Can you be removed from the waitlist and then z-listed, or is the z taken from the pool who are left on the waitlist after all the waves go out?
I’m pretty sure z-list is taken from the pool who are left after everyone who got off the waitlist is notified. BTW, I am very happy to go to Cal for econ–I do not qualify for aid and do not want to be such a burden to my family.
It seems that we had about 20 posters on this thread, of whom one got in. Which makes sense as 60-70/1200 is about 5% or 1 in 20. Then we’ve had about 4 or 5 students who haven’t heard anything, so it looks like about 1/4 of the students (~ 300) still have a chance to get in off the 2nd round. Does anyone know roughly how many will get in from the 2nd round? About 25? The pool of about 30 z-listers should also be drawn from these 300 people as well, although the z-list seems to be mainly for legacies.
I am really surprised that only one got in on this thread. A few days ago over at the Yale thread, quite a few reported that they got in. My feeling is that the big wave is still to come.
@hzhao2004 based on the 2018 thread, the next major wave will be in about two weeks. And every update after that will occur after two week periods.
Last year’s thread said:
May
13 Tue: wave of calls
15 Thu, 18 Sun: waves of release emails
22 Thu: z-list offer
25 Sun: wave of calls
27 Tue: wave of release emails
June
11 Wed: wave of calls
13 Fri: z-list offer
16 Mon: combination of releases, acceptances, and z-lists via email
28 Sat: release emails
July
17 Thu: z-list offer
They’ve already deviated from last year’s pattern of release waves two or three days after calls in that this year’s first wave (today) contained both acceptances and releases, so it’s uncertain whether this info will be useful to us at all. Perhaps with the higher number of targeted admits they’re a little more rushed. However, what it tells us, for whatever it’s worth:
-Acceptance waves come out at roughly 2 week intervals, perhaps those accepted are given this length of time to respond with their decision
-Main waves may continue until mid-June
-Z-listers are sporadic and may have to hang in there for two months or more
-News can come on weekends (which sucks; I was hoping Sat/Sun would be days when I could refresh my admissions portal without trembling in fear)
I don’t know if the z-list (usually around 30?) is included in the 60-70 figure that we have for this year. Really hope it isn’t.
What is z-list offer? Do all schools do this?
@BellaVenezia z-list offer is an admissions offer made to people on the waitlist that tells them they can come to harvard if they are willing to take a mandatory gap year, during which they can’t get other college credits, essentially becoming a part of the next year’s class (2020 in our case).
Offers for the z-list typically come between late May and the end of July, but it’s pretty obscure because admissions doesn’t really talk about it.
@waitlisted1 i go to los alto high sorry to hear you got rejected i did too 
i know a girl from small all girls school in palo alto that got off the WL today maybe it’s the one you know? i know she def didn’t pose as international tho bc she has a us passport & its harder to get in as an international student so why would she? she does really high level math and sings so she seriously deserved it (plus princeton, yale, mit, uchicago, columbia- im so jealous!) but be careful when you lie to belittle other people’s achievements
Accepted to Harvard off the wait list! From Alabama! Will enroll for the fall with a full ride provided by a Harvard grant for my high school.
My son did not hear anything yesterday. But his friend was rejected. So I guess this means he made it to the next round? We are all proudly sporting Wesleyan t-shirts and I was just about to order some more. He told me to wait a little longer…just in case.
@littlehelper we are from Monterrey Carmel Salinas area 2 kids get off the Harvard wait list from 2 diff high school
@littlehelper we are boarding school in Monterey so we finternational exceptional students too…
How many people are still left would you say? trying to get on the z list
Has anyone asked as to when the next round of waitlist decisions will be coming out?
Who else is left?? Let’s start making a list
It is true. It seems that Harvard is totally unfriendly to International students. My son was always an excellent student, with great talent for Maths and Physics. He has high level Math, SAT maths 800, Physics 800, and he sings (and many other activities). He was rejected…I heard that these great Universities want to have people from different nationalities. For Harvard this is not the case.
@VERYMAR Harvard has a very diverse student population with several hundred international students in every class. Does that sound “totally unfriendly” to you?
Harvard is indeed (much) more difficult to get into as an international, but your son’s case isn’t the best example to use. I am a domestic student who scored an 800 on the Math 2, physics, chemistry, world history, and U.S history and made it to the national math olympiad (among the top 100 of my grade in the entire nation), yet I am still waitlisted and will likely be rejected. (I was also rejected from several other top institutions). Admissions in this country is not based solely upon qualifications, there are a lot of other factors (many of them being rather murky and disgusting) .