Harvard info on this year's EAs

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>From a newsletter that Admissions today sent alum who chair schools committees (the committees responsible for local interviewing).</p>

<p>"the Early Action program saw about the same number of applicants and admitted students as in each of the previous three years. A total of 4008 students applied this year compared to 3869, 4214, and 3889 in the preceding three years. And while the final figures are not available as this is written, it appears that there will be about 875 students admitted compared to 813, 869, and 902 for the past three classes. </p>

<p>“Once again the Admissions Committee has chosen a remarkable early group, and they will form the nucleus of the Class of 2011,” said William R. Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid. “They have demonstrated unusual academic, extracurricular, and personal promise – fully comparable to the high standards of the previous three Classes,” he said....</p>

<p>While it is still too early to tell precisely what the socioeconomic composition of the newly admitted group will be, it is clear that last year’s substantial increase in students eligible for the new Harvard Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI) has been sustained. Under the Initiative, parents from families with annual incomes less than $60,000 are not required to make a contribution, and those with income from $60,000 to $80,000 contribute significantly less than in the past.....</p>

<p>It is likely that there will be a few more women than men admitted early this year despite the fact that exactly the same number of men and women applied. For the third year in a row there were more women matriculating in the first-year class in September. The Class of 2008 was the first in Harvard’s history with more women than men.
African American students will comprise 7% of admits, Asian Americans 23%, Latinos 7.8%, and Native Americans 1%. Intended fields of concentration remained similar to last year, but with somewhat more interest in engineering, computer science, and mathematics. Geographic distribution was also similar, but, continuing a trend, there was a slight rise in the number of international citizens....</p>

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<p>Thanks for the detailed information. Looking on from afar, it seems the admission committee took care, in the final year (for now) of early action, to make sure the early round didn't "advantage the advantaged" and to give a close second look to students from straitened socioeconomic backgrounds. Does that seem plausible to you?</p>

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<p>That certainly seems plausible to me, especially since they have really made a point to mention the diversity of this year's class as well as the HFAI.</p>

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<p>Which is why it still shocks me that I got in despite not applying finaid and being a suburban Asian who isn't even ranked in the top five out of 230! Tsk, tsk, Harvard. :)</p>

<p>It is interesting to note that they admitted an almost indentical percentage of applicants while my guidance counseler was predicting they would admit less under the early program to show that early applicants weren't overly favored.</p>