BU extends ED app. deadline after Hurricane

Boston University officials announced Monday that they will extend the early decision application deadline as a result of Hurricane Sandy.

The deadline was extended from Nov. 1 to Nov. 5 to provide students affected by the storm additional time to apply, said BU spokesman Colin Riley.

“We understand that some people are without power — some people are out of their homes, some people have real serious difficulties and priorities right now that they need to address and we want to give them some flexibility,” he said.

The deadlines for January freshman and January transfer applications are also extended to Nov. 5, according to the BU Admissions website.

“When things like that [the storm] happen, we’re sensitive and flexible with our deadlines,” Riley said.

Riley said the decision to extend the deadline in conjunction with a Sunday statement from the National Association for College Admission Counseling advocating a deadline extension.

“These extreme weather conditions could result in power outages for many homes and schools for an extended period of time, possibly impacting students’ and counselors’ ability to submit application materials by Nov. 1,” the NACAC statement read.

Riley said colleges often must take extreme conditions into account.

“Generally, whenever there’s an area of the country that’s affected, schools recognize that, particularly schools with large numbers of people who apply for early action or early decision,” he said.

Riley said BU usually receives fewer than 1,000 early decision applications per year and the majority has already been submitted.

He said the decision date should not be affected by the deadline extension, and applicants should still receive a decision by Dec. 15.

Some high school students said they were happy they have extra time to complete their early decision applications to BU.

“I think it was a nice relief,” said Maddy Finaly, a senior at The Hill School in Pottstown, Penn., applying early decision to BU. “For me personally, because I am one of the lucky few who still has Internet and power, it’s not necessary, but it is a huge relief to know that if I did lose power or I did lose Internet, I did have that extra time to finish up the final touches.”

Finaly said students have been unable to contact counselors and resources at her school since the hurricane.

“The entire Hill School is without power,” she said. “While many people off campus have Internet, the school’s email system is down, so therefore we can’t contact our counselors, our college counselors or anyone.”

Nicole Boardman, also a senior at The Hill School, said she is almost finished with her early decision application to BU but cannot reach a teacher.

“[The application] doesn’t let me apply unless I have an art supplement, and since I’m applying with my art supplement I need a recommendation from one of my teachers,” she said. “Because of the storm, my email isn’t working and the whole Internet network at my school is shut down, so it’s hard to get that [recommendation].”