Class of 2007 Sets Records

The College announced yesterday that the Class of 2007 faced a record-low admissions rate of 9.8 percent—and that a record-high percent of the 2,056 applicants admitted to the Class of 2007 are black.

10.2 percent of admitted students are black, up from 8.9 percent last year.

The news came a mere day after the Supreme Court heard a landmark case that could rule admissions systems like Harvard’s—which takes race into account as one factor in decisions—unconstitutional.

It also comes after a year in which some worried that a high-profile standoff between University President Lawrence H. Summers and Fletcher University Professor Cornel West would taint Harvard’s image among prospective black students.

But Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said that the Admissions Committee did not actively seek this year to admit more black students than ever before.

Fitzsimmons attributed the increase to the talent of the black candidate pool.

“The numbers will go up and down every year,” he said. “We’re pleased with the percentage [of black admittees] and hope that we will be able to continue to yield high percentages.”

Aside from this increase, ethnic representation remained fairly consistent with previous years.

Asian-Americans comprised 16.2 percent of admitted students. Mexican-Americans comprised 3.6 percent, Puerto Ricans comprised 1.5 percent and Hispanic-Americans from other countries in Latin American and South America comprised 3.7 percent. American Indians comprised 1 percent of the admitted pool.

Women comprised slightly more than 48 percent of admitted applicants.

Former President of the Black Students Association Brandon Gayle ’03, said that after a couple of years in which news out of Cambridge pointed to tense race relations, word of record-high admittance rate was “phenomenal.”

Gayle attributed the shift in part to Harvard’s recent reiteration of its support for affirmative action, in the form of a friend of a court brief in the Michigan case.

“I definitely feel that President Summers has put himself out there in support of affirmative action,” Gayle said.

According to Fitzsimmons, the aftermath of the Summers-West dispute gave the University a chance to reiterate its commitment to the field of Afro-American studies as well.

“[Henry Louis] ‘Skip’ Gates and other remaining [Af-Am] department members, as well as President Summers, have spoken out about how important Afro-American Studies is to Harvard,” Fitzsimmons said. “There would be questions that would come up [on admissions recruitment trips], but those gave us another opportunity to talk about what a great place Harvard is.”

The Admissions Office received an unprecedented 20,986 applications this year, surpassing last year’s record number of 19,605 and making this the twelfth year out of the past thirteen that the number of applications to the College has risen.

Fitzsimmons notes that a “record number” of 247 deferred Early Action applicants out of approximately 6,000 were offered admission.

Fitzsimmons attributes the consistent rise in application volume to vigorous recruiting efforts.

“There is no college that is more aggressive in its recruiting than Harvard,” he said. “Over time, if you want to be effective, you want to develop a personal relationship with counselors and teachers in schools—that’s what works best in the long run. But you have to keep going back every year.”

The pool of admitted students is slightly more international than last year, with 15.1 percent being classified as either foreign citizens, U.S. dual citizens or U.S. permanent residents, up from 14.2 percent last year.

Though legislation enacted in the aftermath of Sept. 11 has left some international students without visas and unable to enter the country, Fitzsimmons said he does not see this emerging as a large threat to yields and says that potential visa problems do not affect international recruiting or admissions.

“We face the same fears as all other institutions. We have a very attractive need-blind package,” Fitzsimmons says. “We are just keeping our fingers crossed.”

He adds that the Harvard International Office is working with other universities to address the difficulties international students may have in getting into the county.

Out of all the applicants, 78 percent of students elected to receive e-mail notification of admissions decisions, the second year this service was offered. E-mails were sent out yesterday between 5 and 9 p.m.

The admissions office decided to send the e-mails later in the day to accommodate complaints from high schools whose students constantly checked e-mail during the school day last year, when the e-mails were sent in the mid-afternoon.