Search Results

Below are your search results. You can also try a Basic Search.

Penn won't jump on admissions' latest trend

(09/20/06 9:00am)

High-school juniors can exhale: Early decision at Penn is not going anywhere, the dean of admissions says. With nearly half of all Penn students committing to the University almost a year before they get here, Admissions Dean Lee Stetson says early decision plays a huge role in campus culture - and administrators like it that way. Harvard University announced last week that it will eliminate early admission in 2007, and Princeton followed suit on Monday. But Stetson rebutted the two main justifications put forth by Harvard and Princeton - that eliminating early admissions would level the playing field for low-income students and that it would make the application process less stressful. Penn has seen a rise in low-income and minority early applicants over the past few years, he said, adding that he expects to see the trend continue. Furthermore, Stetson said it would be presumptuous to assume that Penn would emulate Harvard and Princeton. "Why do we have to line up and follow the procedures at other schools?" he said. Stetson said the enthusiastic and spirit-filled student body that results from early decision is valuable. Rising early-admissions rates have "changed the tone of the campus" over the last 10 to 15 years, he said. He estimated that Penn was the first-choice college for 75 percent of students here, which makes a demonstrable difference in their dedication and involvement. "Everyone likes to be loved, and we're no exception," he said. Aside from wanting to create a dedicated student body, there are a number of other reasons why a school like Penn would retain early admissions, experts say. Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, said that "custom, habit and tradition" play a huge role in determining admissions policy. Wanting to spread out the work over a longer period of time and trying to minimize uncertainty about how many students will matriculate are two other reasons schools have early-admit policies, he said. Nassirian noted, however, that all of the Ivies' prestige and wealth makes early admissions a choice rather than a necessity. Penn's early-decision program has existed since the 1960s, Stetson said, but it has grown in popularity in the past two decades. In each of the last six classes, roughly 48 percent of undergraduates were admitted early. For some of this year's applicants, Penn's choice is a relief. Jeremy Smith, a senior at John Jay High School in South Salem, N.Y., said Penn's early-decision policy is what is motivating him to apply here. Getting rid of the policy would be unfair, he added. "If students get in early this year, why shouldn't students in the next three or four years have that luxury?" he said. Ramu Annamalai, a senior at Northview High School in Atlanta who was visiting Penn yesterday, said that without early decision, officials can't tell how interested applicants really are. Words on an application don't convey enough meaning, he said.

https://www.thedp.com/article/2006/09/penn_wont_jump_on_admissions_latest_trend

PennConnects