Word: zipped
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Next to SATs and GPAs, ZIP codes are among the most important digits in the admissions numbers game. “You can tell a lot often by a person’s ZIP code,” according to Admissions Dean William R. Fitzsimmons ’67. “We can determine in a rough kind of way if students come from a socioeconomically disadvantaged background...
Harvard looks for applicants who have overcome financial hardships, and ZIP codes form just one piece of the puzzle. In some cases, applicants also share information about their family’s financial situation in essays or interviews. With the help of Harvard economists, admissions officers use micro-level Census data to glean “further information about candidates’ socioeconomic backgrounds,” according to financial aid director Sally C. Donahue...
...while reviewers use ZIP codes to “determine in a rough kind of way” whether applicants have faced financial hardship, they do not use the aid forms to establish in a precise kind of way whether applicants have encountered economic obstacles...
...course, Harvard’s admissions officers know all this, which is why they turn to ZIP codes and other data to identify low-income applicants. In some cases, according to Donahue, officers even look at whether a student sought a waiver from the $65 application fee. But detailed information on family finances remains off-limits. So Harvard isn’t actually “need blind;” it’s “need vision-impaired...
...College is already doing an admirable job of promoting socioeconomic diversity at the initial stage of the process: ZIP codes and Census data help identify low-income students, and Harvard courts them enthusiastically. And after decisions are made, Harvard exempts low-income parents from tuition payments. The problem emerges at the intermediate stage: the application review...