Early decision proves popular across the Ivies

The continuing boom in early applications has touched virtually every Ivy League institution -- although some have felt its effects more strongly than others. According to the most recent data available, all eight of the Ivies have posted gains over last year for early decision applications for the Class of 2005. Yale University had the sharpest increase, receiving 1,793 early decision applicants, an increase of roughly 20 percent, according to the school's Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions. Earlier this fall, Yale announced that it would admit international students without respect to financial need. Most Ivies, including Penn, are not able to offer need-blind admissions to foreign applicants. Furthermore, the Yale Daily News recently reported that Yale planned to cut incoming class sizes because of housing constraints. Penn has received a record 2,833 early decision applications for the Class of 2005, approximately 10 percent more than last year. Cornell University's early applicant total jumped 13 percent to 2,571, according to Loni Wheeler, the associate director for Operations at Cornell's Undergraduate Admissions Office. And Princeton University received 1,850 early applications, compared to 1,669 for the Class of 2004, a rise of about 11 percent, Acting Dean of Admissions Steve LeMenager said. Harvard University and Dartmouth College had relatively small increases in early applications. Harvard, which last year modified its non-binding early action policy to allow students to apply to more than one school early, had 6,098 candidates -- only about 70 more than last year. Dartmouth College rose about 3 percent to a total of around 1,130. Columbia University, which has the smallest undergraduate body among the Ivies, had an all-time high of 1,687 early candidates, nearly 11 percent more than last year. Brown Director of Admission Michael Goldberger said that his office received 5,246 early action applications, a rise of roughly 7 percent. Joyce Smith, executive director of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, said that the tremendous increase in college applications is partly due to a growing number of high school students. "You have more students applying for college over the next five to 10 years.... The population of students is growing," she said. She added that many colleges have simplified the process by allowing online applications, something Columbia adopted this year. Brown and Harvard are the only Ivy League schools with non-binding early action policies -- meaning that students accepted early are not required to attend. Applicants to all other Ivies must sign a form binding them to attend if they are accepted. Several elite institutions now have application policies that do not even limit students to applying early to one school. Brown, Georgetown and Harvard modified their programs last year, allowing multiple early action applications, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has adhered to this policy for years. Immediately after dropping the single-school stipulation, both Harvard and Brown saw extraordinary surges in applications, with their respective pools growing by 32 and 58 percent in one year.