Remember there is no verification for the truth of any of the previous statements on this forum. I have never heard of interviews for waitlisted applicants at any school much less Harvard so I’d advise everyone on here to take what they read with a grain of salt. Also, I would seriously doubt that they would divulge the information that they are accepting just 10 applicants off the waitlist given what has happened in past years. Take a deep breath, stop believing everyone on here, and wait patiently until we all ultimately hear.
I fully agree with you, boston617781.
People from last year who got interviews after getting waitlisted eventually got into the Z list, according to reddit. But I definitely aggre with you boston617781
The yield rates across the Ivy League seem to be coming out later this year, especially if nothing happens today (doesn’t look like it will).
so has anyone heard anything today?
I don’t think all people who are z-listed are interviewed. A classmate of mine who applied for the class of 2019 and was accepted for 2020 only ever submitted a letter of continued interest and wasn’t interviewed. She mentioned she honestly forgot she was on the Harvard Waitlist since she was ready to go to Amherst College, but she got the z-list call out of the blue well into the summer. She mentioned that she sent in new AP scores, so I suspect she was notified in July. Bottom line: if you aren’t cut, suspect nothing ill of your fate. The only thing that indicates you aren’t in the running is literally being told by Admissions themselves you are not being admitted. I’m taking the possible interviews and rumors as positive markers that we won’t ALL be cut like last year: if there are spots, it’s most likely in the tens of spots. Patience will tell all.
I’m somewhat curious why the general delay… I’m wondering if increasing competitiveness is leading to a general decline in cross admits, causing higher yield rates across the top 15 or so schools.
@d1149512 , Are the higher yield rates caused by the reason that these schools are better selecting the most fit students?
Nah… I think it’s just that of the people getting into Harvard, fewer are getting into YPSM because of increasing randomness. Given the high correlation between admission to those places and turning down Harvard… up goes the yield at Harvard.
Same for the others- fewer that got into penn probably got into Brown or Duke, and vice versa. All the schools where great stats alone aren’t enough I think will be affected. I’m not feeling great about my general waitlist chances…
What is the Z list?
People who get in, but have to take a gap year before they can attend. By the way, I suspect it’s included in the EA numbers of the year they attend. Otherwise, it seems they would be above 1665 pretty much every year.
Double posted with @crimsonvquaker: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/4/3/the-legend-of-the-z-list/
@gibby Since you seem to be one of the people with the most insight in regards to the WL on this thread, I was wondering; do you have any thoughts on why the yield and waitlist numbers are so slow to come out this year?
^^ Admissions may have had a number of cross-admitted students who are now having “buyers remorse” and have changed their mind about accepting a slot at another college and now want a spot at Harvard. It’s a common phenomena that has become more prevalent in the past several years. Google “The College Admissions Process Is Like Buying a New House.” Or search CC for similar threads on the topic. Here’s one from 5 years ago: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1500311-buyers-remorse-over-college-decision.html
The yield numbers are not that slow. As I said earlier, they were released 5/10 last year and 5/11 the year before. The waitlist numbers are never released this early. I’m not even sure that they are ever “officially” released - more like word of mouth, but @gibby may track that more closely than I do.
Usually the crimson publishes it around May 10. I’m assuming what they mean by “officially released”.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/5/10/class-2021-yield/
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/05/yield-remains-high-for-class-of-2020/
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/5/15/class-2019-yield-81-percent/
granted, in 2015 it was on the 15th, so you are right, Monday/Tuesday would be a fairly normal time for it to come out. I wouldn’t say “never released this early”- last two years it was on the 10th and 11th. Either way, we’ll know soon enough…
Sorry if I was unclear. As I said, the yield was revealed on those dates; the “never released this early” comment referred to the waitlist, and I was specifically referring to an official number taken off the waitlist. We can all to the math, which is really all that’s mentioned in the articles (emphasis mine):
2017: “In part due to the high yield, Fitzsimmons believes it is “highly unlikely” that any students will be admitted from the waitlist.”
2016: “This year’s high yield means that only about 40 to 50 applicants will be admitted from the waitlist.”
2015" “The Office of Admissions and Financial Aid also expects to admit about 60 to 70 applicants from the waitlist in the coming weeks, marking a slight uptick from the 20 students they intended to accept from the waitlist at this time last year.”
I agree, but a rough estimate is far superior to speculation in a situation like this, especially because most of said estimates seem to have been fairly accurate. I’m guessing they’ll take around 40 off the waitlist and probably 20 Z listers, but at this point that’s just a guess.
Do any of the admins or more experienced members of this thread (mainly addressing @gibby and @skieurope) have any take on some of the earlier posts that said those who called the admissions office were told that only 10 people would be admitted of WL? Is that rumor or is there a chance that could be true?