Fifteen Minutes: Make No Mistake

Most eager-beaver first-years, no matter how high their high school G.P.A., their number of varsity letters, their impressive executive club leadership titles and general well-roundedness, question the accuracy of the admissions selection process. Marlyn McGrath Lewis '70-'73, director of admissions, asserts that no Harvard students are "mistakes." But that doesn't mean mistakes can't still happen--especially this year.

At the beginning of the semester, the folks in the admissions office caught their high-tech computer system playing tricks with them by scrambling the names of alumni in the database with the names of applicants. And that was not the first problem they have had. "We have a computer that has confused twins, but to my knowledge we have never done the wrong decision. But if we have some terrible mistake, it will come from the computer," Lewis warns. The office takes a variety of precautions against computer errors. Each applicant has a personal folder with interview reports and other more traditional forms of information, and after the committee makes their decision, they create two official documents in addition to the computer record. With all of these checks and balances, Lewis says blunders are unlikely, but the worry remains. "The machine could die and swallow it all up," she frets. "We could offer admission to an alum."

As actual admissions oversights go, Lewis says the office doesn't have any problems. "We may be wrong, but we're never careless," Lewis maintains. "All I know is we admit people and they show up and live in dorms and are your roommates. Most people pay tuition. It works out okay," she jokes. However, sometimes Harvard will rescind an offer if something drastic happens post-decision. The most famous case was Gina Grant, whose admission offer was revoked in 1995 after the office learned of her 1991 manslaughter conviction for killing her abusive mother. Most instances are less lurid--plummeting grades or "a deeper problem we were unaware of." But Lewis says this happens only rarely, maybe to one or two people a year.

Some students, unconvinced of their past achievements, may not agree with Lewis' view that the staff at 8 Garden St. never makes mistakes. But Lewis says that's ultimately the students' call. "If you're a Harvard student, you would know better than we do if we've made any mistakes," she says.

--V. C. HALLETT