<p>"Just over 800" admitted, vs. 885 last year.</p>
<p>So I guess here is the lowdown on EA this year:</p>
<p>Total EA Applications: 3,872
Accepted: 804 (20.7%)
Deferred: 2,828 (73.0%)
Rejected: 149 (3.8%)
Incomplete: 79 (2.0%)
Withdrew: 12 (.31%)</p>
<p>A slightly lower acceptance rate compared to last year.</p>
<p>One wonders if the 8% decrease in applications is due to (1) "strategic" application behavior, (2) a year with a lot of bad press for President Summers, or (3) some completely different cause.</p>
<p>It'll be interesting to see what happens in the RD round.</p>
<p>I would bet that the heavy hurricane season also had an impact on SEAC applicants to Harvard.</p>
<p>What gets no press is that Stanford pwned both Harvard and Yale in early apps. Maybe this represents the real shift</p>
<p>Will more deferred be accepted this year?</p>
<p>crimsonbulldog: No one knows, obviously, but Byerly feels that more will be accepted from the deferred pool this year. However, the common theme obviously will be still standing out in some way in the applicant pool.</p>
<p>"I would bet that the heavy hurricane season also had an impact on SEAC applicants to Harvard."</p>
<p>Doubt it, Applications rose to Yale, Princeton, and Stanford, all of which receive many international and coastal applicants.</p>
<p>Harvard this year only had 3781 completed and reviewed applications, an almost 10 percent drop from last year.</p>
<p>My guess is the bad press Harvard has been getting lately, and students becoming more clever seeing that applying EA doesn't really boost chances too much because of the number of athletes and legacies skewing the acceptence data coupled with the strength of the Early pool.</p>
<p>Well it should be noted that last year early apps rose at Harvard while admits declined; on the other hand, early apps declined at Yale and yet the number admitted rose!</p>
<p>It may be that applicants (and their educational consultants!) pay attention to these numbers and apply accordingly.</p>
<p>This year, the number of, and the admit rate for, early applicants BOTH declined at Harvard.</p>
<p>It looks as though Harvard may be taking concrete steps to reduce the emphasis on applying early - beginning with its move away from open EA 3 years ago. The last year of open EA saw a ridiculous 7,800 early applications - the tail was beginning to wag the dog.</p>
<p>As I have said elsewhere, this is, admittedly, an easier step for Harvard to take, since its RD yield rate is so high. Schools relying more and more on the much-criticized ED/SCEA crutch may eventually suffer, when potential RD applicant realize that more than half the seats are already spoken for.</p>
<p>"Schools relying more and more on the much-criticized ED/SCEA crutch may eventually suffer, when potential RD applicant realize that more than half the seats are already spoken for."</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don't think there'll be much of an adverse effect at all. Kids will continue to throw tons of RD applications at these schools, whether 60% or only 40% of the seats remain available.</p>
<p>20% acceptance rate, how... unprestigious. </p>
<p>Hi Byerly!</p>
<p>"Wharton freshman taking questions?"</p>
<p>Yes, Harvard basketball does suck. ;)</p>
<p>"What gets no press is that Stanford pwned both Harvard and Yale in early apps. Maybe this represents the real shift."</p>
<p>Couldn't have said it better myself. </p>
<p>There must be a reason Stanford received many more applications than Harvard or Yale, even though they defer only 20% of the pool compared to Harvard's 73%.</p>
<p>And lastly, we must ask whether Harvard's total application number will decline in line with the SCEA number.</p>
<p>I think that in general the people on this forum doing all this analysis tend to be more aware and attentive than those who actually applied. Honestly, speaking as a high school student an hour away from Stanford with peers lining up at the door to apply there, I don't think the number game even comes into play. I've spent hours in past years studying different colleges and I never even stopped to think about the 70 vs 20 deferral rate. The decision to apply early was based on more qualitative things-what I actually like about the school.</p>
<p>I don't think we can write off the impact of Katrina. I don't have the data, but perhaps more people in that area did plan to apply to Harvard and no longer felt ready to do so after the hurricane. Also, this is just personal experiences, but the thought of applying early to Harvard has more of a heart-pumping-intimidating feel to it. Stanford gives a more welcoming feel (I've been there, done the tour, talked to adcoms), and maybe the rise in number of applications IS partly because of its rising prestige as a school, but perhaps also partly due to people's perceptions of its more receptive and warm nature. </p>
<p>For example, I felt more welcome to apply to Stanford than Harvard because the tour guides/everyone I've talked to at Stanford said that I should and were very positive. I didn't even get a postcard from Harvard or even spam email. It would be easier to get your "feet wet" and apply early to a school like Stanford. Also, the Silicon valley boom has produced a generation of highly educated kids of computer programmers in the bay area, all of whom are 438920483209 miles closer to Stanford and have probably visited Stanford and never Harvard or Yale (myself being one of them). I could understand their desire to apply early to Stanford over Harvard, Yale, &co.</p>
<p>And finally,
what does it matter who has more applications? The cream of the crop still applies to Harvard, and they have more than enough to fill their class thrice over with THE most outstanding students in the nation and the world. The only people who can tell us if the quality of applicants rose along with the quantity of applications (the only reason this change in numbers would matter) is Stanford, and I doubt they'll be doing that any time soon.</p>
<p>Okay, the end. Now let's party and enjoy the holiday season!!! <em>passes out eggnog and wanders off in a santa hat</em></p>
<p>Well, at least they are better than Princeton....21 points....that's just sad.</p>
<p>
[quote]
And finally, what does it matter who has more applications? The cream of the crop still applies to Harvard, and they have more than enough to fill their class thrice over with THE most outstanding students in the nation and the world.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Very well said. Quality matters more than quantity in forming a college class from a pool of applicants.</p>
<p>this is like watching coffee futures or something... no real information, just a lot of pontificating :-P</p>
<p>Lol coffee futures? They're useful if you're making bucketloads of money trading them...and also if you really do have a hankering for 30k pounds of coffee delivered to your doorstep in 6 months. In any case, I'd say it's fun to talk about things like this every once in a while. After all, I have to find something to occupy my time while the Harvard kids are off saving the world.</p>