Year in Progress
I had a question about application volume come in from the comments and thought it was overdue for me to talk about the admissions cycle. We are indeed up in application volume, 5-6%. I don’t think this is universal. The old hands in the admissions business tell me that application volume tends to lag economic downturns by a year, so maybe next fall is the real increase. Then again, this isn’t really statistically sound analysis…
We have been admitting quite a few people here in the early weeks and months, but rest assured, we will have space for strong applicants well into the spring. Most of our speed has been more to do with a more efficient processing staff this year than with other factors. I.e., the same people admitted earlier this year just would have been admitted weeks later in other years.
Our class size will remain relatively constant, as I’m guessing will those at other schools. For us, since we’ve been adding faculty at a rapid pace in recent years (most recently Larry Lessig from Stanford), that means our student-faculty ratio has been improving quite a bit. We have also added a ton of small seminars and reading groups.
JC
December 23, 2008 @ 1:18 am
When you say Harvard still has space for strong applicants, does this include applicants who’ve already submitted their applications several months ago as well as those who have yet to apply? Should applicants who’ve not yet received the famed “Toby Stock 1″ two months after going complete give up hope?
Sean
December 23, 2008 @ 1:08 pm
Toby-
Thanks for your follow-up to my question! Hope that you and the admissions staff have a happy holiday season.
Best,
Sean B.
Sean B
January 2, 2009 @ 5:35 pm
Toby-
Thanks for responding to my question! Hope you and the admissions staff had a happy holiday season…