A surge in early decision applications

Last year, a number of elite schools like Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Virginia eliminated their early decision programs (where students apply early and agree to enroll if accepted) with the rationale that the process favored wealthy students who didn’t need to compare financial aid awards. This year, with an economic downturn, the expectation from most college admissions officials was that early decision applications would probably decline as families employed a wait-and-see approach. But that expectation hasn’t played out so far. Instead, according to a recent article in the New York Times, many selective private institutions have reported big jumps in early decision applicants, from 10% to 40% over last year’s numbers.

The reason behind the surge isn’t clear cut. Some need-blind colleges (colleges who make admissions decisions independent of a student’s financial need) said that they had been working to publicize their generous financial aid packages, and that their message appeared to be paying off in more early decision applicants from more modest financial backgrounds. Other people point to the desire of families to take as much pressure out of the college admissions process as possible, a process that has gotten increasingly competitive in recent years. Applying early allows students to learn in December whether they’ve been accepted, and a positive outcome can eliminate the often dreaded waiting game in the spring. And yet a third reason has been summed up by one director of college counseling: “maybe [even in these tough economic times], education is the last thing people are willing to give up.”