What is the deferred-admittance rate, and do yal think there I have a shot?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Got deferred early from Harvard, friend told me about this site and I figure why not ask around. Thanks for any ideas on what I should send in, my chances, etc</p>

<p>SAT: 1580 (800 M / 780 V)</p>

<p>SAT2: 740 MIC, 710 MIIC, 740 Writing, 690 US Hist, 690 English</p>

<p>AP: 5 Statistics, 5 US Hist, 4 English</p>

<p>Current Classes: Honors Humanities, AP Modern Euro, Spanish 4, AP BC Calc, AP Bio, International Relations; taking hardest classes available. </p>

<p>GPA: 3.558 for soph/jr year combined, 3.783 for first quarter of senior year. </p>

<p>School: Our school leaves them weighted, and it is on a 4=A, .5 extra for
AP/Honors. So highest possible is 4.5 if you had all As in all APs. I am about 8-15 range out of 70 students in my grade, in a very competitive school. People have gotten into Dartmouth, JHU, Williams, Yale, Stanford, Duke, UVA, William and Mary, etc. </p>

<p>Extra Curricular: Dorm council (student council for boarders, elected by 40 other boarders), Varsity Squash 3 years, Basketball (AAU + School), Academic “A” Team for 3 years (One of the top teams in the nation, have won numerous scholarships and $), Science A Team 3 years, Model Organizations general committees, School Play.</p>

<p>Other activities: Stand up comedy (performed at club), Worked at Ben and Jerrys for 2 and 1/2 years, worked for rivals100.com for two years. Both paid well </p>

<p>Dad went to Harvard/Duke Med. Mom went to Brown/Harvard SOPH. I spent summer between soph/jr years at Amherst taking classes. Summer between jr/sr years at Harvard taking classes, which I got 8 credits for (received B+ in both classes). The SSP thing, got a reference from teacher.</p>

<p>Submitted extra materials from Academic team tournament (Scholarship info (have won close to $2000 or so for my school with team) and program from the night I did the standup comedy set. Essays were good, as were recs, although I didnt see them. Just assuming, I mean not like the teacher is gonna bash me. </p>

<p>Oh right, received a couple honors:
-Honor roll after sophomore year, high honors after junior year
-National Merit Commendation
-AP Scholar
-Ben Carson Nominee (8th grade so not that big deal)
-Academic team has won a crapload of stuff. </p>

<p>Located in Virginia</p>

2

<p>So you are a legacy? That should still give you a big edge, even if you were deferred. (The overall legacy admit rate is nearly 40% in most years.) Your SATs look fine, though the class standing may be a bit low. Any classmates apply/get admitted to Harvard? Generally, the deferred admit-rate is similar to the RD admit rate, which means 6-8%, depending on the number of RD apps filed.</p>

<p>Did you have an alumni interview at the EA stage?</p>

3

<p>The reason for your deferral is beyond me. I don't understand how you could've been deffered with stats like that/legacy status.</p>

<p>Anyway, the admittance rate for deferrals is around the same as RD, so it's actually around 10% - Byerly's estimate was a little off...</p>

4

<p>legacy, father went there, mother went there for grad school, and aunt went there. class standing is low, although our class is insanely smart. dartmouth, stanford, williams, duke, uva, william and mary, columbia. had 2 deferred from yale (although neither should have been), and myself and another deferred from harvard. two years ago, 3 people from our school applied, and two got into harvard and go there now. </p>

<p>also i did have an interview, and it went pretty well I thought. My dad does interviews as well, but mentioned that interviews dont effect things that much. </p>

<p>what would you say as to the odds now?</p>

5

<p>Your odds of getting in are not all that great. It's around 10-15%.</p>

6

<p>I expect that there will be 835 slots to be filled from the combined RD/EA deferred pool, since roughly 805 of the approx. 1,640 total slots will have been filled from the EA pool.</p>

<p>The combined EA deferred (3,000) and RD (estimated 16,100) pool will be 19,100.</p>

<p>Assuming the same 72% yield from this pool as last year, Harvard will have to admit 1,160 from the RD/EA deferred pool.</p>

<p>This will mean an admit rate of 6% from this pool. If there are more than 16,100 RD apps (a 2% increase over last year) the admit rate from this pool will be lower than 6%. You might theoretically have a better shot as a legacy - even though you have already been deferred, but I'd certainly let them know if your class standing has risen. -</p>

<p>I disagree strongly with your father about the potential impact of the interview. In close cases, it can make the difference, and you are - at best - a close case. I'd contact your interviewer and ask for his "advice," and I'd cast about for another letter of recomnmendation from someone who can play up your "strengths" - whatever they may be.</p>

7

<p>I dont understand why you were deferred in the first place...</p>

8

<p>well he does interviews, and candidates that have been very, very good have gotten deferred and rejected, and mediocre candidates have gotten in. all luck of draw really i guess.</p>

<p>i will be sending several more letters or recommendation, etc, and i have one from my teacher this summer at Harvard SSP. the grades are the big problem, but my school has gotten two people in to harvard with grades relatively close to what i had first quarter (the equivalent of an A- in regular class or B+ in ap/honors). about a dozen kids this year got in early to ivy league/top tier schools already.</p>

<p>any other opinions? id be grateful, thanks</p>

9

<p>i know these things are worthless, and they do nothing in actuality. but it just gives me some barometer of where i stand. </p>

<p>my personal assessment is that my strong points are obviously the SAT, thati was up there this summer, recommendations, improvement in grades, and ECs. Weaknesses obviously grades, and to an extent SAT2s. Legacy helps, but id say no more than 25-30, especially considering hearing about some of the people my dad has interviewed that got rejected. At least i got deferred though haha.</p>

10

<p>excellent SAT I, average SAT IIs, good scores on the AP exams, below average GPA, okay extras
i don't know how much legacy helps for harvard but i'd say you and I have similar chances...
i guess it hinges on your essays and recs..</p>

11

<p>Actually I remember reading in A is for Admissions that legacies who ordinarily would be rejected outright or will most likely be rejected in the RD round are simply given a "polite deferral" so as not to seriously offend their parents/grandparents. So if you're a legacy and you've been deferred, you may really have no chance at all.</p>

<p>Sorry, just an idea.</p>

12

<p>haha while that is true, i am fairly confident i wouldnt have been rejected early, regardless of legacy. no to be an ass, but i did well enough on sat that it shouldnt be an issue. while you hvae a point, i am pretty sure i am in the league of harvard at least, good enough not to be rejected early, but who knows what happens regular.</p>

13

<p>As Byerly and others will certainly assert, the "polite deferral" applies more to Yale, Stanford, and other schools where a significant proportion of early applicants are actually deferred early.</p>

14

<p>I question that because Yale actually rejected many of the ea applicants while Harvard deferred more and rejected a lot fewer.</p>

15

<p>*whoops... i meant rejected, not deferred</p>

16

<p>so thats probably a helpful in my case, although even though I have a bunch of legacy connections, none of them are like uber givers to Harvard, even though all still keep in touch, do interviews, give occasionally, etc</p>

17

<p>anyone else have ideas on chances?</p>