November Without Applications

Last year at this time, students were rushing to the post office to send in their application to Harvard. No longer. Though many other undergraduate institutions are gearing up to accept a large portion of their 2012 class, Harvard admissions officers will wait until January to begin vetting applicants. Though few colleges have followed Harvard’s example so far, we still hope that will change as admissions officers across the country come to realize how big of a boon the elimination of early admissions policies is to high school students and universities alike.

When Harvard decided last September to do away with all early admissions programs at the College, an oft-touted benefit was the additional time it would provide admissions officers in the fall. No longer bogged down reading early applications, the admissions staff would have more time to devote to recruiting qualified high school students who would not typically apply to Harvard. Initial reports from the admissions office suggest that this has been the case, although official statistics will not be available until this May, after the Class of 2012 has formally enrolled.

Specifically, by eliminating early admission, the admissions office was able to recapture six weeks of travel time for carefully targeted recruitment trips, many of which are conducted with the University of Virginia and Princeton, colleges that also ended their early admissions programs. The Office is relying on the research of recently departed professor of economics Caroline M. Hoxby ’88 and professor of public policy Christopher N. Avery ’88 which analyzed financial aid and admissions data in order to provide a more refined way to target schools and regions for recruitment of students who would not otherwise think of applying to Harvard.

The change was also intended to make the college admissions process simpler and fairer for high school seniors, especially for students from low-income families. Applicants from well-off backgrounds were more likely to apply early under the previous system, disadvantaging students with fewer college-counseling resources at hand. Combined with the additional recruitment, Harvard’s policy should make for a more diverse and interesting class.

Though there has been concern in some quarters that ending early admissions will cause Harvard to lose top applicants to peer schools that have retained early admissions policies, we believe the risk to be minimal. The admissions office seems to be combating this concern with “letters of intent,” missives sent to top athletic candidates, mathematicians, and musicians in advance of official admissions decisions expressing interest in their candidacy. Athletic coaches are using the extra time for more extensive recruiting efforts as well. Director of Admissions Marly McGrath Lewis ’73 told The Crimson, “all indications are that we are not going to lose quality. We know there are people who won’t wait around, but so far the indicators are where they were last year, and we now have more recruitment time.”