<p>I’m obviously excited to receive my Harvard regular decision on the 29th like all of you, but realistically, I think I’ll be waitlisted and not accepted.</p>
<p>I wanted to ask about the steps to take if I get waitlisted.</p>
<p>1) Senior year grades matter, and in this case, 3rd MP grades. I have solid A’s in 6 AP courses except for BC Calculus, which has been the one blemish on my academic transcript (low to mid B)-I’m wondering if this will have a very negative effect? If this matters, I should be Vale. by the time I update my waitlisted app.</p>
<p>2) I sent in updates recently for my ECs, but I won’t probably have anything to send if I’ve been waitlisted. How should a waitlisted applicant without any new acheivements continue to demonstrate interest in the school?</p>
<p>All this is making me so, so nervous…I’m a somewhat strong applicant (national music awards for Asian classical music, state-level debate awards, 2500 dollars raised through my charity music concerts, vale, etc.) but as an Asian applicant, I know my chances are slim.</p>
<p>Best of luck to all of you, and your responses would be appreciated!</p>
<p>Be patient. One B is not going to stop you from admissions. There is no great angle to play to get off the waitlist without a huge, national level award/accomplishment. </p>
<p>If you are waitlisted, you will have to wait until early July. Read the stats of how few are taken off the Harvard waitlist, and make plans for the school you are admitted to.</p>
<p>If you’re waitlisted, you have to tell the school you definitely want to stay on the list, because you really, really want to go there. Otherwise they drop you from the list. Then you go ahead and accept admission to your top choice of the schools that you got into and pay its registration fee to reserve your place. May need to put down housing deposit too. Then you wait and see. If you have new info to enhance your candidacy to the waitlisted school, send it to them.</p>
<p>Why do you think you’ll be waitlisted? Harvard doesn’t release the length of its waitlist, but both Yale and Princeton waitlist about a thousand students and accept about two thousand. If the ratio at Harvard’s similar, being waitlisted is even less likely than being accepted.</p>
<p>good point about the length of the waitlist, but for some reason, I feel I won’t be outright accepted, but at the same time, not outright rejected either. I’m one of those applicants, if that makes any sense to classify it like that.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that yes, waitlists are organized by priority. Anyone have more info on this?</p>
<p>No way they could bind you to a wait list. No reason not to be on multiple lists either. The problem can be that you may not know what it’s going to cost you while you wait, so how could you commit for certain in advance unless you could afford to pay full price? Of course you would have to accept the offer immediately or lose it. No waiting to choose.</p>
<p>OMG-- a “wait list” thread already!!! This must be the earliest appearance for this thread in CC history.</p>
<p>If you get wait listed, go back into the archives-- read last year’s thread-- I warn you it is very very long–it will give you a flavor of the wait list. And the stages of grief (denial, anger, pleading, acceptance) that most on the list go through…</p>
<p>Bottom line–for almost all applicants on the wait list the answer will be NO. Unless you are one of the very very few candidates who for some weird reason was on the other side of the cut off for RD but whom everyone wants you will be dropped–unless you get that IMO gold medal (but then if you were in contention for an IMO gold you wouldn’t be on the wait list, most likely…)</p>
<p>No the list isn’t ranked. They look at the class and fill it with who they want depending on what they need-- so if they want a bassoon player who will also be a juggler and a Slavic Studies major then they, like Bob Barker, will shout, “come on down!” but if not then you will remain in the audience.</p>
<p>Good news–if you get in from the WL the data is clear that WL admits have the same percentage as RDs (EAs weren’t in the sample set…) for honors, positions in ECs, etc. You can’t tell them apart-- which, makes sense as they ARE, for all intents and purposes the folks they wanted to admit from the outset anyway.</p>
<p>Please, think hard and long about the WL. If Harvard is so special to you and you don’t have an alternative that you will really like, then stay on…if not, then ask yourself if staying on will ■■■■■■ you from being excited about the schools that did say yes–you will be denying yourself the thrill of being excited about where, almost certainty (given the odds), you will end up.</p>