<p>I just skimmed a couple of these posts, and I have to say, a lot of you guys are real losers. </p>
<p>Look, you didn't get accepted--so what? It's not the end of the world. Yeah, you wanted to go, and you didn't get accepted. That's life. A lot of you are acting like needy, petulant children. Saying things along the lines of: "tell me why I got deferred!" --it's pathetic. Do you actually think that NSM or Byerly or anyone else can actually tell you the specific reasons why you got deferred or denied? They don't even know your real name, let alone the contents of your application file. </p>
<p>You were probably denied because you weren't good enough. If you were deferred, it was because they didn't know whether you would end up being good enough. It really is not a difficult concept to understand. I was deferred, and not only do I have a pretty good idea of why, but I also knew that reason before I decided to apply. </p>
<p>Oh, yeah, and the reason you didn't get in is not because you are poor or white or from an over-represented state. Maybe if you were in East Nowhere you would have been accepted, but you also wouldn't have been you. It certainly is not the reason why you didn't get in. The people they wanted were accepted; the people they thought they might want later were deferred; the people they didn't want were denied. That's that. </p>
<p>Grow up. With attitudes like these, you will never be successful.</p>
<p>i definitely agree, you people are applying to harvard, it attracts the most determined applicants in the world. there are 10 other schools on its level to apply to, all of you who got rejected or deferred will get into one or more. </p>
<p>there are just not as many spots for acceptances as there are qualified and smart kids, this is true of the whole pool let alone the most selective school on its own. if there are 5K applicants with 2200s and other great stats but they only have 2K spots, well, you see what will happen. </p>
<p>people who are bitter about not getting accepted, put it together and go RD. you will get into a good school. there is more than 1 school in the world, you have nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>Even though I was nervous as heck for my email and I anticipated eagerly, getting deferred wasn't the end of the world.</p>
<p>What surprises me the most is that a lot of people here want to go to Harvard just because it's teh r0x0r. Some hate the campus, some hate the city, and yet somehow are in love with how the school is the best. Well, why not just go for Oxford then?</p>
<p>I had over 20 reasons to go to Harvard. However, I was deferred, and I think I have a pretty low chance of getting in through the RD round, but I don't really think that it's the end of the world. I've got a bunch of other schools I like and true, they might not be as great as Harvard is for me, but I will be happy in many of them.</p>
<p>It sucks, but that's the way life is. Now it's only three months until we know where we are going for college.</p>
<p>Corranged, I agree with you in the long term, but at the same time, people are 17 or 18 years old, and they've only had their decisions in hand for about 18 hours, and, well, it's understandable to me if they're bitter and frustrated for a day or two. If you have the maturity to be philosophical about it right away, that's wonderful. But I know I didn't have that kind of maturity at that age. In fact, enduring a couple of rounds of rejection was a big part of how I GAINED that maturity.</p>
<p>Now, if you're still feeling bitter in a week, then that's a real problem. But I give people a pass in the first couple of days after they get a big disappointment. It sucks, and we're human.</p>
<p>Corranged wrote, "Grow up. With attitudes like these, you will never be successful."</p>
<p>Corranged, get a heart. If you continue as heartless as you seem to be now, you'll never attain true success as described by Bessie Stanley (and often incorrectly attributed to Emerson):</p>
<p>"He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction."</p>
<p>corranged is not being too heartless, we are talking about being admitted to harvard, if you dont understand how competitive admissions are and the dynamics of the process you dont deserve to get in. a lot of the people complaining obviously dont understand them or if they do they have gone into the process with a very immature attitude.</p>
<p>People can be Harvard material and can understand the competition yet still be bitter, hurt and disappointed when they are deferred or rejected. </p>
<p>There's nothing wrong with crying or exploding over a dream ended or deferred.</p>
<p>Hanna, I agree that I probably posted too early. Harvard was not my be all, end all, as it was for many of these kids, so I, of course, cannot understand their true reactions. What frustrated and, frankly, shocked me was the neediness of the posts. I don't care if kids are frustrated or angry, but I was amazed to see how desparate so many posts were. Everyone applying should have realized the possibilty of not being accepted. I was also turned off by so many kids looking for a scapegoat, saying *this<a href="fact%20I%20couldn't%20help">/i</a> is why I wasn't accepted. Sadness and grief are one thing, this was something different.</p>
<p>NSM, when I said the word success I meant it in terms of what so many people on this board seem to define it as (being CEO, getting into the right med school, being senator, etc.). I am a musician--an artist; I certainly appreciate beauty and its expression, and all the rest. I truly love life and everything that goes along with it. However, I don't cut slack for people unless they deserve it.</p>