This is the key point where Harvard's recruitment strategies fall short. Harvard largely relies on the initiative of regional alumni networks and student volunteers at the admissions office. Some of the Black students admitted to the Class of 1997 interviewed say they weren't contacted by Harvard after they were admitted.
In addition, the College invites all admits to pre-frosh weekend, with on-campus expenses paid, and also offers minorities the option of extending their visit to stay for the extra days dedicated to addressing minority issues.
Crescent N. Mohammed '97 from South Bend, Ind., says Harvard did not provide her any campus contacts after she was accepted, so she depended on her experiences at pre-frosh weekend to answer her concerns about the campus climate. In fact, when she discovered her hostess was not Black, she stopped a group of Black female students walking down the street and asked them if she could stay with them.
But aside from these recruitment measures--common at most colleges and universities--Harvard lacks a competitive strategy to hold the attention of its admits. Many Black admits interviewed say Harvard made a substantial effort to get them to apply, but that once they got in, they were left alone and exposed to the more intense recruiting efforts of other colleges.
Harvard's new recruiting scheme may expand the applicant pool but does little to increase the yield, or percentage of students who decide to matriculate. And when other colleges are flaunting offers of perks and scholarships. Harvard's perceived indifference and inattentiveness seems to become yet another reason for them not to want to come.
"I didn't really feel like Harvard wanted me to come," says Solita C. Alexander '97, a commended student in the National Merit Achievement Awards who was admitted early action. "Brown [University] made much more of an effort...They did more calling than Harvard and that really made it hard [to decide between them]."
Alexander, a resident of White Plains, NY, who almost decided to attend Brown, says recruiting efforts played a significant factor in her college decision. Brown wooed Alexander by inviting her to a weekend in November exclusively for Blacks.
Mohammed says Dartmouth provided round-trip airfare to visit the campus. Notre Dame as well as some state colleges, offered to pick up the tab for a visit, as well as a full scholarship.
James L. Price III '97, a star football player and National Merit Award semifinalist from Lynwood, Calif., says in addition to a Dartmouth weekend, he was offered full tuition at Loyola, a college that openly recruits outstanding athletes.
And the absence of Harvard, as well as many other elite institutions, at many urban college fairs also misses a large Black population that largely remains untapped by college recruiters, says Burtnett, whose association organizes college fairs at 29 metropolitan areas across the country.
"They may not need to do it, but they are conspicuous in their absence," says Burtnett, adding that the fairs are an effective public relations technique.
The recruiting efforts Harvard and other Ivy League institutions attempt, however, are limited in their efficacy, because the schools lack a critical mass of Blacks from which to build a campus community and to help recruit more Black students, according to Derek S. Gandy, director of minority recruitment at Yale.
"Part of the problem is that we just don't understand enough the people we are trying to recruit," Gandy says, "Only when we get enough people to really understand the people we are trying to recruit can we really increase the applicant pool."
Floundering in a Buyer's Market
With an aloof recruiting attitude, with a dearth of minority recruiters and with its hands tied by its commitment to need-based aid, Harvard can't compete with free-rides, merit-based scholarships and perks. Most Black admits who decide not to matriculate are lost to schools who can offer them merit-based or athletic scholarships, according to Director of Financial Aid James S. Miller.
Read more in News
CORRECTION