University News | January 14, 2011

Almost 35,000 applicants for Harvard College class of 2015

The number of applicants for the College class of 2015 is almost 15 percent higher than last year's.

Harvard College received about 35,000 applications for admission to the class of 2015, according to data released today. This represents a nearly 15 percent increase over the 30,489 applications received last year (when the number of applicants expanded by nearly 5 percent), and a more than 50 percent increase in the past four years.

With a targeted freshman class size of approximately 1,640, it is conceivable that the College’s admissions rate (6.9 percent last year, when 2,110 applicants were offered admission) will decrease to less than 6 percent—a stark indicator of the pressure facing candidates for admission to the most competitive institutions of higher education.

Separately, Stanford reported receiving about 34,200 applications, a 6.8 percent increase from last year, when it admitted 7.3 percent of applicants.

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