Applications to Harvard, Columbia soar

Applications for undergraduate admissions to Harvard and Columbia universities rose to all-time highs, making it harder than ever before to get into the colleges.

Harvard, in Cambridge, Mass., received almost 35,000 applications for the next academic year, a 15 percent increase from 30,489 for the current year, William Fitzsimmons, dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid, said this week in a statement. Applications to Columbia rose 32 percent to a 34,587, from 26,179 a year earlier, according to a statement.

Harvard admitted 6.9 percent of applicants last year, and Columbia 9 percent. The most-selective colleges are setting application records because students are seeking "the luxury brands of higher education," said David Hawkins, director of public policy and research at the National Association for College Admission Counseling in Arlington, Va.

"If you want to be seen as a Harvard student, you pay the application fee and take your chance," Hawkins said. "As more students are performing better academically in high school, they are taking their shots."

Behind the surge at Columbia - like Harvard, a member of the Ivy League - were outreach efforts, "global awareness of Columbia's reputation," and New York's drawing power, said Jessica Marinaccio, dean of undergraduate admissions at Columbia. She said the university for the first time used the Common Application, a form accepted by more than 400 institutions that helps high school students apply to multiple colleges.

Columbia rose to fourth place from eighth in the U.S. News & World Report's rankings of U.S. academic research institutions. Harvard topped the rankings, which were released in August.

The number of students applying to other top colleges rose as well. And the percentage of students applying to seven or more colleges jumped to 23 percent in 2009 from 12 percent a decade earlier, according a survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.

As colleges receive more applications, admit rates fall, and students are hedging their bets by applying to more schools, said Linda DeAngelo, assistant director for research at the institute. The ease of applying online has also increased the number of applications, she said.