

Harvard Admissions Drop to 7% on Record Applicants - tokenadult
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aO5lGe1UPa5M

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teuobk
It's been a couple years since I pulled the numbers, but here's a chart of the
undergraduate admission rates for Harvard, MIT, and Stanford for class years
2004-2011:

<http://www.keacher.com/files/undergrad-admissions.png>

As you can see, the trend is nothing new. The only question is: where will it
end?

 __Updated: I added the data for the two most recent years:

[http://www.keacher.com/files/dir3/undergrad-admissions-
rev2....](http://www.keacher.com/files/dir3/undergrad-admissions-rev2.png)

~~~
awad
I don't think in the foreseeable future. tokenadult brings up some very good
points regarding the rising number of applications.

Even if domestic student class sizes were to remain flat (which they won't, as
class sizes are getting larger by the year), many foreign students (esp from
India and China) of the current generation are now for the first time able to
apply to college in the United States.

~~~
redrobot5050
And the follow up might be that more people applying to Harvard (and other
good schools) even if they're not really qualified for the schools (but they
think they are).

America's entitlement problem (and the "we're all winners attitude" some
schools teach early on) could lead to a serious education disparity. Public
universities, like the one I'm currently attending for my master's, has
something like a 90% acceptance rate (and a high wash out rate, as freshmen
sometimes learns that college isn't all kegstands and tail gates) whereas
Harvard only takes the 93rd percentile...

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brandnewlow
Elite schools are judged, in part, by how many applicants they receive each
year.

Knowing this, the top schools have done two things:

1\. Aggressively market themselves to students earlier and earlier.

Many of the top schools begin mailing material to students with desireable
profiles as early as freshman year. When I left admissions in '06, people were
starting direct mail campaigns to sophomores and we were all wringing our
hands over the icky-ness of it.

2\. Make it as easy as possible to apply.

For all the griping they do, applying to college is crazy easy compared to the
process even just 10 years ago. All the top schools take the common
application now. And top schools will often waive the application fee if you
ask them nicely and tell them you can't afford it.

The impact?

Kids are applying to more and more schools each year. I don't cry for the kids
who get rejected from Harvard. 60% of them applied to at least 7-8 other
schools if not 12-13.

When all you have to do is check a box, why not apply to 15 schools?

This works out great for the schools. Their yields go down, but they get their
hands on more applicants than ever.

~~~
tokenadult
_the top schools have done two things:

1\. Aggressively market themselves to students earlier and earlier._

Here's a link about how Harvard recruits students:

[http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_34/b3998441....](http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_34/b3998441.htm)

Harvard sends out 70,000 letters to high school students to get enough
applications to warrant 2,000 offers of admission, which will result in 1,600
new students enrolling in the next class at Harvard.

------
endtime
Similar numbers for Stanford: [http://news-
service.stanford.edu/news/2009/january28/admissi...](http://news-
service.stanford.edu/news/2009/january28/admission-012809.html)

Apparently, Stanford got 20% more applicants this year than last year. If it
were an increase in grad school apps, it might have an explanation in the
economy, but I'm not sure what could explain such an increase in undergrad
apps.

~~~
Brushfire
I dont have any stats, but since I have been applying to grad schools this
year (and accepted, woo!), I can tell you that for most schools the numbers
have been way up across the board. Since most of the admissions stuff is
happening at this very moment, good numbers wont actually be available for a
few more months.

~~~
endtime
Congrats on getting accepted. I remember getting my first acceptance (UCSD);
it was a great feeling.

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quizbiz
Just got accepted into Emory today. I'm sorry but I want to yell it to the
world. I hear back from the last college I applied to tomorrow. I have to keep
telling myself to expect a rejection. It's the one ivy league I applied to.
Gulp.

This whole process has been odd and strange. It has put a very friendly group
of students at odds sometimes. And by no means is it over yet. It only
intensifies with the work load. As seniors, we constantly expect things to
cool off, but they never ever do.

I suppose this is welcome to the real world.

I have done well in this system of admissions thus far but I do not feel
deserving, I feel lucky. I feel shit damn lucky. Qualified friends of mine are
getting rejected or wait listed left and right. This system is flawed. I feel
as if it has destroyed the best in me. Tore me down. And for what?

The college admissions process and high school as a prep-school need serious
fixing and nobody is talking about it. And by talking I mean doing things.

I wrote about this today:
[http://blipfoto.com/view.php?id=275574&month=3&year=...](http://blipfoto.com/view.php?id=275574&month=3&year=2009)

~~~
jmatt
Congratulations on getting in.

I graduated about 15 years ago. I'll give you a quick summary of the top
people in my class. I went to an "average" midwest public high school with
about 2000 students freshman year and 450 students graduating senior year.

If it is at all reassuring the one person I knew in high school who went to
Harvard is now unemployed. He's also a schmuck and I wouldn't be surprised if
he ended up in politics in the near future... no surprise.

Out of the other top ten in high school that I still keep in contact with
three went to state schools on full rides and one went to a second tier ivy
league school. They are a chiropractor, a vet and and two doctors. This is
also no surprise if you saw them in AP Biology. I think I was the only one in
the top 25 to go into Engineering (actually Computer Science). Everyone
thought the best way to succeed was to be a doctor, which was largely due to
growing up in my home town. The doctors appeared to be doing far better than
most engineers or executives at engineering companies.

The most financially successful (as far as I know) is the girl who ended up at
google working in the Marketing department pre IPO (I'll take luck over skill
any day).

As for the admissions process, it's just the beginning of the journey. So
don't get to wrapped up in it. From my experience: In a six months no one will
ask you where else you were accepted... In six years no one will ask what your
college GPA was... and in twelve years no one will ask where you went to
college. Or at least they won't care much.. only in idle conversation. So use
it as an opportunity and enjoy it while you can.

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awad
The numbers will continue to decline, the student body is growing larger and
larger every year. My year is the largest freshman class ever...until next
year.

The pressure put on students these days is insane. It's a non stop competition
since conception.

~~~
jacobolus
> _The pressure put on students these days is insane._

I'd argue it's mostly self-imposed.

> _It's a non stop competition since conception._

"Non-stop competition" against what? Most of the students in the harder
courses care more about helping each-other understand difficult material than
about competing.

~~~
awad
>"Non-stop competition" against what? Most of the students in the harder
courses care more about helping each-other understand difficult material than
about competing.

I was referring to the competition to get into the coveted few spots available
at the top schools in the country. Granted, it's always been competitive, but
it only gets more competitive with larger and larger class sizes

~~~
jacobolus
Ah, fair enough.

A few things:

First, such competition is on such a massive scale that _local_ competition
against classmates, &c., is harmful. Indeed, I think even thinking about
college admissions as zero-sum is counterproductive.

I also still think most of such pressure and competition are self imposed, and
frankly often a misdirection of effort and attention: students who care about
learning for its own sake and spend effort on what they're curious about and
have enough free time to pursue those interests (clearly some who have a
language barrier, and must take part time jobs to feed younger siblings, etc.
are at a disadvantage here) will manage to get into a decent college somewhere
(there are so many fantastic ones!).

Then again, I'm rather less motivated by grades/prestige/promises of future
salary/etc. than most students around here.

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Anon84
Only 7%? Last I heard, after their endowment went down 30% they pretty much
had a hire/tenure freeze on faculty/staff.

