RD Chances for Deferred EA Borderline Case?

Colleges & Universities Harvard University
1

<p>I was deferred from Harvard and put in the deferred pool. However, I know for sure I was a borderline case as I got a very very late second interview.</p>

<p>Harvard says that deferred students get roughly the same acceptance rate as RD (so roughly 6-7%). The way I interpret my position right now is that, though I was on the border for EA, I was not able to push myself past the border for an EA admit. Now however, in RD, as long as I remain near the top of the deferrees (top 7%), I will have a good shot. In fact, “the bar” was lowered for me since the bar used to be “top 0%” of the deferred get accepted…if that makes sense.</p>

<p>Is that an accurate way of interpreting things or am I being too optimistic. Any one who was a borderline case in EA and got rejected/accepted in RD?</p>

2

<p>That’s one way to look at it. Another way to look at it: Some students admitted EA to Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, UChicago and Georgetown will be applying to Harvard RD. Ditto with those students who were deferred from those schools. Your application will need to remain near the top with added (maybe stronger) competition. Given that Harvard had an 18% admit rate in the early pool, and the admit rate for RD will certainly decline from there, I think you are being overly optimistic with your RD chances.</p>

<p>Edit: Second interviews are scheduled when a first interview is inconclusive, not necessarily because a candidate was borderline. At this point, as a deferred applicant, I wouldn’t read that much into your second interview.</p>