Controversial Early Decision programs gain popularity

"Is it really ethical, is it really fair, to put a 17-year-old high-school student in that dilemma?" MCPS High School Counselor Specialist Kent Weaver asks. He's questioning the Early Decision admissions option—an issue that the college admissions community is grappling with while Early Decision's popularity continues to rise among Blazers.

Early Decision is a college admissions option where students apply to one college early, usually in November or December, sign a contract promising to attend if accepted and are notified of the college's decision within weeks. While non-binding Early Action programs also feature early deadlines and notification, accepted students are allowed to decline the offer.

Twenty percent of the nation's colleges and universities offer an Early Decision option, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). The popularity of early admissions in the Montgomery County area is on the rise, according to Weaver. As of Nov. 3, Blazers had requested transcripts for a total of 266 early applications. In the Communication Arts Program (CAP), the normal number of students applying early to colleges is nine or ten per year, according to John Goldman, CAP's Media Literacy and Television teacher. This year, however, the number of CAP students applying early more than quadrupled to 43. Statistics for the Magnet program were unavailable.

These numbers confirm that the increasing popularity of early admissions in Montgomery County is also a trend that holds true for Blair, despite many Blazers' mixed feelings about the Early Decision process.

The evolution of Early Decision

From an admissions standpoint, accepting an entire incoming class through Regular Decision applications is a gamble because admissions officials are unable to determine students' interest in attending the school should they be accepted, says Weaver. He also believes that college admissions councils are drawing on their fear of significant under or over-enrollment.

According to Cynthia Chalker, Associate Director of Admissions at Barnard College, Early Decision was started to look for a pool of people that are "absolutely over-the-top excited" to be in their school.

However, as the number of college applicants continues to increase and the number of freshman slots available remains relatively unchanged, students are beginning to understand what Early Decision can do for them as well.

The ups of early apps

For many Blazers who take the Early Decision route to college and are accepted, the relief that follows is liberating. "When everyone was still waiting to find out, I knew where I was going," says Lizzie Bryant, class of 2004, who was accepted Early Decision to Cornell University last year. "It took off a lot of the stress and pressure," she says.

In addition to the anxiety-alleviating effect of receiving a college's decision within a few weeks, some colleges may also boast an "Early Decision advantage" that increases the odds of acceptance for an Early Decision applicant, primarily because the student is considered within the context of a smaller applicant pool. One such college is Franklin and Marshall College, which accepted 69 percent of its Early Decision applicants in 2003 but only 55 percent of its Regular Decision applicants, according to the Princeton Review.

Speaking as though he were an admissions officer, Weaver describes the boost that applying Early Decision gives to mediocre students who might not otherwise be accepted: "If you apply to my school Early Decision but you fall into that kind of gray area—you're not really in the center of the profile, you're toward the lower end—we'll take you."

Since competition grows tougher each year and, according to Weaver, "Montgomery County is a more competitive place than much of the rest of the world," many Blair students view applying Early Decision as a logical choice.

"It's harder to get in to more of the big name colleges, so [students] know they've got to apply early," says Madge Johnson, Associate Director of Enrollment Services at Columbia Union College in Takoma Park.

However, not all students are enticed by Early Decision perks. Many find that committing to one college early in their senior year is difficult, and some even consider the process unethical.

The dark side of Early Decision

Perusing his TCCi Family Connections account on a Career Center computer on Oct. 19, senior Edwin John eyes the list of six colleges to which he's seriously considering applying. He is seeking colleges that offer double major programs, and his search has expanded during the last few weeks. With application deadlines drawing nearer, John finds himself like many seniors—feeling unable to narrow his list down to one possible Early Decision candidate, which is one of the trickiest aspects of Early Decision.

"You have decided in October of senior year where you want to be enrolled almost 12 months in the future. That is not a decision to be taken lightly," says Career and College Center Assistant Cathy Henderson-Stein.

The time crunch is just one dilemma that Weaver believes Early Decision presents; he says the college admissions community is debating the "ethics of Early Decision," referring to students' inability to compare financial aid packages if they are accepted to their Early Decision college, since they must withdraw all other applications upon acceptance. This financial restriction caused Stanford University and Yale University to discontinue their Early Decisions programs in 2002 and is a consideration that weighs heavily on the minds of many college-bound Blazers. "From the moment I started looking at colleges, I knew I wouldn't be able to make the decision without looking at scholarship offers," says senior David Crawford, who is applying Early Action to Stanford. "Stanford says, 'We understand that college is an enormous financial commitment and we know that you may want to compare scholarship offers before you accept.' So that's why they offer non-binding, and that's why I want [to apply] non-binding," he says.

Hunt says that there are rare instances when a student is released from the Early Decision contract if the discrepancy between the student's financial situation and the college's tuition cannot be resolved. "The financial aid office will really try and work with the kid who's been admitted Early Decision, and if the financial aid can't be worked out come April or May, sometimes they will make a concession," Hunt says. "Then again, it's 'give them what they need,' not what they want," she says of the financial aid packages that colleges offer accepted students.

However, many seniors like Katie Kamara, who is applying Early Decision to Allegany College, are willing to make the leap and be an applications early bird if it means getting a running start on the road to coveted acceptance letters. "It's my first choice, so I don't want to miss it," she says.