In Bloomberg, Brian Sullivan and Matthew Keenan report that Harvard received 27, 462 applicants for the class of 2012, and rejected 93% of them, a school record.

The number of applicants is about 4500 higher than a year ago, when it was 22, 955. The difference is believed to be the result of more generous financial aid policies.

It’d be interesting to know if those policies are attracting applicants from families that are less affluent than the Harvard norm, or if they’re just attracting more applicants.