Harvard 2010! Forum

[Sogui]

Have any JR1s gone out recently? Should I give up hope if I've been complete for over a month?

There have been a handful of JR1s going out every Friday, usually only 2-3 people on the boards/TLS has reported a JR1 per week in February. Unfortunately since we don't know the TLS/LSN:Real World ratio we don't know exactly how many spots Harvard really has left.

We do know there are plenty of people here with strong numbers and stats who have all been complete over a month, so don't give up yet.

[BenJ]

I'm kind of disappointed by this question and answer thing on the HLS blog. It was great that JR answered people's questions about being on hold, because that's very relevant, and nobody really knew what was going on with it. But the other two questions he answered were softballs. The information about the phone interview is already out there, and that last question about LSAT/GPA cutoffs was obviously just selected so he could make Harvard look good. But of course no school is going to say "yeah, we're all about the numbers."

And Harvard kept all the questions hidden so we don't know what people asked. It seems that this wasn't actually a chance to grill JR and get answers to hard questions. Besides the information about holds, this was more like a politician's publicity stunt. Hopefully he takes up more interesting questions next time.

It seems JR might have actually answered that question because he was feeling a little sassy today: "So each year we admit many people who fall below our 25th percentile for GPA or LSAT (about 25% of the class actually)."

On second thought, TLS usually reeks of epic math fail...

that doesn't account for splitters, which form a major chunk of the <25th category ( > 75 LSAT, <25 GPA for example).

Another TLS math fail example??

haha just ribbing on you Englawyer (english lawyer?)... couldn't resist.
But yeah i'm very surprised JR actually straight out said that... lol he must not have a very high estimation of HLS admits math abilities

Actually, what he said is certainly incorrect, technically. Consider:

25% of our class has a GPA or LSAT below 25th percentile. (paraphrasing, but logically equivalent)

That means that 25% is either below the 25th for GPA or below the 25th for LSAT--or both. Except, in order for only 25% to be below 25th on either measure, they would have to all be below 25th on both measures. In other words, what he said was logically equivalent to "25% of our class has a GPA and LSAT below 25th percentile." The "or" doesn't actually make any difference in the meaning.

It's obviously true that much more than 25% of the class has a GPA or LSAT below the 25th percentile. It's actually more like 40-45%, depending on the number of URMs/extraordinary stories with both numbers below 25th admitted. Very few GPA sub-25th people will overlap with LSAT sub-25th people.

Of course, he was just speaking/typing casually, and casually the sentence is interpreted in the "correct" fashion.

[englawyer]

exactly what BenJ said. the percentage of the class with EITHER <25 gpa or <25 LSAT is definitely larger than 25%.

[Sogui]

Yea let's all email JR and demand interviews since we have discovered flaws in his reasoning!

[Renaixença]

I was pretty disappointed by the fact that he only answered 3 questions. seriously?

Rangappa>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Rubenstein

[notanumber]

I was pretty disappointed by the fact that he only answered 3 questions. seriously?

Rangappa>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Rubenstein

Aisha's pretty frakin' awesome, but I don't think this is really fair to JR.

JR has to process many more applicants, he doesn't farm-out much of his work to the faculty, and he personally calls every admit twice and also calls more than a few folk who will never be admitted. JR has the admissions job that I would least like to have. I can't even begin to imagine how many questions, calls, and hassles he has to deal with from neurotic applicants...

[Kronk]

In a 200 person class, Asha has the luxury of rejecting 174 / 4.0 types because she doesn't like a minor part of their application. JR doesn't, and I'd imagine he has to spend a lot more time reviewing than Asha does.

[Nom Sawyer]

.

[starr126]

Have any JR1s gone out recently? Should I give up hope if I've been complete for over a month?

I went complete 2/10. no word here. so anxious!!

[GeePee]

I was pretty disappointed by the fact that he only answered 3 questions. seriously?

Rangappa>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Rubenstein

Aisha's pretty frakin' awesome, but I don't think this is really fair to JR.

JR has to process many more applicants, he doesn't farm-out much of his work to the faculty, and he personally calls every admit twice and also calls more than a few folk who will never be admitted. JR has the admissions job that I would least like to have. I can't even begin to imagine how many questions, calls, and hassles he has to deal with from neurotic applicants...

You spelled Asha's name wrong, and she definitely reads TLS. She also takes typos into consideration to some extent.

DING



(obviously kidding)

[notanumber]

I was pretty disappointed by the fact that he only answered 3 questions. seriously?

Rangappa>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Rubenstein

Aisha's pretty frakin' awesome, but I don't think this is really fair to JR.

JR has to process many more applicants, he doesn't farm-out much of his work to the faculty, and he personally calls every admit twice and also calls more than a few folk who will never be admitted. JR has the admissions job that I would least like to have. I can't even begin to imagine how many questions, calls, and hassles he has to deal with from neurotic applicants...

You spelled Asha's name wrong, and she definitely reads TLS. She also takes typos into consideration to some extent.

DING



(obviously kidding)

Noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

I'm doomed.

But seriously. There are several typos on my real application. I probably am doomed. Not as bad as my NYU application though. I sent them the "why I want to go to Yale" version of my personal statement. Whoops.

[BenJ]

Have any JR1s gone out recently? Should I give up hope if I've been complete for over a month?

I went complete 2/10. no word here. so anxious!!

Just realized that today is my one-month-UR celebration

[starr126]

Have any JR1s gone out recently? Should I give up hope if I've been complete for over a month?

I went complete 2/10. no word here. so anxious!!

Just realized that today is my one-month-UR celebration

how long can it take to get a JR1 after going under review? a month? six weeks? i thought harvard usually had good turn around compared to other schools. eee

[BenJ]

Have any JR1s gone out recently? Should I give up hope if I've been complete for over a month?

I went complete 2/10. no word here. so anxious!!

Just realized that today is my one-month-UR celebration

how long can it take to get a JR1 after going under review? a month? six weeks? i thought harvard usually had good turn around compared to other schools. eee

Usually less than a week, but there have been a few people for whom it took months. I'm holding out hope, but I think it's pretty unlikely for me at this point.

[democrattotheend]

Have any JR1s gone out recently? Should I give up hope if I've been complete for over a month?

I went complete 2/10. no word here. so anxious!!

Just realized that today is my one-month-UR celebration

how long can it take to get a JR1 after going under review? a month? six weeks? i thought harvard usually had good turn around compared to other schools. eee

Usually less than a week, but there have been a few people for whom it took months. I'm holding out hope, but I think it's pretty unlikely for me at this point.

Same here. I got the complete e-mail a few weeks ago and am losing hope. I think I have a decent chance of getting waitlisted, since I haven't been rejected yet, but I doubt I will get accepted outright.

I realized that if Harvard really averages no matter what, then you and I are pretty much numbers twins, so we're probably in the same boat. Although I would like to think that they would take notice of such a big jump. I feel like an 11 point jump means something probably wasn't right the first time (illness, fire alarm going off the whole time, etc)

[Renaixença]

I feel like an 11 point jump means something probably wasn't right the first time (illness, fire alarm going off the whole time, etc)

didn't study first time around, cheated, lucky guesses, blew the proctor

[BenJ]

I feel like an 11 point jump means something probably wasn't right the first time (illness, fire alarm going off the whole time, etc)

didn't study first time around, cheated, lucky guesses, blew the proctor

LOL, actually, didn't study the second time around (other than to take a couple of PTs to make sure my skills hadn't deteriorated). That's right, I did 11 points better without studying beforehand than I did with studying. Sleep was the main issue. All PTs were in the range of my high score; diagnostic was a 175 (although I had peeked at the LG Bible before doing the diag).

None of that makes a difference when applying, though Not a day goes by when I'm not angry at myself for failing to plan my sleep pattern well enough in advance of the September test. Or else not canceling the test after taking it on two hours of sleep. Columbia and NYU are awesome, but I feel like I was that close to Harvard and let it slip away.

[Nom Sawyer]

I feel like an 11 point jump means something probably wasn't right the first time (illness, fire alarm going off the whole time, etc)

didn't study first time around, cheated, lucky guesses, blew the proctor

LOL, actually, didn't study the second time around (other than to take a couple of PTs to make sure my skills hadn't deteriorated). That's right, I did 11 points better without studying beforehand than I did with studying. Sleep was the main issue. All PTs were in the range of my high score; diagnostic was a 175 (although I had peeked at the LG Bible before doing the diag).

None of that makes a difference when applying, though Not a day goes by when I'm not angry at myself for failing to plan my sleep pattern well enough in advance of the September test. Or else not canceling the test after taking it on two hours of sleep. Columbia and NYU are awesome, but I feel like I was that close to Harvard and let it slip away.

i wouldn't give up on your H chances just yet... i still think u have a good shot at a later admit.

I know someone with something like 169, 171, 177 who got in first round of calls so H doesn't straight average, tho they do take all scores into consideration.

[Kronk]

Harvard has the luxury of being able to truly "view all scores." However, I know someone with a 166 -> 177 who was accepted to HYS. So that might help you feel better about your chances. I also know a 163-174 who was accepted, a 170-174 who was accepted, and crackberry got a JR1 with a 161 -> 169. So I wouldn't sweat it.

[BenJ]

Harvard has the luxury of being able to truly "view all scores." However, I know someone with a 166 -> 177 who was accepted to HYS. So that might help you feel better about your chances. I also know a 163-174 who was accepted, a 170-174 who was accepted, and crackberry got a JR1 with a 161 -> 169. So I wouldn't sweat it.

Presumably all people with awesome GPAs, though. My GPA is somewhere around Harvard's 25th (above it in past years but maybe below it this year).

[Kronk]

Harvard has the luxury of being able to truly "view all scores." However, I know someone with a 166 -> 177 who was accepted to HYS. So that might help you feel better about your chances. I also know a 163-174 who was accepted, a 170-174 who was accepted, and crackberry got a JR1 with a 161 -> 169. So I wouldn't sweat it.

Presumably all people with awesome GPAs, though. My GPA is somewhere around Harvard's 25th (above it in past years but maybe below it this year).

Yes, that's true. Although the 166 -> 177 guy told me he wrote a GPA addendum. I think it was in the 3.85-ish range.

[Nom Sawyer]

Harvard has the luxury of being able to truly "view all scores." However, I know someone with a 166 -> 177 who was accepted to HYS. So that might help you feel better about your chances. I also know a 163-174 who was accepted, a 170-174 who was accepted, and crackberry got a JR1 with a 161 -> 169. So I wouldn't sweat it.

Presumably all people with awesome GPAs, though. My GPA is somewhere around Harvard's 25th (above it in past years but maybe below it this year).

Yes, that's true. Although the 166 -> 177 guy told me he wrote a GPA addendum. I think it was in the 3.85-ish range.

LOL at teh GPA addendum for a 3.85.. thats what? like straight A's and A-'s?

"I was drunk often freshmen year and had a crippling battle with drugs that resulted in 3 A-'s and a horrifying B+. Once I got those grades I knew that if I continued my cycle of self-destruction I would graduate a failure. I found a mentor, support group, and circle of like-minded friends and diligently brought my GPA from a miserable 3.7 to a 3.85, but note my trend of 4.1 Avg GPA in the last 2 years!!! Please consider the 3.99 for my 5 semesters as my true potential and ignore the lowly 3.74. Thank you adcom!"

[Kronk]

Harvard has the luxury of being able to truly "view all scores." However, I know someone with a 166 -> 177 who was accepted to HYS. So that might help you feel better about your chances. I also know a 163-174 who was accepted, a 170-174 who was accepted, and crackberry got a JR1 with a 161 -> 169. So I wouldn't sweat it.

Presumably all people with awesome GPAs, though. My GPA is somewhere around Harvard's 25th (above it in past years but maybe below it this year).

Yes, that's true. Although the 166 -> 177 guy told me he wrote a GPA addendum. I think it was in the 3.85-ish range.

LOL at teh GPA addendum for a 3.85.. thats what? like straight A's and A-'s?

"I was drunk often freshmen year and had a crippling battle with drugs that resulted in 3 A-'s and a horrifying B+. Once I got those grades I knew that if I continued my cycle of self-destruction I would graduate a failure. I found a mentor, support group, and circle of like-minded friends and diligently brought my GPA from a miserable 3.7 to a 3.85, but note my trend of 4.1 Avg GPA in the last 2 years!!! Please consider the 3.99 for my 5 semesters as my true potential and ignore the lowly 3.74. Thank you adcom!"

I know. I thought that was pretty funny too. Although I think it's more likely he got like 1 D or C or something of that nature and explained it.

[Nom Sawyer]

LOL at teh GPA addendum for a 3.85.. thats what? like straight A's and A-'s?

"I was drunk often freshmen year and had a crippling battle with drugs that resulted in 3 A-'s and a horrifying B+. Once I got those grades I knew that if I continued my cycle of self-destruction I would graduate a failure. I found a mentor, support group, and circle of like-minded friends and diligently brought my GPA from a miserable 3.7 to a 3.85, but note my trend of 4.1 Avg GPA in the last 2 years!!! Please consider the 3.99 for my 5 semesters as my true potential and ignore the lowly 3.74. Thank you adcom!"

I know. I thought that was pretty funny too. Although I think it's more likely he got like 1 D or C or something of that nature and explained it.

I like my fictional story better...

[dream]

slightly off topic but GOOD LUCK TODAY!!!!
I hope JR spends like 70% of the day either calling JR1 + JR2 or emailing ppl for JR1s ^^