Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 21:03     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid REA'd at Harvard and was waitlisted. He was devastated and our house sucked until March 27th. In the meantime, he wrote a LOCI and had two other teachers write recs for him. He doubled down on reaching out to current students in leadership positions and discussed that in his LOCI. He forwarded letters of acceptance from other top tier Universities and stated that he still wanted Harvard. He was accepted RD!!!


I'm obviously not a Harvard AO, but if I was, I would have rejected the applicant for the bolded. Obnoxious!

Imagine a whole college filled with these sharp-elbowed kids. Egad!


i went to harvard 25 years ago and there were lots of kids like this even then. I can only imagine its gotten way more extreme as the difficulty of getting has increases. Harvard has a lot of students who are average smart, but main salient quality is ambition and being “driven.”


They are the type who will not let anyone get in their way. Hard pass.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 19:39     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid REA'd at Harvard and was waitlisted. He was devastated and our house sucked until March 27th. In the meantime, he wrote a LOCI and had two other teachers write recs for him. He doubled down on reaching out to current students in leadership positions and discussed that in his LOCI. He forwarded letters of acceptance from other top tier Universities and stated that he still wanted Harvard. He was accepted RD!!!


I'm obviously not a Harvard AO, but if I was, I would have rejected the applicant for the bolded. Obnoxious!

Imagine a whole college filled with these sharp-elbowed kids. Egad!


i went to harvard 25 years ago and there were lots of kids like this even then. I can only imagine its gotten way more extreme as the difficulty of getting has increases. Harvard has a lot of students who are average smart, but main salient quality is ambition and being “driven.”
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 17:23     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Deferred Princeton SCEA. Admitted ED2 to Chicago.


Did you keep that original P decision outstanding, just to see if kid would have gotten in? Or did kid withdraw the app?


What would be the point of not withdrawing? To kick yourself for applying ED2 if you get in?

Follow the rules and withdraw like you're supposed to.


Withdrew. The odds of getting into Princeton were so small, and Chicago was a strong runner-up. Kid is super, super happy.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 17:17     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid REA'd at Harvard and was waitlisted. He was devastated and our house sucked until March 27th. In the meantime, he wrote a LOCI and had two other teachers write recs for him. He doubled down on reaching out to current students in leadership positions and discussed that in his LOCI. He forwarded letters of acceptance from other top tier Universities and stated that he still wanted Harvard. He was accepted RD!!!

Wow. This is incredible!

Harvard: an undergraduate population filled with insufferable kids.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 17:00     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My kid REA'd at Harvard and was waitlisted. He was devastated and our house sucked until March 27th. In the meantime, he wrote a LOCI and had two other teachers write recs for him. He doubled down on reaching out to current students in leadership positions and discussed that in his LOCI. He forwarded letters of acceptance from other top tier Universities and stated that he still wanted Harvard. He was accepted RD!!!


I'm glad your kid was admitted, but honestly, the constant pestering usually doesn't work. Perhaps he was admitted for other reasons.


+1 that is usually viewed as obnoxious behavior.


Paris from Gilmore Girls vibes
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 16:52     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Deferred Princeton SCEA. Admitted ED2 to Chicago.


Did you keep that original P decision outstanding, just to see if kid would have gotten in? Or did kid withdraw the app?


What would be the point of not withdrawing? To kick yourself for applying ED2 if you get in?

Follow the rules and withdraw like you're supposed to.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 16:50     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
EA : MIT (deferred)
ED2 : UChicago (accepted)
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 16:46     Subject: Re:If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Daughter ED to Cornell >
Deferred>
Waitlisted on Ivy Day>
Offered a Transfer Option>
Spent freshman year at a cheap public >
Accepted and now attending Cornell

Loves it.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 15:36     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Anonymous wrote:Rejected ED to Cornell Engineering
Attending UMD Eng with Honors and merit

Kid did say if he had been WL at Cornell and accepted this summer, he would have still picked UMD.

public school student

Congratulations! UMD has a fantastic engineering program.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 15:30     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Anonymous wrote:My kid REA'd at Harvard and was waitlisted. He was devastated and our house sucked until March 27th. In the meantime, he wrote a LOCI and had two other teachers write recs for him. He doubled down on reaching out to current students in leadership positions and discussed that in his LOCI. He forwarded letters of acceptance from other top tier Universities and stated that he still wanted Harvard. He was accepted RD!!!

Wow. This is incredible!
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 15:21     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Anonymous wrote:Niece REA to Yale - deferred - accepted!

Nephew ED to Brown - deferred





PP here - nephew finally got into Brown after being deferred in ED!
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 15:21     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Niece REA to Yale - deferred - accepted!

Nephew ED to Brown - deferred



Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 15:09     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Deferred then rejected Yale SCEA. At Princeton. Got into Columbia, Penn, Northwestern.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 15:06     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Anonymous wrote:Deferred Princeton SCEA. Admitted ED2 to Chicago.


Did you keep that original P decision outstanding, just to see if kid would have gotten in? Or did kid withdraw the app?
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2025 14:29     Subject: If your kid ED'ed or the equivalent (i.e. Restrictive Early Action) to an ivy and was denied
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have info on the breakdowns for which schools heavily defer vs reject in ED/SCEA?


Only students who are athletes, legacy, donors’ interests, fac brats and URMs should apply REA/SCEA. All others should apply RD.

My untagged kid applied REA to one of HYPSM, was rejected outright and was accepted to multiple HYPSM RD. Little did we know! Learn from our mistake.


Is there a source for the info that legacy should apply ED/SCEA? It’s commonly discussed here, but on the Yale admissions podcast it sounded like legacy is viewed the same in both rounds.

NP. This will depend on the college. For UPenn and NU, the longstanding belief is that a legacy should apply ED to take advantage of a legacy benefit. There isn't going to be great sources of info, unfortunately.