Found this: the global early application acceptance rates to Harvard dropped from 13.9% to 7.4% just this year.

I am wondering if that was because of Trump and inability to get visas and that will change. It would have been easier than on the domestic front. (DD is American, though at an international school hence considered a domestic applicant)

Possibly it's because they had a lot of deferrals due to covid.

This not about accepting and deferring, but getting the acceptance.

Application numbers are up, so acceptance rates are down. It’s probably going to be like this for the near future.

Deferrals for kids accepted into this year's freshman class that are taking up space in next year's class. This would potentially mean that they are accepting fewer people.

On another note, I had a free online consultation with an college admission strategist.

"any number of kids in the bay area have that profile" any number, and just in the bay area.

She was a semifinalist in Technovation Girls where you build an app, write the business plan, pitch. "Can you show 1000 sign ups, cross border?" No, because we have a pandemic and small businesses are going out of business. (it was an app on a small business problem)

I would like to know how others are getting research with profs and other stuff when we have stay at home orders? DD's marine science programs were all cancelled last summer, they seem to be opening up but now we have S African variant and vaccine may not work. How are you suppose to fill out the CV? She did go after 9th grade for 2 weeks, but that is nothing now.

A white kid doing a self study on AP chinese in 10th grade not good enough. She will have 12 APs when done, Chinese and 1st comp sci last year, 5 more this year, 5 next. That seems to be standard.

Are we building super humans?

Perhaps there aren’t any applicants stronger than your DC but simply that COVID restrictions have prevented the top (including your DC) from stretching so it has somewhat levelled the top playing field.

Too many kids creating businessess, so if it doesn't look like a launched midway amazon or facebook, doesn't count.

And it appears to be standard that you start high school and find a prof to do research with throughout. That has replaced "rowing". Yes, they have lists of professors you can do research projects with. Doesn't that kind of work under the same thing as the college scandal? Set up research. DD had gone down to UNC-W in 2019 to do diving/research and was expected to go back last year. Great research in her field. They are planning for this year, but anything could get cancelled. And DD did get a list of internships from a recent PhD in the field, but most got cancelled due to covid.

Well, better doing high school during covid, rather than paying for college tuition and having a limited college learning experience.

Covid is affecting things at every level....some, actually a lot, of the REU and internship experiences my DD looked at are not cancelled, but are allowing last years applicants to keep the spots they earned last summer (when the programs were cancelled). There are also similar things happening in grad programs all across the country. Students were unable to complete research or projects due to the pandemic, and now their programs don’t have additional funding or spots to accept new students. I’m sure the job market is facing similar challenges.

Not cancelled (yet). I don't have faith at this moment at the programs that say they are running.

DD is looking at a bunch of programs and email to see if there is anything she can do online.

It also helps when guidance is on your side. They are responsible to send their package. There are rumors when they don't. Not sure if anyone has experienced that or not.