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The numbers of applicants accepted under early decision soared this year at Penn and other Ivies, despite recent comments by Yale University President Richard Levin denouncing the use of the early admission option.

Of the 3,056 people who applied to Penn early this year, 1,033 were accepted, representing approximately 50 percent of the class of 2006. Penn accepted 1,033 early decision applicants last year as well, representing about 43 percent of the current freshman class.

"In the last two years the early decision pool has been unbelievable," University President Judith Rodin said. "I think [Admissions] Dean [Lee] Stetson and his colleagues were able to go to a higher percentage of early decision admits."

According to Rodin, Penn does not set a percentage of a class to accept early, but the number depends on the individual merits of a particular early applicant pool.

"Penn had used early decision less aggressively several years ago when it felt the early decision pool was clearly not as deep as the regular decision pool," she said.

The early decision option came under fire recently when Levin told The New York Times that he did not favor its use. Yale admitted 549 students early this year, who will compose 42 percent of its 2006 class -- up from 40 percent a year ago.

Levin was unable to be reached for comment.

Harvard University Admissions Director Marilyn McGrath Lewis agreed with Levin's comments.

"We are fundamentally opposed to binding people early," McGrath Lewis said. "We would much rather be in a world where there is not early decision."

Harvard is the only Ivy League school that offers an "early action" option, which allows perspective students to apply early and receive an admissions decision early but retain the option to go to another school. Of its 6,126 early action applicants, Harvard admitted 1,174.

But McGrath Lewis does not know what percent of the class these students will represent because they are not obligated to attend Harvard.

Brown University switched from early action to early decision last spring because the university felt that students who were not interested in Brown as a first-choice were taking advantage of the system.

Colleges typically admit a greater percentage of their early applicants than they do regular applicants, prompting many students to apply early.

"I think a lot of candidates are so eager to go to a place that is hard to get into that they need the advantage," McGrath Lewis said. "I think a lot of people are reluctant to give that up."

But at some schools like Penn, according to Rodin, there is no large difference between applying early and applying regular decision.

"I would say that for the last two years, it was not easier to get into Penn if you applied early then if you applied regular," Rodin said.

Though candidates may have a better chance of getting into some schools if they apply early, they sometimes do not take financial aid into account and can then find themselves in financial trouble.

"Being bound to one place means that you don't have the chance to compare financial aid packages," McGrath Lewis said. "Most families need to compare."

Financial aid packages will be one of the topics discussed this June when the Ivy League presidents meet to discuss the future of early decision.

"We can share retrospective data without names about whether students in the regular decision pool get better aid than students in the early decision pool," Rodin said.

Critics of the early decision option claim that the decision puts too much pressure on students during their junior year of high school, and that it hurts grades during senior year.

"We know from experience that there is a fair number of students who apply somewhere early and in the end want to go somewhere else," McGrath Lewis said. "We think that most people need the benefit of their senior year" to make the decision.

Rodin said she agrees that senior year is important.

"I think, as an educator, that people do develop over the six months between the early and regular decision moment, and that probably they could make different decisions in April than they make in October as they themselves mature," she said.

"But the idea that it's more stressful I don't agree with," she added.

Rodin said that the stress that is felt during summer before senior year is a tradeoff for the stress that they would feel during senior year.

"It moves the stress earlier in terms of people really feeling they need to make a decision," Rodin said. "It's just a tradeoff as to where you put the stress, not whether one is more or less stressful."

McGrath Lewis said that it would be unlikely for one school to get rid of an early option all together, but if five or six schools did so, a change would be possible.

Rodin favors the use of early decision because, according to her, it benefits all involved.

"It's terrific to have students on campus who really want to be on campus and that it changes the feeling of the place," Rodin said. "It's a good thing for the student, and it's a good thing for the institution."

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