Feeling disillusioned :( Graduated from an average ranked (top100) public university as a Math major with minors in CS, DS and Econ. 3.9 GPA with a lot of rigorous math and CS courses. Had 1 year of research in ML with 1 publication in a top ML conference. 1.5 years of work experience, decent LoRs. Not sure what went wrong :( Maybe I aimed too high?

Considering the fact I am from tier-2 college in india with 3.75 gpa, 2 internships, excellent projects, significant teaching and voluntary experience, this does come as a bit shocker considering Harvard pays attention to volunteering a lot.

Adding to this streak of red xD

Finally a rejection mail. Had not heard anything since my application back in December.

I got an email that there was an update on my application portal and found the letter saying, " After careful review, I regret to inform you that the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is unable to take favorable action on your application to the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The number of promising applicants well exceeded the number of offers of admission we can make for the 2021-2022 academic year. I know that this decision comes as a disappointment. Unfortunately, enrollment of new students is limited to a small fraction of those who are qualified for admission. I want to assure you that your application received full consideration by faculty members in the program to which you applied. We appreciate your interest in the Graduate School and wish you success in your future studies. " Congratulations to those who got in. All the best guys!

Had a good interview. Profile: Straight from undergrad. Bsc from a not known country. 5 top tier publications (including AAAI, ICLR), decent sop. Wish I knew what I could have done more to get there. For future applicants: please apply to as many places as you can. I thought my profile is good but still getting rejections from pretty much every places I wanted to be in.

Rejection received at 27/03/2020 3:50 AM (IST) Area: CV/ML

Text and email from the program admin

It's raining rejects!

one conference paper published, strong 3 LOR, major: Theory, undergraduate: Okay, two master degree with high GPA. I was at least expected to have an interview. They sent an email that there is an update in my application and when I checked, I found this message: "After careful review, I regret to inform you that the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is unable to take favorable action on your application to the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The number of promising applicants well exceeded the number of offers of admission we can make for the 2021-2022 academic year. I know that this decision comes as a disappointment. Unfortunately, enrollment of new students is limited to a small fraction of those who are qualified for admission. I want to assure you that your application received full consideration by faculty members in the program to which you applied. We appreciate your interest in the Graduate School and wish you success in your future studies." Good luck for who have been accepted.

To the person below talking about the dilution fridge, please get off your high horse. I also did not know what a dilution fridge was. And? I have 5 offers from R1 schools. 2 publications. 2 theses. You don't have to know every niche thing about physics to be a good prospect and to be successful. Sorry your perfect self didn't get accepted to Harvard but COME ON. Don't drag someone else down. That's gross.

Master's GPA 4.0. 1 Pubs and 1 Arxiv.

No Interview