<p>I’m starting a new thread here because I could not find any related threads through the search function. Moderators please feel free to close this thread if there is an existing post that relates to this.</p>
<p>A few days ago I called Harvard admissions for an unrelated matter and during the conversation with an admissions counselor I mentioned offhand that I have received an offer from Oxford. To my surprise the counselor recommended that I update the admissions committee about my offer.</p>
<p>I am split between emailing the file room and not doing so primarily because I risk coming across as pompous (Oxford’s decision should ostensibly not have an impact on my application). However this might help bolster my application when there are 35,000 other applicants, and even more so since a Harvard counselor recommended this course of action.</p>
<p>I don’t know if your acceptance to Oxford would be considered a good thing in Harvard’s eyes. They are concerned about their yield, so it might be grounds for them not to extend you an offer.</p>
<p>I feel, updating the colleges with a scholarship information (or something like that) is considered impressive, but admission to other universities?? NO!</p>
<p>Considering the model (of reputed college counselor Michelle Cho) of colleges as a girl being dated, will you go to your Dream Girl and say “Darling, you should consider me as a worthy boyfriend as Miss World has fallen for me.”</p>
<p>And, what would you say to Harvard? “Sir, I would like to bring to your knowledge that I have been accepted to Oxford. Please consider that in reviewing my application”. </p>
<p>A slight lack of interest can lead your application ending up in rejection pile. The adcoms might think that it’s better to not to accept you as you will end up in Oxford anyways.</p>
<p>I, too, vote against notifying Harvard of the Oxford acceptance. Many students are admitted to highly selective colleges during the course of waiting for decisions from other ones, and it is typically not appropriate to tell Yale that you got into Stanford via EA or to alert Princeton to an EA acceptance from Yale. (etc.)</p>
<p>It’s possible that the Harvard admission official to whom you spoke has already made a note about your Oxford news in your file. But I would suggest not adding it yourself.</p>
<p>Later on in the admissions cycle, it can be advantageous to use one college’s financial aid offer as leverage to get another comparable college to match or exceed it, but one shouldn’t do so during the application evaluation phase. </p>
<p>Although providing such information to Harvard might have no impact whatsoever on your outcome there (and that’s definitely what the Harvard folks would tell you), it could just as easily have a negative impact as a positive one. </p>
<p>By the way, congrats on the Oxford acceptance!</p>
<p>Points about yield are not valid - Harvard does not care where else you got into as they EXPECT (and rightly so) everyone who they accept to attend. </p>
<p>However, they will judge your application in their way, how another university considers you will not bother them. Especially because Oxbridge do admissions in a completely different way.</p>
<p>That said, having got into O a) is awesome and b) does bode well for future offers.</p>
<p>I do agree with above though in the finaid aspect. Play them against each other - once you know they both want you :)</p>
<p>This is why I love CC - within three short hours I have had four excellent responses!</p>
<p>dignified1: The gist I got from the admissions counselor is that the Oxford offer will only help and not hinder the application; that said I come from a country that is extremely competitive in terms of academics. I would venture to say that 80% of Harvard applicants from my country can potentially be accepted to Oxford and the regional admissions officer will not see an Oxford offer as anything too striking given the pool I am up against.</p>
<p>Sally_Rubenstone: Thank you for the well wishes. I was sitting on the fence but your post brought me firmly down to one side. I didn’t have the chance to say my name over the phone so (thankfully!) I remained as an anonymous caller.</p>
<p>Idiosyncra3y: My gut feeling was that as well. I only considered updating Harvard regarding the offer was because my school mismanaged the IB programme and my academic viability might be called into question given the gulf between predicted and actual grades.</p>
<p>I would think that, having got into Oxford, and from my knowledge of Oxbridge admissions (almost entirely academic, far less focus on extra-curriculars etc…) your academic credentials are fine. </p>
<p>Anyone accepted to Oxbridge has the academic credentials to be considered for HYPS - it will be the extra-curriculars (which I can’t spell) that would hold them back in the US places.</p>
<p>My guess for country - Eastern Europe, but not too eastern…?</p>
<p>Can I ask why on earth you would take the advice of three anonymous CC posters over the counsel of a HARVARD ADMISSIONS OFFICER?! How much closer to the source of the correct answer do you need to get? “gee, Harvard says I should tell them, I wonder what a bunch of high school Harvard hopefuls think?”…</p>
<p>Secondly, sometimes the phones in college admissions offices are staffed by students on a work study program, not the actual admissions officers themselves, who are too busy reading applications to actually take calls from students with questions.</p>
<p>But I’m actually flying by the seat of my pants a bit here, Gibby. It surprised me that the Harvard admission counselor suggested that this candidate should notify Harvard about the Oxford acceptance. (Actually, I wondered if the “counselor” might be a newbie, too … or even an intern.)</p>
<p>I’m in the exact same boat as you are with Oxford. I decided agianst it, but am reconsidering. I don’t think it’s a good idea, what is to be gained? Frankly, at least in the eyes of Harvard, being the arguably most pretigous university in the country/ world, and certiantly the oldest in the US, their belief is that if you’re accepted to Harvard, you’re accepted to any other university.</p>
<p>Common sense would say it would **** off adcoms. And if it didn’t, I don’t think it will benefit an application.</p>
<p>On a slight off note, is it a big problem to be constantly bombarding the fileroom (via the contact page on the admissions website) with additions to an application? I updated them with one thing, but now have two additional things that I am considering sending to them. I’m going to hold off for now until I’m certain I have everything there that I need/want.</p>
<p>Thank you Gibby for educating me on Ms. Rubenstone’s pedigree, I certainly didn’t mean any disrespect. It just seems to me that perhaps rather than speculating on the level competence of someone staffing the admissions office at Harvard (presumably these people have some level of training- I doubt the AO at Harvard plops completely inexperienced bodies in front of their phones), the poster should be counseled to seek a second opinion within the admissions office itself? It does seem counter intuitive to me to disregard advice and counsel that comes directly from any college admissions office let alone Harvard’s without at least getting a second opinion from someone else there.</p>
<p>Yeah, don’t constantly send application updates. In fact, you may not want to do it at all unless it’s something major, like Intel. And of course, Harvard automatically picks up the names of Intel semi/finalists as well as the winners of other major awards.</p>
<p>You should tell them. It makes you more competitive and more qualified. They would love to be able to say “we were able to matriculate someone this year who also got into Oxford”.</p>
<p>Sought a second (and third) opinion from the office, the general consensus was that it’ll definitely show my competitiveness and is a matter of personal choice.</p>
<p>Is it advantageous or not to notify H of highest-level merit scholarships awarded by lower ranked institutions? I would think many applicants could have been awarded these, but still, can it help?</p>
- Eastern Europe, but not too eastern…?</p>