That Harvard Waitlist

A piece in “The Harvard Crimson” highlights how at least ten students admitted to the Harvard Class of 2021 recently had their offers of admission rescinded (photo credit: Chensiyuan).

At least ten admitted students to the Harvard Class of 2021 learned in mid-April that their offers of admission had been permanently rescinded. That’s right. Just some months after these students received some of the best news of their lives, they were stripped of this achievement — which Harvard absolutely has the right to do. In fact, Harvard explicitly conveys to students with their offer of admission that they reserve this right should something change (e.g., disciplinary action against the student, criminal conviction, a significant drop in grades — you name it because Harvard has that leeway). They can revoke an offer of admission if they so choose. And this year, they did choose. Since this Facebook group was created in December, presumably some of the students whose offers of admission were rescinded had been admitted in the Early Action round. But since the offers weren’t rescinded until Regular Decision notifications were released, it’s likely that Harvard would choose to fill these ten or more slots with students on that Harvard waitlist.

We salute Harvard University for holding firm on their moral standards by revoking offers of admission to at least ten students for their despicable comments on a Facebook page.

As Hannah Natanson reports for “The Crimson” in a piece entitled “Harvard Rescinds Acceptances for At Least Ten Students for Obscene Memes,” “Harvard College rescinded admissions offers to at least ten prospective members of the Class of 2021 after the students traded sexually explicit memes and messages that sometimes targeted minority groups in a private Facebook group chat. A handful of admitted students formed the messaging group—titled, at one point, ‘Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens’—on Facebook in late December, according to two incoming freshmen. In the group, students sent each other memes and other images mocking sexual assault, the Holocaust, and the deaths of children, according to screenshots of the chat obtained by The Crimson. Some of the messages joked that abusing children was sexually arousing, while others had punchlines directed at specific ethnic or racial groups. One called the hypothetical hanging of a Mexican child ‘piñata time.’ After discovering the existence and contents of the chat, Harvard administrators revoked admissions offers to at least ten participants in mid-April, according to several members of the group. University officials have previously said that Harvard’s decision to rescind a student’s offer is final.”

So to all students who have received offers of admission to their dream schools, don’t do anything you’ll later deeply regret. Don’t do anything that will jeopardize your admission. Regardless of jeopardizing one’s admission, the posts of these students are absolutely inexcusable and we at Ivy Coach salute Harvard to holding their ground and revoking their offers of admission to so many students who were supposed to be members of their Class of 2021. Harvard states to admitted students: “As a reminder, Harvard College reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission under various conditions including if an admitted student engages in behavior that brings into question his or her honesty, maturity, or moral character.” And all highly selective colleges state pretty much the same thing with varying language.

Have a question about rescinded offers of admission or that Harvard waitlist? Let us know your thoughts, your questions, your greatest fears…by posting a Comment below. We look forward to hearing from you.