<p>When I say “your kind” it is in no insult (believe me I may have gone to Harvard, but I still remember my roots of going to public school in rural Pennsylvania), rather it’s just a reference to the typical Harvard applicant who roams the College Confidential forum on Harvard Admissions, or has been searching for an answer into finding a non-existing formula for admission. As for your calculations, you are correct, you see Harvard went back to early admissions because they wanted to build classes in the future in which about 40% are outstanding applicants who are internationally or nationally acclaimed in athletics, academics, arts, or sadly “connections” However, Harvard only does this in the early round, in the regular round, they admit the other 60% of the class, made of people who have faced adversity, come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, made significant use of their available resources, built impressive records of academia and research, or are simply passionate about a particular endeavor be it academic or extracurricular. Overall, the applicants in the said 60% are among the most competitive in the nation. When I studied the admissions process, I constantly saw a lack of transparency that would have eased the application process for many aspiring hopefuls who otherwise thought they “fit the bill,” and there is evidence of this lack of transparency, like Harvard’s refusal to release the income levels of the applicants admitted early, along with statistics that give applicants better ideas of what people it admits, instead they just like posting two statistics: their admissions rate, and total number of applications received. I do hope many qualified applicants research Harvard’s early admissions process in order to make a sound decisions as to were they want to apply early. My suggestions: Yale, Princeton, and Stanford who practice non binding early admissions, and give students better shots of admission by having less applications, and higher admissions rates than Harvard. Then in the regular round, OF COURSE I ENCOURAGE REGULAR JOE CC’ers TO APPLY TO MY ALMA MATER, I MEAN HEY I GOT IN THAT WAY! :)</p>
<p>P.S. .6% is only 10 times less than what Harvard will admit this year overall, so after some thought it almost does seems quite O_o I hope people on CC make that 6% or so</p>