Transfer Troubles

The odds for gaining acceptance to Harvard as a transfer student, already slim, are about to become razor-thin. Having decided to increase the size of the freshman class, the College has announced that, starting in 2011, it will halve the number of transfer student positions it makes available.

This is a thoroughly bad idea: Not only do transfer students contribute to the diversity and depth of the student body, but there are legitimate reasons why some students would be better served at Harvard than at other institutions, such as being unhappy or unchallenged. As such, they deserve a chance at admission commensurate with freshman applicants. Shortchanging these students by halving the number who are admitted is unwise and unfair.

The policy change was announced in light of a decision to increase the freshman class by about 30. But since the College has no plans to increase the size of the overall student body in the near future—a policy we wholeheartedly support—the increase in freshmen must be offset with a decrease in transfers. Dean of Harvard College Benedict H. Gross ’71 said, “We made the decision because admissions—which reads all the files—felt that the freshman pool of applicants was deeper…than the pool of transfer applicants.”

But according to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmions ’67 transfer students that have historically been admitted are “every bit as well-prepared as people admitted through the freshman process.” Even Dean Gross admits that “the transfers that we admit are exceptional students, and they do very well here.”

While the College’s adjustment may seem to be trivial and insignificant, at least purely based on numbers, it represents a troubling shift in philosophy. Harvard has been, and should always strive to be, a place where meritocracy is the heuristic of choice. Students who struggle in high school but experience an academic awakening during college so profound that they find their current environment inadequate should be given a fair chance to attend Harvard; to limit this possibility in favor of a system of quotas is to not only do an injustice to them, but to Harvard as well.

Freshman admission is the lifeblood of the university, but transfer students will get as much out of their time here as any other student—indeed they may get more out of their experiences here as a direct result of their experience at another college. Ideally, a rough parity should be maintained between freshman and transfer admission rates. These applicants for admission should be considered on their merits and their ability to contribute to the Harvard community.