<p>You open your email and it says CONGRATULATIONS!...</p>
<p>You open your email and it says "We will postpone your decision until April"...</p>
<p>You open your email and it says "We're sorry to inform you"...</p>
<p>(just to hopefully loosen up some anxiety)</p>
<p>Melt.</p>
<p>Melt.</p>
<p>Melt.</p>
<p>Hehe Candle</p>
<p>go into a coma</p>
<p>feel good that they are considering my app, at least, and then start working on other apps</p>
<p>start working on other apps</p>
<p>1) Sign out and sign back in to see if the e-mail is still there.
2) Expect it, but nevertheless be somewhat disappointed.
3) The sooner the better? (I think I will get deferred, then rejected).</p>
<p>Smash the computer joyfully</p>
<p>Smash the computer wrathfully</p>
<p>Smash the computer lovingly</p>
<p>Accepted:
Eat ice cream, call everyone I know to scream into the piece</p>
<p>Deferred:
Eat ice cream, worry about starting college apps (because I probably won't start them until like.. Dec. 29 <em>lazy</em>)</p>
<p>Rejected:
Eat ice cream, eat ice cream, eat ice cream, then start my college apps unless I decide to become a hobo.</p>
<p>Except I don't really care that much about getting rejected/deferred, come to think of it. I already got accepted to one school, so I'll probably go there if I don't get into H.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
December 14, 2004</p>
<p>Dear Mr. [last name],</p>
<p>The Committee on Admissions has just completed its Early Action meetings
during which your application for admission was reviewed. After very
careful consideration, we were unable to take a definite action on your
candidacy at this time and therefore have deferred our decision until the
regular spring meetings.</p>
<p>Please be assured that your entire application will be considered again
thoroughly. While it is impossible to predict individual admission
decisions, in recent years students whose applications were deferred have
been admitted at various rates, at times close to those for Regular Action
candidates. We will communicate the Committee's decision to you in April.</p>
<p>We hope you will write to us if you have new information to add to your
application materials. Recent grades or test results, activities, honors,
or other accomplishments would be of interest to the Committee as it
reviews your application again in the spring meetings.</p>
<p>Please let us know if we can be of further assistance. You have our best
wishes for a rewarding and productive year.</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.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>I remember weeping a bit. It was pretty hard, especially since I had a function to go to right after I found out. But I took it all in stride later on, though.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
March 31, 2005</p>
<p>Dear Mr. [last name],</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.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>Total elation. I remember screaming and hugging my mom and my younger brother. Then I had to go to another function that evening. It's funny how the world works. Best of luck, guys!</p>
<p>My reactions were fairly similar to xjayz's- I was also deferred, then accepted. I didn't feel THAT bad when I got deferred, actually- my mood would best be described as "bummed out"- and after I looked at the other colleges that were out there, I felt much better, since I knew that I'd find one I would really be thrilled to attend.</p>
<p>I applied to 14 schools (was accepted to 11, if you were wondering), and I can honestly say that I would have been happy going to any one of them, and would have been truly elated to have gone to any of about 7 of them. This is the secret to a successful college application process- find a good number of colleges you really like. It's much better than putting one school up on a pedastal and thinking ONLY about that school.</p>
<p>So, in short, I'd say this- the best way to prepare for a deferral isn't to stock up on ice cream, or to lower your expectations- it's to learn enough about other schools out there that you won't feel like you lost your one chance at your dream education (because, after all, you haven't).</p>
<p>Seriously- perspective is your friend.</p>
<p>1) Ummm........dunno, we'll wait and see? Probably pray :P haha....well, let's see...and burn all the apps
2) sigh, and dig out those apps in the "ready to burn pile" and start on them
3) laugh, I guess I tried... and dig out those apps in the "ready to burn pile" and start on them</p>
<p>:P</p>
<p>let's go backwards</p>
<p>3) REJECT: self-worth completely deflated...the personality shown through those essays must have been outrageously insulting to get me rejected outright
2) DEFER: perhaps my family will be very supportive this holiday season-cough guitar hero cough
1) ACCEPT: the typical elation and all...then i shall finally be able to coax my parents into allowing me this certain freedom. whew.</p>
<p>and to Admiral, i just read your post now. </p>
<p>it's very sensible, having a variety of schools one will enjoy, and i'm with you a hundred percent there. but i'm superduper worried about the amount of time it'll take for me to recover from something like a college rejection. i think a lot of us here are just so inexperienced when it comes to things of this sort...i have a faint feeling though that come our hypothetical rejections, we'll still carry on just fine with schoolwork, friends, young love, etc, however unlikely that seems right now.</p>
<p>i've succeeded in making myself feel warm and fuzzy once again x]</p>
<p>In one year, I received 3 decisions from Harvard.</p>
<p>The first was received with shock and oblivion.
The second was received with mangled hope.
The third was received with shock and oblivion, and after I understood what it meant a good amount of time later, elation.</p>
<p>The most bizarre part about the third decision was that I was not anticipating it and didn't know that it would come.</p>
<p>Regardless of what decision you receive, you will feel a little shock. The anticipation of reading what is on that email or letter before you understand what it says will get your heart racing.</p>
<p>It's exciting, but, in the big swing of things, it's not totally important. College will be what you make of it, and where you are shouldn't have too much of an effect on that. I know you all have been hearing that a lot, but it's true.</p>
<p>My reaction
Accepted: shock!
Deferred: umm. okay.. let's look at other schools
Rejected: !!!!! Madness!!</p>
<p>To Admiral and Xjayz:
Did you send extra material to Harvard after being deferred in December?</p>
<p>Elfelf- I actually did, although I have no way of knowing whether it helped. I know a few people who got deferred, didn't send anything, and were accepted.</p>
<p>I sent in a letter just letting the school know that Harvard was still my first choice, and that I'd commit to attending if I was accepted in the spring. (My GC suggested it), and I also informed them of more recent achievements I'd done since I sent in my application.</p>
<p>It's probably a good idea to send them a letter saying something along those lines (although if you're not sure Harvard is your first choice, by all means don't say that). If you've revised or replaced one or more of your essays, you can also send the new one in- they'll look at it with the RD pile.</p>
<p>Anyway, good luck, everyone!</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, Admiral!</p>
<p>"Cool, hopefully Stanford feels the same way."
"Great, I probably have a good shot at some other good schools."
"Oh well, I expected this anyways. I wonder whats on TV?"</p>
<p>Being defered wouldn't be so bad. It would mean that you are qualified enough to go to a top school, you just got unlucky. It would be great for confidence.</p>