Harvard ends EA -- Says Program Hurts Disadvantaged

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
81

<p>How about this argument: abolishing EA will give kids more time to prep for the SATs, to earn money to pay for the application fees and not be penalized for not applying EA. Some students have jobs to support their families and they simply don't have the time to prep for the SATs before the November deadline.</p>

<p>Students are also really unaware of the college application process. Some kids come in to high school knowing which colleges they want go to and the application process through their parents while some people just start learning about colleges after their junior year.</p>

<p>IMO students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds don't apply to EA as often because they have other more demanding priorities in life such as a job.</p>

<p>I don't know if they should have ended the EA because when I applied to college, it really helped me. After getting into my EA school, I only applied to three others.</p>

82

<p>I applied regular decision to all schools, including Harvard, and it was not anything as bad as you make it sound. Life was normal. Although, if you were planning to party all night and day in the spring semester, I agree it might be better to have your acceptance in Dec. But you don't have my sympathy there.</p>

<p>Poor kids DO have lower scores and grades. That's why the overwhelming majority of students at Harvard come from the middle and the upper classes. Probably fewer than 5% come from the lower class. But Harvard thinks that there are more qualified students out there from the lower class that could be at Harvard. That's why it will spend more time on recruitment and outreach instead of on early admissions. Sounds pretty reasonable to me.</p>

<p>Harvard did not intend EA applicants to be favored and it probably meant it when it said EA applicants do not receive preference. But over the past decade, the EA applications have skyrocketted and have begun to distort the whole admissions picture. Harvard is not the only school to note this and officials from other schools have commented on it and talked about eliminating early admission. Harvard is simply the first one to have enough courage to actually state the problem and take action. The actual impact at Harvard may be small because the EA pool there is so incredibly strong that the preference given may have been pretty small. But Harvard is also doing it in hopes that other schools will follow. And at other places, early applicants do often received very substantial preference over regular applicants. Eliminating early application altogether will lead to a change for the better, I think.</p>

83

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<p>Unfortunately, the reality is that there are many exceptions to this. We see this every year on CC - a bunch of kids asking if and how they can get out of their ED acceptances. Back in the fall they were so certain that school X was right for them that they signed up for a binding agreement to attend. They had it all "figured out." Fast forward a few months and it's a whole new world. Teenagers are often like that.</p>

84

<p>While I do believe this move by Harvard will cause a decrease in potential applications because many students will opt for binding ED admissions or other Early Action programs, I also think that many students will apply to Harvard knowing that their chances will be the same as each individual, because half of the class would not have been filled.</p>

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<p>hmm I think this will have a huge effect on the EA admissions rates at Yale and Stanford. These two schools will probably have alot more applicants EA than usual.</p>

86

<p>which, ironically, would eliminate the statistical advantage of applying early to those schools.</p>

87

<p>I think that Yale, Stanford, and Princeton may take Harvard's lead, and also eliminate their own Early programs</p>

88

<p>Poor kids ARE more likely to have lower grades and especially SAT scores, as they can't spend money on expensive test prep courses, etc.</p>

<p>Also, disadvantaged kids can't apply EA because if accepted they'd need to automatically accept any financial aid package they're given, which is not an option if they don't have about $45,000 to dispose of thoughtlessly.</p>

<p>Props to Harvard for hopefully starting a trend among universities that will start to level the playing field for underprivileged students!</p>

89

<p>The first thought that popped into my mind is that, if other schools like Yale, Princeton, and Stanford don's drop their respective EA/ED, then the application pool at those schools will be much more qualified. For one, the most qualified students right now are probably applying to Harvard. With the EA program there gone, these applicants have to apply early elsewhere, making the applicant pool tougher and the chances for other students lower.</p>

90

<p>I dont think Princeton will be much affected. Yale and Stanford should see a big surge, however. My rationale is that those who would have applied to Harvard EA will still want to apply RD, so it wouldnt make sense for them to limit themselves to ED at Princeton.</p>

91

<p>"Poor kids ARE more likely to have lower grades and especially SAT scores, as they can't spend money on expensive test prep courses, etc.</p>

<p>Also, disadvantaged kids can't apply EA because if accepted they'd need to automatically accept any financial aid package they're given, which is not an option if they don't have about $45,000 to dispose of thoughtlessly.</p>

<p>Props to Harvard for hopefully starting a trend among universities that will start to level the playing field for underprivileged students!"</p>

<p>This statement is ridiculous because kids who got accepted EA to Harvard are not obligated to accept the offer of admission.</p>

92

<p>I was too lazy to read the past seven pages, but if Harvard is single choice early action what does that have to do with comparing financial aid packages AT ALL... They are still getting all the financial aid packages from their regular decision schools... And they cannot argue that the low income students don't know about Early Action. If they are going to apply to Harvard, you would think they have the ambition to go to their local library and look up the application process online... If doing anything, Harvard is just making it a little bit harder for people applying early to Stanford and Yale this year...</p>

93

<p>i agree that the early DECISION plans really do scare a lot of not-so-affluent students off and therefore give the richer more advantage. however, i sure would prefer a decision around christmas to one in april. 4 months is a lot of breathholding.</p>

94

<p>I don't think it has to do with the financial aid packages themselves. Rather, Harvard believes that the EA pool isn't having the representative number of low income students as they would like it to have. Harvard, like many other schools, has made extensive use of EA in filling their class, naturally leading to a less than optimal number of low income students. The move to all around RD simply eliminates this.</p>

95

<p>From Today's NY Times Letters to the Editor:</p>

<p>Published: September 14, 2006
To the Editor:</p>

<p>Re “Harvard Ends Early Admission, Citing Barrier to Disadvantaged” (front page, Sept. 12):</p>

<p>Praise the gods of Harvard for their groundbreaking and courageous decision! I only pray that other fine institutions will follow. </p>

<p>Early admissions policies have not only created an economically stratified selection process, but they have also eroded the high school experience — one of undue stress and obsession with the next four years of education.</p>

<p>As a guidance counselor at Rye High School, I rejoice!</p>

<p>Barbara Finder</p>

<p>New Rochelle, N.Y., Sept. 12, 2006</p>

<p>•</p>

<p>To the Editor:</p>

<p>Students at my daughter’s high school are encouraged to attend college fairs in ninth grade, to start taking Advanced Placement classes in the 10th grade and to participate in numerous extracurricular activities to make themselves more attractive to colleges.</p>

<p>As a high school student in the mid-70’s, I was accepted to a number of top schools that today would never take someone with my credentials. </p>

<p>Everyone involved in the process seems to have lost sight of the fact that where one goes to college is not the final word on how one’s life will turn out. </p>

<p>One of the significant benefits to early admissions programs, assuming that a student has found a school at which he or she will be reasonably happy, is that it puts an end to this ridiculous pressure and provides teenagers a few months to have a more relaxed life. </p>

<p>My daughter plans to apply to her top-choice school through early decision. We all hope to see an end to this madness by mid-December. </p>

<p>Karen Adler </p>

<p>Short Hills, N.J., Sept. 13, 2006</p>

<p>•</p>

<p>To the Editor:</p>

<p>Harvard is now the No. 1 choice for the brightest high school seniors.</p>

<p>Harvard’s yield (percentage of accepted students who decide to enroll) is nearly 80 percent.</p>

<p>Thus, Harvard is not concerned that it will lose top-flight applicants to another school by eliminating early admissions.</p>

<p>But other elite schools have a much lower yield; some are lucky to have 50 percent of their accepted applicants enroll.</p>

<p>If they eliminate early admissions, many top-flight applicants who want an early answer will apply to a competitive college that will satisfy this need.</p>

<p>And that’s one concern that Harvard doesn’t have.</p>

<p>Elliott S. Kanbar</p>

<p>New York, Sept. 13, 2006</p>

<p>• </p>

<p>To the Editor:</p>

<p>Removing educational barriers for socioeconomically disadvantaged students is unquestionably good. We should applaud Harvard’s path-breaking decision to end early admissions.</p>

<p>Early applicants are statistically favored but unable to weigh financial aid packages. Derek Bok, the president of Harvard, cites another benefit: it will “improve the climate in high schools” by postponing frenzied preoccupation with college until senior year. </p>

<p>This ignores a large group of students: those who, whether from school, family, friends or personality, feel overwhelming pressure early on. </p>

<p>Eliminating early admissions will only prolong this period of distress, especially for students, typically girls, who can have debilitating feelings of intellectual insecurity.</p>

<p>I was one of those students. Early acceptance left me mentally free and more confident to engage with challenging courses I couldn’t take until senior year, like calculus-based physics — the class that impelled me to major in physics and philosophy in college and now to share this excitement for physics with my own students. </p>

<p>Jill North
New Haven, Sept. 12, 2006</p>

<p>The writer is an assistant professor of philosophy at Yale.</p>

<p>•</p>

<p>To the Editor:</p>

<p>According to Derek Bok, the interim president of Harvard, many potential applicants did not understand the distinction between Harvard’s early admission program and those that require an upfront commitment and were discouraged from applying. </p>

<p>I’m sure that the differences between Harvard’s nonbinding early action and the binding programs used by other schools were clearly stated. </p>

<p>If potential applicants were incapable of grasping these differences, they should probably not have been considering applying to Harvard in the first place. And Harvard should probably not be considering them for admission. </p>

<p>Richard Zimmer</p>

<p>South Orange, N.J., Sept. 12, 2006</p>

<p>•</p>

<p>To the Editor:</p>

<p>I applied early to Harvard and got turned down. But my application wasn’t rejected outright; it was advanced to the general admissions pool for another round of consideration. That is what happens to most early-admission rejects.</p>

<p>In my senior year of high school, the lucky “early admits” got to bask in a secure future while the rest of us sweated through months of helpless anxiety, waiting for the thick or thin envelopes to arrive in April.</p>

<p>Maybe colleges should drop their early admissions programs out of fairness. But let’s not kid ourselves that it would reduce stress levels for applicants and their parents. It would increase the stress for those who have a definite first-choice college in mind.</p>

<p>As it turned out, my Harvard envelope was thick, and the rest is history. Peter Gray</p>

<p>Madison, Wis., Sept. 13, 2006</p>

96

<p>Personally, I don't really see why this is so good. A lot of the people who would have applied early to Harvard are now just going to apply early to other schools like yale, and then the RD will become even more competitive, but so will other top schools early rounds. I don't know. I didn't have time to read the whole article, but I feel like this could only put me at a disadvantage of being admitted. But maybe this really is better for "disadvantaged" students. I'm not usually a selfish person, but college admissions makes me feel pretty selfish. I don't know, maybe I'm completely wrong in all my assumptions.</p>

97

<p>From the Crimson it stated:</p>

<p>Bok said yesterday that he hopes that other schools will follow suit and drop their early admission programs, but it is not yet clear whether Harvard will set the pace for its peers.</p>

<h2>“The old adage is, ‘When Harvard sneezes, everyone else gets pneumonia,’” said Bruce Breimer, school principal and director of college relations at the Collegiate School in New York. “It’s going to cause everyone else to re-evaluate.” </h2>

<p>Let us be frank -- many small LAC's and other less known schools with 30-40% acceptance rates -- but also low retention rates (25%-35%) -- would potentially have "yields" below 20% if they "followed" Harvard. It just cannot and will not be done by a vast majority of schools.</p>

<p>Harvard with a yield of over 85% (sometimes hovering at 90%) should not feel the affects as the "basic student body" will not differ by terminating EA. Harvard and a few of its Ivy peers can afford to follow this policy, very few others can. In short, I do not see others getting "EA pneumonia" from this event.</p>

98

<p>Hmm.</p>

<p>If all schools followed Harvard’s lead and eliminated all early admission programs, why would there be a problem for any type of school (or student)? The admissions “marketplace” would sort it all out.</p>

99

<p>leon, but, still, why did they start early action and decision in the first place? There are probably a lot of reasons, but one of the most appealing part for an applicant is that they could be accepted into a college by December instead of stressing out about it until April. That way you save time and money by applying to only one place. I'll be applying to colleges next year and was planning on applying EA to Harvard, but now I'll have to change my plan and decide what 2nd choice college I'll apply to EA. It would just be nice to know that no matter what, you've been accepted to a college, so early in the year. That would take a lot of stress off of me.</p>

100

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<p>Harvard's EA yield is around 90% and the overall yield around 80%. RD yield is always substantially lower (neighborhood of 70%). I don't think it will dip that low under an all-RD system, but we don't know that for sure, and I'll be stunned if yield doesn't dip at all.</p>