This form asks applicants for their research interests so that they may be properly matched with faculty members.
The FAS web page also has an online request for information about undergraduate admissions, Reed says.
"A student enters [his or her] name and address and we put that in our database, and they get sent application materials through the mail," Reed says.
Other schools such as Georgia Tech have taken the initiative in utilizing the Internet. Reed says he thinks the school receives most of its applications by modem.
But Harvard is not moving too quickly on this front.
"We're not putting a lot of resources into developing an on-line application [which can be filled out and mailed in electronically] in the next year or even two years," Reed says. "I do think that it will happen eventually."
Martin emphasizes that an incremental approach is the best one.
"One thing is clear: neither a macho 'let's do it now' nor a passive 'let's wait' is the right answer," he says.
Reed says developing an on-line application is not a major priority because students can already submit applications electronically through other means.
Students can obtain a set of disks from their school or a commercial service with the images of applications from various colleges, which the students can then fill out, Reed says.
"[The students] either print it and send it directly to us or sometimes they send the completed diskette back to the commercial service, who then forwards the information to us," he says.
"Last year through all sources, I'd say we received about 200 applications from some kind of electronic service," Reed says.
He estimates that Harvard might receive 20 percent of its applications in electronic form in five years and 50 percent in 10 years.
He emphasizes that Harvard will always retain the paper version of the application for people who don't have access to technology.
And Reed cautions that the application itself is still the most important thing.
"In the enthusiasm for electronic versions of application, high school students shouldn't lose sight of the process of admissions which is probably not going to change," he says.