Some Start Admissions Process a Decade--or More--Early

You probably arrived at Harvard when you were 18. But did you want to go to Harvard when you were in eighth grade? What about when you were eight?

Did you even know what college was?

It turns out that some kids do. Eight-year-olds tour the Harvard campus daily, but for the most part they say they are not enjoying their stay.

These children have sacrificed their spring vacations to visit some of the nation's most esteemed institutions, even though they won't be applying for another five to 10 years.

The children are often sighted desperately trying to amuse themselves during Harvard admissions tours as their parents and older siblings listen to stimulating discussions of the John Harvard statue and its three lies.

Abigail S. Dubovi, an eight-year-old from Ithaca, N.Y. and a potential member of the Class of '10, entertained herself by performing an artistic mix of the jitterbug and calisthenics while waiting for her sister Talia S. Dubovi, who is a junior in high school.

"Abigail has danced her way through all the college campuses in America," says her mother Robin A. Dubovi.

Abigail says that this is not an ideal way for her to spend her spring break.

"I'd rather be lying next to the ocean on Myrtle Beach," she says.

Abigail says that her parents have worked out a way of compensating her for putting up with the tedious college visits.

"I get three dollars for every school that we go to," Abigail says.

The Dubovis are not the only parents who have resorted to cash incentives to keep their younger children occupied.

Cynthia R. Sena, from Long Island, N.Y., says that it has been a real struggle to keep her eighth-grade son Vincent peaceful while his sister looks at colleges.

"We're basically bribing him to come along," Mrs. Sena says. "For every school that we go to, he gets to pick something out from the mall."

Other kids find amusement in much simpler pleasures.

Nine-year-old Michael Ajalat, who is visiting with his sister, a high school junior, says that he endured his day at Harvard by creating games for himself.

"See, I've been leaving candy in the [Winnie the] Pooh statue [behind the Science Center], and then I go back later to see if it is still there," says Ajalat.

For some, the unwanted trek to Harvard is a particularly long one.

Eighth-grader Gina M. Orsetti traveled from Mexico with her family on a two-week college visiting trip.

Gina, decked out in jeans and a "Friends" T-shirt, says that colleges are not the place she most wants to visit in America.

"I'd rather be visiting malls than universities," she says.

But the more interested siblings--perhaps the ones who will apply sometime in the next century--are already shopping.

"I'm just checking it out," says eighth-grader Tara E. Heumann, who says she does not particularly want to make a second trip.

"It would be fair to say that Tara came on this trip rather reluctantly," says her mother Amy L. Heumann. "We want her to go to school in the Boston area, so we told her if she came on this trip she wouldn't be subjected to it again in three years."

When asked if she would like to go to Harvard some day, Tara responded, "Sure, why not."

Chandler F. Arnold '98, the head of Crimson Key, the student group that provides the admissions tours, says that young kids are a regular presence on his tours.

"They usually get really excited when I tell them about the ice cream," says Arnold, referring to the story that Harvard had to offer students ice cream at every lunch and dinner before Mary Widener would donate funds for the library.

Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons '67 says that it is never too early to start looking at colleges.

"Ivy League schools in general, and Harvard in particular, have a record of occasionally accepting very young applicants," Fitzsimmons says.

But Fitzsimmons admits that there is a lower limit for applicants' ages.

"I once had a graduate school student who asked me to set up a file on her unborn baby," Fitzsimmons says. "I told her that we didn't establish files for students until their junior year, but that I would be sure to note that [the unborn] was the first one in his class to express interest."