"A high level of authentication and security would be needed to assure that transcripts and letters of recommendation [are] genuine," Martin says.

Students say that encryption can solve the security problem.

"Once public-key encryption is in wide use, applicants will be able to use digital signatures to authenticate their applications, thereby guaranteeing that they are who they say they are," Gwertzman says.

Stafford agrees that encryption will solve the security problem, but says that the College must also find some way of dealing with the application fee.

"As long as there is an application fee, there will have to be a portion mailed as well," he says. "Electronic cash is ways off."

But Bhan says the problem can be solved "by having the student send an application fee to get an individualized password which would be necessary to send the data to an admissions office."

Another problem that students raise is that an on-line application would make the process too easy.

"The on-line application might make the admissions process so easy that a school like Harvard would be overwhelmed by applications," Gwertzman says.

"I think Harvard's interests are best served by keeping the admissions process rigorous enough that only those students who really want to go to Harvard will complete it," he says. "Let other schools that are scrambling for students make the process as easy as possible."

Franklin M. Steen, the director of the Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services (HASCS), also says the on-line application might make the process too easy.

"One problem is that with the ease of application there may be an increase in the number of applications," he says. "The paper process does put up a small barrier that requires students to be serious before they fill out the paper and send it in--even for common applications."

Current Usage

The College's admissions office hopes to have its supplement available on-line by the end of the summer, Martin says. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences also expects to make an on-line application available soon, he adds.

Harvard's Division of Applied Sciences already uses its Web site to receive admissions information for its graduate program, Martin says.

While the application itself must be filled out and mailed in, the Web site has a supplemental form which can be sent to Harvard electronically.