Yale, Stanford Next in Line To Eliminate Early Decision

Under the new policies, students still will be able to apply to the schools early but will not be forced to attend if accepted. Early decision became popular with admissions officers at high-ranking universities in the mid-'90s as a tool to ensure top students enrolled at their schools.

UNC officials made national headlines earlier this year with their announcement that the school was discontinuing its binding early decision plan.

Yale's decision was based on what university administrators believe is best for applicants, said Tom Conroy, spokesman for Yale's Office of Public Affairs. He added that administrators, specifically Yale President Richard Levin, were considering dropping the program for about a year prior to the decision.

Binding early decision programs benefit a university more than students because they help to enroll top students in a competitive higher education market, Conroy said.

He added that he does not believe students should be forced to make college decisions so early in the school year.

Most binding early decision programs notify students in December.

At Stanford, about 2,400 students applied for binding early decision for the 2002-03 school year. Yale had about 2,000 early applicants.

Financial aid also was a consideration in Yale's decision, Conroy said. "Students in need don't have the advantage," he said, noting that students dependent on financial aid cannot apply under binding decision programs in case they cannot pay for tuition.

Stanford also changed its policy for the benefit of applicants, said Marcela Muniz, assistant dean of admissions.

"We wanted students with Stanford as their first choice to have more time to decide, to be sure of that," Muniz said, noting that the university has been considering this change for about a year.

She said the decision was made in response to complaints of students, families and guidance counselors about the pressure of the college application process.

But officials at other top universities say they do not expect Stanford and Yale's decision to influence their early admissions policies. "We have an early decision program that works well," said Lauren Robinson-Brown, director of communications at Princeton University. "We thoroughly reviewed the process seven years ago when we switched from early action to early decision."

Princeton officials do not consider financial aid to be a detractor to early decision, Robinson-Brown said.

But students who apply to binding early decision programs often use them to get into a certain school rather than taking the time to make sure the university is a good match, said Jerry Lucido, UNC director of undergraduate admissions.

"Dropping early decision reduces strategizing," he said. "(It) was designed for the student who already knew his first choice, not as a strategy to get in."

Lucido added that while Yale and Stanford long had been considering dropping early decision, he hopes that UNC's decision will be influential. "I think first and foremost, students under early action will receive an early answer but aren't bound," he said. "Their decision can withstand the test of time over senior year."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.