EMILY: I’ve unearthed some shocking statistics. I mean, do you have any idea how hot the competition is to get into a school like Harvard?
LORELAI: Well, yeah, it’s very hot. It’s one of the top schools in the country.
EMILY: In the world. People from China, Russia, India, children from every country apply to Harvard. There’s more competition than ever before.
Lorelai should have already known this. Why is it Emily reading the college magazines to educate herself, why not Lorelai? You can forgive Emily and Richard for being behind the times on college applications in the 21st century, as competition was much less when they went to college, and Emily is trying to catch up.
Lorelai tells Emily that she already knows how hard it is to get into Harvard – which is true, she discovered how low the acceptance rate was in Season 2, when she took Rory for a day trip to Harvard. However, this episode makes clear that she hasn’t really been thinking about it, because the minute she’s forced to, she goes into a panic. And that’s when Lorelai and Emily start getting application anxiety as well.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 