Early bird gets the worm — or do they?


Colleges offer ED for a variety of reasons, a major one being protecting their yield rate. A college’s yield rate is the percentage of admitted applicants who choose to enroll; it plays a significant role in rankings and the college’s perceived selectivity. Colleges with high yield rates, like Harvard and MIT, are perceived as more desirable choices than colleges with lower yield rates, because it indicates that school is a top choice among admitted students. This then factors into a college’s prestige, which in turn influences rankings.

It’s clear that early decision benefits colleges. What’s less clear is how it benefits students. 

Applying early decision can pose significant challenges regarding students’ financial aid offers. Students who apply early to an institution may be unable to compare financial aid offers from other schools, and ultimately leaves them with more debt.

Furthermore, early decision often capitalizes on students’ fear and anxiety about college admissions. Students typically opt into early decisions because they know it will boost their chances of admission, regardless of whether they are certain this school is the place for them.

This issue is worsened by the amount of steps in this process. Many colleges now offer a second round of early decision (ED2). Students are typically able to opt into this program within a month of receiving ED1 results. This is an especially vulnerable time for students, as many are not accepted into their first choice school or in some cases, any schools. While applying ED2 after an ED1 rejection may be the strategic move, it is often a decision made hastily out of panic — and one students might ultimately regret.

Some schools offer even more early decision options. University of Chicago, for instance, has begun offering Early Decision 0, a special process reserved for students who attended their multithousand dollar summer precollege program. Should students applying to the University of Chicago be penalized for not knowing what they want the spring of their junior year, when this program must be applied to? Or should they be penalized for lacking the financial resources required to travel to Chicago and take a specialized class?

A few weeks ago, Santa Clara University unexpectedly announced an ED3 program, which students had less than a week to opt into. This announcement went out approximately two weeks before decisions came out. A week is not sufficient time to make a decision about what students wish to do with the next four years of their life.

At the end of the day, applying early or not is a personal choice, and there is no right answer. That being said, the gamification of the college admissions process often does more harm than good, in which success is based not on merit but on strategy.

Becca Koenig is a senior at Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.