More Colleges Filling Freshman Spots Early

From Stanford to Harvard, Yale and other elite schools around the country, admission committees are now gathering to pore over applications for September’s freshman class.

With one catch: Much of the class of 2001 has already been picked.

The nation’s top private colleges and universities are accepting more students than ever through an early admissions process completed months before the traditional spring deadline.

Eager to lock in the best and brightest from high school ranks, Harvard University has already offered 55% of next fall’s slots to early applicants, while MIT, Princeton University and Brown University have accepted enough to fill nearly half their freshman classes.

The University of Pennsylvania, Williams College and Yale University have selected a third of their freshmen, and dozens of other schools had accepted--and received commitments from--20% of their incoming classes, all by Christmas.

Though high school students have had the option of applying “early decision” to some elite colleges for decades, the use of such programs has skyrocketed in the last two years--with many other schools scrambling to join the faster-paced admissions game. Stanford University only last year joined the ranks of schools inviting high school students to apply early decision.

“It’s very competitive out there, and you do what you have to do to not get left behind,” said Occidental College President John Slaughter.

Admission through early decision has benefits for colleges and students alike.

The schools solidify their freshman classes with early picks of top talent. And students who have their hearts set on a particular college can get a speedy reply, avoiding months of nail-biting while awaiting word of their fate.

But early admissions come at a price.

Most colleges require that applicants--and their parents--sign a binding commitment: If admitted early, the student will enroll in the fall. No second thoughts. No more shopping around. No backing out.

That troubles some high school counselors as seniors get swept up in the competition for early openings--perhaps before they have fully researched which school is best for them.

“We’ve found a lot of them want to apply early, they just don’t know where,” said Mark Hatch, director of college counseling at the private Marlborough School in Hancock Park. “Students and their parents are being sucked in, thinking that early decision is the way to go or they might miss out.”

Colleges reported a record number of early applicants this fall, cementing the trend first noticed a year ago, when Harvard accepted enough to fill an astounding 60% of its freshman class.

“You hear so much about it at college nights, I wanted to do it somewhere,” said Jama Adams, senior class president at Hollywood’s Immaculate Heart High School.

She decided on Yale after visiting the campus and sent in her one early application there--because it’s a commitment, the system only gives the student a single shot.

In mid-January, Jama learned that her application--like most--was deferred to the regular admissions cycle. “For me, it was frustrating, because I wasted it,” she said of her chance to snag an early place.

Counselors say the program has pushed some success-driven students, egged on by their parents, to prepare earlier for college admissions. They sign up for Scholastic Assessment Test prep courses as sophomores, visit campuses as juniors and try to sort it all out over summer break.

Even some college admissions officials worry that it is too much, too soon. Early decision candidates sometimes must file applications by mid-October, well before regular application deadlines.

“They swear their undying love, and we promise to give them an early answer,” said Bruce Poch, dean of admissions at Pomona College, which admits 20% of its freshmen early. “Is that really a decision you can make at 17?”

Poch discourages students from applying early, unless they are certain of their first choice.

He and other critics also worry that early decision is mostly for the affluent, because those who rely on financial aid need to compare offers to determine what college they can afford.

But even Poch concedes that such programs are “spreading . . . like a communicable disease.”

While Stanford was adopting its first early-decision option in the fall of 1995, places such as Yale and Princeton for the first time required the applicants to make binding commitments.

Stanford, which just last week finished picking 38% of its freshman class through early decision, thought it was losing top-notch students to competitors, said James M. Montoya, dean of admissions.

“A significant number . . . indicated that Stanford would have been their first choice had the university offered an early program,” Montoya said.

Some institutions that offer the highest percentage of slots to early applicants--Caltech (60%), Harvard (55%), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (49%)--operate a different, nonbinding program called “early action.”

These schools accept students early, but give them until May 1 to decide between their offer and later ones from other colleges during the regular admissions cycle.

“We want students here in September who truly want to be here and who have spent their senior year deciding if Caltech is the best fit,” said Charlene Liebau, Caltech’s director of admissions.

Still, given the prestige of these schools, the vast majority of applicants snap up the offers.

“There is a strategic element to this,” said Marlyn McGrath Lewis, Harvard’s director of admissions. “This is a very vigorous competition for the most talented students and we all come out of the situation quite well.”

The nonbinding early-action programs generally sit better with high school counselors because they allow students to compare offers and give them several extra months to make up their minds.

“The majority of students change their minds sometime during their senior year,” said Elsa Clark, director of college counseling at Immaculate Heart.

Yet both kinds of programs contribute to competitive fervor over early applications.

“The statistics show you have a slightly higher chance by applying early decision,” said Giny Kim, a senior at Immaculate Heart, who is waiting to hear from Stanford. “It’s a way to show the college that you are really committed and you really want to go there.”

Most colleges deny there is a strategic edge to applying early.

Although such colleges tend to admit a higher percentage of early applicants than their counterparts in the larger spring pool, administrators say the early applicants are a self-selected, highly motivated group with better scores.

But not all college officials discourage the widely held assumption that early applicants have better odds. “Frankly, there is a bit of an advantage,” said Lee Stetson, dean of admissions of the University of Pennsylvania, which just admitted a record 808 freshmen early decision. “It isn’t as much as advantage as they would like and hope, but there is some.”

Though most highly selective private colleges offer early decision, overall only about 27% of the nation’s four-year institutions have such programs, according to the College Board.

A recent study by the National Assn. of College Admission Counseling found the heaviest concentration in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. But 17 of the 68 members of the Assn. of Independent California Colleges and Universities now use early decision for undergraduates, including Whittier College, Pepperdine University, Pitzer College, Harvey Mudd College, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College and Azusa Pacific University.

Public colleges have started to chase early applicants too, including the University of Virginia, Salisbury State University in Maryland and a dozen campuses of the State University of New York.

Not in California, though. The nine-campus University of California continues to accept applicants through November and issues its acceptance and rejection letters in batches in February, March and April.

Most of the California State University’s 22 campuses take applications year-round. With the exception of popular Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and a few “impacted” programs, Cal State campuses accept all applicants who have a B grade point average or SAT scores that offset a lower average.

Some private colleges, like the University of Southern California, have decided to avoid early admissions.

“This isn’t a race,” said Joseph Allen, USC’s dean of admissions and vice provost of enrollment. He stresses at every college night he attends that “in order for students to make the best possible match, they ought to see it as a process that lasts the entire school year.”

Like many admissions officers, Poch of Pomona College has mixed emotions about the trend in admissions. He wants Pomona to get its share of gifted students, but is disturbed at how colleges use admission policy to boost their national ranking on SAT scores and other criteria.

One measure of a college’s desirability is “yield”--the percentage of students admitted who say “yes” to the school. By admitting more students early, a school guarantees a higher yield because these students signed an agreement to show up in the fall.

Such measures go beyond elevating a school’s reputation. They are requested by investment bankers in determining the cost of floating bonds.

Yet for high school seniors like Stephanie Cheng of Hollywood Hills, early decision offers priceless relief from senior year jitters. She was accepted to Stanford in December.

“I’ve known for a while it was my first choice,” she said, despite a cross-country tour to see Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown and Johns Hopkins.

But she knows such an early commitment is not for everyone.

“Don’t be pressured into applying early,” she advises fellow high schoolers, “because a lot of your friends are doing it or because you want a stress-free Christmas vacation. This isn’t a spur of the moment decision. This is your life for the next four years.”

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Early Admissions

Many of the nation’s most selective colleges have already admitted sizable portions of next fall’s freshman class. Here is a sampling:

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Projected % of Class Early Size, Class Admitted College Admits of 2001 Early Amherst 134 432 31% Brown* 615 1,440 43% Caltech* 130 215 60% Claremont, McKenna 29 250 12% Cornell 790 2,988 26% Duke 476 1,610 30% Harvard* 902 1,650 55% Johns Hopkins 220 920 24% MIT* 525 1,070 49% Occidental 13 350 4% Pomona 78 395 20% Princeton 550 1,130 49% Stanford 607 1,610 38% U. of Penn. 808 2,300 35% U. of Virginia 785 2,830 28% Williams 194 545 36% Yale 460 1,300 33%

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FOR STUDENTS: “Early decision” means committing to one college in the fall, after sending only one application for early admission. If accepted, a student must withdraw any other offers made during the regular admissions cycle. Acceptance letters usually arrive Christmas or soon after, eliminating months of anxious waiting.

FOR COLLEGES: Early-decision programs allow them to lock in the most promising students months before the usual spring deadline. Colleges also can focus on students who are willing to commit up front to enrolling in the fall, dramatically increasing the yield of students who accept offers of admission.