THE COLLEGE application process is an indescribably stressful time in a high school student's life. One issue that is often confusing for students beginning the process is the distinction between early action and early decision and which policy applies to which institutions. The University currently has a policy of early decision. The Office of Admissions should examine their policies and change to a policy of early action, allowing students to apply to other schools. This would ensure that the highest quality of students are admitted as well as broaden and vary the early applicant pool.
Early action, as defined by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) is the "application process by which students make application to an institution of preference and receive a decision well in advance of the institution's regular response date. Students who are admitted under early action are not obligated to accept the institution's offer" (www.nacac.com).This non-binding condition allows students to show their strong interest in an institution without the pressure of knowing positively that they want to attend this institution.
Early decision is the "application process in which students make a commitment to a first-choice institution where, if admitted, they will definitely enroll."This serves to shrink the applicant pool as people shy away from a school they may be very interested in but are not positive they want to attend.Many students who wish to strategize use the smaller application pool that this binding policy creates to their advantage by applying to schools that might be a slight reach in hopes that they will be accepted out of a smaller pool of applicants. Admissions committees have not yet seen the majority of their applicants and cannot predict the quality of students that will apply in the spring. In addition, students who must rely on financial aid and scholarships do not apply early to schools with a binding policy as they must wait to see which school will provide the largest amount of help.
Early applications are usually due in early November. This early in his senior year, it is hard for a student to know for sure where he wants to spend his college career. Early action allows students the flexibility to apply early to schools they have a strong interest in without the scary idea of committing so early in the process. Implementing this policy at the University would increase the number of students who apply early, which would serve to diversify and improve the quality of the students admitted early.
Early decision may cause many top students to hold off applying until spring because they are not yet ready to commit, despite their strong interest in the University. Opening up the early application process and making it non-binding would increase the number of students applying and thus make the early application pool more like the regular application pool. Such actions would increase the quality of students who are admitted early and thus overall. The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill recently did away with their early decision policy for just this reason. Jerome Lucido, director of admissions at UNC, said that early decision applicants "weren't as strong as our regular pool... there were lots of strategists" -- those with mediocre profiles that apply early to top institutions to increase their chances of getting in. The University should follow UNC's lead and use early action policies to ensure the highest quality of students possible.
Making the early application process non-binding also would lead to more racial and economic diversity in the portion of the class accepted early. Students who could not apply to a binding school because of the need to wait to see from where they would get the largest financial aid package could now apply to the University early action, thus showing their strong interest in this institution. Most students who use early decision options are those who know they will be able to cover the cost of attending the institution and thus most early applicants are affluent. Switching from early decision to early action would lessen this problem and make the pool more comparable to the regular decision pool and the student body as a whole.
Certainly there are benefits to both systems of early application processes, and the University must decide what is best for their own needs and expectations. Logically, it follows that switching to early action would cause the University to turn away or defer more mediocre students that might once have been accepted early decision. In addition, the switch could possibly increase the number of those who are wait-listed in the spring, as those accepted early action wait to see all of their options. But it is clear that opening up the early application process to students who are not positive about their college choice will increase the number of applicants and eliminate some of the problems often seen with early decision policies. Early action would diversify and increase the quality of students admitted early.Certainly this is incentive enough to reexamine the policies currently in place. Allowing students the option of showing strong interest in the University without the pressure of a binding contract will give Admissions the best students with the strongest and most sure desire to be here; there will be no second-guessing. The Office of Admissions should opt to lessen the stress on their applicants by allowing them to apply early and not be bound to attend the University, while at the same time increasing the quality of classes that are admitted every year.
(Kate Durbin's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at kdurbin@cavalierdaily.com.)
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