September 2006 Lawlor Focus
The Early Decision Dilemma
Although established with noble intentions, Early Decision (ED) programs have been under fire for years, with perhaps the greatest public lashing coming from the watershed 2001 article in The Atlantic, which criticized the process for "rewarding the richest students from the most exclusive high schools and penalizing nearly everyone else." The "reward" is a greater likelihood of admission, since the early pool of admitted students tends to have slightly weaker aggregate test scores and grades than the regularly admitted pool; in effect, making the "leftover" spaces for regular admission more competitive as time passes. The students who are said to be the beneficiaries of ED programs are those who can afford to make decisions without regard to a financial aid award. Traditionally, these students are also better informed about admission requirements and procedures than lower income, first-generation or minority students, who tend to apply later in the process.
Yet five years later, Early Decision is more popular than ever among applicants, despite the New York Times this week calling it a "draconian" practice with "pernicious effects": the NACAC 2005 Admission Trends Survey (.pdf) indicates 58 percent of colleges offering ED have seen an increase in ED applications, and only 21 percent have decreased the number of students they admit through ED. Early Decision is also happening earlier, with some rising seniors receiving notice of their ED acceptance before September 1, which has led critics to question the underlying premise of ED itself: Can students know with certainty which one school to choose so early in the process?
"Most 17- and 18-year-olds simply have not had time to consider a broad range of alternatives before making a thoughtful decision about what's best for them," wrote Lawrence S. Bacow, president of Tufts University (Medford, Massachusetts), in the Spring 2006 issue of the New England Board of Higher Education's magazine, Connection. "Because of the perceived admissions advantage of applying early, students who do not have a clear favorite are still encouraged to narrow their focus to one school and to set their sights higher than they might otherwise do."
Robert J. Massa, vice president for enrollment and student life at Dickinson College (Carlisle, Pennsylvania), expresses concern that a few colleges seem to aggressively market ED in an effort to artificially improve their yield and selectivity or better predict their financial aid budgets, yet he still feels ED "can be a perfect option for students who know themselves well and have found a college that fits their learning styles." Massa believes ED is beneficial to students who do their research on a variety of schools and let substance, rather than status, rule the decision process.
But such conscientious students seem rare. Independent college consultant Bill Dingledine (who works in Greenville, South Carolina) hardly ever suggests ED to the students he advises because he views his job as being about more than just helping students get admitted. "Very few high school students have yet discovered why they will be going to college. Even as seniors, they are still developing their abilities, interests and personal preferences toward education and life. Students who apply ED only for the competitive edge generally have not allowed sufficient time for the evolution of some critical growth that would let them look beyond merely getting in, and more toward their possibilities for succeeding in college."
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Part of Early Decision's appeal for prospective students is undoubtedly the quick answer it provides. Because today's high school students are so accustomed to fast technology and oriented toward instant gratification, they expect rapid results. The idea of waiting up to four months to receive a decision on their application is simply intolerable for them.
This demand for prompt response suggests that colleges wanting consumer-friendly processes driven by students' needs should consider a variety of options for notifying students about admission decisions. Families use the application process to narrow their choices so they can begin to tackle the transition to enrollment, when financing and other logistics become prominent considerations. Allowing students a non-binding Early Action path (or utilizing Rolling Admission, for that matter) can help them proceed with more detailed planning on their own schedules.
While this week’s announcement by Harvard University that it will discontinue its Early Action program is laudable given the university’s healthy endowment and high yield rate, not all small private liberal arts colleges are competitively positioned to abandon their own early admission programs. Fortunately, all schools—whatever their admission policies—might be able to reduce some of the anxiety of the admission process by initially notifying students through less traditional means, including e-mails, podcasts, or by posting decisions on a secure microsite for applicants.
Regardless of the solutions considered to meet the demands of the marketplace—in this case, to give students a fast and informed admission decision—the strategy that ultimately pays the greatest dividends for colleges is to maintain a focus on "fit." Colleges that communicate clearly with their audience, investigating the students' intentions and managing their expectations, can help ensure that at whatever point during the process a student accepts an offer of admission, it is done for all the best reasons.
In the News: A Preview of Things to Come
The Department of Education predicts the nation's elementary and secondary enrollments will grow, on average, by about 200,000 students annually, reaching 56.7 million in 2014. Among those students are the children of millions of foreign-born parents—and schools are struggling to meet their needs. Loudoun County Public Schools (Virginia) is one such magnet for international families: To keep up with the demands of such dazzling diversity, the district recruits teachers from abroad and works with the State Department to place teachers who receive three-year cultural exchange visas.
Read the entire story, "In Schools Across U.S. the Melting Pot Overflows" (New York Times, August 27, 2006).
Did You Know?
According to data from the U.S. Department of Education, the average public high school counselor must serve 315 students, with roughly 25 percent of their time spent on post-secondary counseling. Their private school counterparts spend 58 percent of their time on postsecondary counseling. At colleges and universities in the U.S., the ratio of applications to admission officers is 395:1.
Source: National Association for College Admission Counseling State of College Admission 2006 Report
How well are you communicating with your prospective students? To learn more about how to target students who are the best "fit," or to have The Lawlor Group conduct an audit of your institution's communication plan, please contact us by e-mailing tlg@thelawlorgroup.com or calling 800.972.4345.
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