A second form of the on-line application is one that can be filled out on computer and sent to schools electronically via a 'net connection or modern.

Bhan says such an application will benefit the admissions office and equalize all candidates.

"The program [would] print out data in whatever form the admissions office desires," he says. "This simplifies the application process and allows the admissions office to be assured of a neat, legible application."

"It also equalizes candidates to some degree, as all applications will look more or less the same physically," Bhan says.

Stafford agrees that the process would benefit the admissions office.

"It would be vastly easier to have everything on-line since officers could retrieve any file with relative ease," he says. "This would allow massively useful correlation, greater safety and greater privacy."

But Assistant Dean of Admissions Warren C. Reed is not so sure and online application would benefit the admissions office.

"All of the information is put on a computer anyway and I don't think we would change....our style of operation, which is very much uncategorized and has more to do with exchange of ideas about a student than their particular ranking on a scale," Reed says.

Dean of the Division of Applied Sciences Paul C. Martin agrees that the on-line application might not benefit Harvard's admissions office tremendously.

"Unless colleges like Harvard drastically alter their selection processes-currently the one hard copy of the application and authenticated hard copy supporting materials are passed around at meetings at which applicants' qualities are discussed--a hard copy of all materials will be needed," Martin says.

Benefits to Students

Students also say the on-line application will likely benefit prospective applicants, particularly those from outside the United States.

"The students who would most benefit are those overseas for whom it would be significantly cheaper to send in an application electronically," says James S. Gwertzman '95, the student representative on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Information Technology Committee.

Other students would benefit by not having to mail in applications and by not having to type up complicated forms, Gwertzman says.

But the on-line application is not without its costs, one of which is security.