Sure, students work hard to get into this elite college. But so does the admissions committee, assures Dean Bill Fitzsimmons
In the U.S., few competitions are more cutthroat than the college admissions game. And every year it grows more intense as an ever-larger pool of high school seniors apply for one of the coveted spots at the nation's top colleges, thus ensuring that even more will have their hopes dashed. Meanwhile, the elite colleges have been stepping up their efforts to woo the best and brightest students--the prized pupils who will help increase the prestige of their campuses.
You might assume that Harvard College--blessed with higher ed's greatest brand name, and an endowment second to none--could afford to remain relatively aloof from this battle. But in reality, "There is no place that works harder than we do," says William R. "Bill" Fitzsimmons, Harvard's veteran dean of admissions.
THREE-PART PLAN. Certainly Harvard's results are the envy of higher education. For the class of 2010, which will start in September, Harvard received a near-record 23,000 applications. Of these, it accepted a mere 2,100--or just 9%--ranking it as the nation's most selective college. Even more impressive, some 80% of the chosen ultimately decided to attend Harvard--a yield rate that is easily the highest among colleges and universities. By contrast, a handful of other elites--including Yale and Stanford--have yield rates around 70%. But even such well-known schools as Williams, Duke, and Dartmouth have yields of 50% or less.
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