I’ve been thinking about how difficult it can be to really be open to considering offers from other colleges after getting in early somewhere else, either through early action or by a likely letter. In many cases, applicants have had three months or more to think of themselves as being students at a particular college—many join the college’s admitted students Facebook group, buy logowear, receive more communications from people at the college, etc. Then, after months of this, suddenly there are new possibilities—sometimes ones that should be just as appealing and would have been if they had come earlier and had the same time advantage. But it can be really hard to suddenly switch one’s allegiances—that early acceptance, especially if it’s from a top school on a student’s list, is hard to “overcome.” I’m finding myself sort of wishing that all the decisions came out at exactly the same time, with no early notifications for any college. And it’s hard to determine whether that difficulty in considering one or more other new offers is because there’s a real preference for the early-notification college or because it’s simply too late—the student (and/or parent) has already been “won.” Anybody else struggling with this?
I think the point of applying early to a school is to signify it is your top choice school that you would love to attend. Many people will submit their other applications after hearing back from the early-choice school. So I don’t understand the notion that it would be difficult to consider these schools even if getting accepted to the first choice.
I think it can be harder than expected. Although many students do apply early to show the school it’s their first choice, in some cases they may have one or more other schools that are close runners-up. And students’ feelings can change over the course of the year, too. Plus, some students receive likely letters on their RD applications, letting them know that they’re in, way before the schools that didn’t send them likely letters post decisions. So, for whatever reason, many students have heard early and had months to visualize themselves as students at a particular school. Many also receive multiple contacts from the school itself, which gradually builds up a “relationship.” When other highly desired schools suddenly enter the picture, months later, visualizing attending those schools is difficult, simply because the student has been marketed to/wooed for so long.
Okay, that makes much more sense! I can agree with that notion, and I believe that’s the reason many, many colleges send out early acceptances and likely letters to highly competitive applicants. They want that student picture attending the college while they anxiously wait for their other acceptances.
FirstWorldProblems
I can 100% relate to this. I got into four schools by mid-January, and one of them instantly became more appealing than all of the others I was accepted to. This made it hard to visualize myself anywhere else BUT that school. However, my last acceptance letter was in February, and I went 0-3 for regular decision, so I don’t have this exact problem.
This is definitely me at the moment… I was accepted early to Princeton, and I was so pumped about getting to go there. I bought a sweater, talked about it with current students, and joined the facebook group. However last Friday I was accepted to Stanford, and now I have no idea as to what I’m going to do…