A new approach to early decision programs - from our perspective

Matrix: The Magazine for Leaders in Education, Nov-Dec, 2001 by Howard Greene, Matthew Greene

Early Decision (ED) programs offer students a mixed blessing. Students can indicate their first choice so that a college will have no doubt about their intentions. Colleges can comb through their applicants at more than one phase of the admissions process to gain more certainty about numbers and projected enrollment statistics. In a recent Atlantic Monthly article called "The Great College Hustle" James Fallows offered a rather biting critique and useful history of ED programs at elite colleges. The critiques leveled at ED, and thus at the colleges that have implemented this application option, have become well-established:

* ED begins the application and admissions process in earlier grades, so students are scrambling for AP courses as sophomores, visiting colleges before junior year, writing applications junior spring, and considering the college search process completed by October of senior year.

* ED forces students to make a decision about a top college choice before they are ready, which may lead to disappointment later. Their preferences might have changed since the start of their senior year of high school, or they haven't had time to make an informed decision in the fall.

* ED serves the college's interests, locking in students and making for a firmer yield of applicants, but thereby forces students to stop looking before they are ready.

* The multiplicity of ED programs leads to confusion, strategizing and gaming, which can easily overwhelm the more important elements of the college search and admissions process, not to mention the applicant.

* A misconception that ED always leads to a better chance of being accepted to a college, and that if a student does not apply ED, then he or she will never get in anywhere.

As comprehensive as Fallows' article is, he overlooks some important aspects of ED which have become essential components of most selective college applicants' decision process.

They're Not Missing Out

First, ED exists beyond the Ivy League and other most-selective institutions. The schools taking advantage of ED include those that are as selective as the Ivies, and those that are far less selective.

When students and parents come to us, they often have looked carefully at several colleges' class profiles. They are well aware that many schools fill 40 percent or more of each first-year class through ED, and they see that these candidates are admitted at a higher rate than those in the overall applicant pool.

No matter that we tell them that some of the strongest academic students, as well as those with athletic recruiting or alumni legacy "hooks" are often those accepted ED. They have a hard time convincing themselves that they are not missing out on something if they don't apply ED.

Second, many students are severely stressed by the college admissions process overall, and, as many college administrators recognize, they are often on the verge of burning out academically, athletically and personally by their senior year.

They leap for an ED option just to alleviate the pressure.

Many competitive private and public schools tell students that they think ED is a good idea to increase their chances of admission, and ask students for their choice at least a month in advance of any ED deadline. That often means students must decide by October 1 what school they will commit to.

The dream of a December holiday vacation with no applications to write and no pressure to perform for the rest of the year leads many students to choose ED to put all the college obsessing to an end.

No matter that we tell them they will need to prepare other applications in November and early December, in case they are not accepted ED. They figure that one application, one time, makes more sense according to the narrow time horizon in which they are working.

Third, one of the most important innovations in the ED system has been the Early Decision Round II (EDII) programs and deadlines. While they might have been implemented by schools to pick up unaffiliated applicants who were not accepted in round one, EDII programs provide an excellent outlet for students to improve their academic and testing record through the fall, take more time to evaluate a large group of colleges, and focus on writing strong applications.

EDII deadlines are the same as, or close to, most regular decision deadlines in January that students can at this stage have a list of schools to which they are applying, have a better sense of where their chances are best, and perhaps have an idea of which college is most preferable to them.

If that college has an EDII plan, the student can apply there as a first choice school, while simultaneously filing other regular decision (nonbinding) applications. Some students have indeed submitted an EDII application after having been deferred or rejected from an EDI attempt.

Many students we work with, however, enjoy the time and flexibility that EDII offers them. They feel less pressure to commit early, and are more inclined and able to have more than one visit at the college to which they might commit. Additionally, with all of the fall's SAT and ACT dates and a full semester of senior grades behind them, they are typically stronger and more focused applicants who know better about the right fit for college personally and academically.