Harvard has drawn 35,000 applications this year—a 15% increase over last year and a whopping 50% increase in four years. That means about 6% of Class of 2014 applicants will be admitted, compared to about 9% of Class of 2010 applicants. About one in 50 high school seniors now applies to Harvard, writes Daniel de Vise in the Washington Post. That’s largely due to students each applying to a greater number of schools, pushing peers to do the same in a “self-perpetuating cycle,” De Vise notes, adding that the "30,000 club is growing"—Northwestern and Penn both entered it this year.
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