When Admissions Office Dean Blackburn reads this year's batch of regular decision applications, he presides over injustice. Because those who apply early decision do not have the ability to compare financial aid offers between schools once admitted, many who might have applied early did not. Those who did apply early improved their chances of admission just by applying early. Money hindered opportunity. That's injustice.
The University should end binding early decision immediately. Last December should be the last time Wahoos entered the University via a binding early decision plan. Stop perpetuating injustice.
Admissions numbers clearly demonstrate how richer students benefit from early decision. In 2002, there were 906 early admission applicants admitted. Of those, a mere 24 qualified for need-based aid (which doesn't necessarily mean they even received a grant). According to Admissions Office data, that's 2.6 percent qualifying for financial aid. Of the regular applicant pool, 20 percent qualified for financial aid. That 17.4 percent gap convincingly shows those seeking financial aid packages are deterred from applying early. That's injustice.
"No matter how responsibly you run an early-decision program, it still tends to be a group of students who are more financially able and less diverse," stated Jerome Lucido, the director of admissions at the University of North Carolina, upon ending its binding early decision policy (www.unc.edu/news). Even the Tar Heels realize how early decision unjustly favors wealthier students.
The percentages of out-of-state students (those needing financial aid most) applying early and regular decision further paint a portrait of injustice. Of those enrolling via early decision in 2003, 19.3 percent were out-of-state. Compare that to the 46.4 percent enrolling overall from out-of-state, and many out-of-state applicants are missing (www.virginia.edu/stats&facts). Where are they? Frustrated and waiting, since their need to compare financial aid offers prevents them from applying early.
"A recent study of 14 highly selective schools by researchers at Harvard determined that on average, early decision candidates had slightly lower SAT scores and class ranks than candidates who applied during the regular admissions season," reported The Atlantic ("The Selectivity Illusion," Nov. 2003). This same study found that applying early improves applicants' chances tantamount to a 100 point boost in their SAT scores. When certain students receive advantages because of their financial condition, that's injustice.
Students have spoken in fervent opposition to binding early decision. In the fall of 2002, when I was a Student Council reprsentative, I co-sponsored Student Council resolution FR02-10, "A Resolution to Replace The University's Early Decision Admissions Policy with Exclusive Early Action." It passed unanimously. Unfortunately, the Admissions Office remains obstinate to the wishes of students.
Selectivity, an argument that might have held sway five years ago, now has no merit: U.S. News & World Report has dropped the admissions selectivity component to its annual rankings. That stodgy magazine helped end the incentive for injustice.
Convenience, which allows the Admissions Office to better predict how many students will enroll in the University, is a lame excuse to perpetuate injustice. You all are paid enough; the University has enough talented mathematicians; accurate enough projections can be made even without a binding early decision policy. Insisting on convenience suggests that when I need money I should rob the gas station instead of going to my bank because the gas station is closer. It requires less energy to grab injustice.
Predictability, an argument Dean Blackburn has made to justify early decision, loses its credibility when Yale, UNC and Stanford admit students without relying on the unjust tool of early decision. Predictability is not worth it if a substantial block of incoming students represents only a privileged subset of the American population. Nice, neat numbers produce unequal opportunities that stifle socioeconomic diversity on Grounds. Applying to college should not add to life's list of injustices.
Is the university for its students, or are students for the University? In the words of Lucido, "Binding early decision is much more in the college's interest than the student's." In spite of some students enjoying early assurance of college plans, only certain applicants (namely wealthier ones) can enjoy this assurance. Even the Association of College Admissions Counselors has decided to shun limiting students to apply early to only one college. In the face of a trend that ends early decision, the University will soon become an anachronism.
Polite appeals have proven ineffective to stop binding early decision. I'm tired of writing injustice too. But it's time take the moral high ground to end it. If the Admissions Office remains ambivalent on this matter of grave importance, you will keep hearing this irritating voice and others. The drumbeat will soon reach an unbearable crescendo that will shatter injustice.
Why not now?
(Brandon Possin's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He served as Student Council representative from the College in the fall of 2002 but is no longer associated with Council.Hecan be reached at bpossin@cavalierdaily.com.)
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