<p>I've been reading a lot lately on the college admissions process -- is the Harvard Early Action program biased towards richer candidates and does early action actually hurt your chance of admission? I've also heard that getting deferred will almost guarantee a rejection in regular decision.</p>
<p>Why is it biased towards richer candidates?
Don’t poor candidates get free money if they are admitted EA?</p>
<p>Harvard writes on it’s website that they ARE full-need and need-blind so there should be no bias but I’ve heard many times that it is for early action so I want to know the truth behind it…</p>
<p>Basically, the root of my question does apply early actually lower your chance of admission?</p>
<p>I think if you are a strong candidate then you have better chance for EA.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1348384-chance-me-harvard.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1348384-chance-me-harvard.html</a> is this considered a strong candidate?</p>
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No, the Early Action (EA) program is need-blind, just like the regular decision (RD) admissions track.</p>
<p>If anything, applying EA probably helps one’s chance of securing an acceptance. Read on for an explanation of why.
That’s inconsistent with what I’ve heard, although there is certainly variation from one year to the next based on partitioning of the Harvard applicant pool (strength of applicants applying EA vs. strength of applicants applying RD).</p>
<p>The Admissions Committee has to project into the future somewhat when considering whether to classify an EA applicant as accept/reject/defer. In the Fall (when EA decisions are formulated), the strength of the RD pool is unknown. If the AdCom underestimates the strength of the RD pool, then few or no deferred EA applicants may be extended acceptances. (In this case, the implication is that some EA applicants were admitted that would have been rejected when considered with the RD pool.) If the AdCom overestimates the strength of the RD pool, then a healthy number of deferred EA applicants may be extended acceptances.</p>
<p>FYI, whether they apply EA or RD, applicants “on the bubble” may be offered a “delayed” acceptance for matriculation the following Fall (more than a year later). Applicants who take advantage of this offer would have to fill the gap year with some sort of productive activity.</p>
<p>Hope this helps…</p>
<p>You (the OP) are getting confused – as many people do – between Early Decision and Early Action. With Early Decision, students commit themselves to attending the ED school if they are accepted ED, and to withdrawing their other applications. Early Action entails no commitment to enroll if accepted, and an Early Action acceptee is free to apply to other colleges and to wait until the end of April to make his or her choice. The important difference is that an ED acceptee can’t compare scholarship/financial aid offers among various colleges, but an EA acceptee can.</p>
<p>Early Decision is often criticized as favoring the rich, because students who feel they need to compare financial aid offers often decide they can’t risk applying ED. As a result, the ED applicant pool tends to be much wealthier than the Regular Decision applicant pool. Colleges know that, and when they accept a big percentage of their class ED (it’s generally 33-50%), even the need-blind colleges know that portion of their class is going to cost a lot less in financial aid. And at colleges that award “merit” scholarships, there is a belief (often founded in reality) that ED students are less likely to get a big merit award, because the college does not have to compete to get them to enroll. The dynamic is completely different with EA. A student accepted EA can still choose a better offer elsewhere, so the college has every incentive to woo the student.</p>
<p>Early Decision programs are much more common than Early Action among highly selective schools. But the most [whatever] colleges – HYPSM – use EA, not ED. EA colleges get many more early applications than ED colleges do, precisely because it’s not such a gamble for the students. Hardly any ED private colleges get more than 3,000 early applications, and most get fewer than 2,000, while equivalent EA colleges like Chicago and Georgetown get 7-8,000 early applications. (HYPS only get 4-5,000 because they only allow their applicants to apply to one college early, while other EA schools allow multiple early applications.)</p>
<p>The foregoing is a little simplistic, and ignores some nuances that can be important when it comes time for you to submit actual applications. But it should clue you in to the basic difference between ED and EA.</p>
<p>As for deferral – all indications are that early applicants who are deferred get accepted at about the same rate that regular applicants are accepted. Which at the top schools is a very, very low rate, but not 0%. So deferral in an early round guarantees rejection about as much as applying in the regular cycle does.</p>
<p>There you go, Adit. Say “thank you” to JHS. That’s a full explanation for you. </p>
<p>EA is much more fair to the non-wealthy than ED.</p>
<p>@T26E4, was that supposed to be sassy?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>^^ no. I was just blown away by the thoroughness of JHS’ post!</p>
<p>“Early Decision is often criticized as favoring the rich, because students who feel they need to compare financial aid offers often decide they can’t risk applying ED.”</p>
<p>This was our experience. My son was very interested in Hopkins, but we needed to see what they would offer. It’s good that he didn’t apply ED. He was accepted RD, but ultimately, their financial aid offer would have forced my son or me to take out tens of thousands of dollars of loans over four years.</p>
<p>The offer of aid from Harvard makes it possible, if we eat a little more rice and beans over the next four years, to pay for college with no loans.</p>
<p>He is looking forward with eager anticipation to his time in Cambridge.</p>
<p>Thank you, Harvard, for making a top-level education financially available to my son.</p>
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<p>Perhaps technically true, but I’m not sure it’s very meaningful. I mean, really, filing an application will almost guarantee a rejection, right?</p>
<p>Quote :“I’ve also heard that getting deferred will almost guarantee a rejection in regular decision.”</p>
<p>Perhaps true.</p>
<p>@Sikorsky, OP is suspecting that EA Deferred kids perhaps do not have 2nd chances in RD round.</p>
<p>“I’ve also heard that getting deferred will almost guarantee a rejection in regular decision.”</p>
<p>Not true. A small percent will be admitted. How does that compare to the other RD applicants? Dunno. But being deferred means you’re in the ballpark – unlike a huge number of RD applicants.</p>
<p>But I agree with Sikorsky (post 12). Hitting the “submit” button to an application to Harvard college is probably on a list of top-ten most futile things to do in a lifetime. LOL</p>
<p>^ I am not sure if you can answer absolutely “Not true” as you did. I see plenty of Harvard EA deferred kids get rejected in Harvard RD, but get admissions to Yale/Princeton RD. Equally, vice versa, there are plenty of Yale/Princeton EA deferred kids who finally get rejected in their RD, but get admissions to Harvard. So OP has a very good reason to suspect such way.</p>
<p>EA applicant pool is said to be generally stronger than RD. One reason usually given is that the EA applicant pool tends to be the more highly motivated students that feel confident about their application earlier in the senior year or summer of junior year. It’s obvious the percentage of EA admits is higher than RD admits.</p>
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<p>Yes, I understand that PVmusicmom. I just think it’s a very difficult argument to support. The fact that most deferred applicants may be rejected doesn’t mean very much, since most applicants are rejected, period. Seems to me, if some deferred applicants are eventually admitted–which I believe does happen–the argument fails.</p>
<p>^ Sikorsky wrote: “Seems to me, if some deferred applicants are eventually admitted–which I believe does happen–the argument fails.” </p>
<p>Well that’s true. Yes, there are Harvard EA deferred kids eventually got into Harvrad in RD. But why I am noticing that, for more EA deferred kids from H, Y, P than those, are getting their admissions to Y and/or P, H and/or P, H and/or Y respectively in RD round?</p>
<p>^, after getting eventual rejections in RD round from their EA deferred schools.</p>