Over the last few years, both the popularity of and the debate over early decision admissions programs has skyrocketed.
They were never really threatened, however, until last December, when Yale University President Richard Levin, whose school has an early decision program, advocated abolishing it altogether.
While doing so is not necessarily the best route, the trends to which Levin points are disturbing, and must be addressed.
This week, Penn released early acceptance numbers that show that about half of the Class of 2006 has already been filled. It is time that Penn, and other universities across the Ivy League and the nation, begin to realize that early admission programs have gotten out of control.
The time has come for elite universities to severely limit early decision. Although it does have some legitimate purpose, as Admissions Dean Lee Stetson argued in The Los Angeles Times, insofar as it lets Penn know that it is a student's "first choice," reforms are needed in order to check its growing popularity.
Elite universities, such as Penn and Yale, should institute a cap on the number of students they will accept in December. That way, students would still have the opportunity to be accepted to their top choice early on, but would put an end to the more dubious use of early decision -- giving students a greater statistical chance of admission.
This perceived improved chance makes students believe that they need to apply early to a university in order to have any chance of being accepted to an elite school. This, in turn, forces many to decide earlier than they are ready to.
Capping what percentage of the class a school will fill using early decision applicants would do away with this perception quickly -- a perception based solely on numbers -- and would return early decision to what it should be -- an opportunity for high schoolers whose hearts are set on Penn.
