Small Increase In College Apps

A record number of applicants sought admission to next year’s Harvard College class, including a rising number of international students.

According to preliminary figures set to be released today, total applications to the Class of 2011 reached 22,920, surpassing the Class of 2009’s previous record of 22,796 applicants. The number of international applicants this year increased by 12 percent.

Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 attributed the increase to recruiting efforts, Harvard’s generous financial aid program, and positive publicity associated with the College’s September decision to end early action admissions for the Class of 2012.

“The bedrock of the success we’ve had in the past decade has been our recruiting,” he said, citing mailing efforts, alumni involvement, and traveling recruitment programs that reach 130 U.S. cities and a variety of international locations.

The College has also ramped up its efforts to recruit international students. Admissions officers have recently taken trips to such areas as Africa, India, and Pakistan in an effort to ensure that international students know their options for going abroad for college.

“I think the conditions for international students to study here are created to be really, really good,” said Karolis Balciunas ’08, president of the Woodbridge Society. “We have a strong international community here, and all the internationals who go back publicize Harvard really well.” Balciunas also cited the College’s financial aid package as a major draw for international applicants.

Harvard is one of only a few institutions that offers need-blind admissions for both international and domestic students, Fitzsimmons said.

The admissions office says it has not yet compiled figures on the socioeconomic characteristics of this year’s applicant pool.

“It is really too early to know the shape of the class, socioeconomically or otherwise,” Sally C. Donahue, director of financial aid for the College, wrote in an e-mail.

This Monday, Fitzsimmons attended a regional meeting of the College Board to stress the importance of offering the SATs more widely in China.

At present, only students who have access to a handful of international schools or are affluent enough to travel to a location where the test is offered, such as Taipei or Singapore, have the opportunity to take the test.

“It is a critically important country for Harvard, and I think for America,” Fitzsimmons said of China. “The largest country in the world is handicapped because the tests aren’t available.”

To address this, Harvard is sponsoring a small pilot program to allow 24 students in Shanghai to take the exam.

Fitzsimmons also said applications this year had been boosted by the “overwhelmingly positive” response to Harvard’s decision to end Early Action.

“A lot of people admire what Harvard has done,” he said. “It makes Harvard even more attractive—it stands for something positive in a public policy sense.”

Harvard’s future recruiting might also benefit from the new leadership in Mass. Hall, Fitzsimmons said. President-elect Drew Gilpin Faust will take the University’s reins on July 1.

“It is a great moment for Harvard,” he said. “The wonderful reaction to her election as president will be a big help in our recruiting.”

— Staff writer Aditi Balakrishna can be reached at balakris@fas.harvard.edu.