The fall of senior year is an eventful time for high school students. They have to take standardized tests, write their college essays, ask for letters of recommendation, and finish college and scholarship applications. It is a time full of decisions, and one of the biggest decisions a student has to make is whether or not he or she should apply to college through an early admissions program.

Most Common Early Admissions Programs

There are two common types of early application program: early decision and early action. Early decision is a binding commitment where students are obligated to attend the school if accepted. A choice to apply early decision usually has to be made in October because students must finish their application, ask for recommendations, and write their essays by the November 1 (the most common ED deadline). Some schools that offer an early decision program are Columbia University, New York University, and Georgetown University.

Early action, on the other hand, is more like a priority deadline; it is nonbinding and students are allowed to apply to multiple schools before the early November 1 deadline. Applicants receive their admissions decision in December and have until May 1 to decide whether or not to attend. Schools like Northeastern University, University of Connecticut, and Boston College are currently admitting students through early action programs.

Recently there has been a growth in single choice early action (SCEA) programs, which allow students to apply through the early admissions period, but restrict applicants from applying to other school’s early programs. Stanford University and Yale University have recently implemented single choice early action programs, which make up for about one third of their incoming classes.

Why Colleges Use Early Admissions

Put yourself in the position of a college admissions officer. You spend hours reviewing many stellar applications and argue with your colleagues to accept students who you think would be a great addition to the school. In addition, you are forced to deny admissions to many qualified applicants—most of whom would have also been great at your school. You do all this to find out that some of the stellar applicants that you accepted are not attending.

Yield, the rate at which accepted applicants attend a school, is a figure that many admissions counselors are conscious of. When accepting students, they want qualified applicants that want to attend, and early admissions, especially early decision, reduces the guessing involved in the admissions decision. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, “In most early decision programs, students promise they will enroll in the college if they get in. The pledge eliminates some of the guess-work that characterizes the spring admission season, when a college might lose to competitors half or three-fourths of the people it admits.”

Author Recommendations and Personal Input

Early Decision: Applying early decision does have some advantages because a student clearly demonstrates to the college that the school is his number one choice. In my opinion, if you have any questions what so ever if a college is right for you, then you should not apply early decision because it is a binding commitment. I had some friends who got in early decision to a school that was not their first choice and they were unhappy with their college choice. However, if you have a distinct number one choice and financial aid is not a major concern, then applying early decision can relieve some anxiety during your senior year—especially during the spring decisions period.

Early Action: Applying early action can have some great benefits depending on your admissions decision. An early acceptance may allow you to become more aggressive with your college applications by providing a “back up” school. Students who apply early action are generally well qualified because they do not need to take any more standardized tests and because another semester of grades, extracurricular activities, and awards would not benefit their application greatly.

Single choice early action: I applied to Stanford single choice early action. Stanford does not have an early decision program but it has an sing choice early action program. Stanford was my top choice and I was pretty committed to attending. However, I still applied to other schools because I was uncertain about how my Stanford financial aid package would turn out. Since the program was considered early action and was non-binding, I was able to do so without penalty. Had the program been early decision, Stanford would have expected that I attend unless there were financial concerns.

Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed in this post are those of its author and do not necessarily represent the views of myCollegeSTAT.com.

In terms of higher education, the University of California system is certainly well known, and is home to several prestigious schools.  The colleges carrying the UC moniker include campuses in Berkeley, Los Angeles, Davis, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Irvine, Merced, and Riverside, of which the first three are considered to be most prominent.   Acceptance to a UC school is highly sought after, and an esteemed achievement.  Overall, the UC admissions department receives nearly 100,000 applications a year, from both in and out of state students.  All nine schools use the same application, unique from the Common Application and the Universal Application, submitted online during the month of November.

This formidable state school system is uniquely dominated by a non-white minority ethnicity.  The UC system has a 40% Asian student body, a statistic atypical of American universities today.  This uncommon feature of the system appears to be on the cusp of dramatic change.  The University of California has recently come under media fire for admissions policy changes some argue are intended to decrease the ubiquitous Asian presence on campuses across the state.

In recent years, requirements for admission have included the SAT or ACT, two SAT subject tests, a high GPA and a myriad of impressive extracurricular activities.  However, the University of California has decided that beginning with the freshman class of 2012, they will drop the SAT II requirement, increase the eligible applicant pool, and lower the number of students accepted on the basis of scores alone.   Their stated intent is entirely unrelated to ethnicity; UC President Mark Yudof said, “The primary goal is fairness and eliminating barriers that seem unnecessary.”

The intended result, according to the UC system, is not to lower the number of Asian students who admitted, students who (stereo)typically perform exceptionally on standardized tests.  The media outcry seems unwarranted if this is truly the case.  However, the purpose of the shift is not to increase the number of underrepresented minorities, specifically Hispanics, on campus either.  It is claimed by the opponents to new requirements that the change will largely benefit white students over all others by lessening competition from their Asian counterparts.

For students already on campus, the whisperings of change have resulted in shouts of protest.  Yet for many students, race is less of a concern than the press may make it out to be.  Eric L., a rising sophomore at UC Davis, comments he believes that, while a change in policy is needed, it should have a nonracial focus.  For him, the UC system would benefit from an attempt to “support underrepresented minorities more on a level of social class,” accepting a greater number of students from lower income levels as opposed to remaining transfixed by the issue of ethnicity.

Whether or not the change in UC admissions policy will impact future percentages of Asian matriculates remains to be seen, but the American media has shown no hesitation in its hasty upheaval over the admissions policy modification.  Three years remain before the adjustment takes effect, students still may rise up against socioeconomic and/or racial homogeny.  Three years remain and the UC system or state may decide to embrace a decidedly overrepresented Asian student body.  Three years remain, and applicants may just have to wait in suspense to see who makes the cut come 2012.

Congratulations Seniors on getting into college.

Whether you got into your dream college or not, it is important that you take your time in making the best college decision. Most schools give you until May 1st to make a decision. It is to your advantage to do your due diligence and use your time to make a good decision for yourself and your family.

1) Visit the schools you are considering. Colleges usually have many open houses during the month of April. Sit in on a class and get a sense of the social scene at the school. You can always call the admissions office to ask about any open house programs or opportunities to visit.

2) Check your financial aid packages and make sure there are no errors. Call the financial aid office and make sure they have received all of the documents they need to make the best possible financial aid package. Also, financial aid can get reevaluated during this time period, so do not rule out a school for financial reasons until you are sure you have received their best offer.

3) Talk to alumni and students to get a sense of campus life. Ask them questions like what was there most memorable experience and if they had the option to redo college, would they still go to that college. Also, try to get as many opinions as possible and try to dig up things you don’t like about each college. Better now than later when you are enrolled and paying tuition. You can always ask questions on our forums!

Here is a video produced by Vanderbilt University. It is about the college admission process and gives some useful tips. Pay special attention to 17:00 into the video.

-Kyle Wong