<p>March 31, 2005</p>
<p>Mr. Mike Anh Nguyen</p>
<p>Dear Mr. Nguyen,</p>
<p>I am delighted to inform you that the Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid has voted to offer you a place in the Harvard Class of 2009. Following an old Harvard tradition, a certificate of admission is enclosed. Please accept my personal congratulations for your outstanding achievements.</p>
<p>This year nearly twenty-three thousand students applied for the sixteen hundred and fifty places in the entering class. Faced with many more talented and highly qualified candidates than it had room to admit, the Admissions Committee took great care to choose individuals with exceptional character as well as unusual academic and extracurricular strengths. The Committee is convinced that you will make important contributions during your college years and beyond.</p>
<p>Our faculty and students extend a special invitation for you to visit Cambridge over the next few weeks. If you feel a visit would be helpful in making your final college choice, we hope you will take advantage of this opportunity. An invitation is enclosed.</p>
<p>We need to know by May 3 (an extension of the normal May 1 deadline due to the late date of our visiting weekend) whether or not you plan to accept our offer of admission and have enclosed a return postcard to facilitate your reply. If you accept admission for this coming September, further information will be sent to you over the summer by the Freshman Dean's Office. Each year some admitted students choose to defer entrance for a year and find their many and varied experiences extremely rewarding. If you would like to defer, please tell us about your alternative plans.</p>
<p>Among the enclosed materials you will find a final School Report Form, which must be completed by your school counselor and returned to us at the end of this academic year. The Committee on Admissions reserves the right to withdraw its offer of admission under certain conditions described on the postcard enclosed for your response.</p>
<p>We have a longstanding commitment to meet the financial needs of our admitted students. No limit has been set on the financial resources devoted to making the College fully accessible to all students of promise, and we have a firm policy of making supportive offers of need-based financial aid. We encourage you to contact us now or at any time during your years here if you have questions or concerns about financial aid or if you have additional information that might be helpful to us in understanding your family's financial circumstances.</p>
<p>I very much hope that you will decide to join us at Harvard. We have enclosed a statement about Harvard's opportunities which might be helpful to you in making your college choice. Whatever your decision may be, you have my best wishes for every future success.</p>
<p>Sincerely,
William R. Fitzsimmons
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid</p>
<p>This e-mail message is sent for your convenience. A letter sent by post will confirm the decision of the Harvard College Admissions Committee.</p>
<p>This is a post-only email. Please do not reply to this address.</p>
<hr>
<p>Unfortunately, some of my friends got this version:</p>
<p>Dear (OMITTED),</p>
<p>I am very sorry to inform you that it is not possible to offer you
admission to the Class of 2009. I wish I were writing to report a
different decision, but the competition was so rigorous this year that
there were many outstanding young men and women to whom we could not offer places in the class.</p>
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