basic harry potter question?

This is really an interesting question, and not as straightforward as it might appear.

Let's start by looking at the only book that we have describing that process. In PS/SS, Chapters 3 & 4, we learn ( by counting back from Tuesday, July 31, Harry's 11th Birthday), that the first Hogwarts' letter arrives on Monday, July 23. One or more letters reach Harry and the Dursleys every day until the last letter is delivered by Hagrid at 12: 00 AM, July 31.

So superficially, the first part of the question is yes. The more interesting question is whether it is natural for every Hogwarts' student, or if Harry is unusual in this respect too.

Based on the books, I would say the latter. The letter, which we finally see in PS/SS Chapter 4 says that a response is needed no later than July 31. As this is Harry's actual Birthday, I conclude that Harry (and any other person born on July 31) is the youngest student that Hogwarts admits in any given year. Therefore, it makes sense that Hogwarts would notify students whose birthdays fall in the last two week or so of July before their 11th Birthday to give them a chance to get their acceptance in by the deadline.

I can even imagine there could be cases of the children of a magic parent and non-magic parent needing that time to consider if they wish to send their child to Hogwarts (especially if the magical parent never got around to telling their spouse about their abilities, or the chance that their children might inherit magical ability!).

I would guess that for children born at other time in the year, their notification letters likely came on their actual birthday.

The above would be for children with at least one magical parent. In the case of the Muggle-born, they have to be contacted by a Hogwarts faculty member--likely at the start of the summer before the start of their first school year, but we can't be sure, since the books are not really clear on this.

The only account of a Hogwarts teacher approaching a perspective student unaware of his magical abilities is found in chapter 13 of Half-Blood Prince, in the memories of Dumbledore meeting Riddle for the first time. Since we learn that Riddle was born on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, is already 11 at the time of the meeting and no mention is made of snow or winter weather, I take this a confirmation that such visits are made during the summer.

Checking online sources, the only source dealing directly with admissions I could find Wikipedia. There it is stated that letters are sent only once a year, in the summer. However, no source is given for this, in an article otherwise heavily footnoted (and it gets the deadline for sending in their acceptance wrong, to boot). To me, it seems rather unfair to children who expect to be in Hogwarts to wait that long for official confirmation, as well as creating a massive traffic jam in Diagon Ally as all the students have a month or less to get school supplies for the next year.

But, if the above is true, you can conclude that most of the first year students will be 11 before they receive their letters. Only those whose birthday fall at the end of July might get their letter before their 11th birthday.

dpr

1

Harry Potter Age

How Old Is Harry Potter

The first attempt to deliver the letter was shortly before his 11th birthday. He finally GOT the letter on his birthday. So he was 11 when he learned he was a wizard.

Presumably muggle-born and muggle-raised witches and wizards would not generally find out any sooner than that unless there were some sort of extenuating circumstance.

For example, Lily Evans found out she was a witch before getting her Hogwarts letter because she met Severus Snape and he told her that the strange things she could do were actually magic.

Well, he actually turned 11 just before Hagrid rescued him from the seaside shack and took him off to Hogwarts. But yes, initially he received his Hogwarts acceptance letter at age 10.

Um, your second question confuses me :S But I'll take a stab at it :P Do you mean "is that the age that all WIZARDS and WITCHES who aren't living in wizarding villages/ with wizarding families (i.e., Harry Potter and Hermione Granger) find out about their acceptance into Hogwarts? If so, then yes :) Muggle-borns would discover that they'd been accepted to Hogwarts shortly before their eleventh birthday.

you should try wikipedia, Harry Potter's story is very detailed so I think it will be the best short explanation out there. Hope this helps.

He learned that he was a wizard at age 11 but he started to get the letter from hogwarts when he was 10

It was about a week before his birthday.... so he was 10 at the time.

as soon as it turned midnight on his birthday hagrid was at the cabin