The college admissions process is among the most pressure-packed times of many college applicants’ young lives. In recent years, the pressure has only come more and more quickly in students’ lives, as admissions at the country’s top schools has grown intensely more competitive. But both Yale University and Stanford University last week took an important step in arresting the trend of earlier college admissions pressure, eliminating their early decision option in favor of early action, a move schools throughout the country should follow.
From organizing multiple application forms and soliciting teacher recommendations to writing essays and visiting schools, the college application process is in many cases a full family activity. All parties pack the pressure on applicants to get into top schools, figure out their major and get a head start on the rest of their lives, from parents and relatives to guidance councilors and friends. Application pressure is only exacerbated by the early decision process many schools employ, which forces students to get application materials in early and, if they are accepted, make a binding commitment only mid-way through their senior years of high school.
Early decision is not nearly as good of a deal for students as it is for the colleges to which they apply. While early decision allows colleges to partially fill their next freshman class with guaranteed enrollees who are, in many cases, among the top students in the country, it pushes the process up in the year for students and forces them to rush what is possibly the most important decision of their lives. November of a student’s senior year in high school is far too soon for students to make a definitive decision about where to spend their next four years. A few months can make a huge difference during that time, students’ priorities can switch and their desires can change.
While the early action process may not completely reverse the increasingly unhealthy trends forced by a more and more competitive admissions process, it is an alternative that more equally offers benefits to both schools and applicants. Early action can allow those who want to get the application process over early to do so, while not forcing them into making a binding decision before they are ready. Students can apply early and allow themselves the possibility of selecting from among several of the schools in which they are most interested, rather than moving the selection process up to before they know any decisions. The process can also still allow colleges to partially fill out their new freshman classes early with the most organized and qualified students.
However, the merits of early action are still open to debate. Keeping an early admissions option open will continue to move the pressure of the entire process up in the year for many high school seniors. Also, early admittance of some students can cause early cases of ‘senioritis,’ essentially rendering nearly one full year of high school a waste of time. The process is unfair to those students in less organized high schools and with less organized families, causing some students prolonged periods of uncertainty while their friends bask in the glory of knowing their destinations.
Still, if the process is to be a success, colleges across the country, including Boston University, should follow the lead of some of the country’s top institutions and scrap their early decision process in favor of early action. The more schools that use early action, the broader the selection for those high school seniors organized enough to complete the applications process by early November.
While not a complete solution to the problem of earlier and more intense college admissions pressure, Stanford and Yale’s elimination of their early decision processes in favor of early action last week is positive for college applicants.
