It’s one thing to be a part of the record-low 6.2% admitted Harvard batch. However, when you start to boast about it on the most irrelevant merchandise (what does admission rate have to do with football spirit anyway?), it just shows how desperate you are to let the world know about your academic glory.

Not cool, Harvard. One would expect more ingenuity from this “chosen 6%.”

(Inspired by this article.)

Yep, you read that correctly. In an attempt to get off of the waitlist at Harvard, Grace Oberhofer composed a song to the admissions office and then posted it on YouTube.

We’re gonna have to agree with Yale on this one thing…if she does get in she’ll always be “that girl with the waitlist video.”

IMPORTANT UPDATE: We’ve learned that Chua-Rubenfeld, according to her Facebook page, has actually not yet decided between Harvard and Yale. C’mon, Sophia? How is this even a choice?

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Yep.

Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, daughter of Amy Chua, author of the controversial book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, will reportedly be joining us next year as a member of the Harvard College Class of 2015.

Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, Harvard-winning (abovethelaw.com)

Chua-Rubenfeld’s acceptance comes in the aftermath of a media frenzy surrounding her mother, a Yale Law Professor’s, first literary endeavor, which was widely criticized for its exposition of Chua’s stringent parenting style, which notably included such tenets as forbidding her daughters to attend sleepovers and parties, and to receive less than As on report cards.

The new pre-frosh, an accomplished pianist who performed at Carnegie Hall at age 14, largely defended her mother’s book in a January 18 op-ed in the New York Post, entitled “Why I love my strict Chinese mom,” wherein she lauded her parent for always demanding that she exert her utmost: “To me, it’s not about achievement or self-gratification. It’s about knowing that you’ve pushed yourself body and mind, to the limits of your potential.”

Oh word? Harvard College Admissions Office accepts an overachieving high school senior who enjoys masochism? Tiger Mom or not, hey Sophia, you’ll fit right in.

TIGER MOM RAWR (babble.blogspot.com)

John Harvard awaits prefrosh. Waaaaaait for it...

Apparently, high school students across the globe have decided that Harvard is the place to be for their next four years. According to this Harvard Gazette article, nearly 35,000 students have applied to Harvard in hopes of being selected to the class of 2015. Applications continue to rise and set records; this year’s pool is 15% larger than last years, and 50% larger than what the College received four years ago.

Why are the numbers continuing to rise? The article cites Harvard’s incredible financial aid program, the rapidly expanding School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and increasing use of electronic applications as reasons why Harvard is receiving applications in record numbers.

Applications have increased in numbers from all parts of the United States as well as internationally. Minority applications are also on the rise.

With such a broad range of applicants to choose from, it’s clear that Harvard will always be an interesting and eclectic place to study. Harvard continues to attract the brightest, most ambitious, and most insanely different and interesting people from around the globe. Harvard’s racial, social, economic, and interest diversity makes it a truly stimulating environment. It looks like the class of 2015 will just add to the eclectic mix of people in the student population.

For now, the admissions officers are quite literally up to their ears in work, hunting for the next crop of future freshies. And I’m sure that for the (nearly) 35,000 applicants, March 30th can’t come soon enough.

Decision time: GOGOGO!

Though this may be old news (and though selectivity doesn’t necessarily imply superiority) we just thought we’d share from The Washington Post:

plbbbbpt!

Harvard invited 2,110 of the 30,489 applicants to attend, an admit rate of 6.9 percent, the lowest in Harvard’s history… Admit rates dropped at most of the other Ivy League schools, as well, and at other schools at the top of the selectivity list. Stanford admitted 7.2 percent of applicants; Yale, 7.5 percent; Princeton, 8.2 percent; MIT, 9.2 percent. All but Yale improved over last year’s rate.

Hmm, well a whole lotta good that “That’s Why I Chose Yale” video did. Maybe next time you can put some of that production money towards, we dunno… maybe sucking less? Pewp-heads! Neener neener neener!

For the first time in Harvard history, the number of applicants has exceeded 30,000. This is a 5% increase from last year alone. This increase comes in light of an admissions staff that is 10% smaller than the 2008-2009 school year. To deal with the increase, greater reliance has been placed on technology. The Harvard Gazette reports that, “Documents — such as applications and counselor and teacher reports — are scanned electronically with an imaging system, ensuring easy recovery and making them instantly available to application readers and to admissions committee selection meetings. Improved Web site services for alumni and alumnae enable applicant-interview reports to be submitted electronically and made available immediately as well.”

30,000 is a huge number indeed–but among them there is the future class of 2014. Notification letters are to be mailed on April 1, 2010 with e-mails sent a day later to those who chose that additional form of notification.