The Harvard application, the College gatekeeper that shut out hundreds of valedictorians, athletic stars and musical prodigies, died this summer.

Used to screen students for admission to the College for decades, the application will be replaced with the common application, making Harvard the first Ivy League school to accept the form.

Instead of the approximately 15-question application past applicants completed, the common application contains a set of standard questions that are accepted by more than 130 colleges such as Amherst and Williams. Harvard will require candidates to answer supplementary questions as well.

The application fee will not be affected by the change, according to admissions officials.

Director of Admission Marilyn McGrath Lewis '70 says the office eliminated the individual application to cut down the time students spend on applications.

Using the new application will also attract a broader and more diverse candidate pool, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons '67 says.

"We are leveling the playing fields," he says.

The common application is available free of charge on computer disks. The College will continue to require applicants to submit a printed copy of the application.

Fitzsimmons says Harvard did not move to the common form to draw more applications, and he doesn't anticipate a large increase.

"People made similar remarks when we allowed the ACT as a supplement to the SATs," Fitzsimmons says. "If we wanted to increase the numbers, we could just send a search letter out to more people."

Trendsetting

Though Harvard was a trendsetter among its Ivy League counterparts in adopting the common application, few Ivies are now considering changing their forms.

Dartmouth followed suit late this summer, saying it will accept the common application as well as its own in the fall of 1995.

Yale director of admissions Margit Dahl says the New Haven school will examine Harvard's experience this year.

"It's an interesting thing to consider," she says. "I am sure it will come up at the meeting of the Ivy [admission] deans."