Held By Harvard Club - 2010 Forum

[crackberry]

Did everyone address their LOCI's to JR?

Mine was addressed as follows:

January 26, 2010

Josh Rubenstein
Assistant Dean for Admissions
Harvard Law School
1563 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138


Dear Dean Rubenstein and the Harvard law school admissions committee:

XXXXXXXXXXXX

[swimbrad]

I kinda don't feel like going through previous pages, so would anyone be kind enough to tell me what proportion of applicants are usually held by H and what the possibility of receiving an acceptance after a hold may be...

thanks

swimbrad JR1 -173/4.0

updated - thanks for your hard work... feel better!!

[amputatedbrain]

Did everyone address their LOCI's to JR?

I just addressed mine to the admissions committee . . . I can't imagine it makes that much difference

[WrappedUpInBooks]

I kinda don't feel like going through previous pages, so would anyone be kind enough to tell me what proportion of applicants are usually held by H and what the possibility of receiving an acceptance after a hold may be...

thanks

my guess is that about 300 applicants are being held for 50 spots.
and because, well I am home sick in bed today:

here is the Held by Harvard Club by numbers

fill in if you got JR1

URM
core - 168 3.9 JR1
roxj 165 3.7
PapantlaFlyer 165/3.8
gladitsover 171 3.6
lightbulb1986 JR1
SimonSaysStudy JR1

balanced numbers
maggiebre 173 3.9
jlh39 4.0 173(168)
BioEBear2010 172 3.8
mozhou7 4.0/174(170) JR1
gahthelaw 172/3.7
hoopsguy6 176/3.85
moonshine 173 /3.7
spiffypyro 173 3.7
VoidSix 173 3.9
village-idiot 173 3.95
jrgong 173 3.9x
theWire 171 3.77
redhead77 171 3.7
BaiAilian JR1

HIGH GPA
Kretzty - 170 3.9
violaboy 171 3.85
amputatedbrain 165 4.0
Parker09 169 3.8
lz06 171 3.89 JR1
saya 170 4.1
5ky 171/3.94
sundevil77 171/4.0
gmichaelbluth 169/3.83
natalie123 171 4.0 JR1
crackberry 169 3.9 JR1
EigenvalueA 169/3.99
kumba84 169 3.9
mockstar 168 4.0

HIGH LSAT
Dtackpact75 174 3.55
of Benito Cereno 178/3.6
georgina JR1
wrappedupinbooks 176 3.53

No Numbers
23fulltimecowboys
stopscreaming
walfredo47
misslawyer2013
puppins
cordeliusX
4910
Mr. Crowley
PoorOrpheus
1armedscissor
def2104
iminlstrick
msoftceo JR1
swimbrad JR1
Havaianas
hiro86
hykang
crazyforhys JR1
fidesverita
zoey15
GargameIITT JR1
JollyGren Giant
psychomohel JR1
somewhatwayward JR1
ConMan345 JR1
sonja b JR1
aussie3b JR1
citydweller09 JR1
carterth JR1
emrose 176 __

At this point hold club is likely almost complete. Likely a few december applicants will be held this week. No point holding january applicants.
yea so about 60 holds here.

probably best to be in the balanced group.

and from the last two cycles on LSN:
WL/A or hold/accept (very late acceptances for early completions)
171 3.77
170 3.98
173 3.89
169 3.91
177 3.54
172 3.81
175 3.96
174 3.91
175 3.91
174 3.8
172 3.8
172 4
167 3.95
172 3.91
168 3.93
166 3.93
172 3.96
171 3.95
172 3.93
174 3.67

clearly having a 170 and 3.95 seems to be the way to get in off the waitlist. However, there are so few 176+ 3.65- applicants that its really hard to compare our chances to the much larger group of 172- 3.9+ applicants.

So I have the lowest GPA of the (reported) TLS Harvard Hold.

Guess they must have liked something in my application - thanks Harvard! Don't worry though, I'm not holding my breath.

And thanks for doing this! I love numbers.

[Havaianas]

H's policy is that they do NOT consider Feb scores...but I am guessing the held group has a chance?

I don't know whether to wait till after the scores come out to notify Harvard..they won't reject us anytime soon, right?

oh good to know - makes me feel less bad about not taking the feb lsat.

also - I addressed my LOCI the same as crackberry

[roxj]

Thanks for doing that!

My brother's ex got in last year straight off the bat with a high GPA and a 165 (non-URM). Basically, she gave me false hope. Then again, she was Stanford UG and had legacy at Harvard Law. Damn her!

[RednBlack]

How do held URMs typically fare?

And what's the turnaround time for updated transcripts? LSAC processed my updated transcript today, when will it reach the schools I've already applied to?

Lastly, is there a specific time frame when we should expect to start hearing from HLS?

[4910]

nobody knows as this is the first time JR has been handling admissions and handing out this many holds in a while

[CordeliusX]

nobody knows as this is the first time JR has been handling admissions and handing out this many holds in a while

Do you think it's because he's still getting used to things and is "stalling"?

[JollyGreenGiant]

I'm sure this has been addressed before (and I hate when people do this)

but for LOCIs... e-mail or snail mail?

[4910]

snail

[4910]

nobody knows as this is the first time JR has been handling admissions and handing out this many holds in a while

Do you think it's because he's still getting used to things and is "stalling"?

probably because of additional applicants this year and trying to show he is worth the hire by making a policy change. we are probably the people he will use to fudge around with harvard's numbers this year for the US news rankings and give away left over spots to, maybe i am pessimistic but i dont think they place much value on anything else

[Legacy316]

...

[of Benito Cereno]

nobody knows as this is the first time JR has been handling admissions and handing out this many holds in a while

Do you think it's because he's still getting used to things and is "stalling"?

probably because of additional applicants this year and trying to show he is worth the hire by making a policy change. we are probably the people he will use to fudge around with harvard's numbers this year for the US news rankings and give away left over spots to, maybe i am pessimistic but i dont think they place much value on anything else

Anybody willing to venture a guess what percentage of total admits have gone out so far? I am. For reference last year a total of ~165 admits and WL/admits were on LSN. There are currently this year 103 admits. Not really many admissions for any people who have submitted after 12/20, however from looking at lsn the submissions with admit numbers are massively concentrated in september-december; very few january applicants have numbers that suggest likely admission. I think its fair to say that HLS probably has only given about 60 percent of its total 2009-2010 acceptances and that the remaining ~40% will not be made up exclusively of January applicants. I think that given the general weakness of the January pool its quite possible that the 'hold' pool could end up constituting something like 20% of the total admits. My guess is that Harvard held more applicants this year than usual and that in previous years many of the holds might have been admitted earlier in the cycle (for whatever reason). I'm guessing maybe 75-160 people are admitted from the hold pool.
We have around 65 holds on TLS (I bet thats not less than 1/4 of the total...) so lets say that there are maybe at most 350 holds. So if we say 300 holds and 90 hold-to-admit.... still pretty decent chances.

Just for reference: last year about 1/5 of total HLS admits posted on LSN. I'm willing to bet that a similar or higher percentage of holds have posted on TLS. A Harvard applicant receiving a hold email is, in my opinion, is especially likely to go on TLS (people getting that email are likely to be confused and want to look online for an explanation of their situation).

[violaboy]

Finally done and happy with my LOCI. Will be sending today.

[psychomohel]

Finally done and happy with my LOCI. Will be sending today.

I feel like I am the only one not sending them anything.

[RednBlack]

From reading past 'held' threads, there doesn't seem to be a correlation between sending additional materials and substantially increasing your chances of admission.

In years past, when did the hold groups start seeing action?

[bubba]

I'll add myself to the list. Stats below median, submitted in November.

[PoorOrpheus]

So I have the lowest GPA of the (reported) TLS Harvard Hold.

Guess they must have liked something in my application - thanks Harvard! Don't worry though, I'm not holding my breath.

And thanks for doing this! I love numbers.

I have a GPA lower than you, but a higher LSAT & URM status. I don't want to give exact numbers yet but I hope that helps other people trying to figure out where they stand. Thanks for compiling the list, of Benito!

ETA: I was held mid-January and still haven't written a LOCI. I'm hesitant to write one b/c I have nothing to add to my app since I just graduated. Any advice from people in a similar situation?

[JollyGreenGiant]

I don't wanna out myself by disclosing exact #s.. but I'd land somewhere between balanced and high gpa.

[4910]

give the man a break, he was sick all day

[jasonportwood]

hey guys, don't think i've posted before but i was held mid-jan, no JR1.

sent additional LOR through LSAC last week, and finished my LOCI this week. i'm willing to wait through april but don't know how much longer i would hold out for harvard...

seems like there's a lot of very qualified people here.

[lightbulb1986]

.

[PoorOrpheus]

what do u guys think the difference is between JR1-hold and NOJR1-hold?

This is total conjecture but I would think that JR1-holds are in a better position overall, but that a hold-JR1 means you're very likely in.

[jackster2]

Someone may have addressed this already, but what does it mean if you've heard nothing? I've been complete since early december.