Early Applicant Pool Increases By Thirty Percent

Once they get to campus, Harvard students may not often hand their work in early, but a record number of Harvard applicants are trying to get ahead of the game.

Harvard received 6,042 early action applications by the November 1 deadline, 31.8 percent more than last year. The numbers reflect especially large increases in the number of women applicants, up 34.6 percent--though women still make up slightly less than half the pool--and applicants from the Midwest, up 43 percent from last year.

Although the final numbers are not yet tallied, Harvard admissions officials say there is greater diversity among the applicants.

"Already we have significantly more minority students in our pool this year," said Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons '67. "I think the word is getting out."

Fitzsimmons said the admissions staff has been working hard on diversity recruiting. This week's numbers are particularly promising since the office recognizes that students who choose early action have usually benefited from more individual counseling in their high schools--and are usually more affluent and more white.

Fitzsimmons noted that a recent survey estimated the student to guidance counselor ratio in four of the nation's 10 largest cities at 740:1.

Some additional students may have applied early due to Harvard's change to a non-exclusive early action program. The new policy means that students may simultaneously apply early to Harvard and other non-exclusive early action schools.

But high school counselors said the change has affected the applicant numbers of other early action schools, such as Brown and Georgetown, more than Harvard's.

Instead, according to Stephen D. Singer, director of college counseling at the Horace Mann School in New York City, many students are applying early because they say they believe it will give them a better chance at being admitted.

"I think the increase in applications to Harvard is a result of what the kids are seeing in the mass media about how much of the class is filled before the regular admissions take place," Singer said. "They see the statistics that Harvard has a freshman class of 1,600 and over 1,000 are admitted early action. They do the math."

Singer said another factor is that prospective applicants feel they should apply early since their friends are doing so.

"They're looking around to kids similar to themselves and saying 'if they're doing it, than maybe I should be,'" he said.

But Harvard's published materials clearly state that "students do not increase their chances of admission by applying Early Action."

According to Fitzsimmons, the admissions officers apply the same standards for early and regular admissions.

"We have done this for many years," Fitzsimmons said. "What you're always asking yourself is 'Will you [positively] admit this candidate in April?'."

It remains to be seen whether this year's total number of applicants, including the regular admissions pool in the spring, will exceed the record set by the Class of 2000 or whether fewer people will apply in the spring because they have applied early instead.

"You could speculate that the overall application numbers might be up, but the truth of the matter is that it might not happen," Fitzsimmons said.

Harvard admissions officers will deliberate on early action applicants until December 10, and they hope to mail decisions no later than December 15.