Harvard received 35,022 applications for admission to the Class of 2017

HARVARD COLLEGE TODAY reported receiving 35,022 applications for the class of 2017—a total more than 2 percent above the number of students who applied to the class of 2016. In a news release, dean of admissions and financial aid William R. Fitzsimmons attributed the increase to “historic levels of financial aid,” which he cited as a major factor in students’ decision to apply to Harvard.

“Students and their families have many questions about the affordability of college in challenging financial times,” Fitzsimmons said, according to the release. “Students, as always, contribute to the cost of their own education through term-time and summer work—and have the option of loans as well. Alumni generosity enables the College to provide $172 million this year to meet the financial needs of our remarkable undergraduates.”

According to director of financial aid Sarah C. Donahue, more than 60 percent of Harvard students receive need-based aid, and on average their families pay $11,500 annually. In addition, Harvard’s financial-aid program requires no contribution from the 20 percent of families with annual incomes below $65,000, and asks an average of no more than 10 percent of income “from the majority of families receiving financial aid.” Families with incomes greater than $150,000 are also eligible for aid, Donahue said, depending “on their particular circumstances, such as having multiple children in college or unusual medical or other essential expenses.”

The demographics of this year’s and last year’s applicant pools are generally similar, Donahue said, but she noted that this year’s pool seems to have greater economic diversity than last year: “We see a 37 percent increase in the number of students requesting a fee waiver” (the fee sent in with the application)—“an indication of more applicants from low- and modest-income backgrounds.”

Director of admissions Marlyn E. McGrath also noted similarities with last year’s applicant pool. “Minority students remain a significant segment of the applicant pool, the gender breakdown is still about 52 percent male, and geographical distribution is about the same, except for a slight decline in the number of applicants from Canada,” she reported. But a review of applicants’ stated academic preferences, she said, showed more students interested in mathematics, physical sciences, and engineering than last year, as well as a 26 percent increase in prospective computer scientists. “The pattern of increases in these four areas began with the establishment of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences,” she explained, “and it is clear that SEAS has raised the level of visibility of our superb and expanded offerings in these fields of study.”

Regular applicants as well as early applicants whose applications were deferred  will be notified of admission status on March 28. The College announced in December that 895 students were granted admission to the class of 2017 under the early-action application program—an increase of 16 percent from the 774 admitted early last year.

http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/02/harvard-college-applications-increase

Brown received 28,807 applications for admission to the Class of 2017

Brown received 28,807 applications for the Class of 2017, the third largest pool in University history. This year’s pool also set a record for the largest percentage of international applicants and applicants of color. The University will make offers of admission in late March.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Brown University received 28,807 applications for the Class of 2017, the third largest pool in University history. That number represents a slight increase from last year’s total of 28,742 applications.
Applicants hail from all 50 states, with California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Texas being the top states represented. About 71 percent of applicants come from public schools, 20 percent from private schools, and 9 percent from parochial schools. The majority of applicants intend to study social sciences (29 percent), life or medical sciences (27 percent), or physical sciences (25 percent), with biology, engineering, international relations, economics, biochemistry, and molecular biology as the most popular intended concentrations.
Sixty-eight percent of applicants are seeking financial aid, a number that has remained unchanged for the last three years.
This year’s pool is the University’s most diverse, with 38 percent of applications submitted by students of color, defined as students who self-identify as African American, Latino, Native American or Asian.
The University also saw its largest percentage of international applicants (17 percent — 4,783 — hailing from 145 nations, the largest number of countries ever represented in an applicant pool. Among international applicants, the University received a record number of applications from China and from India, the top two countries in the pool after the United States. Other countries with high numbers of applicants included Canada, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
“We are delighted with this talented, diverse applicant pool and look forward to bringing to Providence and College Hill another extraordinary class,” said James Miller, Brown’s dean of admission.
Brown received 2,246 applications for the Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME), the eight-year course of study leading to the M.D. degree, and 531 for the Brown/Rhode Island School of Design dual degree program. Between 55 and 60 PLME students and 15 students in the Brown/RISD dual degree program are expected to matriculate
Included in the applicant pool are 558 students who were chosen for early decision admission in December.
Brown anticipates a matriculating undergraduate class of about 1,500 students. Admission offers will be made at the end of March.

http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2013/01/applicants

'More Than Half' of Ad Board Cases Last Fall Led to Withdrawals, Harvard Says

Approximately one percent of Harvard’s undergraduate body was forced to temporarily withdraw from the College last fall, largely in connection with the massive Government 1310 cheating scandal, Harvard indicated in an announcement Friday morning.
In an email sent to the Harvard community, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith wrote that “somewhat more than half” of cases heard by the College’s Administrative Board last fall resulted in forced withdrawals.
Smith did not specify exactly how many students were required to leave, but Jeff Neal, an FAS spokesperson, confirmed that the number cited in the email was not limited to undergraduates involved in the cheating scandal.
Smith also wrote that about half of the fall’s remaining cases resulted in disciplinary probation, while the rest resulted in no disciplinary action.
About 125 of the cases heard by the Ad Board last fall were those of students implicated in the scandal, which was unearthed after assistant professor Matthew B. Platt reported suspicious similarities on a handful of take-home exams in his spring course Government 1310: “Introduction to Congress.”
After this initial tip-off, the College launched an investigation that eventually expanded to involve almost half of the 279 students enrolled in the course.
Smith also revealed details about how tuition payments will be calculated for students who were required to withdraw mid-fall semester due to their involvement in the scandal.
Due to a prolonged time frame for the resolution of the cases stretching from late September to December that “had an undesirable interaction with our established schedule for tuition refunds,” the College will adjust tuition charges for all students who eventually withdrew as though they were issued their verdicts on Sept. 30, he wrote.
According to the student handbook, a student who involuntarily or voluntarily withdraws from the College on Sept. 30 must pay $4,697 in tuition, as well as per diem room charges, pro-rated board costs, and a student services fee.
Smith’s email, which represents Harvard’s first substantive announcement about the investigation’s status since it was first announced last August, comes in the midst of harsh criticism of Harvard’s handling of the case from several longtime Harvard insiders.
Former Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 voiced his disapproval in several blog posts, and prominent men’s basketball supporter and Staples founder Thomas G. Stemberg ’71 excoriated his alma mater for its response to the scandal in a letter of complaint sent to University President Drew G. Faust last month.
Smith’s email repeatedly alluded to these and other criticisms, at times striking a defensive tone in addressing the amount of time the University took to resolve the cases, concerns about faculty teaching, and the public outing of some accused students.
After both Lewis and Stemberg criticized Harvard for failing to hand out verdicts in a timely manner, Smith attributed the slow turnover of the investigation—which began in the summer but did not wrap up until early December—to “the unprecedented number and complexity of cases.”
Critics of the investigation have also drawn attention to the way Platt organized Government 1310, a factor which both Stemberg and Lewis blamed for the unprecedented scope of the scandal.
“We had a professor who, like many the Faculty of Arts and Sciences assigns to teach undergraduates, was clearly not qualified to do so,” Stemberg wrote in his letter to Faust, which was dated Jan. 6.
Stemberg declined to comment on the letter when it was first obtained by The Crimson. Platt has declined or not responded to requests for comment since the scandal broke.
In an interview last month, Lewis echoed Stemberg’s criticisms of the course’s structural problems, which he identified as an ambiguous collaboration policy and the general perception that the course offered students an easy ‘A.’
“How is it that hundreds of students knew the way this course was run, and nobody in the Government department knew? Or if they did know, why didn’t anybody stop it from happening?” Lewis said.
In his email, Smith offered a response to criticisms of this nature by highlighting the efforts of the Committee on Academic Integrity, a group of administrators, faculty, and students that has been meeting since fall 2010.
Smith wrote that this spring the Committee will make recommendations to faculty on how to structure and administer assessments, including the creation of a repository of “well-crafted exams” as a resource for faculty. The committee is also considering the possibility of introducing an honor code devised in collaboration with students.
Smith made clear, however, that both proposals are only “potential recommendations” that will not necessarily be implemented.
Smith also defended Harvard’s decision to publicly announce the scandal as a means of creating a conversation about academic integrity, a decision that some critics say led to the public outing of some accused students.
“It never was, as some have mistakenly assumed, to shine a bright light on any student or other member of our community,” Smith wrote. “Let me be crystal clear: we all can do better.”
Thomas W. Mannix '81, who along with Stemberg co-chairs the alumni fundraising organization Friends of Harvard Basketball, said that many close to the athletic department are unhappy with the way Harvard managed the scandal.
“I don’t know anybody who feels that the University has handled this well—not one former alum, not one former player,” he said in an interview with The Crimson earlier this week.
Mannix said that the focus on individual students throughout the investigation was “unfair,” adding that he is particularly frustrated by the media’s focus on the men’s basketball team’s involvement in the scandal.
Basketball co-captains Kyle D. Casey ’13 and Brandyn T. Curry ’13, who were expected to lead the team to another NCAA tournament appearance, gained widespread media attention after news outlets reported that the star players had chosen to withdraw from the team after being investigated.
“National broadcasts mention Kyle and Brandyn. They pull up pictures of their faces,” said Mannix, who is a former men’s basketball co-captain. “These kids have been singled out, and that’s what stinks to the Friends of Harvard Basketball.”
Mannix said that Harvard should have tried harder to maintain anonymity for investigated athletes and other accused students in its dealings with the media.
“The University could have protected all 125 of these kids,” he said.
Smith’s email, however, said that the University has not commented on any particular student’s case and will continue to adhere to this policy.
—Staff writer Michelle Denise L. Ferreol can be reached at mferreol@college.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Jared T. Lucky can be reached at lucky@college.harvard.edu.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/2/1/cheating-scandal-smith-withdraw/