived Strengths/Weaknesses: Er, scores are a strength. Weaknesses...I'm not REALLY good at any one thing? 2nd in family to go to college, after dad...Not sure.
[li] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: Dunno, I'm too asian?[/li][/ul]Other Factors: There was a kid from my school whose dad is a major political figure in another country. He started this whole AIDS initiative. He got in. My guess is that since there are only 3 kids applying early harvard from my school, if one gets in, then I don't.
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: dunno.</p>
<p>First of all, I do not agree with the general consensus on this thread that acceptees are "humble, etc." and deferees are not. I think they are equally humble/proud. What we see more of, however, is that deferees try to explain what has happened; many feel entitled to get in since everyone told them they would get in. Please do NOT equate this with being prideful. I know you are all going to cite spydertennis, but that is just one exception (sorry Arun).</p>
<p>I also believe it is NOT our job to decide whether Harvard "chose the right people or not." That's because the answer is yes, they DID choose the right people. I agree that it is possible that some good people were deferred, but out of a pool of 3000 deferees, I do not expect this "mistake" number to exceed 30, and I'm assuming almost all of them will get in RD. But if you're reading this and were deferred, sorry, you are not one of these. However, how do they fill the other 100-200 deferred to admit seats? With those who accomplish in the Spring. As of now, deferreds, think of yourself as rejected, but given the opportunity to redeem yourself. For myself, I am pushing very hard for publication before February, but as that is very unlikely, my money is on Intel. If you truly love and wish to go to Harvard, I suggest you add something to your application that they would not expect seeing 3.5 years of high school already (thus, maintaining a 4.0 into your senior year does not really count).</p>
<p>With that said, I also do not believe that "personality" was a reason for deferral of anybody that has won great awards. Harvard wants nice people, but they are the world's greatest academic institution, they MUST have the best people. Thus, deferreds, do not think you are a bad person for not getting into Harvard; it is most likely the more objective parts of your application (and yes, essays and teacher recs are more or less objective).</p>
<p>Just as a response to that.</p>
<p>I don't see why you're trying to justify the deferrals of the Canadian IMO team by criticizing their character. Both of them are great guys. One of them does lots of math, but the other plays sports, has leadership, very well-rounded and affable people. If you want the real reason. It's simply because Harvard wants to compare the Canadian applicants amid the larger Canadian applicant pool because it's so much smaller (About 176 applicants from Ontario, so approximately 300 in total).</p>
<p>If this were a member of the USA IMO Team, I think it'd be a whole another matter. But to suddenly say without any evidence that they are not "multifaceted and exciting people" and instead "people who look great on paper" is fallacious.</p>
<p>I'm not going to bother posting anymore with regards to this. Utterly ridiculous how people blindly attempt to place personalities on unknown people to justify their own acceptance and their deferral.</p>
<p>I don't think zogoto's post was aimed at anyone specific. I'm sure the people on that team are nice. The fact is no one will ever know why some people are accepted and some deferred, we can speculate all we want but we're just going around in circles.</p>
<p>Chancellor_Phoenix, I am so glad you said that. I disagree, however, that deferral from Harvard really means they defer the decision. I think of it is as a conditional rejection...</p>
<p>I think you're combining two separate "types" of deferrals, zogoto: the polite rejections (the majority), and the realistic defers. The line between the two is blurry but I think there are certainly two such groups.</p>
<p>I think there are very few people in the realistic defers.</p>
<p>Adam, a thought struck me. Perhaps you were already decided upon before Siemens Nationals? That could be the case. Otherwise, you may actually be a realistic defer. A 2nd hypothesis would be that they really want to judge your work, so they're waiting for Intel, which they definitely trust much more than Siemens.</p>