‘Mom, I Did It, I Did It’: Class of 2029 Reacts to Harvard Acceptance

When Ethan “Ozzie” Comer, a high school senior from Plattsburgh, NY, opened his Harvard College admissions decision last Thursday, he was so excited he fell out of his chair.

“The whole day I was pretty much just waiting, waiting, waiting,” he said. When he saw that he’d been admitted, he added, “I was so shocked that I completely lost feeling in my legs.”

Like Comer, new Harvard admits to the class of 2029 ran a full gamut of emotions as they opened their decisions, joining students admitted last December in the Restricted Early Action round.

Harvard released its Regular Decision offers last Thursday. Breaking with nearly 70 years of precedent, however, the College has not provided any data on the number of applicants, admits, or the acceptance rate. Instead, they will release this — along with demographic information about the new class — in the fall.

Josh P. Kohm, from Alexandria, Virginia is a potential double concentrator at the College. Kohm is interested in what he jokes are “the money major, and the non-money major, in Classics and Economics.”

Kohm, along with a group of his friends, staked out in a parking lot to open their decision letters together.

“My friends saw the congratulations and the confetti on the screen before I did. So I was confused for half a second, because I wasn't looking at my phone that carefully,” he said.

“Then it was the standard fanfare from them,” he added.

Valeria Mendez, from Lynn, Massachusetts, was with her family when opening her decisions on Ivy Day.

“Before I opened it, I turned around to my family, and I said, ‘No matter what the outcome is, thank you for all your love and support. It's been a very hard journey, but this is it.’ Opening the letter and seeing confetti and congratulations was the best feeling in the world,” Mendez said.

The next day, Mendez thanked the teachers and counselors who supported her through her academic journey.

“They knew I could do it. Just being able to hear that from them, really — it made the moment feel very good and genuine,” she said.

September Jiang, from Pompano Beach, Florida, recalled that her mother was more confident than she was about her acceptance — especially when she received a second interview with an admissions officer after submitting her application.

“My mom was like, ‘Yeah, you're getting in.’ But I was so doubtful,” Jiang said.

Harvard wasn’t the only Ivy League decision Jiang was waiting on, either.

“I opened my Princeton rejection letter right before Harvard, and when I got rejected, I felt so disheartened,” she said.

But opening Harvard’s letter was a different story.

“I recorded my reaction video, and it's fun to watch. It was like, a lot of screaming and excitement,” Jiang said.

Brianna L. DiMauro, a new admit from Wilmington, Delaware, wasn’t the only student doubtful about her chances before opening her letter. DiMauro was at work when she received the decision, but remembers feeling convinced she “wasn't getting in” before opening it.

Viewing her acceptance was a “surreal moment,” she said. “Almost like an out-of-body experience.”

Now, DiMauro said she’s looking forward to Visitas, the two-day event held on April 27th and 28th for admitted students to visit campus.

“I'm super excited to go see all the libraries and the museums and the dining hall,” she said.

Jenny Min, a newly admitted student from Ellicott City, Maryland, is excited about visiting campus and exploring the performing arts scene at Harvard, especially the acappella group, the Din and Tonics.

For many, opening the decisions was nerve-wracking, exciting, and, in the end, incredibly emotional.

Alice Chen, from Mastic, NY, was admitted in the Restricted Early Action round last December. She expressed similar sentiments of excitement when opening her acceptance letter.

“I did not think I was getting in, but then I saw the confetti — I literally screamed, I jumped, and all of my friends were screaming too,” she said.

Other students in the school came out of classrooms to see if someone had been hurt, concerned by the hubbub.

“So they are like, ‘What happened? What happened? Is everything okay?’ And then you just see me and three of my friends running down the hallway going, ‘She got in!’” Chen said.

When she opened her acceptance letter, Chen said, “I started crying. I called my mom, and I was like, ‘Mom, I did it. I did it.’”

—Staff writer Cassidy M. Cheng can be reached at cassidy.cheng@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cassidy_cheng28.

—Staff writer Claire T. Grumbacher can be reached at claire.grumbacher@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @clairegrumbachr.