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Wednesday, February 9, 2005
Curious about Harvard?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For Georgia students waiting to hear from Harvard, the competition is very stiff. “A record total of 22,717 students have applied for entrance next September,” according to Harvard’s Web site. That’s up 15 percent from last year. Last year, 2,094 applicants got in.
SAT scores were up slightly, with nearly 11,000 applicants having an SAT verbal score of 700 or above and more than 12,000 with a math score upwards of 700. Almost 2,100 had a perfect verbal score of 800, and nearly 3,100 got an 800 in math.
Harvard officials attribute the rise in applications in part to a new financial aid program that lets parents who earn $40,000 a year or less off the hook for tuition. (?!?!) Those who earn from $40,000 to $60,000 a year get a major break on tuition, which runs $27,500. (Other expenses such as room and board bring the annual cost to $40,000 a year.)
And if you ever wondered how the admission process works at the ivyed one:
“Admissions selection meetings stretch from Jan. 28 to March 22. Applications are read by as many as four admissions officers and faculty members prior to the meetings. Deliberations about individual applicants begin in subcommittee and can last for up to an hour before a majority vote is taken. Beginning in early March, the 35-person full committee convenes to make the final determination on every applicant. Those discussions about individual applications might also continue for an hour or more before a vote. Everything possible is done to ensure a thorough review for every candidate.”
Students find out if they got in on March 31.
(Thanks to my colleague Paul Donsky for forwarding me this interesting tidbit)
