Author Archives: Steven Syverud

In 1955, Williams College Admissions Director Fred Copeland was bothered by a new trend: “This year, Yale, and, to some extent Harvard, gave early verbal and written guarantees to many top candidates. It seems to me that the practice is going to become more prevalent and that ‘early acceptances’ will become the rule rather than »

Numbers are a funny thing. Even the simplest ones can trip up the best of newspapers with the best intent. A recent article about the student activities fee, “YCC sees large fee opt-out” (9/20), seems to be the latest victim. Because of the numbers, the article downplayed a seminal event. Yale students now have an »

This will be a little different than what you normally read on this page. This is not a rant about a policy. It’s not an argument about a political issue. And it doesn’t mention GESO. It’s about something that’s already happening. In the following sentences, we won’t be asking you to agree with a theory »

Imagine you’re a high school senior. Imagine you want to come to Yale. Imagine you come up to New Haven with your mom, and you’re midway through your tour when suddenly someone asks: “Is the residential college system isolating?” Easy question, right? The answer is a slam dunk for a tour guide — or anyone »

College admissions, like anything else that rides on the whims of 17-year-olds, tend to be erratic. A spicy rumor, a championship run by the football team, an appearance on “Felicity” and voila! — a deluge of applications appears and there’s a new hot university. So it is easy to dismiss Harvard’s 15 percent spike in »

After years of steady growth, early applications to Ivy League schools have dropped almost 14 percent this fall. The change in numbers was by no means uniform across the Ancient Eight — Yale saw a large increase, Harvard and Princeton large losses, and other schools had only slight changes. The shifts followed changes in early »

Participation in Yale’s Junior Year or Term Abroad program is up more than 40 percent from last year, defying a recent national trend of plateauing American interest in international education. Nationwide, the number of college students receiving credit for study abroad only increased 4 percent in the 2001-2002 academic year — the most recent year »

Nearly three weeks after Early Action applications were due to the Yale College Office of Admissions, Yale President Richard Levin said that the more than 50 percent increase in applications under the new nonbinding program was a step toward eliminating early admissions programs altogether. When Levin announced last November that Yale would switch from Early »

Early applications increased this year by roughly 42 percent at Yale and dropped by about 47 percent at Harvard University, according to preliminary estimates by the Deans of Admissions at both schools. The deans attributed the fluctuations more to changes in the schools’ early admissions processes than to changes in the schools’ appeal. Both schools »

Sarah Levin backs up her new book on athletics with an impressive resume. A member of the Harvard Class of 2000, she captained the Harvard sailing team and was named an All-American during her senior year. That same year, her team finished second in the country. Levin co-authored the recently released “Reclaiming the Game,” a »

With early applications due tomorrow, the effects of Yale’s recent switch from binding Early Decision to single-choice Early Action are still unclear. Under the new plan, which Yale President Richard Levin announced last Nov. 6, students may apply early to Yale without committing to matriculate but may not apply early to other schools. Dean of »

In an attempt to recruit more talented South American students, Yale admissions officers have packed their bags and taken flight. Until five years ago, the Undergraduate Admissions Office had not traveled to any Latin American countries besides Mexico, Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions Diana Cooke said. Since then, Yale has done four multi-week tours through »