I am an international student who got deferred at Harvard in the EA round. Seeing that in so many cases (I’ve seen this phrase used extensively in the forums lately) a deferral is just a polite rejection, as well as only the best of the best international people are taken in (which I clearly wasn’t because I was not accepted during the EA round), would it be fair to infer from this that admission to Harvard is highly unlikely for me?
Could getting deferred from Harvard be a forewarning of getting rejected RA in other schools? I am obviously aware that the admission processes are different at these schools, but seeing that all prestigious institutions such as the Ivy League accept only the best internationals - which again I am not due to reasons stated above - could I make assumptions about the admissions decisions at these other schools as well?
I am not really looking for words of sympathy; in fact, I think I have made it quite clear that cold truth and negativity is what I seek. Sure, hearing “You gotta believe in yourself” is reassuring but it does not lessen the pain of getting rejected on Ivy Day, whereas dealing with such rejections ahead can help.
Only about 2.3% of deferred applicants to Harvard are accepted in the RD round, so you (and all deferred applicants) should come to terms with the fact that Harvard will probably reject you or put you on the waitlist. That’s the cold-hard reality.
Yes, maybe, too little information to realistically know.
Every college looks for different qualities in their applicants depending on institutional needs. For example, if college-X recruited several tuba players LAST YEAR, chances are they are not looking for tuba players THIS YEAR. If you are a tuba player and applying this year, chances don’t bode well for you at college-X. However, that may not be true at college-Z. That is why some top applicants are rejected from Harvard while they are accepted to Princeton. Or vice-versa.
All that said, your overall chances as an international are NOT the same as a US applicant. That’s because most US colleges limit the number of international students to about 10% to 11% of an incoming class. IMHO, all international students applying to the five US colleges that offer need-blind and full-need aid to International Students (https://www.internationalstudent.com/schools_awarding_aid/) should NOT expect to be accepted to any of them, as virtually every international student applying to a US college has also submitted their application to the same exact schools making the competition extremely fierce. That’s just the reality when only 5 colleges in the entire US offer need-blind and full-need aid.
Everything you say about getting deferred by Harvard in the SCEA round could just as easily be said about applying to Harvard, or to any comparable university, especially as an international applicant. Only a iny percentage of applicants is accepted. As soon as you apply, you are overwhelmingly likely not to be accepted. You applied anyway in spite of that, because your small chance of being accepted if you apply is infinitely greater than your nonexistent chance of being accepted if you don’t apply.
Applying to Ivy League-type universities as an international applicant is always a hope, not a plan. You have to be prepared for rejection, and know what you want to do if that happens.