<p>BunsenBurner: I think that the $65 is indeed to discourage egregiously excessive applications. I mean, let's put it this way: if some student who's obviously not cut out for Harvard sees the free application, it's not much extra work or money for them to send in the materials (which they probably already have) and copy-paste some essays to apply. On the other end, the Harvard admissions officers have to spend a significant amount of time weeding through these applicants. Thus the application fee - discourage egregiously unqualified applicants, and ensure there is no open-ended infinite application reading for the adcoms.</p>
<p>And Harvard has made a big effort to find the kinds of students it wants from all socio economic stations in life and from all parts of the world. Plus it has tried to make the school more financially accessible to lower and middle income families. Why not? It can afford to do so.</p>
<p>They've come a long way from the days when getting into Harvard depended on family connections or going to the right boarding schools.</p>
<p>I think it is like American Idol...you hold open auditions and you might have to go through a lot of awful singers before you get to a gem. But if you make the auditions harder in some way, you might not get the gem to audition. It seems like Harvard has decided not to make its application any more difficult.</p>
<p>I agree that the $65 fee will cut down some on the Oh Heck, Why Not Shoot an Application off to Harvard syndrome. </p>
<p>I think applicants self-select when it comes to Harvard. In the 8 application seasons that I've seen at our local hs (I volunteer in the college and career center at the hs), only once have I seen someone apply to Harvard who wasn't in the top 2% of the class.</p>
<p>Admissions departments often reject highly qualified applicants. Rejection is part of the experience of applying, even with highly credible statistics. One should enter into the process stoically and be grateful for consideration. There are many fine institutions to ultimately meet your given qualifications.</p>
<p>Best wishes to all.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>One should enter into the process stoically<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Truer words never said, Xenus.</p>
<p>I am not saying that colleges make money off the application process. I am saying that parents, school districts and taxpayers bear the brunt of the cost. "One should enter into the process stoically?" Give me a break...what I would like to see is the admissions process revamped for these "highly selective schools". Why is that state institutions can play the game more cost effectively and efficiently with less information? Sounds like these "highly selective colleges" created their own hype....</p>
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Why is that state institutions can play the game more cost effectively and efficiently with less information?
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<p>I don't about anyone else, but I got tons of spam from state schools, random LACs, etc, when I was applying.</p>
<p>I agree with the people who say that rejection is part of life.</p>
<p>Maymom1,</p>
<p>I see your experience as an advantage my kids will never have, and I think you are fortunate for it.</p>
<p>While I do have a D at H, she did not receive letters of encouragement to apply, and I have no reason to believe my other kids will. </p>
<p>If your D had been admitted, you would not be on this board complaining, rather you would be thankful that H prodded you and your D to submit the application when apparently she would not have done so otherwise.</p>
<p>I wonder why your D was targeted by H? Do you know?</p>
<p>"Personally, I think there should be a triage system. Some of those 27,000 were probably rejected out of hand based on test scores and grades. How about a FREE application to see if a kid should even bother with the rest of it?" </p>
<p>They can come there and post a "chance me" thread--that's free.
I think, unfortunately, that some people do get a false idea of how likely they are to be accepted to highly selective schools. Receiving a mailing from the schools probably contributes to this, but I suspect the biggest factor is being told by well-meaning people, "With your grades and scores, you can get in anywhere!" Whether this kind of prediction was ever reasonable I'm not sure, but it's not reasonable now. High school students that would have been astounding in terms of grades, scores, and accomplishments twenty years ago are now completing with many more similar students.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Why is that state institutions can play the game more cost effectively and efficiently with less information? <<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>It costs $65 for each box you check off on the UC application. It's not like state applications are always cheap!</p>
<p>Thank you "Hunt" finally some thinking applied to this game of chance. I think I should have spent my money on the lottery, obviously the odds were better.</p>
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I am saying that parents, school districts and taxpayers bear the brunt of the cost
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That's your choice. My d. wanted to apply to Brown and I didn't think she had any chance of admission, so I told her I wouldn't pay the application fee. She went to her high school g.c. and got a fee waiver. (As I predicted, she was rejected -- no surprise, but at least I didn't lose an application fee).</p>