Should I re-take my SAT subject tests to get off the waitlist?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

I have been waitlisted at Harvard for the class of 2019. I have mounted a campaign to put myself in a position to be accepted from the waitlist if at all possible, but I was wondering if it would be worth my while to re-take some subject tests for this endeavor. The scores will not be released until May 21. Most of the waitlist decisions will be made by then, but Harvard is my dream school and as such, I’d really like to pull out all the stops just in case decisions will be made after the 21st (the waitlistl etter said that decisions have been made as late as June). I have posted some of my stats below in terms of my existing SAT Subject tests and other basic factors to give you some context.

SAT reasoning: 2360/2400, GPA 4.29 High school: public
Subject test scores: 610 Bio (after 1 quarter of AP Bio), 740 Math 2 (i have not taken precalc) 660 French
Intended Major: Polisci/econ

I am thinking about re-taking bio because I now have three quarters of AP Bio under my belt which would make getting a good score more manageable than before. i’m also toying with: French, Literature, World History, and Math 2 again. I would of course study diligently, which would put a time strain on my studies for my six AP Exams next month.

Any guidance/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

2

No one cares about the SAT that much. Don’t waste your time.

3

No, re-taking subject tests will have ZERO impact on whether or not you get off the waitlist.

4

It is highly unlikely that your SAT subject test scores were the difference between acceptance and waitlist, so no your question, IMO.

5

No, retaking the SAT or SAT subject tests will have zero impact. I posted this on several other threads today, but here it is again.

6

@gibby,

“There is literally nothing you can do – aside from remaining on the waitlist – that would increase your chances of being taken off the waitlist.”

I disagree. A little. There isn’t much, but there a couple of things that one can do to get off the waitlist.

But retaking subject tests isn’t one of those things.

7

By “a couple of things” do you mean a letter of continued interest and update(s)? If not, what else is there? Harvard does not give second interviews.

8

also-noted about the subject test. Thanks everyone.

9

Besides your letter of continued interest, pray mightily that many accepted students decline Harvard’s offer. There is nothing else. No 2nd interviews, no additional updates, no additional achievements. They have everything they need. Be done with it and move on.

10

Well, given these insights, there actually is one thing you could do. Go find your doppelgänger and strongly convince him to withdraw his acceptance from Harvard.

11

I don’t think anyone who does not have inside info will be able to give a definitive answer to the question. We can guess, extrapolate, assume, etc, but we don’t know. From what I understand, Harvard uses a 4000 SAT1 score, so the lower numbers on the OP’s SAT2s would have hurt. How a given admissions officer will view a retake and resubmission of those scores can only be guessed. I don’t know anyone who ever got off of Harvard’s waitlist.

12

I honestly don’t know where @gibby is getting her information from. Some of the information is just not accurate. It fact, it’s absolutely false! … especially this:

“There is literally nothing you can do – aside from remaining on the waitlist – that would increase your chances of being taken off the waitlist.”

Also this:

"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. "

This is just not how Harvard admissions works. There is no set “quota” for, say, the number of students from India. It just doesn’t work that way! What will likely happen is that after that student from India declines, they’ll admit the next best candidate they have on the waitlist, whether or not that is a female from India who wants to study math.

In fact, I just called with and spoke with the Harvard Admissions Office for you. I specifically asked about your situation and your question about SAT-IIs. We had a long conversation about the whole process.

The Harvard rep confirmed what I wrote above. She explained that the way the waitlist works is that once some people decline, the committee revisits ALL the applicants still on the waitlist. They make a first cut and remove some from the waitlist. Then they select the students they need from the remaining applicants.

When they have another batch of slots available, they do the process again, going through the waitlist files a second time and removing applicants again and then selecting students.

She said most of these decisions are made by the end of May. However, she said in some years, they have taken as many as 10 off of the waitlist as late as the last weeks of August. She indicated that sometimes admitted students will decide at the last minute to take a year off, or they might have a family emergency or problem that requires them to defer for a year. This can happen as late as registration day. In fact, I personally know one student who had already started at Cornell, had moved into the dorms and everything, and got a call from Harvard offering her a spot. She decided to take it. Yes, it was a hassle, and she lost some money from registering at Cornell, but she went to Harvard.

I also specifically asked about the SAT-IIs. She said that taking them again might help you depending on how things go on their end. Meaning, scores are not released until May 21. Sometimes most of the waitlist decisions are made by then, sometimes they take longer. (Dean Fitzsimmons in the article below said that they aim to make most decisions by July 1.) However, as indicated, sometimes they can also admit many more later in the summer, in which case she indicated that taking them again and doing substantially better could certainly help you. She also said to make sure you keep the Admissions Committee informed of any new awards or scores or grades, as improvements there could also certainly help you.

Main conclusion: Taking the SAT-IIs again could very well help you.

The numbers are low, but nowhere near as low as @Gibby is stating. According to the Dean of Admissions himself, quoted in the following Harvard Crimson article, in the last fours years preceding the article (2011) between 49 and 228 students were taken off the waitlist, and only one time from 2001-2011were NO students taken off the waitlist. If there are 1000 people on the waitlist (I don’t know the number,) that means in some years as many as 22.8% are taken off the waitlist.

Quoting Dean FItzsimmons, the very last line in the article:

“A lot of the public views it as a fruitless exercise,” he says. “But you have to stay on the waitlist in order to get off it.”

My experience and feeling is this: If this is really what you want, be persistent, but not pushy. Make sure you tell the admissions office you are very interested in staying on the waitlist and say, explicitly, that you will go to Harvard if you get off the waitlist. Ace all your AP exams and take the SAT-IIs again and ace them too. If you win any major awards between now and then (like National Merit) make sure Harvard knows about them. If you do not get off the waitlist the first time around in May, make sure to continue touching base with Harvard as the summer progresses. At that point, most students will pull their names off the waitlist as they get ready to head to college. In the remote chance that 5 or 10 slots open up in late August, you want Harvard to know that you’ll drop everything and come if you get off the waitlist— kind of like the student I knew at Cornell.

In summary: There are definitely steps you can take, and, depending on the yield this year, there may be a substantial number taken off the waitlist. Finally, patience and persistence can yield results.

GOOD LUCK!

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/3/31/students-waitlist-admissions-college/?page=1

13

@cptofthehouse You wrote:

" I don’t think anyone who does not have inside info will be able to give a definitive answer to the question. We can guess, extrapolate, assume, etc, but we don’t know. "

Exactly the point. I’ve interviewed for Harvard for 18 years, so I know a little bit, but wanted to confirm what I suspected. I spoke with the Harvard Admissions Office and asked them directly. I reported their reply above.

14

@GregB77777 Wow! thank you so much for your detailed response.

When I initially called the admissions office, I was told that the SAT IIs would come so late that most waitlist decisions would already be made, but that she hated to tell me that it definitely wouldn’t help when maybe it would. She also said something along the lines of, “The committee knows you’re academically suited for Harvard, so test scores really aren’t the problem here.”

Your words, however, steer me in a different direction regarding SAT IIs. I will have to strongly consider taking them, before the registration deadline in two days. I will probably be able to double-up though on my AP Exams I’m taking, such as SAT II Bio/ AP Bio, SAT II LIterature/ AP English Lit, and SAT World History/ AP Euro.

Once again, thank you so much for your detailed response and to everyone for lending me your considerations!!!