<p>Thanks to the CC participant who posted this link on another forum here.</p>
<p>"We have always had a policy of admitting a Boston or Cambridge student over others when the credentials are approximately equal."</p>
<p>Wow, Dean Fitz. Wow.</p>
<p>I had no clue Harvard did that. But I agree with Fitzsimmons that Harvard bears a special responsibility to the residents of "the place that has done so much to shape its mission." As long as Harvard executes that responsibility in the least discriminatory way possible, as it seems to be doing, I will have no complaints. (Plus, looking at this from a realist perspective, I can see why Harvard would want to appease Massachusetts lawmakers by favouring Boston applicants.) </p>
<p>Using the same logic, I would also support this type of discrimination against non-US applicants, because Harvard's mandate is two-pronged: (1) to educate the future leaders of America and (2) to educate the future leaders of the world. How much weight Harvard gives each sub-mandate will determine how much discrimination is acceptable. Right now, it looks like Harvard weighs sub-mandate (1) more heavily. But that will change, I am sure, as America becomes even more globalized.</p>
<p>That really shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. Furthermore, I think it happens to a greater or lesser extent at all of the Ivy League colleges (really, almost all selective colleges), with the possible exception of Princeton. Yale absolutely accepts disproportionate numbers of Connecticut students, Penn favors SE Pennsylvania (and South Jersey a little less), Brown Rhode Island, Cornell New York State, and Columbia NYC, etc. One may not notice it as much with Dartmouth and Brown, where the favored populations are a little less dense.</p>
<p>By the way, this overlaps with legacy applicants a lot (local applications include a higher-than-normal proportion of legacies and faculty/staff children). It would be interesting to see how non-local legacy admissions compare to local admissions, and how non-legacy local admissions compare to local legacies.</p>
<p>At the risk of igniting a huge torrent of comments calling me ignorant or overly-nationalistic, I think sub-mandate (1) SHOULD be weighed more heavily (this is my opinion, folks, so don't get all bent outta shape.) Most countries (actually, all) put their own citizens first, and I don't think that is wrong. Of course, international students offer so much to campus, a lot of diversity as well as amazing intellect. But I think that between an American and international student that are more or less the same, the American should get the spot. It's an American university, so why shouldn't it support and educate the citizens of America first? </p>
<p>Like Mustafah said about favoring students of CT a little more makes sense strategically because the university should support the state that gives it so much support in return, I think the same logic should be applied in terms of country.</p>
<p>I mean, ultimately any decision that the admissions committee makes is one that they have complete authority over; they make every effort to make Harvard accessible to the qualified, but by the very nature of selectivity, some candidates will always get shortchanged (for lack of a better word).</p>
<p>This really isn't that different from a student living in an area with a tradition of American dialect and whose grammar suffers in the personal statement (as a result). Sure, he's probably a smart kid, and his ideas may still be communicated effectively, but if the same (or approximate) thought is conveyed by someone more eloquent, the latter will get preference.</p>
<p>Doesn't this directly collide with their desire for geographic diversity?</p>
<p>But if other private colleges also do this, do you think my chances at JHU improve from in-state?</p>
<p>^ Directly? Not necessarily.</p>
<p>I'm sure if they REALLLLLYyyyy wanted that ONE kid applying from Bhutan, and he was comparable to the tenth kid applying from Buckingham Browne and Nichols, they would take the Bhutanese kid.</p>
<p>If there were any "quota" I would argue for, it would be a quota for international students - even if it were a 1% or 2% quota. I honestly think it is good for undergraduate students from the U.S. to have some international students around them.</p>
<p>
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I honestly think it is good for undergraduate students from the U.S. to have some international students around them.
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<p>Agreed with this. I learned a lot from my international classmates at the University of Minnesota. </p>
<p>Here are Harvard's officially reported figures for first-year undergraduate students: </p>
<p>College</a> Search - Harvard College - At a Glance </p>
<p>That's 10 percent international, but that figure probably includes persons who grew up mostly in the United States but who don't happen to be permanent residents or citizens. (On the other hand, the figures for domestic students include quite a few Americans who have lived abroad for much of their childhoods.)</p>
<p>^I thought you were a Harvard alum? Grad school?</p>
<p>Anyway yeah this doesnt surprise me. The Chinese are coming and Fitszimmons is the 2009 Paul Revere.</p>
<p>When Cornell's penultimate president was inaugurated, in his address he asked, "Is our goal to look more like America, or do we want to look more like the World?" I imagine lots of presidents and trustees are asking themselves that question; I certainly would be if I were sitting in their seats. For many institutions in the Northeast and northern Midwest, it's not even a question of policy, it's a question of survival -- there are more institutions there than the regional population will support 10 or 20 years from now, and if they aren't going to market to the Chinese they may as well start looking for someone to buy the real estate.</p>
<p>xxxx (mwl - 2.19.2009) --> </p>
<p>^ What the hell is that? I've seen it on unrelated posts now.</p>
<p>Feb 19, 2009? Bwah?</p>
<p>^ I've seen that appear in some of my posts recently, but then it disappears after I refresh the page. o_0</p>
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^I thought you were a Harvard alum?
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<p>I take it this question was directed to me. No, I actually don't have any particular connection to Harvard, so what I know about Harvard I read in the news media or hear from Harvard representatives. I had one junior high classmate who went to Harvard, but I've never seen her since she graduated from high school, and various friends over the years who are alumni. I started hanging out on this forum a while after two very kind Harvard representatives took my then sixth-grade age son seriously while he was tagging along with me at the Minnesota National College Fair. (I was there to do research for a website I maintain.) The Harvard reps invited us to a regional information session specific to Harvard later that month, and there I met a professional colleague I hadn't seen for a while, a Harvard alumnus. So I have pleasant feelings toward Harvard, and pleasant feelings toward this forum, but my personal experience with colleges (and law schools) is limited to the state flagship university in my home state.</p>
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Furthermore, I think it happens to a greater or lesser extent at all of the Ivy League colleges (really, almost all selective colleges), with the possible exception of Princeton.
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<p>Princeton favors kids from Princeton High School</p>
<p>There are a lot of faculty/admin brats at Princeton High School. Princeton used to take a lot of kids from Lawrenceville, too; I don't know if it still does. But I don't have a sense that there's a regional preference that extends beyond two or three feeder schools.</p>
<p>I'm sorry but I don't follow your logic, JHS. If most Ivy colleges favor applicants from their own state or geographic area, what makes you think that Princeton is different from other colleges? Is there any particular reason that you have in mind?</p>
<p>I don't know. Princeton seems not as integrated with the political life of New Jersey as the other colleges are with their areas. It sits in what was until very recently a bucolic small town that functions as a little ridge, where on one side the water runs towards New York City and on the other towards Philadelphia. Apart from its small town, it didn't really have a natural community for most of its history. And until recently, it was very much the "Southern" Ivy, drawing people disproportionately from the South (at least compared to the rest of the Ivy League). Also, like Yale, it draws lots of kids from New York City, but it's just one of many in that market.</p>
<p>Now, I said that I could be proved wrong, but I've just never has a sense that Princeton has the kind of relationship with central Jersey that Penn has with southeastern Pennsylvania (and south Jersey), or Harvard has with the Boston/Cambridge area</p>
<p>Thanks for posting the article!</p>