More than 200 students granted early action admission to the College will attend a three-day program latter this month to show them what Harvard is like. The plan is designed to stem a recent trend in which fewer and fewer early-action students have opted to enroll at Harvard.

The admissions office organized the program to provide a cohesive opportunity for early action students "to get a real feeling for the place," L. Fred Jewett '57, dean of admissions and financial aid, said yesterday.

In past years, Jewett said, early action students who visited Harvard on their own often "got lost at loose ends" because their decisions to attend often depended on the ability of their host to show them around Harvard.

During the program, which will take place February 21-23, the prospective freshmen will get a chance to attend classes, to meet various professors, University officials, and students, and to see what the extra-curricular activities are like, Jewett said. All 470 students accepted in mid-December were invited to participate.

The formally structured program is the result of a more comprehensive early-action recruitment program from past years, Admissions Director William R. Fitzsimmons '67 said this week.

In past years, he said, about 90 percent of those accepted under early action actually enroll at Harvard. "The feeling here was that we wanted to get as close to 100 percent as we could," Fitzsimmons said.

Third World Programs

Jewett said that the Third World Program that is held later in the spring for regularly admitted students would still take place, but that his office might incorporate the minority weekend into a larger program for all accepted students. During such a weekend all potential students would become acquainted with various special interest groups, he said.

Students at Harvard involved with minority recruiting yesterday said they will be holding some special meetings for prospective minority students during the early action program.

Ari Q. Fitzgerald '84, one of the two coordinators for Black student recruitment, said the Harvard Foundation will be holding a reception for Black students during the program. He added that the recruiters are also writing letters to all of the Black students accepted, telling them "what's going on here with Black students."

Margaret Chin '84, a coordinator for Asian recruitment, said the Asian Association will probably host a reception for the early action visitors, but that their plans are not final.

Recent Trends

Both Jewett and Fitzsimmons said that the actual numbers of applicants for both early action and regular admissions have been declining in the past three years. Although the number of early applicants was down this year to 1405 from last year's 1545, more applicants were accepted this year than last--470 as opposed to last year's 462.

Fitzsimmons said that the applicant pool represented "fewer unrealistic applicants" and that the 85 minorities accepted--18 percent of the total--"is only slightly below the figure we have at the end." Fewer minorities are accepted at the beginning because of the difficulty of getting minorities to actually apply, Fitzsimmons explained.

Admissions officials at Harvard and at other Ivy League schools with early action admissions agreed that their major concern is the number of actual students who matriculate not the decrease or increase in the size of the applicant pool.