Early Decision Admissions

Check out Ivy Coach in an article published today in “US News & World Report” on the topic of Early Decision and Early Action policies.

There’s a great article out today by Margaret Loftus in “US News & World Report” that focuses on Early Decision admissions. The article, in which Ivy Coach happens to be mentioned (hey, we never said we were unbiased), focuses on the growing popularity of applying through an Early Action or Early Decision policy. In fact, contrary to speculation that more and more universities would be dropping early policies because they give an unfair advantage to the socially advantaged, the opposite has happened. Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Virginia have each reinstated their early admissions policies after dropping them in 2006.

According to the article, “Of high school seniors who filled out the Common Application last year, nearly 49 percent applied to some form of an early program, says Rob Killion, the Common App’s executive director. The programs range from simple early action, which doesn’t obligate you to attend, to binding early decision.” And what’s the advantage of applying Early Decision or Early Action? That can be summed up if you take a look at our Ivy League Admissions Statistics. Take a look at the Early figures as compared to the Regular Decision figures. The difference is quite often striking!

Early Decision admissions can compensate for lower grades, lower scores, or not having that special talent that puts you over the top. Does it work magic? No. But it says to a school that you love them not to mention students admitted Early help the school’s ultimate yield and, if you’re ballpark, it’ll help them realize they love you, too.