Yield for Class of 1984 May Exceed Expectations

Preliminary admissions figures indicate that a record percentage of students accepted to the Class of '84 will come to Harvard next year, William R. Fitzsimmons '67, director of admissions, said yesterday.

Of the 2050 students Harvard had heard from as of Friday, nearly 1600--or about 77 per cent--had accepted admission. Harvard's normal yield is 73 to 74 per cent.

Although the admissions office has not yet heard from 100 of the 2148 students accepted, Fitzsimmons said the yield appeared to be higher than anyone on the admission staff had anticipated.

Keep Waiting

"Right now, it certainly doesn't look as if we'll be taking anyone from the waiting list," Fitzsimmons added.

Following last year's unprecedented increase in the number of students accepting admission, Harvard admitted about 100 fewer students than last year. Therefore, despite the projected yield increase, Harvard will probably only slightly exceed its desired class size--about 1590 residents--for next year, Fitzsimmons said.

He added that the percentage of women accepting admission was also higher this year, after falling last year 3 or 4 percentage points below that for men.

As Expected

The minority student yield is running close to the expected level, Fitzsimmons said, although final figures are not yet available. The percentage of minority students accepting admission was slightly under the general acceptance rate, Fitzsimmons said, adding that this is normal because of "the stiff competition for high caliber" minority students.

Fitzsimmons said the number of students accepting admission at other Ivy League schools was also higher than expected.