College Applicants Reach New Record

The numbers are in: Harvard’s applicant pool increased yet again this year, with a record 19,520 students applying for admission to the College, according to figures released yesterday.

This year’s number surpasses the previous record of 19,014 applications to enter the Class of 2005 and marks the 11th time applications have risen in the past 12 years.

“We are delighted that so many students are interested in Harvard, both

this year and increasingly over the past decade,” said Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 in a press release.

The increase in applicants—about 2.7 percent over last year—is part of a nationwide trend, caused in part by the increasing number of 18-year-olds in the population, according to the Harvard College Office of Admissions. That trend is expected to continue until 2008.

Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis ’70-’73 also attributed the larger pool of applicants to the success of Harvard’s enhanced recruiting and outreach programs—including what McGrath Lewis calls an “early awareness” program.

“The program encourages students from small towns or students whose parents may not be educated to apply,” McGrath Lewis said.

But more impressive than the size of the applicant pool is its quality, according to McGrath Lewis.

“The quality of the applicant pool is extraordinary,” McGrath Lewis said.

Admissions officers said they are pleased with the increasing number of talented applicants, even if it means turning away increasing numbers of outstanding students.

Though some upperclass Houses are being renovated this summer and will house more students next year—and there is much talk of relaxing study abroad policies to enable more students to leave campus—there are still “a fixed number of freshman beds,” McGrath-Lewis said.

The “absolute limit” of members of the Class of 2006 who can matriculate next fall is set at 1,650 students, she said.

Of the 19,520 applicants, 6,126 applied as part of Harvard’s early action program—another record number for the College.

Of those, a total of 1,174 applicants, 19.3 percent of the pool, received acceptances in December.

The rest of the admits will be notified Wednesday, April 3.

—Staff writer Robert M. Annis can be reached at annis@fas.harvard.edu.