But Mom, It's a Really Great Football School

School sees 50% jump in applications over 4 years

(NEWSER) - Harvard has drawn 35,000 applications this year—a 15% increase over last year and a whopping 50% increase in four years. That means about 6% of Class of 2014 applicants will be admitted, compared to about 9% of Class of 2010 applicants. About one in 50 high school seniors now applies to Harvard, writes Daniel de Vise in the Washington Post . That’s largely due to students each applying to a greater number of schools, pushing peers to do the same in a “self-perpetuating cycle,” De Vise notes, adding that the "30,000 club is growing"—Northwestern and Penn both entered it this year. More»

Players are battling for the soul of the sport

(NEWSER) - Harry Potter's favorite game of Quidditch is continuing to sweep US college campuses with techniques and rules making matches more competitive. The real-life game that began at Middlebury has "grown up," and now involves deadly serious faceoffs, new brooms (that don't make players fly), and a 60-team World Quidditch Cup scheduled next month in a Manhattan park. But the game, like the wizard world, is wracked by conflict, with many players seeking to keep the fanciful nature of the "sport," while serious athletes are pushing for cutthroat competition, reports the Wall Street Journal . More»

Uncertain economy has schools, students hedging bets

(NEWSER) - The odds aren't looking good for the 3,382 high school seniors currently wait-listed by Duke—the college thinks it will probably end up taking only about 60 of them. Duke is far from the only college to dump record numbers of applicants into admissions purgatory this year, as economic uncertainty has both colleges and applicants hedging their bets, the New York Times reports. More»

(NEWSER) - The Ivy League has a reputation for excellence in all things, but the consignment of its sports programs—particularly the more visible ones like football and basketball—to college athletics’ second tier has alumni clamoring for change, the Wall Street Journal reports. Academic standards limit the pool of top student-athletes for the eight Ivy schools; the football teams can’t play in the postseason, nixing their title chances. More»

(NEWSER) - A quest to play pro football might keep a Duke basketball player in school for another year, ESPN reports. Greg Paulus, who has used up his basketball eligibility at Duke, has been offered a tryout for the school’s football team—but at receiver, not quarterback, where he starred in high school. Yesterday, Paulus visited the University of Michigan, which has an uncertain quarterback situation, the Detroit Free Press reports. More»