Harvard 2012 applicants (class of 2015) Forum

[Nulli Secundus]

Wru movement?

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[curiouscat]

Would it be silly to update my file with a new rec letter? This letter will def be the strongest academic letter on my file. If so, is there anything to be gained by asking the recommender to make it Harvard-specific?

bump

oh, to put in context: i went under review january 20 something and there has been no movement since

Wait a little while. If you get held/waitlisted, that'll be the time to bring that out, but at this point they're probably just starting to look at your app. You might want to give your recommender a heads-up about it now so that he (or she) has enough advance notice and you've got it ready when you need it, but unless he has some specific ties to Harvard, I wouldn't ask him to go the Harvard-specific route. You wouldn't gain much from that, and with a non-specific letter you also have the benefit of being able to use it for other schools if you get waitlisted elsewhere.

[xwing_redleader]

Anyone else have their UR update change today?

[hypothalamus]

Anyone else have their UR update change today?

No

[Nulli Secundus]

Anyone else have their UR update change today?

That probably means you got held. Check your e-mail.

[xwing_redleader]

Anyone else have their UR update change today?

That probably means you got held. Check your e-mail.

I think this man is a psychic.

[EMZE]

Anyone else have their UR update change today?

That probably means you got held. Check your e-mail.

I think this man is a psychic.

2 cycles with 2 applications, Nulli Secundus is the local Harvard-hopeful clairvoyant

[astaris]

I've been held, but I don't know what to do. I don't have any interesting updates, Harvard should already have my fall semester grades, because I submitted them back in December, but I feel weird not sending them anything at all...

[hypothalamus]

Someone just posted a rejection in the Ding Bar.
Panic?!?!?!

[xwing_redleader]

I've been held, but I don't know what to do. I don't have any interesting updates, Harvard should already have my fall semester grades, because I submitted them back in December, but I feel weird not sending them anything at all...

A hand-drawn picture of the school should be sufficient.

[EMZE]

I've been held, but I don't know what to do. I don't have any interesting updates, Harvard should already have my fall semester grades, because I submitted them back in December, but I feel weird not sending them anything at all...

How long have you been held? If for more than the last 5 minutes, you could maintain contact, just as you would in any other professional context, via e-mail with the admissions staff. They won't take updates or actually update your file over e-mail, but that would be the way you continue correspondence.

Treat it like a job interview. And if you are K-JD and are not able to figure out what it means to maintain a professional level of correspondnce until they give you a final decision, 2 years off and some work experience would probably benefit you all around anyway.

[martorem]

Someone just posted a rejection in the Ding Bar.
Panic?!?!?!

Hey guys! Just got the rejection email at 1:13pm EST - expected, but you have to try, right?

Good luck everyone! I hope not many join me!

Sent 12/1, UR 12/20, Complete email 1/5

[Nulli Secundus]

I've been held, but I don't know what to do. I don't have any interesting updates, Harvard should already have my fall semester grades, because I submitted them back in December, but I feel weird not sending them anything at all...

While you are encouraged to do so, it is not weird at all to not have anything to send. You & me and all the other held people are just not auto-admits for some reason (in my case, probably because I am an old international so they just cannot bring themselves to believe that I will attend if admitted), you should just wait until all holds are evaluated and chill in the meantime. I maintain that a LOCI for Harvard is useless. But its up to you.

[astaris]

I've been held, but I don't know what to do. I don't have any interesting updates, Harvard should already have my fall semester grades, because I submitted them back in December, but I feel weird not sending them anything at all...

How long have you been held? If for more than the last 5 minutes, you could maintain contact, just as you would in any other professional context, via e-mail with the admissions staff. They won't take updates or actually update your file over e-mail, but that would be the way you continue correspondence.

Treat it like a job interview. And if you are K-JD and are not able to figure out what it means to maintain a professional level of correspondnce until they give you a final decision, 2 years off and some work experience would probably benefit you all around anyway.

About two weeks. I'll wait til something interesting happens and maybe send a LOCI at that point to tie those two things together.

While you are encouraged to do so, it is not weird at all to not have anything to send. You & me and all the other held people are just not auto-admits for some reason (in my case, probably because I am an old international so they just cannot bring themselves to believe that I will attend if admitted), you should just wait until all holds are evaluated and chill in the meantime. I maintain that a LOCI for Harvard is useless. But its up to you.

Otherwise I'm with you--I feel like sending a LOCI without anything new/interesting isn't very helpful or interesting.

[EMZE]

I've been held, but I don't know what to do. I don't have any interesting updates, Harvard should already have my fall semester grades, because I submitted them back in December, but I feel weird not sending them anything at all...

While you are encouraged to do so, it is not weird at all to not have anything to send. You & me and all the other held people are just not auto-admits for some reason (in my case, probably because I am an old international so they just cannot bring themselves to believe that I will attend if admitted), you should just wait until all holds are evaluated and chill in the meantime. I maintain that a LOCI for Harvard is useless. But its up to you.

+1,

Despite my advice above, about the option to maintain contact, I agree that it is probably useless. Buddy of mine made it in 2 cycles ago with numbers below both median off hold, without a single word of correspondence.

I personally wrote an LOCI, but I was very specific about what I wrote about and my specifics interests at HLS, in a very specific, small program, substantiated by the work I've been in for the last 9 years; not something like " I want to go to HLS because it has great clinics." In my case, it will probably either make me too niche an applicant to be relevant for the purposes of their hold (as in why they held me in particular) or niche enough that they will see a place for me in their class.

If you're numbers are above medians and all, there probably isn't anything you can say to make a difference absent a unique background and softs. You are a (well qualified, mind you) applicant that they can use to tweak their medians if they need to, but at the end of the day, they can reject an entire class worth of applicantss that would raise their medians before accepting their first applicant, and still maintain their medians.

[Elliott_Smith]

Held.

[mikeylikesit]

Held.

Same.

[poultry]

Folks, held immediately after a JS1? This is not typical at all....

Held.

Same.

[amc987]

Held.

Ugh. I was rooting for you to get that JS2, Elliott. Harvard seriously must've put a quarter of the applicant pool on hold.

Sigh.

[hypothalamus]

Held.

Same.

Daymmmn! :/ Sorry to hear that, guys - but don't stress out! We're all in this (terrible, prolonged wait) together!

[Byzantine]

Held.

I am shocked and offended by this statement. JS1 does not seem to follow the admissions etiquette. You don't give someone a JS1 just to hold them a week later.

[kscott813]

Held. A little disappointing, but I feel like not being rejected outright is an accomplishment of its own.

[poultry]

TLS's theme today: people getting held left and right at CLS and HLS...i can see some odd synergy here..

[Byzantine]

TLS's theme today: people getting held left and right at CLS and HLS...i can see some odd synergy here..

What if they work in tandem to split the candidates they accept, so they can keep their yields high and stick in to the other top schools?

[poultry]

even by TLS's standard, that's too much of a conspiracy theory...lol..

TLS's theme today: people getting held left and right at CLS and HLS...i can see some odd synergy here..

What if they work in tandem to split the candidates they accept, so they can keep their yields high and stick in to the other top schools?