Just saw this article - interesting read.
https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2018/04/06/justice-department-starts-investigation-early-decision-admissions
So I thought if you are accepted ED you are expected to withdraw other applications. How would the school know if you did that without sharing information.
If the schools share information of the type being sought by the US Dept. of Justice, seems like it would be a clear violation of the Sherman Act (antitrust law).
Interesting article, OP. Thanks for sharing.
My prediction re ED: As admission into America’s elite colleges gets more insanely competitive every year (it was already ridiculously competitive many years ago, but now I’d say “insanely competitive” is more accurate a description) more and more kids will apply ED. Sadly, even ED admission rates are already so low at T-20 type schools…
All they have to do is announce the names and home towns of those accepted. “Harvard University is pleased to announce the following students have been accepted ED for the class of 2022.”
I’m sure it’s all on an accepted students Facebook page. And if not just buy the info from facebook.
Get rid of ED… It’s discriminatory in practice. Most people can’t afford to do it.
@bhs1978 I also think it’s possible for students to apply to more than one Early Action at a time. This isn’t allowed but you can. Especially if guidance counselors aren’t paying attention. I know for ED a prompt is emailed to the guidance counselor, but even then, I wouldn’t be surprised if kids apply to multiple ED and EA schools. I’d almost guarantee it.
BUT EITHER WAY, I want this early scheme to end. Level the playing field, give all students one date to apply by. If It has to be earlier than Jan 1, so be it. Make everyone apply by Nov 1.
I am pretty certain you can apply EA as many Times as you want.
@midwestsahm Students are allowed to apply as many EA schools as they wish unless there are restrictions, such as applying to ED schools or Single Choice Early Action.
The best private schools are all SCEA. That’s what I was referring to. Sorry for confusion.
Sorry, midwesrsahm, but many good colleges are still EA. Caltech and MIT are just 2 of the many.
Only Caltech and MIT practice genuine unrestricted EA and applicants can also apply to another private school ED or EA at the same time if they wish. Georgetown and Notre Dame have a more restrictive form of EA that prohibits an applicant from applying to another private school ED at the same time. Stanford, Harvard, Yale and Princeton have an even more restrictive form of EA (REA/SCEA) that prohibits an applicant from applying to another private school ED or EA at the same time. In all cases, there’s no restriction to apply to a public school EA. Some ED schools may prohibit applicants from applying to another private school EA (in all forms) but most allow it as long as the applicant agree to enroll if admitted even if s/he is also accepted by other EA schools. Every ED school prohibits applicants from applying to another ED school.
I think SCEA is worse than ED. I’m glad only a couple colleges have that situation.
I agree with the poster. All the ED colleges would have to do is publish a congratulatory list of ED acceptances and then they aren’t colluding with each other. Although I would think the number of families that cheat the system and apply to multiple ED colleges are few and far between and preventing cheating for less than honorable people doesn’t seem that far fetched. I don’t really see the harm in other colleges knowing what a student’s first choice college (which ED is and means) is harmful. Ed is first and foremost an honor agreement between one family and one college. If they are dishonorable than that is a risk the student and family assume. If they aren’t accepted ED then they can be picked up by another college that wants them or is willing to look the other way regarding the honor code. I’m unsure what caused the Justice Department to investigate.
The biggest thing I’ve learned about ED (thanks to CC!) is actually how low the odds remain to get into certain non-Ivy T-20-30 schools via this program. Mind, I realize that a 20% chance of admission is a heckofa lot higher than an 8% chance, but we’re still talking about 4 out of 5 kids getting rejected by the dream college via ED.
It is what it is.
It looks like they are sharing information. If this ends up in court, ED and even other restrictive policies like REA/SCEA are likely to be ended.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned about ED (thanks to CC!) is actually how low the odds remain to get into certain non-Ivy T-20-30 schools via this program. Mind, I realize that a 20% chance of admission is a heckofa lot higher than an 8% chance, but we’re still talking about 4 out of 5 kids getting rejected by the dream college via ED.”
ED includes all the athletic recruits and often legacies must apply ED if they want any bump in admissions. So it’s not 20% for everyone…it’s like 100% for some, 50% for others, and god know what for everyone else. Probably the same rate as RD at some schools! They aren’t even upfront about how much or if it would give regular applicants a boost.
As an aside, I know of private schools that make every applicant pick a school for ED, so the quote in the article about it being “totally voluntary” isn’t quite right.
I would like to see ED/EA/etc eliminated because I agree it’s discriminatory.
“The focus of the investigation appears to be whether colleges with early-decision programs are sharing information about admitted applicants with other colleges as a way to enforce the requirement that early-decision applicants attend institutions that admit them. Students appear to give permission for this when they use the Common Application to apply early. And some admissions experts say that some colleges indeed share information about those admitted early.”
Again, the Common App (and Coalition App) have to go. Not only because of information sharing but because it is way too easy to apply to 25 schools, artifically inflating application numbers, and causing additional stress on the admittance process. Make the students apply to each school individually so they are forced to cull the list to 6-8. Yes, it’s more work, and it’s old school, but it ultimately benefits the kids that actually get boxed out of a first choice by someone who never really wanted to attend in the first place, and admissions staffs actually have more time to look at serious applicants holistically (not just claim they are doing so).
Yeah. And make them use typewriters too, like we used to do. 
@PetraMC I don’t think all schools that have ED/EA are discriminatory. There are plenty of schools that give you your merit aid in your acceptance letter and have very transparent policies with regard to need based aid. The elite privates may seem more discriminatory, but others just want to know which students are making their school their number one choice. I don’t fault them for that. All 3 of my kids used ED or EA. Regular decision, for us, is brutally long and unpredictable, especially with so many kids applying to 25 schools for who knows what reason. Those kids are clogging the system.
I don’t understand the theory of the case, unless it’s that ED is itself illegal (which, by the way, would be a very, very difficult position to argue). If it’s OK for colleges and applicants to agree that the applicants will enroll if admitted early, then it’s OK for colleges to enforce those agreements, and it’s OK to give other colleges a list of prospective students who have been admitted ED.