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And they said they were need-blind!</p>
<p>they are need blind and if anything are trying to recruit low income students.</p>
<p>i think this years numbers is a backlash from last years admissions massacre in which yale was the most selective college in the country</p>
<p>"This past week, Harvard Dean of Admissions William Fitzsimmons said the school's jump in applicants was due "in large measure" to its new financial-aid policy. It is not difficult to imagine that a few folks at 38 Hillhouse Ave. have come to the same conclusion."</p>
<p>The Yale Herald seems to point to the same explanation for Harvard's large rise and Yale's slight drop.</p>
<p>See: "Harvard sucks... applicant pool"</p>
<p>I think that both the YDN and herald though are too quick to explain a ONE year plateau. After two years of steep increases in admissions numbers, a 1.2% decline is nothing. Princeton didn't institute a new financial aid policy (I think) and they saw a huge increase. However the good side is that their over-zealous explanation might stir the administration to implement more financial aid which is a great thing.</p>
<p>A perceived "crisis" always spurs overdue reforms. Similarly HYP have leapfrogged in financial aid over the years, with either P or H usually taking the lead. </p>
<p>Likewise, Yale enjoyed a jump when it went to the common app and added online applications two years ago, and Princeton likewise enjoyed a jump when it went to the common app and added online applications this year. (Those changes didn't get enough credit, IMHO, for causing the jump at Yale last year and the jump at Princeton this year.)</p>
<p>Such evidence as there is tends to indicate that a fraction (of undetermined size) of the large increase in apps at Harvard this year was due to the well-publicized "financial aid initiative."</p>