Recent public attention to early admissions programs likely contributed to a 24.3 percent increase in early applications to Harvard College, said Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67.

This year, a record 7,615 students submitted Early Action (EA) applications to Harvard, up from last year’s record-breaker of 6,125, he said.

Fitzsimmons said the media spotlight on early admissions—beginning with “The Early Decision Racket,” an article by James M. Fallows ’70 that appeared in the Sept. 2001 issue of Atlantic Monthly—led to an increase of interest in early admissions programs.

“It makes a certain amount of sense...that, in general, early programs would see increases,” Fitzsimmons said.

Harvard was not the only highly competitive college to see a large jump in early applications.

According to a Nov. 13 story in the Yale Daily News, Yale received about 23 percent more early admissions applications, going from 2,100 in 2001 to 2,600 this year.

Marcela Muniz, assistant dean of admissions at Stanford, said her office had received 2,465 early applications this year, a 3 percent increase compared to last year’s figure of 2,391.

Fitzsimmons said the recent focus on the relative merits of nonbinding EA policies like Harvard’s, as opposed to the more prevalent Early Decision (ED) policy, where students promise to attend a first-choice school in exchange for a December admissions decision, might have made EA more attractive to applicants, particularly those for whom financial aid might be a consideration.

Georgetown University, another EA school, saw its early application numbers rise from about 4,400 to over 5,200, according to Georgetown spokesperson Julie Bataille.

“There was clearly a preference for EA [over ED],” said Joe Prieto, an admissions counselor at the Illinois Math and Science Academy.

This June, Harvard found itself at the center of the early admissions debate when a change in National Association for College Admission Counseling guidelines raised the possibility that Harvard might allow students who had been accepted under other schools’ binding ED programs to apply to and enroll at the College.

After criticism in the media, Harvard released a clarifying statement in July telling students accepted under ED at other schools that they had to withdraw all other applications.

But according to Fitzsimmons, who said he has “no idea” whether any of this year’s early applicants have submitted simultaneous applications to other EA or ED schools, the publicity had a positive effect on interest in applying early to Harvard.

“The more Harvard is in the news, the better it is from a recruiting point of view,” he said.

Fitzsimmons also attributed the increase to Harvard’s intensive recruitment efforts, which had received a “very good” response this year.