A Nonsensical Argument Against Early Decision

Do you not want your child to apply to a school under its binding Early Decision policy because you don’t feel your child should have to commit to one school and one school only? If so, we’d urge you to get over it and reconsider. And why? Because when you apply Early Decision, a student dramatically improves his or her odds of admission to that institution. This is not to mention that a student is going to have to commit to one school in the end anyway so why not commit in the Early round when the odds are so much more in the student’s favor? But alas it seems not everyone agrees with us.

An Argument that Applying Early Decision is Pursuing a Manufactured Love

In a post for “Forbes” entitled “Love and College Admission” by Brennan Barnard, he writes, “It is increasingly understood that applying early decision to a college or university often boosts a student’s odds of being admitted. The unfortunate result for some applicants is that they go looking to fall in love with one school, to which they will apply under a binding contract. This manufactured approach rarely ends well and can result in frustration and disillusion. Anyone who has been in a meaningful relationship can tell you that love usually strikes unexpectedly. Those that go looking for love and try to force emotion, can eventually find themselves in a relationship that lacks authenticity and organic connection.”

Why That Argument Against Applying Early Decision is Nonsensical

And what do we think of Barnard’s argument? …It is completely and utterly ridiculous. He argues that the “manufactured approach” of applying Early Decision to a school “rarely ends well.” Oh? We have students we’ve worked with over the last quarter of a century — students who so often have earned admission in the Early round — to suggest otherwise. When our students earn admission in the Early round, they get to enjoy their senior years; the stress of the college admissions process ends immediately. The notion that choosing a first choice school before November 1st as opposed to choosing a first choice school a few months later leads to “manufactured love” is utter nonsense. Students have to choose one school in the end no matter when they apply. Why is it less “manufactured” in the spring than it is in the fall? In the fall, they’re looking for love, trying to find it in all the wrong places, while in the spring — just a few short months later — it comes naturally to them? Oh Puh-lease.

We trust our readers see through the utterly ridiculous, nonsensical arguments against applying Early Decision presented by this “Forbes” columnist. Oy vey!