<p>I want to follow up my EA application with a supplement for RD but don’t know how to contact my admissions officer (or who is in charge of my region).</p>
<p>If you call the Office and get a nice receptionist, sometimes they will tell you. But if you just mail/email the Office they will make sure the right person gets it regardless. I wouldn’t hesitate as deliberations started some time ago–if this year is the same as previous years.</p>
<p>Etondad, when did deliberations start? If you know, could you explain how HYP do their deliberations? Do regional reps read the applications before or after?</p>
<p>For reference: I sent in an update via one of the forms on their website and received a reply within a day or two saying that it had been added to my file.</p>
<p>@jkreine: I’ll try to answer your question, and if etondad or anyone else has anything to add or correct, they can go ahead. </p>
<p>Between late Jan and the beginning of March, the different small groups of admissions officers meet to deliberate over applicants. At any one point, there are usually 2 to 3 geographical regions (called dockets) being considered. I’m not sure if they convene separately or as a medium sized group. </p>
<p>By the end, each subcommittee will probably have eliminated a considerable chunk of applications from consideration. Those that survive are brought to full committee, which convenes in about 2 weeks from now. Your regional rep (that is, the adcom or two responsible for giving your app a first pass read) will then ‘go to bat for you’ as they say in front of his/her colleagues. Usually they’ll try to sell you as an applicant, and the other adcoms will concur, or raise questions or concerns and so on. Those who survive will either get an offer or be put on the waitlist, and those who don’t will receive a rejection.</p>
<p>WCU, that is what I gather too. However, I have been told–not sure if this is true, however, that the Dean and Director try to attend the small committees–they do not vote on them but they act as a check that the committees are using roughly the same criteria and are otherwise similar in applicant strength. At the full committee each member has a vote and the Director and Dean have the same voting power as any other member–no “Dean’s choices” and no “vetoes”. Those candidates who are flagged-- athletes, particularly strong musicians, artists, mathematicians (etc), legacy and “development cases” are noted by the Ad Com–in the case of athletes, the admissions liaison with athletics has been in communication with the coaches as to their “tips” . (Math I have been told has much the same–in that the ad com doesn’t feel qualified to judge real pure math talent and the department has a list of their “stars.” (check the math 55 roster–although not everyone in 55 is a “star”, all “stars” are either in 55 or as with one boy this year, was invited to skip 55 altogether…)<br>
The committee ends its deliberations slightly more than a week before the deadline (which surprised me) and spends the last week checking over to make sure no mistakes have been made.</p>
<p>There are few automatic admits except for “expected summa” (which I have seen on some students’ files, which travel with the admitted student throughout his/her Harvard career (scary, eh???) so watch out, the person who will write your House Letter for your Fellowship/medical/law school application will frequently refer to material in your application–I know I do). If readers write “summa” then there has to be a reason why not to admit the student.</p>
<p>BTW, the admissions people do well on their predictions–like with 55, although there will be summas they did not predict, very few of those whom they identified as “summas” in the admissions process do not graduate with that honor…pretty remarkable.</p>
<p>@etondad: are you still a house tutor? In any case, the potential honors cat has actually been added to the interview reports in the last two years. Out of the 10-15 or so applicants I’ve interviewed, I’ve come across a total of one candidate whom I suggested may be magna potential. I think after a while (even for someone like me who is considerably inexperienced in judging these things) you do get a feeling of who has that intellectual ability…and tenacity. I know I certainly came across a few people who probably could’ve received summa degrees but just got lazy and lax with their habits. </p>
<p>Also, it was almost scary to see the number of transfers graduate with PBK and summa. I wanna say it’s definitely a disproportionate number compared to the larger class (though this is largely anecdotal). Granted, transfers do get a nice boost with our Deep Springs types, but still. I sometimes feel like a complete failure as a fellow transfer :D</p>
<p>WCU, you were a transfer? Didn’t know that, not that I should of 
I feel like there should be a special award for those who transferred or barely made it through admissions who do extraordinary well, summa or in something else</p>
<p>@WCU–Yeah, I still am–but now non resident, at Lev…the summa notation is usually written on the front of the folder by a reader/Ad Com so it isn’t an “official” designation per se (although they have the top score out of Nine academically…)
PBK is a bit of a joke–it has far to many humanities and too few science/math folks because of the different grading habits. The grad schools know this, of course, although some of the more famous fellowships don’t–sad. Also, just as a student from local high school who transfers to Exeter as an Upper will have a higher Exeter GPA compared to someone who has been there since prep year, the same is true for many transfers. </p>
<p>The designation of potential summas, as i have seen them is based not only on raw candle power (although that has to be a given…) but also, as you correctly point out, the tenacity-- still, still some burn out, but surprisingly few of those that the Ad Com thought would make it to summa (or if math/science – highest honors in the department/Hoopes Prize).</p>
<p>@Gordon: Am was indeed a transfer student, and a proud one at that. Go transfers! [I’m actually a double transfer in a way, since I also voluntarily moved from the river to the quad at one point. In any case, I’m sure this is enough info for some people on this board to figure out who I am if they really so desired :P] But I was far from getting summa. haha</p>
<p>@etondad: lord knows I’ll never have the guts to go and look at my folder/file. If they indeed had higher expectations for me, I’d leave the room hanging my head in shame. haha</p>
<p>WCU: I asked that I never have my transcripts sent to me-- if my folks wanted them, fine, but I asked them not to tell me-- same for grad schools. It made the experience so much more intellectual and less stress full. </p>
<p>BTW, I must have done well enough, as I got in where I wanted to. I still have no idea, and just as happy that way, so I understand not wanting to know!</p>