Sunday, August 20, 2006
How Harvard Competes for Pupil
Businessweek's issue on competition (Aug 21, '06) lists Harvard College as a Type A organization that competes to attract the best talent.0 Comments:
Harvard College doesn't need to compete, right? Students would kill to get in there. Wrong: No university fights harder to attract the best of the best. Harvard's campaign begins in spring, when it sends letters to no fewer than 70,000 high school juniors with stellar SAT scores. William R. Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions, then dispatches an army of 8,000 alumni into the field to help identify and interview applicants. He also enlists Harvard students and professors. In 2006, all this produced a near-record 23,000 applicants, of whom just 9% were accepted. Then, Fitzsimmons launches a second drive to persuade the lucky few to say yes. The payoff: This year, Harvard grabbed 80%, a yield rate that's the envy of the elites. Harvard has lots of laurels, but it sure doesn't rest on them.
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