After experimenting with a change in policy for the past year, Harvard University announced Thursday its intention to return to its traditional early action admissions policy next fall.
Harvard's longstanding policy forbade students applying early action to Harvard from applying early to other institutions simultaneously. This year was the first time students were allowed to apply to Harvard under its non-binding early action program as well as to one or more other schools with either a non-binding program or a binding early decision program.
According to a Harvard news release, the policy is being reversed for a number of reasons.
"We hope fewer students will feel compelled to use the start of their senior year in high school to rush and apply early to multiple colleges they may not have thoroughly explored," said William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid, in the release.
The university also cited concerns voiced by high school teachers and counselors who are concerned about the pressures of early application deadlines on students feeling they have to make decisions early in the process as further reasons for the change of policy.
In addition, the new policy caused logistical problems in Harvard's admissions process. Harvard received 7,600 early applications for its Class of 2007 -- 1,500 more than it did in the previous year. Admissions officers faced the task of reviewing these applications without the knowledge of which students had applied to other schools under binding programs.
According to Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson, Penn, which offers a binding early decision program, did not experience any effects of Harvard's open policy this year.
"We have no indication that there were many students who had applied early to Harvard and Penn," Stetson said. "No one that we knew of tried to withdraw from Penn's binding early decision agreement."
The requirement that students apply early to only one school reflects the original intent of early admissions programs, which were meant for students who had a clear interest and preference for one institution, Harvard President Lawrence Summers explained in the news release.
"This kind of program was never intended to put extra pressure on students by moving the deadline for multiple applications into the early fall," Summers said.
Stetson said that although Harvard's new policy for this year did not affect Penn, he supports the university's decision to reverse it.
"For their own benefit, Harvard needs to do what fits them best," Stetson said. "I think they need to follow their own institutional lead to which policy is best serving their interest."
Binding early decision policies came under close scrutiny in the fall, with many claiming that requiring students to commit to a particular school in the fall rushed the college admissions process and put students from low-income families at a disadvantage. Both Stanford and Yale universities announced that they would switch to a non-binding early action policy -- like Harvard's -- for next fall.
