Early applications remain steady

Author: Michelle Constant

If the Early Decision I application pool for the Class of 2012 continues to resemble last year's pool, approximately 700 applications will have found their way to the Office of Admissions by today's application deadline. While Early Decision I applications are projected to remain at last year's level, regular admissions applications have been received at a much faster rate than last year.

Dean of Admissions Bob Clagett attributed the growth over the past two years of both the early and regular decision applicant pools to "the combination of our overall rise in popularity with more students deciding early in the process to apply early for what they think is the strategic advantage in getting in [to the College], often for the wrong reasons."

According to Clagett, in the most selective colleges, the admittance ratio for early decision applicants is slightly higher. This leads prospective students to believe that applying early will increase their likelihood of admittance. However, Clagett stated that this slightly higher ratio reflects the fact that, qualitatively, the early pool is superior to the regular pool. He said that more selective colleges offer less of an advantage to applying early.

"If anything, the bar is raised for early decision applicants," said Clagett. "We ask ourselves, 'are we certain that this is someone who would definitely get in regular?' "

The Office of Admissions plans to meet soon to discuss the desired overall size for next year's first-year class. Admissions officials prefer not to admit more than 35-40 percent of the class through early enrollment applicants. Last year, 38 percent of the first-year class, including February admissions students, or Febs, was admitted early decision.

"I feel uncomfortable going higher than 40 percent because we don't know what is coming in the regular applicant pool," said Clagett. "We could easily admit half the freshman class early, but if we were to do that, we would be sending an even stronger signal to apply early. We want to keep the admittance rates [for early and regular decision] close."

The Office of Admissions is hesitant to overcommit to the disproportionately homogeneous early decision applicant pool, because statistically it has been found in the past that there is less geographic, racial, international and socioeconomic diversity in the early pool. For this reason, the office tries to discourage prospective students from applying early.

"The overall goal is to give the College the most interesting, eclectic mix of students possible," said Clagett. "This is part of the reason why Admissions seeks to keep early decision students low."

The Office of Admissions also discourages early applicants because the College does not determine financial aid eligibility differently for early decision versus regular applicants, but uses the same need-based analysis for both groups. If a student applies early, he or she is essentially tied to one financial aid package and cannot compare this package to that from another prospective school.

According to Clagett, regular applications may also be affected by the elimination of early application programs at Harvard and Princeton. This increases the incentives for the Office of Admissions to allow for more room in the first-year class for academically and extracurricularly superior regular decision applicants.

"We are likely to see more great applications in the [regular] pool that would have applied to Harvard and Princeton early and withdrawn their applications from other schools," said Clagett.

Next year's first-year class may also be altered by the change in the Feb program. The College strives to make the Feb program a more voluntary program. While in the past only one-third of accepted Febs expressed a willingness to enter the program, future Feb classes will be comprised of two-thirds willing applicants. Ideally, Clagett hopes to reduce the Feb program to include between 80 and 90 students.

Notifications of admittance for the College's first round of early applicants will be mailed by mid-December. Decisions for the second round of early applications will be mailed in early February, and regular decision applicants will receive notifications in April.