The Crimson also pointed to "statistically significant" differences in academic, extra-curricular, personal, teacher, counselor and alumni ratings, as well as class rank and scores. But our Quantitative Reasoning courses have shown people that differences can be "statistically significant" yet not large enough to be meaningful. The actual differences in the ratings turn out to be approximately 0.2 points or less on five or six point scales. For example, the extracurricular rating for alumni children was 2.52, compared to 2.43 for the others (one is high on those scales). Not only are such differences insignificant but the fact is that the overall academic and extracurricular credentials presented by Harvard and Radcliffe legacies are so strong as to make them targets of recruitment efforts by other leading colleges.

Also highly recruited and outstanding in national terms are our students who take part in intercollegiate athletics. Not only are they fully qualified for admissions, as the OCR report indicated, but they are a highly diverse group socioeconomically, ethnically and extracurricularly. Their scores would "place them in the top percentiles of all students..." as OCR noted and among our intercollegiate athletes are students who achieve at the very highest levels academically.

The number of students who are admitted are winnowed down from a much larger number who initially express an interest in Harvard and Radcliffe. Only those student-athletes who have academic credentials that would qualify them for admission are encouraged to apply. Many superb athletes, when told that their chances of being admitted are poor, do not apply. Admitted student-athletes averaged 603 on the verbal SAT and 670 on the math and 92.3 in their high school grades. On the various five and six point rating scales they differed from the other group by only an average of 0.38 points. As with alumni children, while those differences are statistically significant, the magnitude does not suggest the major differences between athletes and other students that The Crimson asserts.

The Crimson over the years has made a point of reporting on the correlation between SAT scores and socioeconomic background. To rely on test scores even more than we do now would certainly lead us back toward the days when most students at Harvard and Radcliffe were rich and advantaged. We assume The Crimson would not favor such an outcome.

But in this instance, they seem to have forgotten that--unlike many of our students who attended the best public and private secondary schools offering the finest educational resources--significant numbers of athletes did not have such advantages that would likely have increased their SAT scores. Nevertheless, intercollegiate athletes do well academically at Harvard. While much public furor exists over the poor graduation rates of athletes at many colleges, varsity athletes here not only graduate, but a majority do so with academic honors. Studies have shown that athletes here report high levels of satisfaction with the college experience and that they are likely to be unusually accomplished in their professional lives. Their contributions to society later are well-documented and one needs only to look at the recent elections in Massachusetts to see two former Harvard athletes among those elected to the highest offices in the state.

Athletic teams today form so integral part of the college scene across the United States that they are largely taken for granted. The roots of an athletic program integrated with an academic one are derived from the ancient Greek ideal of sound mind and sound body. It is now so ingrained as part of American college life that students and alumni alike have come to expect varsity sports at colleges.

While over the years the Harvard community has separated itself from what it considers to be the excesses of today's "big-time" college athletics, it continues to maintain a comprehensive intercollegiate, intramural and individual sports program. Perhaps equally important, it provides leadership to the country by demonstrating that one can still have a strong athletic program and even win national championships without offering academic scholarships. Some of our very best students, including those who did not play sports, chose to come here in part because of the "collegiate" atmosphere that our varsity athletic programs help to provide.

We also attract some superb student-athletes, some of whom came from modest economic backgrounds and can add much needed socioeconomic diversity, because we can offer a Division I athletic expereicne. While we do not provide the athletic scholarships offered by many outstanding private institutions and great state universities, we can enroll some superb individuals who can make a real difference to the lives of their fellow undergraduates.

We are concerned about the potential divisiveness of The Crimson's approach that suggests some undergraduates should not be here because of their SATs. We would remind all members of the community that in disaggregating any student body, some segments of undergraduates will have higher test scores than others. If we found that french horn players had lower SAT scores, would they be singled out next on this slippery slope?

Our admissions policies have been carefully discussed and debated over the years by all members of the Harvard and Radcliffe community. The resulting admissions procedures have helped to produce a student body with the strongest potential scholars in the country as well as individual with many other excellences. Help from alumni in admissions recruiting and financial aid has made it possible to attract the most talented students from every segment of society. We are fortunate to have a highly diverse group of very able students, with a wide variety of talents, and the kinds of personal strengths that make them fascinating roommates, dining hall conversationalists, extracurricular enthusiasts and classroom participants. Our student body receives high praise from nearly every quarter, including The Insider's Guide to Colleges,, produced by the Yale Daily News. With that kind of leadership from New Haven, can The Crimson be far behind? William R. Fitzsimmons '67   Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid   Marlyn McGrath Lewis '70   Director of Admissions   James S. Miller   Director of Financial Aid   Jennifer Davis Carey   Senior Admissions Officer   Lewison Lee Lem   Elizabeth B. Yong   Admissions Officers