<p>Thank you JHS, that was very helpful and thorough.</p>
<p>@texaspg Oh, I completely agree. Sorry I wasn’t clear, I was answering the question asked two posts above mine: “So basically I can commit to a school that accepts me, but remain on the waitlist at other schools so that I may change my mind if I’m accepted?”</p>
<p>Last year they took approximately 80 off the waitlist-- they seemed to come in tranches – the first in the middle of May the second (much smaller number) at the beginning of June and a few at the end of June with a shut off by 1 July or so. </p>
<p>It is critical that you let your AdCom know in absolutely clear terms that Harvard is your number 1 choice and if accepted off the waitlist you will accept. If you can’t in good conscience write that and mean it-- then do not stay on the waitlist. You won’t be accepted anyway.</p>
<p>Do NOT bombard the AdCom Regional Rep with lots of emails-- send one immediately accepting the wait list, thanking them for the honor of being on it and re-iterating your absolute desire to go to Harvard.–Short and sweet.</p>
<p>If something significant happens-- you win a major prize, get a recording deal–you know-- then drop the AdCom Rep another email. Remember it is a fine line of making he or she have you at the forefront of his or her mind and being a pain in the butt.</p>
<p>Also, expect that there are a few kids who just just missed the cut on 1 April and that the Committee expects to take them as soon as there is any movement–they are usually the first tranche kids. The others are those who fit a need–the physics kid, the poet, the dancer etc. There is little you can do to determine what they are looking for.</p>
<p>For those of you who get wait-listed, please do not take it that you are either second rate or that you are going to be on the bottom of the 2015 class. I was the last person accepted to my medical school class (“Can you get here by 9 am? If so, the place is yours, if you are not here then, someone else will get your spot.”–No joke) Four years later I was the valedictorian. At my speech I started off by saying that the Gospel was right-- that the last shall be first-- and told that story-- it was the first time my classmates ever knew. It never stopped me, and if you get in to Harvard as the last admit–you will deserve to be there as much as the first admit, and you can have just as great a Harvard career. Don’t ever let anyone one make you feel otherwise.</p>
<p>However, as the chances are slim, start getting excited about that fantastic school to which you accepted its offer. After you write the letter to the Regional Rep, let it go and try (impossible I know) to put Harvard out of your mind–at least as much as you can. If the phone call comes (and it always comes first with a call and then an email…) terrific and go wild. But if it doesn’t don’t go to where it is you do go thinking that it is your second choice.</p>
<p>The old admissions director at Amherst used to write a great rejection letter saying that admissions committees make mistakes–lots of them-- show us that we made a mistake with your application. I know because I got it. Years later he was on my fellowships panel-- I recognized his name and at the cocktail party went over and introduced myself–I told him not to make the same mistake twice-- I found out later that he was my biggest booster in committee and I won the fellowship. He wrote and told me that I was right that he had made a mistake before–let it be the same to you.</p>
<p>Best of luck tomorrow ladies and gentlemen and remember–if you are accepted, rejected or wait listed-- it wasn’t you they did that to-- it was a paper representation of you on your application. Have a brilliant college career, where-ever you land.</p>
<p>^ Great great post, thank you so much. I was really lost after my UChicago waitlist (btw, your son is awesome for coming up with that prompt still).</p>
<p>^ty. I’ll let him know. He has been thrilled that so many people seemed to like writing their essays using it.</p>
<p>Best of luck tomorrow, but regardless of the outcome, never let it define who you are–or what you can become. </p>
<p>BTW–he took a gap year and worked in an inner city school-- he said it was one of the best decisions he ever made. If you get into Harvard, you will receive an essay by Fitzsimmons and McGrath-Lewis extolling gap years. They aren’t kidding, and I am so glad my S took them up on the offer.</p>
<p>Ah! I was wondering why the supplement only said “admitted student.” Ended up at Harvard? Totally deserving.</p>
<p>If you do accept a wait list offer, does that mean you have to attend the school if they offer you a place? What if your wait listed school was your number one, but over the summer you got excited about the other school whose offer you accepted, and don’t want to go to your former number one anymore?</p>
<p>^No. it’s just a spot on the WL. If they come back and offer you a spot, you’re still free to decline it.</p>
<p>You don’t have to say yes if you are accepted off the wait list, but do everyone a favor and withdraw from the wait list if at any point during the summer you decide that the school that accepted you has become #1.</p>
<p>It is important for all of those both wait-listed and at the school you have accepted that you let them know as soon as you decide. If you get in off an wait-list and accept it-- call the old college asap. Likewise, if you know you don’t want the wait list, then withdraw from it. Aside from being immoral to string people who want the spot you are hogging along, the rules are that you cannot have two colleges simultaneously thinking you will be attending. </p>
<p>Seriously, lots of people in all of the colleges to which you are applying would be delighted to take your place–do not let their waiting be prolonged because you want to “see” what might happen or want to collect acceptances.</p>
<p>JHS and etondad both provided very good posts that check out against my experience. If you’re waitlisted, the odds are slim that you’ll be accepted, and it’s a very good idea to fall in love with the best place that took you. </p>
<p>Last year’s waitlist thread (at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/898910-harvard-waitlist-waiting-room-2014-thread.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/898910-harvard-waitlist-waiting-room-2014-thread.html</a>) eventually compiled a list of more than 160 waitlistees (who probably represented a small percentage of the total). Sixteen people reported that they were accepted (12 accepted to class of 2014, and 4 via the “z-list” to 2015). That might make it seem that there’s a 1 in 10 chance of getting in, but the odds are probably lower because of a reporting bias. Some people signed on to that thread only to report that they had been accepted off the list; not much of anyone signed on to say they’d been rejected.</p>
<p>But if Harvard is your dream, hang in. Make sure the regional rep knows you still want Harvard, and send along any significant good news. You should have a final answer by the end of June. I was lucky – it worked for me last year. I had signed on at another Ivy, but I could never shake the feeling that I was supposed to be at Harvard. At the end of June I got the phone call: if I took a gap year, Harvard would give me a place in 2015. It was an easy decision.</p>
<p>etondad: great post! I think I know your med school room-mate who told me the story of how you got that call to be there by 9 AM! Anyway, your first post is full of wonderful advice and is so well written. A pleasure to read.</p>
<p>entondad, thank you very much for posting! Excellent story, about you and the waiting list. :)</p>
<p>Wow, I would create this thread and end up getting waitlisted. Hahahahaha</p>