Harvard University has done away with early admissions, but the question as to whether this will truly diversify its student body remains.

In the past, early admission has been criticized as a way for students from affluent communities, star athletes and legacies to get a leg-up on attending the university of their choice.

Critics have also said the practice puts extra pressure on regular applicants hoping to attend the same college. While wealthier students, who did not have to worry about financial aid and scholarship packages, happily accepted their admittance into the university, poorer students would sometimes have to wait for better offers to emerge from other schools.

Harvard receives many of the most desirable applicants in the country. The university only accepted 6,613 applicants in 2005, and removing early admission will most likely not affect who attends.

Furthermore, Harvard already waives tuition for students with a household income of less than $60,000 a year, enabling less affluent student to go the university.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of Harvard’s revised admission policy is not that it will level the playing field for Harvard applicants, but that it will set a precedent for other universities to follow, as Harvard sets the national standard in admissions.

It is doubtful that Harvard will be able to shed its image as a white, elitist university with this single policy change, but if other private and state schools begin to follow suit, the application process nationwide might become more just.

Harvard’s commitment to giving all students a fair chance at attending the university bring together its administrative policies with its educational ideals. As Harvard officials have said, removing early admission will also allow Harvard’s admissions staff to focus more on outreach and recruitment.

Sometimes early admission applicants did not match the honest, intellectually inquisitive students they were looking for. Often, acceptance practices got away from finding the best student suited for the university.

The reality of the application process today is that it favors the students who can best take advantage of the system. Students with better counseling and more expensive SAT prep courses have a better shot at attending the university of their choice.

While Harvard in particular might not benefit from removal of early admission, any attempt by a university to realign its admissions practices with its educational values is a step in the right direction.