<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/education/28admissions.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/education/28admissions.html</a> </p>
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<p>Thanks for the post and the link, Tokenadult. The Stanford numbers are still a surpise - I thought for sure they'd go way up. </p>
<p>The other surprise is that MIT has not been able to COUNT their early apps yet! If they're having that much trouble, can't they send for someone up the street at Harvard to help them?</p>
<p>Yeah, the Stanford numbers still surprise me too. </p>
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<p>That does raise the interesting question of exactly how and when a count becomes official. If the application deadline is a postmark deadline, one has to wait for applications to trickle in, but it's been a while now since the deadline.</p>
<p>Hmmmn.... I can't help but speculate even though the head of admissions at Yale won't.<br>
I think Georgetown's numbers are up because there is an increased awareness of politics, power, Washington DC because of the current administration and all that goes along with it. That is the place to go if you want to be where the political action is. </p>
<p>I think Stanford's numbers are consistent because sooo many of their applicants come from California in the first place. The kids from the east coast that are going to lob an app to Stanford are still the same..... the changes in the top schools and their policies don't really affect kids from California, so the overall impact is negligible. </p>
<p>I think Yale's numbers were off last year due to the sense it was a lost cause (the first Ivy school to have <10% accepted) and the whole Taliban student issue. I think their numbers are coming back again because Harvard and Princeton have done away with an early cycle.....BUT I also think that if you visit New Haven....you will see a NEW New Haven. Money has been spent.. and they finally tore down the old rusty stadium as you approach the city from the east.... Yale bought the Bayer facilities....and they are very visibly active in China. Yale has $$ and Yale is spending $$. I think Levin is really good at his job. </p>
<p>I will be interested in hearing more about how kids fare in the Georgetown "lottery" cause I have been harboring an interest in that school for my S#2. It is just disappointing to find out one is part of a herd....</p>
<p>I think, though I'm not sure, that a lot of the issues with schools counting early applications has to do with how they classify incomplete applications.</p>
<p>Haven't we covered this one before? </p>
<p>Part of Yale's big jump in early applications can be traced directly to the school's recent participation in programs that generate hundreds --if not more than 1,000 qualified early applications. Stanford, in turn, does not consider the participants of programs such as Questbridge to be part of their early round. A subtle difference, which Dean Shaw is too much of a gentleman to use as an explanation.</p>
<p>I wonder how the Common Data Set Initiative rules suggest treating Questbridge applications?</p>
<p>Probably no different from the CDS being able to dictate the terms of likely letters or athletic LOIs. I think that it's up to the school to decide the terms of their admissions.</p>