***Official Harvard Waitlist Thread**** With TIPS from Those Accepted last Year

kclubs
Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:58:58 +0000

First i want to congratulate all of you on getting waitlisted . That is a testament to how YOUR amazing smartness and skills. A couple of people have emailed me on how the waitlist process works and what should you guys do AND IN THE INTEREST OF TIME I WILL CUT AND PASTE MY ANSWERS TO THEIR QUESTIONS Now to the niddy griddy:


I have my essay BUT I CANNOT give you any more information than what i posted on CC last yr. To be completely honest it will not benefit you to give you examples from my essay or any other (in fact i think i gave too much on cc). What i did was look back at what i sent harvard and checked to see what i was missing. Why was i waitlisted and not accepted? After reviewing i found that i never told them WHY I wanted to go to harvard. I did that for other schools i got accepted to and not for harvard. So the main thing you MUST convey to the admission office is why you want this school and not yale or whatever. Think of it in terms of love (lol just bare with me i going somewhere with this) You want someone to love you for you and not for your reputation, money, or class. That is the same thing is true for the harvard ad-board, they want to know why you are applying to harvard specifically. They know it’s a great school, but what programs do you particularly like, or classes, or professors. (maybe even the fact it’s in cambridge next to the river, or in the city where you can do community service). Eseentially WHAT CAN YOU DO AT HARVARD THAT YOU CAN’T DO or GET FROM ANY OTHER ELITE INSTITUTION. AND WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH THE GREAT OPPORTUNITIES THAT HARVARD HAS TO OFFER YOU. maybe something you saw on a visit here or video online. Therefore, i can’t give you any of my examples because it is specific to you, and it would sound less authentic. this may sound harsh, but if you don’t have an answer to what i wrote in caps than you shouldn’t apply to harvard. (Which is just like marrying someone you don’t love, it will most likely end in ruin)
SEND THIS LETTER TO YOUR REGINAL REP. this info is online or you could just call the office. Essentially, you should thank them for the opportunity to still be on the waitlist, and then go into detail about what you want from harvard, or WHATEVER YOU FEEL WAS MISSING FROM YOUR ORIGINAL APP.
Send another letter (or in the same one) about what you have done since your waitlist decision (generally a couple of weeks after the decisions, so you should do it around may 1). They want to know that you haven’t gotten senioritis and just sat on your ass in your last year. Also play up any of the accomplishments. Like Condoleezza Rice came to my run down pub school briefly, for like 20 mins, and i was one of the kids chosen to sit with her in the lib. And she asked us a couple of questions on what we want to do later, so I wrote in this letter that i gave a speech to former secretary of state rice (but i did have to pre write this, the principal told us that we would have to say something about our goalas and college plans so this isn’t far from the truth lol).
Do not bother them, i only sent three letters: two to my reg rep, and one that was the same “why harvard letter” to the entire ad-board.
Seriously, send them a why harvard letter. Don’t listen to a lot of nonsense that people on cc put on there that is simply speculation. My reg rep told me that what she remebered about my app is that i seemed like someone who would use the resources at hand and make the best of them (coming from a pub school in philadelphia, low middle class family. I found a lot of resume friendly programs in the city and made it work. And she thought i would do the same at harvard. So essentially tell them what you will do with the harvard reputation and opportunities.


Again im sorry that i wont give you specific examples, but im telling you that you don’t need them. I purposefully did not look for any sample essays from waitlisted students and it worked for me. It allowed me to really speak from the heart. So just do that and have fun with it, be creative like a reg college essay “i want to study under the crimson sun in the crimson yard” or something like that you know. I’m sorry this may still be vague and if you still have questions just email me back AND PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF TYPOS AND ERROS, IM AT WORK AND MULTITASKING.

Thank You . And i can’t wait to see you all on campus this fall (hopefully in thayer house like me)