<p>Of course harvard will not reinstate EA just because Virginia did it, but originally only harvard, princeton and virginia abandoned their early policies. The fact that Virginia goes back to it means they did not achieve whatever objective they had.
Again, I think the absence of an early program at harvard is hurting it because such programs exist in places like Yale or Stanford. A lot of the credible applicants to Harvard must be applying to either of these schools under their early policy. The fact of being involved early with a school creates a bond that Harvard no longer can achieve. Also, admissions being so unpredictable, some applicants may choose a safe path by applying ED elsewhere and Harvard will simply never see these applications. I do not want to be provocative, but I wonder if the quality of the applicant pool hasn’t overall declined after Harvard dropped its early program?</p>