Of course students are only given test extension for very good reason, but if they were given extension for no good reason then it wouldn’t be fair, similarly. Similarly, if certain applicants were given extension for not very valid reasons then it is not fair to other applicants.
If a store extends a sale, it just gives potential purchasers additional time to make the purchase. It doesn’t punish those who already made the purchase. If schools are looking equally at applicants who submitted before the deadline vs those who submitted after the extension, then its hard to see that its unfair. That said, from a strategy standpoint, it may be better to be the 50th essay they read than the 5000th. And its only unfair if a person who might have been accepted who submitted before the deadline is denied because they chose someone who submitted after. But if they extended the deadline because they didn’t have enough candidates they want to offer an admission to, then it may not affect the chances of those who submitted on time.
To compare to the store sale analogy, if they made the people who ordered on time wait until the later purchasers put in their purchase, and then didnt sell to those on time because of a limited supply, that would be unreasonable. But maybe they have a few extra size petite 4 or 2xl available and want to find some who might fit in these.
But if this was a job application, and the company didnt feel they had enough strong candidates for a job so opened up the application process to encourage more qualified candidates and invite some in particular to apply, well, that is their prerogative. If its simply to increase applications to reduce the acceptance numbers, thats a waste of time to the newer applicants and could backfire if the school gets criticized for doing that. But since schools need to choose students who they think will return each year and graduate successfully, then finding the best applicants is not unreasonable.
I don’t think the store sale analogy is applicable because when the sale is extended it does not penalize people who bought it earlier. In this case, students who had to submit by the earlier deadline may not have as much time to work on their essays as the applicants who are applying later. I know D1 had to rush through some of her applications to meet the Jan 1 deadline.
I’m with @oldfort on this one. A better store sale analogy is telling people it’s your last chance to buy so pressuring them, then dropping the prices further while extending. Some people would have waited to improve their situation in both circumstances if they had had full knowledge. Extending deadlines because some people procrastinate…just isn’t a good reason imo. Why should they get more favorable treatment than those who procrastinated a little but then still bust a gut to meet a deadline, and who could have written better essays with more time? What happens to these procrastinators when they go to college and their deadlines don’t get extended any more?
If colleges are going to extend, maybe adding in another short essay - “why you should still consider me even though I missed the deadline” - might be in order.
My son had extended time at the last minute. We fought for it with years of documentation. Trust me… It’s not easy to get but it changed his world. It just levels the playing field for the kids that truly need it. FYI…
Unlike a store sale where buyers aren’t competing with one another, college applicants are competing with each other for very limited number of seats. Basic fairness dictates that rules of competition must be transparent and known to all “competitors”. There’s no indication here that these applicants who were granted extension were disadvantaged as a result of natural disasters or personal tragedies that warrant special treatment.
As I said, the sales analogy works if the early purchasers are not being penalized. As for essays, many of these kids use what time they have. If a student is given an extra week to submit an application, they may or may not use that time intensely to hone in on exquisite essays. More likely they are retooling /recycling ones they had and working on their “why XXXX” essay. And in this case, the early applicants are only being potentially penalized if they are marginal candidates, and might have been waitlisted either way. I do agree that if an applicant misses a deadline, they shouldn’t be allowed to submit it after the deadline. But if the deadline is extended and open, that is different. Sure, more applicants for an equal # of spaces increases competition, but only for candidates they deem appropriate for admission.
If these are schools that didn’t make a students’ initial cut, for whatever reason, its hard to know how hard they will work on that last application when given a few extra days, at this late date, to do so.
Applications open in many cases on Aug 1. Many students have all their applications done and submitted by early/mid November
Again, when I mentioned extension for testing I am saying it wouldn’t be fair if some students were given more time for no good reason. I have a nephew who was given extra time for testing because of his disability, and they had to get a lot of documentations to get it granted. In the case of extending application deadline, it was not done because some students had extenuating circumstances.
You don’t know that. That is a very general statement. I know if D1 had more time she would have spent the time to make her essays much better.
For people who didn’t know D1’s history, her GC very certain she was a shoo-in for her ED school. Her private school had very good record of predictions, so there was no reason not to listen to her GC. Unfortunately she was wait listed. She had to write all of her essays during her winter break. Ever since then I have been advising students to have all of their applications done before the ED results come out.
D2 took my advice, and she started her essays over the and spent a lot of time on all of her essays. She did recycle some, but many were originals for each school. Of course, she was admitted ED. It’s kind of like when you have an umbrella, it never rains.
Anecdotal evidence is not data (but I’ll provide some anecdotal evidence too 
) Some students may work harder on an afterthought college application, others may not. Its in individual choice. We are talking about, in this case, most likely one school that a student may apply to with an extended deadline offer. All other applications are done and in.This situation is different than a student not getting into an ED or EA school, and rushing to get several other applications in in a tight deadline after an ED deferral. I agree, the other applications should be complete as there are no guarantees with an ED or EA application
My S1 applied ED to his school, but had his other applications either complete or almost complete and ready to submit if he hadn’t gotten in.
My older son applied ED and did not really work on or complete any other applications. He did send his SAT’s to 4 schools (as part of the 4 that could be sent for free at the time) and started an application to Duke. He had never formally applied to Duke, or sent essays, or any application fee. But, in relation to this thread, Duke did email him after the deadline and said it was still not too late to apply. He had already been accepted ED so obviously didn’t do that. But, I would guess this kind of thing has been going on for a long time.
Younger son did apply ED to one school and EA to two more . Good thing he also applied to other schools as he was deferred by the ED school. He eventually was admitted but it was good he had other options in case that had not happened.
Yes, it has been going on for a long time. A I mentioned earlier, DS#2 got numerous requests from CMC, back in 2007/2008 to finish his application, with several deadline extensions offered.
I feel that airfare sales aren’t fair. Bugs me when I paid more for the seat than the person next to me, and even though I was guaranteed a seat, they will not reduce the price (after 24 hours) just because they offered a sale. This isn’t a perfect analogy, but similar in that the airlines do need to fill their seats. Its just not a competition of multiple people vying at the same time for the limited number of seats. But IMO, the deadline extension is a bit akin to a sale, and in the case of several of the offers in the past and present, was made to individuals who had submitted some, but not all of their application materials. Unfortunately no one said the world of private college admissions was fair. Its unlikely the public schools could do this, but the private schools can make many of their own rules.
If we list out all the things in selective college admissions that aren’t “fair”, not sure the extended deadlines make enough difference to be near the top of the list for most schools. I’d need to see more data on how many apps are involved, the relative number of total apps and the number of spaces available for unhooked applicants for that college.
IOW, it may not be strictly fair, but compared to some of the other practices it’s not going to be a huge deal for most colleges.
As I have said before on this site: To quote Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest: “Ah, but nobody ever said life was fair, Tina.”
Just a reminder that the best metaphor for selective college admissions is a casting call for a theater piece, not a tournament or contest where the participants are competing against one another under a set of rules administered by referees.
The rules – in this case, the application deadline – exist for the benefit of the colleges, not the applicants. And they can change the rules if it suits them.
@jhs, good analogy, and yes I guess you can lump it in with everything else that seems unfair to some people but that others don’t mind (legacy admissions, ED, etc).
@JHS- Sometimes the casting call is for a lead in a show, and sometimes its just for a small company part… Different applicants with different skills for different roles, though all trying out for the same show. But I can see the analogy.
Got an email today about a lower tier school (Roger Williams University) extending its RD application deadline.
Maybe more people are taking the time to try out the NPC and just not bothering with some of these schools? That’s what happened with us. My son was initially all excited about all the possibilities, but once we started researching reality sunk in and he ended up applying to a handful of schools. Only one of which was a reach school. He did get accepted, the money didn’t miraculously appear, so he won’t be attending. That one school did happen to have merit aid, and we decided to let him try for the big merit if he wanted. The rest of the schools (and most of the ones that extended their offers), don’t offer nearly enough merit to make it possible for many folks. Meeting need for certain students, maybe, but not for most of us.
Interesting idea, @elodyCOH – maybe parents and kids are finally waking up to the obscenity of high private school tuition and are saying “no way” to the inevitable prospect of onerous debt these schools usually entail for all but the top 5%…
I think as Americans as a whole grow poorer, these schools will become dinosaurs poised on the edge of extinction.