Yale president’s proposal draws no great rush to join in.
By: Jeff Milgram
On Dec. 12, Yale University President Richard Levin told The New York Times that he would like to abandon the process of early-decision admissions and he hoped other elite colleges would do the same.
While many high school guidance counselors say the idea has some merit, there has been no great rush to join Dr. Levin.
"If we all got rid of it, it would be a good thing," Dr. Levin told The New York Times. "It pushes the pressure of thinking about college back into the junior year of high school, and the only one who benefits is the admissions officers."
His colleagues in the Ivy League, including Princeton University, are studying the issue.
"The Ivy League presidents … agreed to look into the issue of early decision," Princeton University spokeswoman Marilyn Marks said. "But it’s not yet been resolved."
Not everyone believes that ending the early-decision process will suddenly ease the pressure on high-achieving students, said David Prutow, head of guidance for the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District, where 90 percent of high school graduates go on to college. "They’re very interested (in the college-admission process) from the day they enter high school," Mr. Prutow said.
"I don’t know if it would solve the problem," said Mr. Prutow, who believes the pressure would increase for students to score higher on the SAT and other tests.
At the heart of the issue is a process that lets students know by December of their senior year if they are accepted into their first college choice. In return, students are limited to applying for early decision to only that college and if they are accepted, they must enroll at that school.
A recent study by Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government shows that students who apply for early decision are more likely to get in. The study also shows that students at less prestigious high schools may not understand the advantages of the early-decision process.
While most selective colleges use the early-decision process, Harvard does not. It uses a non-binding process called early action, which gives the students the freedom to apply to other colleges and compare financial-aid offers. Students must make their final decision by May 1.
Princeton University, Stanford and Yale used the early-action system, but switched to early decision in 1995-1996.
Princeton says the early-decision process does not give a high school student a better chance of acceptance.
"A candidate to whom we would otherwise not offer admission is not going to be offered admission simply because he or she applied early decision," said Fred Hagadorn, Princeton’s dean of admissions, in an answer to frequently asked questions about the admission process. "However, it is the case that the rate of admission of early applicants is invariably higher than our overall admission rate. In part, that’s simply a matter of there being a rather large number of compelling candidates in the early applicant pool (which also explains why we invariably end up, after reviewing the entire applicant pool, making yet more offers of admission in April to candidates whose early applications were deferred back in December.)"
Princeton University accepts about 12 percent of the approximately 14,000 students who apply.
Last year, the university received 1,850 early-decision applications, about 200 more than the year before.
Stephen LeMenager, who was acting dean of admissions last year, told The Daily Princetonian that he expected early-decision students to make up about 45 percent of the Class of 2005.
The Harvard study says early decision forces students to adopt a strategy for admission.
"Students now confront a strategic choice of whether to apply early decision," said the study, "What Worms for the Early Bird: Early Admission at Elite Colleges" by Christopher Avery, Andrew Fairbanks and Richard Zeckhauser.
"For those people who believe that applying ED enhances one’s chances of admission (as our data strongly suggest), students are now faced with a calculated gamble," the study says. "Should I apply to my top choice early if it is a long shot to be admitted, or to a lesser choice where the early application is more likely to make a difference? Does ED make enough of a difference in admission chances to offset a potentially premature commitment?"
Guidance counselors wouldn’t mourn very much if the early-decision process were dropped.
They say it can lead to "senioritis," a downturn in performance by students who already have been accepted by their college of choice.
"I’ve seen more and more colleges rescind acceptances because seniors don’t live up to expectation," said Jim Riordan, the Princeton Regional School District’s director of guidance.
The number of students who take the early-decision route is increasing, said Mr. Prutow, the head of guidance in the West Windsor-Plainsboro school system.
Despite the criticisms of early decision, the process has benefits for colleges as well as nervous high school students hoping to shorten the agony of waiting for a decision.
Colleges benefit in several ways. First, students can choose only one college to apply to for an early decision and they must commit to enrolling in that school if they are accepted.
"The whole process of early admissions came out of the Ivy League," said Mr. Riordan. "Top-notch students would apply to all the colleges in the Ivy League and so the Ivy League turned the table" by forcing the students to chose which school they wanted to attend.
Colleges, especially selective schools like Princeton, can fill their freshman classes with the best and the brightest because early-decision students tend to be high academic achievers, Mr. Prutow said.
This helps the college by increasing its "yield," the percentage of applicants who enroll, Mr. Riordan and Mr. Prutow both said. Yield is one of the criteria that goes into college rankings, such as U.S. News & World Report’s rating system, Mr. Riordan said.
"Traditionally, the early-decision percentage is higher than the regular decision,’ Mr. Riordan said.
But the schools also now have a captive audience and they can offer low financial-aid packages, both guidance officials pointed out.
"You’re bound to that financial package, no matter what they offer," Mr. Riordan said.
According to the Harvard study, "early applicants tend to be ‘well-heeled:’ they have less financial need than do regular applicants."
Nearly a third of the 120 seniors at The Hun School have taken the early-decision route, a record number, according to the school’s director of college counseling, Cornelius Raiford.
Hun students have been accepted to some of the most prestigious colleges in America, including Harvard, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University and Vassar College.
That is the plus side of early decision. But there is a down side.
"These kids are getting rejections by Dec. 15. That’s devastating," Mr. Riordan said.
"I hate to see kids struggle with rejection," said Mr. Prutow.