Admitted! It feels unreal.

Millancad
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 12:45:15 +0000

^It’s very, very low. Under 100 students. I’ve heard 10 passed around for previous years, but unless everyone with an LL here is a liar (it’s entirely possible), it seems the number may have gone up, perhaps to 50. Harvard doesn’t give them out like, say, Dartmouth. Not even like Yale.

Consider that Harvard admits, what, slightly over 2000 students a year. So, even at 50, about 2% of applicants who will be accepted get likelies. Not getting one is hardly a sign that you won’t be admitted. Likelies are not to be expected. They shouldn’t even really be hoped for. Not getting one doesn’t even say that you’re not an amazing applicant, since they’re given out not (for the most part) on the basis of exceptional merit but rather are about what Harvard is recruiting for in a particular year.

If you don’t get a likely from your top Ivy/Uni that gives out LLs, don’t freak. If you don’t get an Early Write from your top LAC, don’t freak. If you don’t get a special contact from schools that don’t do LLs/Early Writes, don’t freak. All of these things are too rare to say anything other than that people with them are/will be in.