A Message to our Transfer Applicants </p>
<p>We are very sorry that it is not possible to admit any of the record 1308 students who applied for transfer admission this year. Over the past year, we met many of you in group information sessions, spoke on the telephone, and corresponded through the mail and electronically. Given the record number of transfer applicants this year, the tradition of excellence that has characterized our transfer students over the years would certainly have continued.</p>
<p>All of us at Harvard College expected we would be able to admit transfer students this year, as we have for many years. The Admissions Office is ordinarily notified by the Dean of Harvard College in the late winter or early spring about the numbers of freshmen and transfers it can admit. We have met those goals precisely for several decades. </p>
<p>This year, however, Harvard faced a significant challenge. Harvard College conducted the most thorough examination of residential housing in Harvard’s history. That exhaustive study revealed that overcrowding in Harvard’s residential Houses was more extensive than previous information had indicated and raised serious questions about whether the Houses could successfully accommodate any new transfer students.</p>
<p>We do not admit transfer students to non-residential status. In important respects, undergraduate education at Harvard College is residential in character. Students learn a great deal from the residential experience and contact with one another, complementing the experience of our classrooms and laboratories. </p>
<p>Before reaching a final conclusion, Dean David Pilbeam did everything humanly possible to see if there might be any way for transfer students to be admitted this year. Ultimately he had no choice but to suspend transfer admission; to do otherwise would serve neither new transfer students nor current students well. </p>
<p>In addition, we will admit fewer freshmen this March to avoid the possibility of too large a freshman class. The College has now embarked on a planning process for substantial capital investment to renovate and revitalize our residential spaces.</p>
<p>Within the next few weeks, we will return your transfer application fee. We understand that applying to college as a freshman is time-consuming and demanding, but transfer applications are even more complex. Often students are torn between their loyalties to their current college and their desire for a possible change. It can be difficult to approach faculty members for required recommendations, thereby revealing a transfer application to someone with whom they have worked closely. Similarly, friendships with fellow classmates can be affected.</p>
<p>Some applicants might wish to consider our Visiting Undergraduate Program which enables students to enroll in Harvard College for academic credit at their home institutions. Visiting Undergraduates are not offered College housing, and they are not permitted subsequently to transfer to Harvard as degree candidates. For more information about the Visiting Undergraduate Program, please consult our website: [Harvard</a> College Admissions Office: Prospective Students](<a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/prospective/applying/vus/index.html]Harvard”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/prospective/applying/vus/index.html)</p>
<p>We very much regret the disappointment and considerable inconvenience that the suspension of transfer admission has created for the students who honored Harvard by applying for admission. Transfer students have proved to be outstanding in every way during their Harvard College years and throughout their lives. We await the opportunity to continue this venerable Harvard tradition when our residential Houses will once again be ready to welcome transfer students.</p>
<p>William R. Fitzsimmons
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid</p>
<p>Marlyn McGrath
Director of Admissions</p>
<p>Marlene Vergara Rotner
Director of Transfer Admissions