Recruit to Reject? Harvard and African American Applicants

Over the past 20 years, elite colleges in the US have seen dramatic increases in applications.  Using detailed data on Harvard University that was unsealed as part of the SFFA v. Harvard lawsuit this study shows that Harvard encourages applications from many students who effectively have no chance of being admitted, and that this is particularly true for African Americans. African American applications soared beginning with the Class of 2009, with the increase driven by those with lower SAT scores. Yet there was little change in the share of admits who were African American.