Held By Harvard Club - 2010 Forum

[Laina]

Seriously, no one else on hold got the letter encouraging them to apply to Harvard?
Guess this means they are all either rejected or accepted..

PM me if you don't want to post it..

What? What letter? PM me if you'd prefer.

In November I got an e-mail from HLS encouraging me to apply. Like a fee waiver, but they didn't waive the fee . It included a bunch of links to school related stuff. I was just curious how many that got that letter also got held... Now I am also curious how many got that letter?

Before anyone asks, I am not a URM.

Oh, no, I didn't get that (though I applied in October). I was under the impression advertising material like that is no indication of your chances for admission.

[Unitas]

Seriously, no one else on hold got the letter encouraging them to apply to Harvard?
Guess this means they are all either rejected or accepted..

PM me if you don't want to post it..

I got one from their LGBT club.

Mine was from Dean Rubenstein....

Oh, no, I didn't get that (though I applied in October). I was under the impression advertising material like that is no indication of your chances for admission.

It isn't an indication, I just wanted to see how many people got it and were held. Just curiosity on my part. Getting the e-mail back then also appears to be pretty rare if this thread is any indication - I thought it was common.

[thestalkmore]

Friend got a hold email yesterday (she doesn't post here). ~4.2/167 or 168.

[Unitas]

Two quick questions to the HLS Hold club:

1). How long AFTER the app. complete e-mail does your application go on the HOLD/UR status?

2). Can an applicant get a UR/HOLD, absent a JR1?

Thanks!

1. Depends, some get it quickly and it appears to be getting quicker. Meaning closer Hold and complete dates now then in the past.

2. Yes you can get Held absent a JR1.

[Unitas]

Thanks for the quick response, Kakarot! I appreciate your input on this.

I should mention there is no Hold/UR status. You just get a held e-mail and an update to the date on the status checker, but you are still UR.

Once a waitlists starts that will probably be on the status checker, but no one has been waitlisted yet.

[violaboy]

Thanks for the quick response, Kakarot! I appreciate your input on this.

I should mention there is no Hold/UR status. You just get a held e-mail and an update to the date on the status checker, but you are still UR.

Once a waitlists starts that will probably be on the status checker, but no one has been waitlisted yet.

Yes, like mine still says UR 1/6, instead of 9/?.

[invisiblesun]

I just looked back at LSN and realized how big the 3/8 admits batch really was. How much of a reason do I have to keep the faith? Was that the last big batch, or do we still have more room?

Edit: Decided to grovel less and analyze more. We're looking at ~30-50 open spots based on last year's LSN admits, assuming that all the people who marked "admitted" were outright admits and not WL admits. Of course, this could be way off, as it's produced using LSN data and slapdash statistics.

[ranovr32]

I just looked back at LSN and realized how big the 3/8 admits batch really was. How much of a reason do I have to keep the faith? Was that the last big batch, or do we still have more room?

Edit: Decided to grovel less and analyze more. We're looking at ~30-50 open spots based on last year's LSN admits, assuming that all the people who marked "admitted" were outright admits and not WL admits. Of course, this could be way off, as it's produced using LSN data and slapdash statistics.

I don't know of any Waitlisters yet, well ones that got in yet anyway. There probably isn't that many spots left though. There are still hundreds on hold without JR-1's (myself), which I believe has become the defacto waitlist.

[invisiblesun]

I just looked back at LSN and realized how big the 3/8 admits batch really was. How much of a reason do I have to keep the faith? Was that the last big batch, or do we still have more room?

Edit: Decided to grovel less and analyze more. We're looking at ~30-50 open spots based on last year's LSN admits, assuming that all the people who marked "admitted" were outright admits and not WL admits. Of course, this could be way off, as it's produced using LSN data and slapdash statistics.

I don't know of any Waitlisters yet, well ones that got in yet anyway. There probably isn't that many spots left though. There are still hundreds on hold without JR-1's (myself), which I believe has become the defacto waitlist.

I was referring to waitlisters last cycle who may have marked "admitted" instead of "WL, Admit".

[frankjones]

Does anyone know if Harvard even had a hold list last year? Or is this a new JR thing?

[of Benito Cereno]

Does anyone know if Harvard even had a hold list last year? Or is this a new JR thing?

there are some people who put "D" next to their name on lsn in previous years. still, it seems like 'held' notifications are used more this year as rejections went out on a rolling basis more this year than earlier years when rejections mostly went out at the end of the cycle.

anyways, as it now stands there should be 11 more lsn admits before the regular admit cycle (pre-waitlist) ends.

last year 156 out of 785 profiles were non-waitlist admits. (19.87%)

this year 705 visible profiles. 19.87% of 705 = 140, so far there are only 129.

too much worrying about hidden profiles. its not a question of absolute number of admits listed but percentage.

[invisiblesun]

Does anyone know if Harvard even had a hold list last year? Or is this a new JR thing?

there are some people who put "D" next to their name on lsn in previous years. still, it seems like 'held' notifications are used more this year as rejections went out on a rolling basis more this year than earlier years when rejections mostly went out at the end of the cycle.

anyways, as it now stands there should be 11 more lsn admits before the regular admit cycle (pre-waitlist) ends.

last year 156 out of 785 profiles were non-waitlist admits. (19.87%)

this year 705 visible profiles. 19.87% of 705 = 140, so far there are only 129.

too much worrying about hidden profiles. its not a question of absolute number of admits listed but percentage.

Unless for some reason we can assume that last year's LSN profiles are representative of a different cross-section than this year's... (although that's unlikely to be the case with such a large sample.)

The real question is- how many real spots are equal to 11 LSN spots? You can't simply multiply it by total real HLS applicants/HLS LSN applicants because the acceptance rate for LSN is much higher....but if you take the acceptance rate difference into account (using questionable statistical assumptions) you get ~60 real spots. Does that seem high? Maybe about right?

[$1.99]

lol i love these lsn analyses you do because they give some sense of order for us applicants but at the same time lets be honest with ourselves: these analyses are pretty pointless since they contain so many statistical flaws. for all we know, harvard could still have 50 or 2 spots left. (my gut instinct tells me it leans more towards the latter figure)

[amadeus.vc]

anyone know if JR1s are still being given out, and approximately at what time of the year do the interviews stop?

cheers.

[invisiblesun]

lol i love these lsn analyses you do because they give some sense of order for us applicants but at the same time lets be honest with ourselves: these analyses are pretty pointless since they contain so many statistical flaws. for all we know, harvard could still have 50 or 2 spots left. (my gut instinct tells me it leans more towards the latter figure)

Obviously there are major flaws, but I think a ballpark idea is better to have than no idea. I highly doubt they plan on only accepting 2 more people after having held at least 10 more on here alone. I think 50 might be about right.

anyone know if JR1s are still being given out, and approximately at what time of the year do the interviews stop?

cheers.

No one knows, and this cycle seems to be more pushed back time-wise than previous cycles, so no one knows about that one either.

[cahesu]

Anyone hear of rejections from the hold list yet? I'm wondering whether I should be excited or scared to check my email.

Also, the hold email said something like, "If you don't hear from us by mid-April..." Does this mean most of us might reasonably expect an answer or transfer to the waitlist by then?

[Unitas]

Anyone hear of rejections from the hold list yet? I'm wondering whether I should be excited or scared to check my email.

Also, the hold email said something like, "If you don't hear from us by mid-April..." Does this mean most of us might reasonably expect an answer or transfer to the waitlist by then?

This is a fairly long process, and it will take 6-8 weeks to go through all the applications, at which point some of the remaining holds be shifted to a wait-list.

It seems to me that in about 4 more weeks from now they will move people from hold to WL or reject if they aren't accepted by then. Since people have been on hold since Jan I doubt they will reject anyone on hold until then....

[blue5385]

Just got a hold email. No idea why they're holding apps so late in the cycle.

edit: No JR1.

[BenJ]

Just got the hold email, too. It doesn't make much sense. They'll have to issue a decision of some sort within a month anyway, so why bother sending out a hold email?

I guess I should draft a LOCI and maybe cast around for another LOR writer. No JR1 here, either.

[blue5385]

I'm definitely planning on sending a LOCI even though I don't have much to add, having been out of school for almost a year now, but I'm wondering if another LOR is really necessary for me. I'd really only ask a professor, and I doubt he/she would have anything new or especially interesting to add. Thoughts on this? Will it show insufficient interest if I don't send another LOR?

[BenJ]

I'm definitely planning on sending a LOCI even though I don't have much to add, having been out of school for almost a year now, but I'm wondering if another LOR is really necessary for me. I'd really only ask a professor, and I doubt he/she would have anything new to add to what my first 2 writers have already said. Thoughts on this? Will it show insufficient interest if I don't send another LOR?

I'm sort of wondering this as well. I have someone in mind who would write a solid recommendation, but I'm not sure how much new information he could impart. I figure it can't hurt, though.

[blue5385]

For those of you who have already sent a LOCI, did you address it directly to JR?

[Unitas]

For those of you who have already sent a LOCI, did you address it directly to JR?

I did JR and Harvard law school admissions committee or something of the sort..

[SeiferD]

Why must Harvard and Stanford play games with us...

[invisiblesun]

Why must Harvard and Stanford play games with us...

They're not playing games as much as they're taking their sweet, sweet time because they know that some people will go as far as turning down a full ride at Columbia to attend their schools...