<p>They are expensive but have NO correlation with your eventually being admitted or not. It’s advertising. Do you feel special because you’ve received those items? The advertising worked.</p>
<p>I bet it is SAT and ACT and psat related. Colleges may not have gotten your actual score from the companies but got a list of kids who placed in the top percentiles etc. That box you did or didn’t check about colleges contacting you for scholarships and special opportunities? Yeah… I checked that box as a naive freshman… minimum eight letters and postcards a day. Darn you standardized testing!</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter if you check the box on the PSAT/SAT or not. I didn’t, and neither did most of my friends, yet we got 10+ letters and postcards and 20+ emails per day from colleges for months. It’s not as hectic now (at least not in terms of snail mail), but I still get some pretty expensive-looking stuff from schools on a weekly basis; Swat sent me a documentary last week, Yale just sent me a book-like brochure, and today I received a thick folder packed with Bennington swag. It’s crazy that they think I’m gonna fall for all that. </p>
<p>Thanks College Board! :/</p>
<p>@ecstatia… Absolutely no correlation… Experience from my brother and his schoolmates who all got accepted to Ivys and very selective Liberal Arts… I get those books from some Ivys too, but my bro’s like… “it’s just advertising. Not gonna affect if you’re gonna get in or not AT ALL, so don’t be so excited.” Yes, even the Ivys and top liberal arts do send advertisement brochures with (maybe) your name to make you feel special so that you’d apply for their school. Just as T26E4 said, advertising apparently worked <em>applauding the schools</em></p>
<p>Is the admissions office closed for Thanksgiving already? I had an AO contact me via email about sending in some supplementary materials (they got word that I am a student playwright and wanted some sampling of my work), and I sent the AO a return email with a few attachments (I asked her if email attachments were fine, she confirmed that I could submit through attached files). I have yet to get a confirmation from her stating she’s received them. Do you think she has and just didn’t send confirmation?</p>
<p>It may already be closed, but regardless, don’t contact them just yet–you’ll seem too needy. Try waiting a week, and if she doesn’t respond, email her back or call the office.</p>
<p>Ah, it has been a while since I’ve checked up on this thread; so, how’s everyone holding up? I get the week off for Thanksgiving, which is giving me some much-neeeded time to finish up my other college applications…</p>
<p>Anyway, while we wait, I have a question for you all: what do you think separates deferral from acceptance during SCEA? Harvard’s stance seems to be that they will only admit someone during REA if the same individual would definitely get in during regular; but how do you think Harvard determines this? I’m curious as to opinions of what sets apart the accepted applicants from the deferred. That’s something I’ve been pondering over the last couple of weeks.</p>
<p>Anyway, happy early Thanksgiving to all in the United States; being highly-motivated Harvard applicants, we have a lot to be thankful for.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s one specific thing that sets accepted applicants from deferred applicants in the early round. Perhaps someone’s CA essay moved everyone to tears, or maybe someone had a 4.00 UW GPA with a 2400 SAT score and all 800s on Subject Tests, or perhaps someone had amazing academics AND a stellar essay AND showed true passion in her ECs. Based on my conversations with admissions officers at multiple top-20 schools, including Harvard, it really can be the most random detail that gets someone accepted, and that goes for the early round, too. </p>
<p>If I had to guess, though, the amount of support an applicant receives from the admission committee would affect his acceptance/deferral status; if everyone loves you, you’re solid, but if a few people have some qualms, you could get pushed to the regular round.</p>
<p>Ya’ll, I can’t deal with this wait right now. I just want to get my deferral/rejection and move on with my life.</p>
<p>i agree collegeluva^^^ this wait is absoutely torture</p>
<p>The wait is horrendous, but I must admit—taking a three week break from the Harvard sub-forum eased my wait so much. Honestly, the period from like October 15th to November 3rd felt like a year to me (I was borderline-compulsive in checking this forum), but the last few weeks have just flown by (during which I checked this forum only once). I can’t believe I have next week at school, and then the following week is the decision. Wow.</p>
<p>I read someone’s post on here the other day that summed it up perfectly: some days I feel like I’m a great candidate who offers a lot to Harvard, other days I feel like a deferral is inevitable. </p>
<p>The best thing to do is just wait and not worry too much though—oh, and eat ice cream; lots of ice cream.</p>
<p>Sometimes I close my eyes and imagine that it’s the day they announce the decisions and I’m logging in to my email account and clicking on the email and I have a semi heart attack.</p>
<p>I suppose while we all know that deferral is statistically most likely, it doesn’t quite hit us until it happens; likewise, I cannot even imagine the feeling of actually getting in.</p>
<p>I’m actually curious now: does anyone have access screen caps of SCEA Harvard decision emails from last year? I really want to be prepared.</p>
<p>I really dont know how I feel right now.Sometimes I’m like boundlessly excited and some times am endlessly nervous. God! why couldnt I go to sleep right now, wake up and find its dec 13th already! :(</p>
<p>You should freeze yourself like Eric Cartman did. And have someone unfreeze you on December 13th :D</p>
<p>I tell myself that I’m ready to be rejected or deferred, but I know deep down that I have a huge, huge hope that I’ll be accepted right away… not sure how I’ll handle my imminent deferral haha. That’s why I’m *trying to get all my other college apps done before Harvard releases their decision. This way, if I’m super depressed I’ll still have all my other apps done and it won’t affect my work in my other applications. Not sure if I’ll succeed, I just counted and I still have 58 essays (including short answer) to write before mid December. Is anyone else trying to do this?</p>
<p>@WeIsCool, I feel exactly how you do. I keep telling myself and others that I have pretty much embraced my inevitable deferral/rejection, but internally I have a huge hope that I’ll be accepted on December 12th-15th. I am also trying to finish all my other applications before the date, mainly because my school lets out for winter holiday the week after SCEA results are released, and I wouldn’t want to have to scramble for all my applications towards the end of the year.</p>
<p>@AnnaTheGreat, your South Park reference literally made me laugh out loud. Sometimes I feel like doing that myself, haha. <em>Proceeds to watch “Go God Go”</em></p>
<p>I think that once basketball starts for me next week, time will go by a lot more quickly in the next two weeks. Maybe. Hopefully.</p>
<p>@WeIsCool, I totally agree with you. I know for a fact I’ll be either deferred or rejected. But deep down, I’m praying for an acceptance, which has had a pretty bad impact on my motivation to work. I mean, I’ve submitted other applications, but they all had no supplements. Hard worker right here.</p>
<p>What date are the early action results released? There’s no official date on the Harvard website, it just says “mid-December”.</p>
<p>I read on the website December 15.</p>
<p>“Early applicants apply by the November 1 deadline and hear from us by December 15.” </p>
<p><a href=“https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/apply/application-timeline/restrictive-early-action[/url]”>https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/apply/application-timeline/restrictive-early-action</a></p>