Update Letter

Hey CC,

I was deferred in the early action round November of last year. I’m thinking of sending H a physical 1 page letter outlining some of the awards and progress I have had with my extracurriculars.

The thing is, one fairly significant potential award and its results I’m waiting on won’t come out until early February (5th-8th). My question is, should I wait until the results come out to send my letter or should I send my letter earlier (and when earlier) in case they’ve already seen/dismiss my file by then? Thanks!

Don’t wait for the award. Show them the work that could potentially earn you the award.

My gut feeling - if you are a strong enough candidate that awards in the last few months might tip the balance in your favor, your application would not be dismissed so quickly. The corollary - if your application has already been dismissed by that time, it’s unlikely any awards would have make a difference.

@BldrDad Do you know when admission officers convene for the regular decision round?

I think @gibby can better answer that.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/7/7/stairway-to-harvard-span-stylefont-style-italicthis/

If you read the above article, subcommittee meetings occur between now and about March 1st, where the Regional Admissions Director and other AO’s go through applications from their geographic areas and compare candidates. The strongest applications are then brought to the full committee meeting, which in past years met from around March 1st to March 19th. I would think that anytime a student sends in an update letter, the material is added to their file, and the sub-committee gives the applicant another look.