Early decision faces new challenge

Harvard may adopt an admissions policy that would allow it to enroll students who have been accepted under other colleges' binding early decision programs.

This policy would permit applicants to break their admissions contracts with other universities in order to attend Harvard, thus overriding early-decision codes where students pledge to attend a certain college if accepted.

By disregarding the early-decision policies that other schools have adopted, Harvard will put competing institutions to a disadvantage, since they will no longer be able to ensure that students they accept early will indeed be attending.

Moreover, Harvard's announcement might set an example for other colleges to adopt similar policies and add to the ongoing debate about early-decision programs.

In recent years, early-decision programs have risen in popularity, as competition to get into college has intensified among high school students.

But while the option for applicants to lock into their first-choice schools is appealing for many, early-decision programs have also been criticized for adding to the stress of the college admissions process.

Additionally, some people think that the early-decision system puts unnecessary pressure on prospective candidates to decide where they will spend the next four years of their lives relatively early on in the admissions process.

Currently, Harvard is the only Ivy League institution that does not use a binding early-decision program. Instead, it offers students the option of early-action, which does not force applicants who are admitted early to enroll.

According to National Association for College Admissions Counseling Executive Director Joyce Smith, until recently Harvard would not allow students applying in their early-action program to also apply to binding early-decision programs at other universities.

Due to a change of guidelines approved by NACAC in September 2001, however, Harvard was forced to allow their early-action candidates to apply to other colleges as well.

Under early-action, "a student may apply to other colleges without restriction," the NACAC policy reads. "The early-decision application supersedes all other applications.Immediately upon acceptance of an offer of admission, a student must withdraw all other applications and make no subsequent applications."

Harvard Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William Fitzsimmons announced last Thursday that he would be abiding by this new policy, but also said that the code leaves room for open interpretation.

Fitzsimmons questioned whether a university using a non-binding early-action program could still enroll a candidate who had signed a binding early-decision contract elsewhere.

"We're certainly not encouraging people to break commitments that they and their parents may have made," Fitzsimmons said in The New York Times on Saturday. "But there is a new rule out there. This creates a whole new landscape, not just for Harvard but for all colleges."

Nevertheless, Fitzsimmons' interpretation of NACAC's new policy has raised questions among higher education administrators.

After all, NACAC's guidelines have only changed to permit students to apply to one college with a binding early-decision program, along with one college with an early-action policy.

Regardless, Harvard's announcement has caused quite a stir among university admissions officers across the country.

For example, Penn -- which uses a binding early-decision program -- might lose enrollees if Harvard chooses to disregard the contracts that applicants have signed at other institutions.

"I am hopeful that Harvard will see its way clear to stay with the sanctity of the early-decision process and respect its binding commitment," Penn Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said.

University President Judith Rodin agreed, adding that she views early-decision as a way for admissions candidates who are absolutely sure that they want to attend Penn to apply two months before the regular-decision deadline.

"There is no question that we believe that early decision commitments are binding, and we discourage students from applying using early-decision if they are uncertain about Penn being their first and only choice," Rodin said.

Smith, however, said that the policy that Harvard may adopt would not put any university to an extreme disadvantage, since there is such a huge pool of qualified applicants these days.

"Top schools are going to get hundreds of thousands of applicants no matter what," Smith said. "That's why I can't understand why Harvard would do anything differently."

Still, it is unclear whether Harvard will ultimately adopt this new policy, or whether they are just considering it for now.

The seven Ivy League presidents will be meeting next Monday; among the items on their agenda for discussion is Fitzsimmons' proposal.

"This would be very disruptive and problematic and we haven't yet determined how we would respond since we're not yet sure whether Harvard will do it," Rodin said.

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