Extension of Early Decision Deadlines

Ivy Coach is cited in a piece in today’s “Daily Pennsylvanian.”

When Hurricane Sandy hit towards the end of October of 2012, many colleges extended their Early Decision and Early Action deadlines for those impacted by the destructive natural disaster. The fall of 2017 has also proven to be a season filled with natural disasters and, in light of these events, some universities chose to extend the deadlines for the submission of Early Decision / Early Action applications for those in impacted areas. The University of Pennsylvania was one such school — choosing to extend its ED deadline until November 10th. UPenn also offered to waive the application fees for students whose families were financially impacted by these disasters.

UPenn Extends Its Early Decision Deadline

We can foresee that some students who live in areas impacted by natural disasters — but who weren’t directly impacted — would take advantage of deadline extensions, like the one offered by the University of Pennsylvania. But we believe, fundamentally, that most people are good people at heart so these folks who take advantage of these extensions are in the minority. We would also argue that such extensions really aren’t all that helpful for applicants. In fact, we did argue it — on the pages of the University of Pennsylvania’s newspaper.

Ivy Coach is cited today in a piece by Harry Trustman in “The Daily Pennsylvanian” entitled “Penn extends Early Decision deadline to Nov. 10 for students affected by natural disasters.” As Trustman writes, “Brian Taylor, the managing director of college counseling service Ivy Coach, said the deadline extensions does not provide students with an unfair advantage. ‘They’ve had several months to put together their applications,’ Taylor said. ‘Does it help the procrastinator who waited until Oct. 31 to start working on their early application? Sure, but that person’s not going to put together a great application anyway.'”

What do our readers think of the extension of Early Decision deadlines at schools like UPenn for those prospective students impacted by natural disasters? Do you think some students will try to take advantage by extending their own deadlines even if they weren’t directly impacted by a natural disaster? Let us know your thoughts by posting a Comment below. We look forward to hearing from you.