<p>@Ninopedia I definitely agree with that, but what frustrates me is how exactly do they determine if people will fit in with the school’s culture from one file? It just seems to be such a blanket statement, and I wish I did have one thing to point to like “oh this is why they deferred me”, but obviously that’s impossible for anyone to know. The scariest part I think is the question “what if all the other schools I apply to also think that I won’t fit in to their culture or I’m not a good fit? How do I know??” </p>
<p>@Ninopedia my last post didn’t convey my appreciation for your input though - here’s hoping that we will find the right school for us, Harvard or not! </p>
<p>Ok new motto for everyone deferred: if Harvard thinks we don’t fit into their “school culture” than clearly this is a school culture that SUCKS and we are all better off!!! </p>
<p>@virago1 To be honest, I’m no expert in college admissions and I’m just as frustrated as you are about my decision. But I think there are certain traits that each college looks for. For example, Cornell prides itself on being a land-grant college and likes to see applicants with a goal to contribute to the public community. Columbia boasts its location in NYC and its Core Curriculum, and favors applicants with a taste for liberal arts (even engineering students!) and involvement in a larger society. Other schools may be less clear on these traits, but we can often tell distinct differences between school cultures. Of course, a large part of Ivy admissions is crapshoot, so there’s definitely an element of luck. I wish you luck in RD! </p>
<p>I know why my son, with perfect SAT and 4.0 GPA and solid EC, got deferred. Harvard accepted another student from his school, and both of them are Asian Americans. Now I tell my son that he has a better chance at other schools on his list now that his classmate is out of the way. Of course he also has a slim chance at Harvard with RD. </p>
<p>@virago1 - obviously Harvard has far more qualified applicants than they have spaces - so at some point they have to make a selection from those qualified candidates. This means that every year they are forced to reject thousands of qualified applicants they would certainly love to see attend. Most of those applicants will get accepted to other top schools and will thrive wherever they end up.</p>
<p>On that note, Harvard is full of students who were accepted to Harvard, but rejected by Yale, Princeton, Stanford and other top schools - besides the “school culture” issue, there’s a certain element of randomness to acceptances to top schools - applicants are viewed differently between schools, institutional needs differ, and it’s not the same people who make the decisions.</p>
<p>Agree with @BldrDad.
</p>
<p>And, don’t forget many who do get accepted to Harvard or Stanford or Yale or Princeton in the early round apply to the other schools in the regular round to have “choices” as our kids did…</p>
<p>@virago1 There is still a very real possibility that you get accepted in the RD round. Over the past several years, I have seen more than a few of the head scratchers who were deferred early get accepted later for whatever reason. Also, I know you are frustrated but I would refrain from bad mouthing the school. There aren’t too many perfect scoring, TASP attending, applicants from PA if you know what I mean. Good luck in the RD round! You will be accepted to some great schools.
Ordinarily, I would say to re-examine your essays but you’re from TASP…</p>
<p>@virago1 Walk it off man! :)</p>
<p>I am in the exact same position as you and I was extremely frustrated last night, but then a close friend of mine who graduated last year called me. He was also deferred early by Harvard last year. He told me to forget about Harvard if I can and look for something better. He wanted to go into the Medical profession and discovered an incredible pre-med program that could help him pursue health policy. It was even more competitive than Harvard, but he still tried and he got in (On the side he also got into Stanford, but didn’t’ go)! Whatever happened early is behind us now, we can only look forward.</p>
<p>We are all extremely qualified, you went to TASP!!!, so we will end up in great places. Good luck to all deferred applicants, time to get those other applications done 
</p>
<p>@skieurope Thank you and congrats! Will you eventually post your stats? </p>
<p>My supplement’s word count was about 1100. But it wasn’t a typical essay, more of an episodic story/ set of flashbacks (lots of whitespace). </p>
<p>Congrats again! (you seem to take this so calmly. Let’s be honest, did you jump around and cry?)</p>
<p>@Tperry1982
What? I never said that Harvard should consider applications based only on “stats.” I support the holistic approach. I was simply saying that my disappointment was exacerbated by the fact that I knew I had a fair chance of getting in.
The dean of admissions himself said that something like 70% of applicants would be able to succeed at Harvard. In that sense, it’s kind of hard to go wrong when you’re an admissions officer, if we’re just considering the likelihood of an acceptee’s graduating. The fact that someone was able to graduate from a certain university doesn’t come close to proving that they deserved to get in. After all, the vast majority of Harvard applicants would surely be able to graduate.
Did you forget the other clause of my sentence? That many people who are more qualified than me were deferred too? What a ridiculous misconstruing of my post. If you think that no one who was less qualified was accepted over anyone more qualified, then you truly have no idea what you’re talking about.
I am fully aware that you misinterpreted my post. Don’t you think that I would have actually inserted a spiteful quip about affirmative action rather than literally saying “[insert spiteful quip about affirmative action]” if I hadn’t been joking?</p>
<p>Verbose, I agree with you about TPerry1982. She seems to have a bit of a sneering attitude…most unfortunate. She also claims to be a Yale grad, and an “alumni” from that school! Sancta Simplicitas!</p>
<p>@Melissawilliams
</p>
<p>It’s called a zinger, not a joke. And yes, I am disappointed in myself but I’m not bitter toward anyone. </p>
<p>The students who got deferred or denied, are just 16-19 year olds, who are trying to come to terms with this disappointment. I think, as parents, we should let them vent a bit. We all know that eventually, maybe in a few days, they will reconcile to this, and will be back to normal. OTOH, I am surprised at some parents who, at the drop of a hat, seem to give sermons to such youngsters. Yes, you folks have achieved a lot in your lives, and deserve applause. But I would suggest to hold off for a while.</p>
<p>And to all the youngsters who are going thru this very real-life experience of disappointment, just ignore such sermons if they seem to be negative, and take anything positive in such posts. You WILL do good very soon - more than you expect! Continue with your hard work. Good luck to you all. </p>
<p>And for those who got accepted, Congratulations!</p>
<p>
@oliver007, I don’t find TPerry1982’s attitude a problem, but that’s what makes horse races. On the matter of her educational background, she not only claims to be a Yale grad, but she is in fact a Yale grad, and her daughter is currently a freshman at Yale.</p>
<p>@ruar12 I don’t feel I sermonized at all. I told the applicant she still has an excellent chance in the RD round for Harvard and certainly for other schools. Also, warned her about going any further with any Harvard bashing, especially when she can be identified. All sound advice if you ask me. I actually read of an incident where a kid went on a tirade about a school after his deferral and the AO tracked his app down from what he had posted. Needless to say, he didn’t get in. The account was written by the AO himself. You should never say or write something that you wouldn’t mind having on the front page of the NYT is what I was taught.</p>
<p>Doing some completely crappy statistical analysis on the information posted here. </p>
<p>13 admits and 26 deferrals posted = 33.3% acceptance rate, about double of the overall acceptance rate. </p>
<p>13 admits posting here out of 977 overall = 1.3 % of accepted students posting here.</p>
<p>Of the 39 applicants who posted here, 8 had either perfect 2400 SAT or 36 ACT. 6 of the 8 were accepted. </p>
<p>Of the accepted, 5 are African-American or Hispanic, 2 are white, one is half-white, half-Asian, and 5 are Asian. Of these latter 8 admits, all had at least a 2310 SAT or 35 ACT. </p>
<p>@calliemoon11 Where have you been? Based on this thread, I thought you had a great shot! Please prove me right!</p>
<p>Wow, how did you come up with the 977 overall posters? Does that include parents and other non Harvard applicants? I love stats. In this case though, the sample is not at all representative of the whole.</p>
<p>@Falcon1 977 applicants were admitted this year. 15 less than last year! The number of applicants increased by 1000! </p>
<p><a href=“College Admits 16.5 Percent of Early Applicants for Class of 2019 | News | The Harvard Crimson”>http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/12/12/early-admissions-class-2019/</a></p>