Official Harvard Waitlist Class of 2019

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
21

I completely agree with @notjoe’s advice, but I would like to add these thoughts:

Harvard has never published the number of students they have waitlisted, but Yale and Princeton have. In years past, YP have waitlisted about 2,000 students each. Of that number, about 1,200 to 1,300 students choose to remain on the waitlist at each college. I imagine Harvard’s numbers are the same. That’s for about 30 slots in a good year. You do the math.

There is literally nothing you can do – aside from remaining on the waitlist – that would increase your chances of being taken off the waitlist. That’s because Admissions has already built their class and IMHO will be seeking like-kind replacements – someone from a particular state/area/nationality, who is of the same gender and who has the same interests, so they can keep their state/gender/interest mix the same.

For example, if Admissions admitted a female student from India who declines their offer, they are going to go to the waitlist looking for another student from India who has the same interests and is of the same gender. In that case, if you’re a female international student from India with the same interests, your chances of getting off the waitlist are very high. But, if a female student who has an interest in Humanities from Texas (or any of the other 49 states) declines Harvard’s offer, your chances as a male international student from India interested in Computer Science are not good at all.

So, go ahead send a letter, tell Admissions what you can contribute to the campus, tell them what Harvard can provide that the college you are going to matriculate to can’t. In my mind, it won’t make one bit of difference, because now it’s completely dependent on who declines and if the stars are all aligned in your favor.

Send the waitlist update letter and then forget about Harvard. Waitlisted students must accept another college’s offer of acceptance, as Harvard will not start going to their waitlist until mid-May, several weeks past the deadline that every college has for accepting their offer.

Every waitlisted student needs to fall in love with a college that fell in love with them. If Harvard comes calling somewhere down the line, that’s great. If not, it’s their loss baby!

22

@ormdad It may be 2.8%, but now it is out of a pool of 100% of kids Harvard probably would have taken if they had the room. That’s a lot different.

23

@faclon11‌ fair point.

Best strategy is probably to go to Visitas, find an accepted student that you are the “like-kind replacement” for and convince them to go to Stanford.

24

hi @gibby I know that you are the harvard-yale expert on college confidential so I wanted to ask you a question:

I’ve been waitlisted at Harvard. It is my first choice. I have also been accepted at Yale. From what I understand, I cannot accept Yale and be active on the wait list at Harvard? Am I correct? If so that means I can either choose Yale or take a bad risk and stay on Harvard’s waitlist right?

25

@bubbles12345678,

No, that’s incorrect. If you decide to accept a position on Harvard’s waitlist, you must still accept admission to another college. Otherwise, what will you do in fall if Harvard doesn’t take you from the waitlist?

If Yale is your second choice, accept the offer from Yale and proceed as if you’re going to Yale. Because you probably are. Also, accept your position on the Harvard waitlist. If Harvard accepts you from the waitlist, you will need to inform Yale that you’re no coming after all. You will lose any deposits or fees you’ve paid to Yale. In the more likely scenario that Harvard doesn’t accept you from the waitlist, you will be all ready for the fall at Yale.

26

@bubbles12345678: You can ACCEPT Yale’s offer (no deposit is required) and remain on Harvard’s waitlist.

In fact, if Yale is your current top choice and their financial aid offer is acceptable, I would accept Yale’s offer. Then, I would write to Harvard Admissions with a “waitlist update letter” that says something to the effect of "While I’m thrilled to have been accepted to Yale, I would immediately accept an offer from Harvard if taken off the waitlist, as Harvard would provide me with . . . . "

27

@notjoe I was looking at the conditions for Yale withdrawal of offer of admissions and it states that they will withdraw my admission if I am found to have accepted yale whilst also being on an active waitlist at another school or have committed to another school. I’m very confused about this too as most other schools did not specify this

28

@bubbles12345678: Please re-read Yale’s statement to students and notice what I’ve bolded. Yale is saying it’s OKAY to accept their offer and remain on another college’s waitlist, but it’s NOT OKAY to say yes to more than one college.

[quote]
Conditions for Withdrawal of Our Offer of Admission

The admissions committee reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission under any of the
following circumstances:

• if your academic performance shows a significant decline between the time of your admission and your secondary school graduation. Note that we review Mid-Year and Final School Reports carefully.

• if you do not graduate and receive a diploma by the end of this school year

• if your behavior brings into question your honesty, integrity, or character

• if any part of the application you submitted is shown not to be your own work and truthful

• if you hold a confirmed place at both Yale and at another institution after May 1. b**

See: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fadmissions.yale.edu%2Fnode%2F2075%2Fattachment&ei=FbMeVavyD9DdsAS2p4GwBg&usg=AFQjCNFtI3m_08gfUEHQq124Stwn19lOcw&sig2=avvAxB9DhQ1B6pfcAKrVPw&bvm=bv.89947451,d.cWc

29

@gibby i’m an idiot. Thank you!

30

Accepted at Yale and waitlisted at Harvard. You clearly are not an idiot!

31

Same things happened to my D. Not sure why someone would be deferred and then waitlisted, but would welcome any wisdom on that. Three (legacies) from her High School have been accepted (2 SCEA and 1 RD) & all will go. My D is not a legacy, but her overall stats (grades, SATs, activities, etc.) were comparable to 1 of the accepted and much higher than the other 2.

32

Would you mind sharing your D’s stats? No legacy here, Similar situation.

33

Waitlisted! Will likely commit to Dartmouth in the mean time

34

My D did not want me to share her stats, sorry.

35

I was waitlisted as well, which was a total shock (I was expecting an outright rejection!). I am excited by the possibility to have to opportunity to attend Harvard this fall, but as of right now I am trying to focus on getting excited about where I was admitted. I am so glad for the opportunities my parents have provided me with and grateful to get to go to college at all!

36

So when are you guys sending your new letters?

37

@wilguen‌ People usually advise to send them in late April because the committee doesn’t start reviewing them until after May 1

38

Deferred to waitlist! hoping for z list? ahaha

Who is not accepting the waitlist?

39

My daughter is not accepting the wait list and she is going to Stanford.

As a silicon valley girl she really wanted to leave home for Harvard, even though most kids and parents here prefer Stanford over Harvard for right/wrong reasons. In the past the Valedictorians of her school always went to Stanford, and Harvard only accepted a couple kids from her school (not a feeder really), either specific minority group (definitely not asian!!!) or legacy. This year as the Valedictorian my daughter and a whole bunch of other kids who all have quite strong stats applied to Harvard EA. Their counselor said it has been the strongest year so far and any single one of the applicants exceeded those who got into Harvard in the past, in terms of APs, SATs, Awards or EC. Guess what? Harvard deferred all of them, and then wait listed even more during RD (couldn’t believe that many were wait listed). Is it so hard for Harvard to make a real decision to tell they are not good enough? Or keeping people guessing is a marketing strategy to boost the applicants’ base, aka the denominator? If they are not good enough it would be much better to tell them in the face so they will try harder for graduate school. Wait list??? It’s useless. At least my daughter would not take it as a comfort by saying “I ALMOST made into Harvard.”

Not playing this game. Some of the Harvard wait listed kids from her school are accepted by Stanford and other top schools. They’ve committed to go. The current juniors surely will learn the lesson from the epic failure by the seniors and make wiser EA choices next year.

40

Hi onlyonceCC, how many kids are waitlisted from your daughter’s school and how big is the school?

My daughter is also waitlisted. She is probably the only one from her school which has about 300 seniors. I’m wondering if it is worth to wait for as the chance is slim.
Thanks for sharing information.