Harvard changes admissions application

To the relief of high school seniors worldwide, Harvard University is trading in its complicated undergraduate admission application this fall in favor of the Common Application -- a standard form used by 138 mostly small colleges. Harvard Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis said this week the change was made in order to simplify the application process for both students and high school guidance counselors. "We want to make it easy for people to apply," Lewis said. "We also want to relieve the burden of paper preparation." While admissions officials from both Dartmouth College and Brown University have said they are considering moving to the Common Application as well, the University will probably not follow in Harvard's footsteps, Dean of Admission Lee Stetson said. "We don't make our decisions based on what Harvard does -- we do what's best for Penn," Stetson said. "Our application is one of the more challenging ones that allows us to assess students more thoroughly than any Common Application." Calling Harvard's move to the Common Application "a shallow way of reaching people" who do not want to to fill out multiple application forms, Stetson said University's application "personalizes it to Penn." He added that while the admissions office is looking into various ways to improve itself, "there are issues I'd rather spend time on than what kind of forms [applicants] fill out." However, Stetson said he has not completely ruled out moving toward a standard application. "We're still going to take a look at it," he said. Delphi Phillips, a member of the Common Application Steering Committee and Director of Admissions at Haverford College -- a liberal arts school located outside of Philadelphia -- said Harvard made a "sacrifice" in trashing their former application for the standardized one. "It makes it easier," Phillips said. "But there's a price to pay in individuality." She added that while other Ivy League schools will probably join Harvard, the University will probably not because it "has a lot of very distinctive questions on its application form." But Lewis said she does not think Harvard will be making a sacrifice in individuality, because applicants will also have to fill out a Harvard-personalized supplement with their Common Applications. "We care very much about the personal aspect -- we want first of all to know who the candidate is," she said. "We certainly haven't reduced our need for information." Stetson said he is also not in favor of the Common Application because the University's application communicates to prospective students unique aspects of the University which would be lost on a standardized form. "When Penn is thrown onto a list of many institutions, it does not necessarily stand out," he said. "If we have our own application, with letters written in them from me, we improve our chances of attracting students."