Suspected reason for deferral, how to fix it?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

I live in Saudi Arabia, and it is extremely rare to get an interview here (I know 2 other very qualified students who applied and did not get one), yet I got an interview, which I believe is a sign of almost acceptance (based on screening the threads for people being offered interviews in areas with limited interviews). In the same time that I received the interview request, I received a request to send “samples of my best academic work in physics”–link to thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1936443-extra-academic-work.html#latest

I portrayed myself throughout the whole app (very truthfully and as candid as possible) as someone who is very interested in physics. I focused my whole essay discussing the topic. And I did actually act on my love of physics; I self-studied AP courses to build the basic level, and then I set out and took lots of advanced courses on edX, and I assure that I took them merely out of my interest and curiosity and tried to capture that in the app. However, I have been limited by the area where I live, as most of what I learned in physics came from the internet, self-studying, and the like. As a result, I have no really competitive work in physics, and I submitted solutions to 2 hard problems my teacher had asked me about (they are marked as challenge questions in a university book of physics).

It is also worth noting that I spent an extensive amount of time studying why do people with 2400’s and 16 5’s in AP get rejected, while others are accepted. I came to the conclusion that no matter what strong EC’s and scores you have, they must correspond to a person who does all of this out of passion not to impress the Admissions Committee. They also look for certain personal qualities that should be conveyed through the essay and the recommendation letters. I looked at my letters, and I believe they captured the best qualities I possess that they like the most (intellectual curiosity, desire for improvement, determination, etc…), and I believe my essay did a good job in that aspect.

In brief, I almost know why I was deferred (that they were waiting for high-quality academic work to stamp my file as accepted and they instead saw merely solutions to problems for first-year college physics challenging problems). Now, does anyone have any suggestions as to fix the situation I find myself in and probably get accepted in the RD (yes, I know that my chances are slim-to-zero, and I will work extensively on other apps, but I see myself best fitted in Harvard)

2

There is no way to “fix” the situation. You will compete with other RD applicants based on your profile.

Finding yourself “in” RD at Harvard is an expression of conceit. .

3

Finding yourself “in” RD at Harvard is an expression of conceit.

Why? I really don’t get your point?

4

What I was asking for is whether sending an email, a recommendation letter from my physics teacher, uploading a note to the status portal, or something similar may solve the problem (make their impression more lenient than conceiving me as someone who brags about things he knows nothing about, which I assure you I am not).

5

Sorry for your deferral. I would disregard the above comment about conceit if I were you. However, I do think it is best for you to move on at this point. There is very little you can do to rectify the situation. The AO in charge of your app gave you an opportunity to demonstrate your aptitude/brilliance in physics and was willing to put it before the physics dept. for review. Solutions to two first year college level problems unfortunately didn’t show much, if anything, to them. I disagree with the poster on your other thread about the inability of kids to do original work as I was someone who did. I think this is what they were looking for or at least some evidence that you are capable of doing so if you were accepted to arguably one of the top physics depts in the world.

Focus on your other apps and don’t spend any more time thinking about this. I’m sure you have a lot to offer whatever school is lucky enough to have you. Harvard has moved on to the 34,000 apps ahead of them. They are not looking backwards at this point and offering you another chance I’m sorry to say.

Best of luck with everything!

6

Sorry, if I was a bit harsh. I just think you should be focusing 100% of your energies into making your other apps as perfect as they can be at this point. By all means, come late January/ early February, work on sending an update letter to Harvard. If you can point to some new and unique accomplishments, particularly in physics, it will help your case but it is still a long shot.

7

Sorry for your deferral; unfortunately you will NEVER know why. If you were to contact admissions and ask them directly why you were deferred, my guess is that you would receive the standard reply: “We liked you, @ahmedsheta, otherwise we would have rejected you! But we wanted to compare your file to a larger applicant pool, which is why you were deferred.” And that kind of response is not helpful.

FWIW: Colleges judge you in the context of your school and your country. If your school does not offer AP classes or research opportunities, Admissions does NOT hold that against you. So I really doubt it had anything to do with high-quality academic work – after all you self studied for AP courses and demonstrated a self-driven love of learning!

My guess – just from reading this post and your post history – is that Admissions might have concerns about your “character” as the “tone” of your writing comes across as someone entitled, someone who thinks they have figured it all out – and Admissions doesn’t respond well to that. They look for students who demonstrate vulnerability, likability and the ability to be empathetic with their fellow classmates. And truthfully, none of that comes across in any of your College Confidential writing. The other reason you may have been deferred is that Harvard only admits, on average, ONE STUDENT EVERY FOUR YEARS from Saudia Arabia. In a previous post you insisted it didn’t matter because you were Egyptian, but as I pointed out to you, Harvard doesn’t consider your ethnicity, just the country you’re applying from, but you kind of glossed over that fact. See: http://www.hio.harvard.edu/statistics. So, in reality, there quite a few reasons why you might have been deferred.

As others have said, there is NOTHING you can do to fix this situation. Absolutely nothing.

If, between now and mid-March, you have any significant updates to let Admissions know about, you can certainly update the portal, but as 97.7% of deferred students are NOT accepted in the RD round – it’s time for you to move on, and embrace colleges that want you.

I posted a thread for deferred students, and if you have not read it, you should: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1945074-omg-i-got-deferred-now-what.html#latest.

8

@Multiverse7 Yeah, that’s what I will most probably do. Thanks for your concern and advise!

9

@gibby Yeah, I think you are right; maybe admissions officers captured that tone my application. However, it was never of my intention to do so; I was merely inexperienced to know that they will not charge me on basis of my school and thus tried compensating for my weak activities by showing myself in the best possible light. I even tried to convey in my essays my realization that I still have a lot to learn by saying that I will (quoted from the essay) “hoping for…and will keep working to understand…”. I am really sad that I ruined my chance at my dream college by my inexperience, but I gotta move on. Will you have the time to read my essay and tell me whether I should change it as not to ruin my chances at other colleges by coming with the same tone?

As a side-note, if I unintentionally spoke to anyone on CC in a way that conveyed that I am superior to them or anything similar, then I am really sorry–just know that I never meant it.

10

I know.

Unfortunately, my schedule doesn’t permit me to work with students on their essay(s) as the process involves too many back-and-forth messages – initially with just my comments, but then the student revises their essay(s) and the process continues with further editing, refining, polishing and sometimes reworking an entire essay. I just don’t have the time for that these days.

I find it best to think of the college application essay as if you are writing a short film script with descriptions and dialogue. This article might be of some help: http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/articles-and-advice/admission/articles/application-essay-clinic/how-use-dialogue-write-attention-grabbing-application-essay/

Make sure to show your completed essays to your recommendation writers for their comments, as this will give you some much needed feedback from teachers who know you well.

11

@gibby Never mind. Anyways, thank you for the help you gave all along my journey to apply for Harvard. Now I am certain I will be rejected, but I got out with lots of lessons, many of which are attributed to you.

Thanks :slight_smile:

12

I am private messaging you. I have read many essays that overstate interest in an area of study and overstate goals: often young people say they want to cure cancer, that kind of thing. You may have overstated something about your interest or accomplishments in physics and then didn’t have the goods to back it up when they asked.

But I doubt very much that is the reason for the deferral. As Gibby said, admission rate is very very low for internationals, and only something incredibly impressive would have helped you get in early(which they asked for to make sure they weren’t missing something). I know your environment doesn’t offer research opportunities, and no one would reject you for that.

13

Also, when people say they are best fitted to Harvard, it sounds like they don’t really know much about the school or, especially, about other schools. I am not saying prestige is your goal, but many people know the Harvard name and don’t know much about other colleges. So it might help you to really look into other colleges and universities and learn more.

14

You’re now applying to other most-selective colleges. Make sure you know what they like and look for.