A group of maybe seven faculty and administrators will meet to consider every case in a region, trying to come in "on target." For the first time, the folders are marked "admit" or "reject" and a picture of the class begins to emerge.

After the initial round of subcommittee meetings, the entire staff meets for the second rung of the process: the targets are thrown out and each case is presented by the chairman of the applicant's regional group. The committee may spend anywhere from a few seconds on an applicant with a six profile to an hour and forty-five minutes on a really tough one.

When a case is presented in committee, everyone has the docket in front of him. The area man presents a summary, reading from the school and teacher reports, the student's essay and the interview report.

The essay is usually a neutral factor in admission, written carefully on a safe subject, like the applicant's hometown or extracurricular activities. "But in about 10 per cent of the cases it's really interesting and well done," Reardon said. "It brings to life what may not have come out in the application itself and in about 10 per cent of the cases it's a disaster."

The SAT and achievement scores are one of the first things an official looks for in a candidate. If they're over 700, then the SATs are pretty important for a candidate; they're probably his primary asset, though as Reardon says, only about 10 per cent are admitted as a straight "scholar group." The median SAT scores for the last class was 674 verbal and 713 math. For scores below that, however, a candidate must have something else going for him--maybe he's a musician, or an athlete or has a "one" personality.

The candidate could also come from one of the special groups that get a little extra consideration in the process. All things being equal, for example, the son or daughter of an alumnus has a better chance of getting into Harvard or Radcliffe than another candidate. The child of a Faculty member has an even better chance. And admissions officials don't deny these preferences--they are University policy.

The figures show that while 19 per cent of all applicants are admitted, 34 per cent of alumni children get in. Most alumni sons and daughters are strong candidates, but for 35-40 applicants this year, the fact of being a Harvard son helped," Reardon said.

Schwalbe also said that some students enter each year as "political admits." These are candidates who come from a strong Harvard-Radcliffe family; strong in that they support the school by working in alumni organizations or help with the interviewing, no necessarily financially."

Minority students are also treated a little differently, though they don't get the same kind of outright preference that an alumnus' child receives. There are no quotas or target figures, though officials keep a close count on the number of minority students in the class.

Reardon says Harvard "tries to come to grips" with a minority student's background. If a candidate has what he calls "a lot of drive and energy" and gone to a tough school the committee will look at him, even though his board scores are in the 500s. If a minority student has gone to a prep school all his life, he'll get no special consideration.

In the committee, everyone--from the dean of admissions to the newest junior faculty member--has an equal vote and voice in the deliberations. Admission to the college requires a simple majority vote of the full committee, and a student who didn't get in when the regional vote was take might get accepted this time around if someone in the group present his case strongly enough.

The full committee generally meets for about ten days, from March 20 to April 1, holding sessions that start at 9 in the morning and last until 10:30 p.m. Reardon described the meetings as a careful balancing of viewpoints on what will make the best class: "One thinks there aren't enough all-round kids, and another thinks musicians really get the shaft."

And sometimes that "careful balancing" gets out of hand. "I've even seen one person take a poke at another...when you're dealing with that kind of stress over a number of days, there are some disagreements that get sort of personalized."

The work of the admissions officers doesn't end however, when the decisions are made and the letter go out. "the toughest part of the business," according to Reardon, "is dealing with people who are disappointed. For some, rejection is water off the back, for others it is the end of the world."

The office receives phone calls, letters and visits from parents and students who want their case reconsidered, but the policy of the admissions office is not to give then a second look unless some information in the file is proved false. To parents who want to know why their child was rejected, Reardon says, "It is is a fallible committee. We're not like the pope. It could be wrong but that is the decision of the committee.