<p>" to people who keep saying that Harvard didn’t take transfers in 2003, that is a COMPLETELY different situation than this mess we’re in now."</p>
<p>How do you know? Maybe in 2003, Harvard realized in mid March that it wasn’t taking transfers, but didn’t announce that until June, and didn’t bother to refund anyone’s application fee either. Another possibility is that Harvard never let transfers applicants in 2003 know it had decided not to take transfers. It could have just sent all rejection letters after not reviewing their apps.</p>
<p>There is a chance that by announcing the situation now and refunding app fees, Harvard is trying to handle the situation more ethically than it has in the past.</p>
<p>The anticipated acceptance rate was what, 1-2%? So for 98-99% of the transfer applicants, the only thing that has changed is the timing of when they are finding out that they will not be getting in plus the return of the application fee. There are not 1000 plus “injured souls” out there.</p>
<p>For the remaining 20 or so applicants, 2003 should have demonstrated that whatever number is predicted, there are no guarantees that any transfers will actually be admitted. Like the wait list, it is something dependent upon space.</p>
<p>Anyone expecting or counting on a transfer acceptance as if it were a done deal was being more than a bit optimistic. </p>
<p>The deadline for filing for study abroad for next year was apparently at the end of February. Some years ago, such study began a significant upward trend. That trend has apparently ended with a thud and numbers have reverted to pre-trend levels. Since that deadline, Freshman have been placed in houses and the 2012 decisions finalized.</p>
<p>What did you want Harvard to do? After realizing that there would not be space for the transfers, should they have just gone through the motions and then announce as in 2003 that no one would be admitted, and then some time later announce that they would not be taking transfer applications for 2009? That might have gone down easier, but the only real difference would have been Harvard keeping the application fees… and it would have been less honest.</p>
<p>Any acceptance to Harvard is extremely unlikely. It’s not a question of numbers. In my mind, it’s a question of the method and the timing of the announcement.</p>
<p>“It all adds up to a mistake: dropping ED led to increased RD applicants, which led to different numbers of acceptances than they were used to, which led to a housing crunch already in the pipeline.”</p>
<p>You have got to be kidding </p>
<p>The class of 2012 will be the first all RD class. those acceptances have not been sent out yet, the the decisions were supposedly finalized on Thursday. That class (according to Friday’s info session) will be smaller than those preceding it.</p>
<p>Please explain how the (supposedly fewer number) of yet to be sent Harvard acceptances to a bunch of current high school seniors “led to a housing crunch already in the pipeline” and caused Harvard to forget about Transfers. Please.</p>
<p>I think it would have been better all around if they had examined their housing situation earlier in the application year and somehow announced, maybe back in December or early January, that they would not accept any transfers. That way, perhaps, students would not have invested so much time, money, and effort. It should have been clear that they had a finite amount of housing and a huge amount of applications. They did not all of a sudden lose a house or two, did they??</p>
<p>I applied as a transfer student to Harvard and i agree that ppl need to chill out. Seriously…step back, take a deep breath and move on! Sheesh, it’s not like harvard will make you into this great being! If that were the case, what do you think of all the people who didn’t go to harvard or any of the ivy league schools? That is very elitist if you think Harvard is above all. I only applied to Harvard. Would i have applied elsewhere had i known that this would have occured? Hell yes. This is what ticks me off. Still, i haven’t lost sleep, i’m not on suicide watch, i went out for a run, and have maintained my routine. Now, the same cannot be said for Trixee and muerteapablo. Seriously Trixee, you actually flew out there??? wow…ok…??
If you’re one of the ones still crying about this, please stop this childish act. I bet you’re 20 years old or entering your twenties. Act in a mature manner, not like a high school kid.
Speaking of high school kids, we should wish them all luck. April first is around the corner. AND DON’T GO CRAZY IF YOU DON’T GET IN!!!
ok…its 65 degrees outside and sunny. Time to go for a run.</p>
<p>I read some place that Harvard didn’t know how much space it had for upperclassmen (who are all housed separately from freshmen) until it learned how many upperclassmembers would be studying abroad, something that it learned after the transfer application deadline.</p>
<p>As for someone’s idea of housing transfer students with freshmen, Harvard already is reducing the size of its freshmen class, so probably wouldn’t want to squeeze the class further or change its ways of handling freshmen.</p>
<p>Odyssey Tiger makes clear why there couldn’t be a precise count of transfer slots available until the first week of March. And I’m sure it took a few days for them to figure out what to do about it, since obviously this wasn’t their mindset a few months ago.</p>
<p>Someone suggested above that Harvard could have set its transfer application deadline at March 15, like everyone else. But none of you would have been any happier if they had done that and announced on March 12, or thereabouts, that they weren’t accepting any applications. Half of you would have just moved heaven and earth to make certain all your paperwork got there on time; everyone else would have gotten theirs in weeks before.</p>
<p>Good for you. That’s a constructive way to get over what everyone agrees is understandable disappointment. You made a good point in your post that Harvard is very highly desirable–which is why it has so many applicants–but there are other channels for gaining an education that will prepare you for life success.</p>
<p>We were encouraged to apply, believing that around 40 people or at least 5% of applicants would be admitted. This is so outrageous that we all applied. Harvard lies. They say they won’t accept applications when the reality is they accepted all of our applications (the deadline was February 15th) over a month ago and now reject us all because of “housing issues.” I don’t understand. Why not just take the best of the best of both the transfers and the Freshmen and give everyone a chance as promised! This is a ridiculous breach of contract we payed assuming our applications for admittance would be reviewed and judged for admission based on their quality and contents alone–no one was given any warning at all of any possible rejection due to “housing” Harvard needs to change this decision before it gets any worse.</p>
<p>This isn’t a legitimate way to resolve such an argument. All of those applicants who have applied must believe that they belong to the 20-30 “chosen ones”. And because there’s no way to find out unless the adcom evaluates their applications, they have every right to feel hurt and believe that they deserved a shot.</p>
<p>I think there are definitely some overreactions, but the people who say “they’re only mad because they wanted to be admitted” are completely missing the point.</p>
<p>I’m mad for them and I (like most people in this thread) am not applying to transfer from my school to Harvard or any other school. I simply think they have a right to be angry that they spent a lot of time on applications that were simply thrown away without any review.</p>
<p>Angry yes, but exhorting each other to “keep fighting” because “this injustice like all injustices must be worked tirelessly to defeat” seems a little excessive and sort of like they’re just prolonging their pain. </p>
<p>Accept it and move on, you got screwed and have a right to be ****ed off at Harvard, but you can’t change it so the only thing under your control is what YOU do from here. This is like watching a ton of kids get broken up with by a significant other for a BS reason and then spend way too much time trying to rationalize with the s.o. about why they should reconsider. In a few weeks/months I guarantee some of the more hyperbolic on here will feel rather silly about their words and behavior.</p>
<p>anyone that brushes this off like its no big deal is a defeatist. if nobody wants to actually push this story into the limelight and bring this vile, despicable university to justice, you’ll be defeatists all your lives. good luck getting anywhere in this world by just giving up.</p>
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