Sorry, Recession Won't Get You Into Harvard

Harvard accepts just 7% of applicants

(NEWSER) - Acceptance letters from the nation's top colleges will begin to arrive on prospective students' doorsteps today, but far more rejection letters are in the mail than ever before, reports the New York Times. Harvard and Yale accepted only 7.1% and 8.3% of applicants, respectively, both record lows as schools struggle with changing demographics. More»

Harvard beats out Columbia for most internet references

(NEWSER) - Institutions of higher learning care about their brand as much as any business, so the Global Language Monitor has ranked universities and colleges for the amount of buzz they command on the internet. The winners:

1. Harvard University
2. Columbia University
3. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
4. University of California, Berkeley
5. Stanford University

Annual survey comes under increasing fire for favoring the rich

(NEWSER) - Facing a barrage of criticism, the latest college rankings from U.S. News and World Report were released today, and Princeton is still No.1, followed by Harvard and Yale. The editors have tried to address complaints about the survey's bias toward schools that educate the well-to-do and the well-prepared. But dozens of college presidents are refusing to fully participate in the survey or use the rankings to promote their institutions. More»

Rejections hit 90% at most prestigious schools

(NEWSER) - With competition at top colleges more ferocious than ever, most Ivy League schools accepted under 10% of applicants for the first time, the Times reports. Tony schools like Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Princeton turned away valedictorians and students with perfect SAT scores and GPAs, much to the shock of parents. More»

Elite universities profit from acting interested in unqualified students

(NEWSER) - Ivy League schools cram high school students' mailboxes full with glossy recruitment packages, only to greet them weeks later with far less appealing rejection letters. Critics say elite universities like Harvard and Columbia set up potential applicants for disappointment by wooing them with pamphlets, posters, and promise, pocketing hefty application fees of up to $90 from students who have little chance of actually getting accepted, Bloomberg reports. More»