"Although many selective colleges are
known to engage in the same admissions tactics, Harvard’s lawyers
lamented in pretrial papers that being forced to produce application
materials would be like divulging trade secrets, and would allow
students and college counselors to game the process, which is in full
swing right now. The judge even likened Harvard’s formula to the recipe
for Coke.
In the end, however,
Harvard’s lead counsel, Bill Lee (Harvard Class of 1972), said this week
that it had been necessary to spill some secrets.
“I’ve definitely not revealed the secret of Coke,” said Mr. Lee, who represented Apple in a patent suit against Samsung — another trial that exposed closely guarded secrets.
But, he acknowledged, “you’re learning a lot about the admissions
process that never would have been public otherwise. We want you to
know. Once you understand it, you can understand how decisions are
made.”"
